Solar Return Readings
What Is a Solar Return Chart?
A solar return chart is calculated for the exact moment the Sun returns to the same degree, minute, and sign it occupied at the time of your birth. This occurs once each year, usually on or near your birthday. The resulting chart is a symbolic snapshot of that moment in time and is used to interpret the emotional and developmental themes that may characterize the year ahead. [To target specific dates, we can set astrological goals in a separate kind of reading.]
Why I Recommend Annual Solar Return Readings
Solar return readings help orient you to the year ahead. Even if the specifics are not yet visible, these readings offer a way to name your desires, clarify your direction, and stay connected to what matters. They help anchor you while encouraging the person you're becoming.
These sessions often become an annual ritual. Most of my solar return clients come back year after year, not just for guidance but to witness their own unfolding. Over time, we begin to trace a narrative through these charts; a kind of living document that helps make sense of your past, inspire growth, and recognize how far you've come. These are some of the most productive and inspiring sessions I offer.
While I often speak about astrology as a symbolic language rather than a literal one, solar return charts are the one technique that makes me question whether something deeper is happening. These charts often reflect the tone, themes, and emotional terrain of a person's year with uncanny accuracy. If any one method convinces me there's more to this practice than metaphor, it's solar returns.
Solar Return Reading Session Details
All solar return readings are 1 hour long and held over Zoom. We begin with a quick catch-up on events since our last session, reflect on the year behind you, talk through what’s present now, and discuss any hopes or intentions you’re carrying into the year ahead. This part of the session typically lasts anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes.
The remaining time is spent analyzing your solar return chart. We’ll look at the house placement of the Sun, key aspect patterns, the Moon and Mercury, and the elemental, modal, and hemispheric balance. I also pay attention to any symbolic themes that relate to your history or your goals for the year ahead. Each reading is shaped by your focus and where you are in your life.
My Solar Return Philosophy
With my psychological approach to chart reading, I practice solar return work in the same spirit as all my readings: as a reflective, symbolic tool for meaning-making. While I don't believe the planets dictate outcomes, I do believe they offer profound metaphors for emotional, creative, and psychological growth.
Unlike some astrologers who cast solar return charts based on the client's location at the time of their birthday, I use the natal location. The birth chart is the seed from which all other charts grow. That seed cannot be altered by relocation. In my view, how we are growing always stems from what we were given at the start. Our solar return shows how that growth may continue to take shape in the coming year.
Resources for Solar Return Astrology Clients
If you're interested in studying the technical side of solar return astrology, I recommend Planets in Solar Returns: Yearly Cycles of Transformation & Growth by Mary Fortier Shea. Much of my interpretive technique is inspired by her work. This book is best suited to those with prior astrology knowledge, as it goes beyond the basics into complex, nuanced analysis.