Solar Return: A Chart for the Year, Birthday to Birthday
Every year the Sun returns to the point of the zodiac where it was at the moment of your birth. This event is called the solar return, and the chart for that moment is the solar return chart. Astrology reads it as a thematic portrait of the year from one birthday to the next.
How a solar return is built
You need three things: the date and time of your birth, the year you want to look at, and the place where you will be at the moment the Sun returns. That moment usually falls on your birthday or within a day of it, and it is calculated precisely, down to the minute.
The solar return chart is drawn like an ordinary natal chart, only for that moment and that place. Your natal chart and the solar return chart are placed side by side on the wheel so you can see how they connect.
Why place matters
The planetary positions in a solar return are the same for everyone, but the houses and the Ascendant depend on the geographic location. If you spend your birthday in another city, they change. That is why tradition has a technique: look at the solar return for the place where you will be. Each option puts its own emphasis on the themes of the year. Choose not the "best" place but the one you will actually be in.
How to read a solar return
- Solar return Ascendant: the tone of the year, the mood in which you step into it.
- Sun in a solar return house: the area of life that gets more attention and energy this year.
- Solar return Moon: the emotional background and what will "feed" you through the year.
- Aspects to natal planets: how the year connects with your chart as a whole.
Read it all as a list of themes, not events. It is an invitation to think about what you want to give your time to.
How to use it
Put together your solar return shortly before your birthday and write down three themes that caught your attention. Note how you would like to live the year in those areas. Come back to your notes in six months and compare them with reality. In Lilit, the solar return is calculated automatically for your place and year, you can open it for any city, and the wheel shows your natal chart and the solar return chart together.