Transits in Plain Words: How Today's Sky Connects to Your Chart
A natal chart is a snapshot of the sky on the day you were born. The sky, however, does not stand still: the planets keep moving. A transit is the position of a planet in the sky today in relation to the points of your natal chart. When a moving planet forms an aspect to a natal one, astrology speaks of a transit and describes the theme connected with it.
How to read a transit
Every transit has three parts: who, to whom, and at what angle. For example, "transiting Saturn square natal Sun." The transiting planet is the one in the sky today; the natal planet is the one in your chart.
Each planet carries its own theme:
- fast planets (the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars) bring short-lived moods and occasions, lasting hours and days;
- Jupiter and Saturn work over months and relate to growth and responsibility;
- Uranus, Neptune and Pluto pass over points of the chart for years and are tied to deep change.
Orb and duration
Aspects can be exact or approximate. The difference between the exact angle and the actual one is called the orb. The smaller the orb, the "louder" the transit. Orb is usually measured in degrees, and it matters whether the aspect is applying or separating: an applying aspect gains strength, a separating one fades.
Slow planets linger near a point for a long time, sometimes for several months, with passes back and forth because of retrograde motion. That is why major transits do not have a single day, they have a period.
How to treat transits
A transit is not an event but a theme that the sky "highlights." The same transit shows up differently for different people: a lot depends on circumstances and your own decisions. So a good practice is this: notice the theme, ask yourself what it might mean for you in particular, and decide what to do about it.
Do not use transits to predict illness, losses or winnings. Astrology does not work that way, and anxiety does harm.
How to try it
Open today's transits to your chart and pick the single most exact one. Read which planets are involved, and write down what you feel over these days. Come back to your notes in a week: that way you will see what resonates and what does not. In Lilit, active transits are placed on the main screen, and you can tap to open the explanation of the headline (who, to whom, which angle).