In this post, we would like to demonstrate the full process of predicting an event using the Solar Return. Contrary to modern practice, the return is not used as a stand-alone chart seen in isolation. Conforming to ancient principles, we must use the return in tandem with two things: 1) the natal chart and its own inherent promises as an overarching description of the life as a whole. 2) two entwined time lord systems, the first known as Releasings from the Hyleg, the second known as the Profection of the Ascendant. This article assumes at least a working knowledge of these systems, if the reader would like to find out more about this suite of techniques, then On Solar Revolutions by Abu Ma’Shar is recommended (http://www.bendykes.com/persians.php#t5).

Our example is that of a young girl who fell while running and broke her arm. The accident occurred on the 13th of January 2012. Here is her nativity with the return for the year May 2011 – May 2012 on the outside of the bi-wheel:

Our first task is to examine the natal chart. We can see that accidents and injuries are something this person will have to deal with in their life due to the Moon (the body) being in a harmful figure with Mars (accidents and injuries). In ancient astrology, there is a condition known variously as “overcoming” or “decimation” and it is when a planet is in the 10th sign of another. The planet in the 10th sign from the first planet (as Mars is here in regard to the Moon) dominates the significations of said planet. This is a powerful condition, and when one sees it involving the Moon and a malefic, we can judge harm to the body.

To be able to say when something will happen, we need to look at the annual techniques mentioned earlier. First, the Releasings from the Hyleg. This is the primary direction of the Hyleg through the bounds, or terms as they are sometimes known. It is beyond the scope of this article to explain both the act of directing or the selection of the Hyleg. It is enough to say that the Hyleg represents the life as a whole, and its traversal through the bounds triggers certain events based on the natal promise and the bound lord that the Hyleg is in. Here are the order of time lords for this natal chart:

The event happened on the 13th Jan 2012. Looking at the above table, we see that the Hyleg (the Ascendant in this case) is in the bounds of Mars/Virgo while its most recent aspect was the trine to the Moon. When we have a natal figure that is then repeated in the first of our time-lord systems, then we can expect that natal figure to manifest during that time-frame. We have already judged that the Mars-Moon square will lead to accidents and injuries, and this system helps us pinpoint when this will occur during the life. However, as can be seen the Mars-Moon time-lordship began in March 2010 while the girl had her accident in January of 2012. To further refine our date, we have to turn to the profections and the solar return.

Profecting the Ascendant is a timing technique that involves progressing the Ascendant sign one sign per year, birthday to birthday, beginning on the day of birth. In this example, Virgo rises, so the whole of the first year May 2005 until May 2006 is signified by Virgo. The next year, May 2006 until May 2007 is shown by Libra, and so on. This little girl was six years old at the time of the accident, since we count her first year (0 years old) as 1,we have to add one to her age to find the number of signs we are to count from the Ascendant. At six years old, she is in a Pisces profection year:

What this means is that we must keep a close eye on both the sign of Pisces and its ruler, Jupiter, in both the natal chart and the return. In essence, Pisces and Jupiter will represent the native’s body and general experience this year. If we consider the natal/return chart again:

What we are looking at first is the condition of the broader time-lords, Mars and the Moon. The Moon of the return is in Leo, and this means it is opposed to natal Mars. It is this sort of repetition we are looking for when predicting things for the native. As mentioned already, the nativity spoke of bodily harm, the broad time-lord system reaffirmed that over a 5 year period, now in the annual chart we see a repetition of what is being assented to in the broader systems. It is this sort of refinement into smaller chunks of time that we are looking for when we want to predict the when of things. As the profection of the Ascendant has come to Pisces, we were to note its condition and also the condition of its lord, Jupiter. In the nativity, Jupiter is in the ascending sign. The 1st house is one representing the body of the native, and Jupiter’s presence here suggests that the topic of the body is pertinent this year. Jupiter’s condition will tell us if that is for good or ill. Jupiter is in ok condition, it is a benefic retrograde and aspected by a malefic, but it is supported by a trine from both Venus and the Moon. Generally, we should expect the native’s health to be fine. However, Saturn is in the overcoming position to Jupiter, and more importantly, in the return it is around 1 degree from Jupiter’s natal position. This repetition is reaffirming the Saturn-Jupiter square of the nativity. In the broad context of the nativity, this shows some problems with the body (due to Jupiter’s placement in the 1st), and this being reaffirmed confirms the Mars-Moon body issues we saw earlier. Normally, to talk of the nature of the harm is difficult, but in this instance it is clear. Saturn rules the bones, while Gemini is the sign representing the arms, hands and shoulders. If Saturn is showing the place on the body of the injury, then Mars’ dodekatemorion (http://www.skyscript.co.uk/gl/dodekatemorion.html) falling out at 26 Gemini describes the area suffering from cuts, burns or breakages.

Now that we have decided the time and nature of the harm, we have to further refine our timing to show when in that particular year the injury will occur. Just as we can profect yearly, we can also profect monthly. The months here are true months i.e. we take the position of the Moon at the return and when it has itself returned to that same position, we progress the Ascendant one sign. In this example, at the time of the return, the Moon is at 2 Leo on the 11th of May 2011, and this means that the profected Ascendant is in Pisces for both the year and the month. On the 7th of June 2011, the Moon comes back to 2 Leo, so we progress the monthly profected Ascendant to Aries (the sign after Pisces). We continue this until the year is done (after 13 lunar months). The importance of the monthy profection is to narrow down our timing of events already foretold in the previous section. In our case, this is the interaction between Jupiter (the body for this year) and the malefic Saturn. The most logical places to begin are the signs that Jupiter rules, Pisces and Sagittarius. If in the months that the profected Ascendant is here we also have a reaffirmation of the Saturn-Jupiter figure, we can judge that in this month the event will manifest. It just so happens that the Moon returns to 2 Leo for the 10th time on the 11th of January 2012. The 10th sign from Pisces is Sagittarius, so Jupiter rules our month too. If we examine this chart with that configuration in mind, we see something very interesting:

Jupiter rules the month while opposing transiting Saturn. This is a repetition of what we found in the broader techniques, so we can judge that this month will be the month the accident will happen. Normally, I would stop here when predicting events, a month-long window is usually enough, and trying to predict exact days is normally beyond the abilities of the astrologer – there is just too much information to consider at once. However, for the purposes of illuminating the principle, we can show that the 13th of January 2012 would be the day of the accident. Counting 1 day per sign, we come from Sagittarius to Aquarius (11th=Sagittarius, 12th=Capricorn, 13th=Aquarius). Aquarius is pertinent for two reasons: 1) it is ruled by Saturn, one of our players in the event (so we have Jupiter handing its rulership over to Saturn for that day). 2) natal Mars is situated in Aquarius. On the 13th of January 2012, we also have the Moon conjoining Mars at the end of Leo. Again, we have repetition from the natal chart right on down to the day lords and the transits at this time. It is exactly this constant repetition we are looking for when predicting events, and it is why only some transits trigger events. If they do not represent themselves in the other, higher level timing techniques, they won’t do anything at the lower.