What Is A Lunar Return?

Your Lunar return is the monthly chart of the instant the Moon in the sky returns to the exact position it was at your birth. It's kind of a monthly birthday, and the arrangement of planets it displays reflects the patterns of your coming month. Each month, this re-birth-day works out its potential for you and then is renewed once again 27 1/2 days later with a new set of surprises and opportunities. ...

Part One:
Your Personal Lunar Return

Your Lunar return can be read in a manner similar to many other types of horoscopes, except that in doing interpretations it must be kept in mind that it has an unusually short life. The chart is only in effect for 27 1/2 days until it is supplanted by the next Lunar return. Thus, where the middle and outer planets are concerned, there is little or no change of sign over literally dozens of Lunar returns. This makes the overall influence of signs more of a long-term, barely changing backdrop and thus negligible in effect. The house placements and the mutual aspects of the planets and Angles thus become where all the action is, fueled mostly by the faster-changing positions of the inner planets. That may be just as well, as trying to stuff too much interpretive information into a description of a single month leads to diminishing returns, and what is important gets lost in the shuffle.

So what is most important in a Lunar return? Certainly the house positions of the Sun and Moon, and the sign of the Ascendant, which represent the main areas of focus for the month, along with the house positions of the planets. After that comes the aspects of the Lights, Angles, and inner planets to each other and to the middle and outer planets, which describes the dynamics of the month. Last comes the aspects of the middle and outer planets to each other, which provide a background dynamic upon which the rest play out. These, taken together with featured elements of your natal chart highlighted by Lunar Return positions, give an overall picture of the coming month. ...

Part Two:
Lunar Return: Sep 18, 2001

Your Foundation For The Month: Sun, Moon, Ascendant
As in a natal chart, the first thing you look at is the position of the Sun, Moon, and Ascendant. Their positions and aspects form the fundamental dynamic for the month: whether it's coming on like a juggernaut, sneaking up like a cat, stumbling in like a bull in a china shop, or striding in like a hero. Since the Lunar Return Moon is the same as your natal Moon, any aspects to it are also transiting aspects to your natal horoscope, thus uniquely entwining both charts and making the Lunar aspects especially important. The house position of the Sun and Moon tell you where your main action will be all month, and the Ascendant sign show the overall style. Easy aspects of these to the rest of the chart will show a month whizzing by according to plan. Hard aspects will indicate tangles and challenges to overcome. The text relays how to make the most of the former and how to transform the latter to get best results from the month.

Sun
It's not so much what you do but what others can do for you that will key this next lunar month. It's time to put your ego aside and let partners at home and work take the helm and steer for a while - you'll be surprised where you end up. Rolling with this feeling will allow you some time to tend to your inner self while the outside is handled for you, so lean on your allies and praise them for what they accomplish, as what they do credits not just them but you and your association with them. This is a time partnerships of all kind can flourish if you throw yourself into the effort and lead with your heart.

Moon
Have a feeling something's missing in your life? Chances are, you're right, and this lunar month is the time to find it. You've been handed a special key to the inner lost and found, so root around in your emotional attic and rediscover things you've left behind that perhaps you shouldn't have. These can be physical, like old momentos of attachments gone by, or entirely intangible, like uncovering your personal and family roots to better understand what you come from. If a purchase (or repurchase) towards this end turns out to be expensive, you may have to charge it. It will pay for itself in the long run. Oppositely, think twice about what you throw out on a whim - as soon as it's gone, you'll need it! ...

Part Three:
Featured Planets

Featured Natal Positions: Your Best Foot Forward
When selected Lunar Return positions occupy the same spaces as bodies in your natal chart, this highlights certain natal inclinations for the month. It will mean that certain elements in your fundamental character will be emphasized both internally externally. These will be the areas that most appear to represent you for the moment and that others will seize upon as entry points to your personality. These are the areas in which you can put your best foot forward to make the most effective and gratifying steps ahead, providing your first line of challenges and opportunities to embrace the world.

Sun Highlighted by Jupiter
This highlights your fundamental energies that make your personality shine throughout the month and beyond. It will mean that events this month will to some extent revolve around your ability to demonstrate self-confidence and become a well of energy and inspiration for others. It is the opportunity for your self, the unity behind the sum of your parts, to take command and establish power and influence over your surroundings. That does not mean you will be lord of all you survey, but it's a sure step in that direction and will lead to confirmation of an expanded self-image that can only put you on a rising track, both on the inside and the outside.

Part Four:
Daily Events

The Daily News: Transits, lunations, eclipses
As the Moon speeds on through the month, the minute hand of your Lunar Return, it moves through all twelve houses of both your natal chart and the Lunar Return chart, as well as hitting both sets of planets. These are the times to look for specific events that activate these parts of your monthly picture and will offer times for making your best moves. There are forty-six such events, and they repeat every month, but not at the same time or in the same order. Plus, the playing field and basic potentials of each month differ, so each of the basic transits has a different role to play every month, while retaining its core implications. The individual transits begin with the symbolism of the degree at which they occur, followed by an interpretation of their general meaning, and finish with a handful of specific "issues and accents" to address, which they may bring into your life. Finally, your personal Void-of-Course Moon periods will vary widely and are important timing factors in the daily decision-making process, so keep a close eye on them.

Tue Sep 18, 2001 Moon in Libra
08:02 pm Moon Conjunct Natal Jupiter
19° Libra: A gang of robbers is seen in hiding, ready and anxious to attack the heavily armed caravan just coming into sight. REPUDIATION

Look for circumstances to further your good fortune and new ways to develop that further your agenda. This is aided by a generally positive, can-do attitude and a feeling that it's all going to work out for the best. And that's an approach that can make for excellent self-fulfilling prophecies. Generosity is the first option, which tends to be returned in kind, and a feeling of being in touch with the general operating system of life gives insight to the heart as well as the head. Issues and Accents: organization, self-confidence, rebuke, knowledge, budgets.

Wed Sep 19, 2001 Moon in Libra (Enters Scorpio at 03:27 pm)
03:40 am Moon Conjunct Transiting Mercury
23° Libra: Chanticleer mounts the corner post of a fence; never will the day again be greeted with the enthusiasm now born. TRIUMPH

This is a time for clearing things up and attempting to be particularly lucid about your current set of plans. New insights can be worked into the picture and details laid out to those who need to be in the know. Bounce ideas off other heads to see a less subjective view of your schemata, then proceed to set things into motion before you lose the freshness of the inspiration. Though feelings may compel, you're best off ...