Solar Returns have their fans but are a hit and miss tool taken on their own for predicting elections and the aftermath.
In a quick skip backwards – only JFK had lucky, successful Jupiter in his Solar Return 10th on his election.
Trump in 2016 for his successful run had Uranus conjunct the Solar Return Midheaven which makes sense of a change of career direction but that could mean several things.
In 2020 when he lost, Uranus was still in his SR 10th with a power-propelled Jupiter Pluto on his SR Descendant – and admittedly Procyon on the SR Ascendant conjunct his emotionally-wounded natal Venus Saturn in Cancer.
In 2024 he had Neptune in his SR 10th square a hidden Venus, Sun, Mercury in his 12th square a Saturn opposition Moon, none of which looked resoundingly cheerful for him.
George W Bush won in 2000 with Neptune in the SR 10th along with Mars and Jupiter Saturn Pluto in the 8th.
Obama won in 2008 with Uranus on the SR Descendant (Washington, DC) and Venus Saturn Mars in the SR 12th.
Nixon won in 1968 with Uranus Pluto in the SR 9th and Sun in the SR 10th. With Sun in the SR 10th the following year.
Trump in his Solar Return from June 2025 for a year has Sun conjunct the Midheaven and Jupiter in the SR 10th – which looks successful.
Last time it came up for discussion I bought a recommended book on Solar Returns but did not make much headway with it. Though I gleaned that the SR Ascendant was significant and that Solar Returns cannot be treated on their own as a standalone chart.
Comments more than welcome.
With the Trump solar returns in 2016, 2020 and 2024 it could also be interesting to compare them with those of their election opponents. Hillary Clinton was hugely disliked, Joe Biden was a man of the people and widely liked in 2020, Kamala Harris was not that well-liked and even some in her own party thought she was not their best candidate. Did any of this show up in their solar returns?
I always feel out of my depth among these astute astrological commentators, but here goes. Like some others in this thread, I’ve been taught to advance the MC of the chart for roughly each day of the year. When the progressed MC of the solar return hits a planet like Mars or Uranus, I’ve often seen events occur that reflect the energies of the planet.
If memory serves, one teacher I had (Eileen McCabe in New York City) taught students to put natal planets on top of the solar return to see if anything interesting showed up. (This echoes Rohana Darlington’s comment above.) So a solar return chart with 12 degrees of Sagittarius might not look significant, but if the native’s natal Venus was 12 degrees of Sag, you might see a wedding or engagement.
In closing, I do think the idea that angular planets are powerful, which Guaquelin and countless others have promulgated over the years, applies particularly to solar returns.
I remember that before the EU vote I checked the UK’s SR for that year and it had Chiron right on the IC. Which I thought was hugely significant.
Trump’s SRs are strange because IIRC a Sun Venus conjunction features in a lot of them that align with election years (this conjunction in a Presidential candidates’s chart can signify victory IIRC one particular interpretation of it). I checked back to the 80s on this.
I mean the conjunction in the SR charts of candidates, not the natal chart.
I’ve had great luck with solar returns. It has been spot on every time and I, also, use the timing factor for them – meaning, as the Sun moves around the chart by transit it will trigger the planet/angles it encounters. Try it out on your own chart; what I did was to go back a few years to verify its use. Remember to relocate it to your current location.
All of that said, every practioner will say that “Nothing will happen in the Solar Chart that isn’t in the Natal”. Think of it as an entire picture/story of the transits. I’m a very visual person and I can really use my intuition to decipher what’s happening this way.
I was first introduced to their use by Mary Fortier Shea the author of Planets in Solar Returns. And a great accompanying, but small, book is Easy Predictions with Solar Returns by Deanna Rose — cheeky, but informative. I haven’t read Anthony Louis’s, but I’ll have to check it out.
“All of that said, every practioner will say that “Nothing will happen in the Solar Chart that isn’t in the Natal”.”
Good point, and this also why I think Trump’s 2025/26 chart is such a banger. It does have Mars within a degree of his Natal one, and NN conjunct Desc, which is interesting for a Sun/NN native. I think this aspect is the one making people see and hear what they want with Trump, first gen Americans whose parents are there illegally think that of course he is not going to deport their parents, or military veterans just ignoring him calling them sucker and losers. It’s really strange, really.
Anthony Louis’s book, especially the first edition, is the master book on Solar Returns. Not only did he research Shea, Merriman and other astrologers who have published material on the subject, but he offers a clear and comprehensive view of Volgine’s theory of Solar Returns. In his book, The Technique of Solar Returns, Volgine offers delineations about the relationship between the natal houses and angles and those of the SR, — he uses Placidus. For instance: of the ASC of the natal chart and the ASC of the SR make a square or opposition, the year will be more or less unfavorable. If the ASC of both charts are in a favorable aspect, it signals a good year. An unfavorable aspect from the SR to the MC of the birth chart “indicates a danger of the native himself damaging his career. If the ASC is in Fire or Air this danger will be a result off his taking matters into his own hands or starting new projects. If Earth and Water, it will be the result of stubbornness or negligence, and so forth. When this configuration (or annual MC in opposition to Natal ASC) occurs at an advanced age, if often indicates a decrease in earning power due to decline in energy, or a project beyond the native’s strength, or activity slowed down or interrupted by health problems.”
I find Volgine and Louis’ books more useful than most precisely because these writers concentrate primarily on method and concrete examples. Volgine, for instance, predicted the circumstances and the timing of his own death. Not exactly the aspiration of most astrologers, but proof that his method was sound.
M: George W Bush won in 2000 with Neptune in the SR 10th along with Mars and Jupiter Saturn Pluto in the 8th.
I think the Neptune was the controversy surrounding the vote in Florida and then the infamous SCOTUS case that made him president.
The 8th house planets probably referred to 9/11 and the financially consequences that would flow from that day ( the immediate hit the economy took along with the two wars that were financed by debt instead of increasing taxes)
M: In 2024 he (Trump) had Neptune in his SR 10th square a hidden Venus, Sun, Mercury in his 12th square a Saturn opposition Moon, none of which looked resoundingly cheerful for him.
That reinforces my belief that there were some ‘discrepancies’ in the vote count especially with the popular vote.
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As long time followers of this space know, I like looking at Solar Returns. I don’t think they are infallible, and the fact times of birth may be approximative or lacking add to the difficulty. That said, I find the fact they can be set to place of residence helpful in the World where people move around much more than in previous eras. Significative years for people tend to have a planet conjunct axis on SR, and I feel outer planets are more telling of the outer conditions, and/or native chart personal planet conjunct axis of the SR. The orb should be tight, max 2-3 degrees.
Based on this, the interpretation I give to Trump’s 2025/26 chart, set for Washington DC, is slightly different. Yes, he will be very visible with that Sun conjunct SR Midheaven. However, how successful it is, depends on how you interpret “success” might be different. His SR has North Node (which I count as a personal planet) conjunct Descendant – very important in politics, as is 7th house, given politics is about relationships, and this feels karmic. Saturn/Neptune conjunction in Aries we’ve heard a lot about is within a degree orb in the 7th house, and squaring 0 degree Jupiter in Cancer. What ever the big Saturn-Neptune event happening around his birthday is, it will involve him. He is even likely initiate it. But the chart isn’t without struggle. It’s not only DJT’s Solar Return, he has Mars return too, meaning the SR Mars is conjunct his Asc on 12th house side.
JD Vance, who was the first of the “Trump orb” people I checked the SR for (I think I’ll look at Stephen Miller later today, he seems to be whispering a lot to Trump’s ear and has a verified time of birth), has a powerful SR too for 2025/26, interestingly much more so he’d had for 2024/25 (then again, I didn’t look at this for the area his residence was, which I think is Cincinnati suburb). He has SR Pluto tightly conjunct to his Desc from 6th house side, opposing Mercury /Sun (Mercury at 4 degree and Sun 7 degree orb from ASC, might have significance, but not as potent). His SR Moon is conjunct his Natal IC/Mars. Oh, and he too has a tight Saturn/Neptune conjunction, part of a Kite (the apex) AND a T-square (square Venus and opposing Mars). If there still was free press in the US, and if the people cared about scandals, I’d say there will be a potentially career ending one coming out on his personal life (right now, I don’t know what could it be, save maybe VERY credible domestic or child abuse claims).
My Solar Return in 2007 had a New Moon conjunct my IC opposite Uranus and square Saturn. My mother died unexpectedly 10 days later (she had Alzheimer’s but otherwise wasn’t especially unwell). That’s the most stark example in my life. Maybe it’s stronger with the angles involved.
Thanks Marjorie. SR’s are a puzzle – and certainly cannot be separated from the natal etc. I’ve found The Only Way to Learn About Tomorrow by March and McEvers useful. If the birth time is accurate, then the natal house that comes to the SR ascendant and MC can be significant, plus the house positions of their rulers – solar and natal.
I checked for marriage, and my Solar 7th house was packed for that return. A fairly recent very significant and sudden bereavement had the Solar MC exactly conjunct my natal Pluto, with Uranus on the DC of the Solar Return. Checking the Progressed chart, I see the interminable Pr Sun conjunct Pr Saturn. The Solar Arc had the equally interminable SA Saturn conjunct my natal Moon. Purchasing my home year had Jupiter on the SR IC, with Sun also in the SR 7th. Suspect planets on the SR angles are important, as the books seem to advise.
My current SR has Sun on the MC, but so far it doesn’t seem to be manifesting much! Since the Sun is natally in the 2nd house maybe I should buy a lottery ticket!
The year our father passed away my siblings and I each had Mars Pluto aspects in our solar return chart. Similarly when my mother in law died I had Mars conjunct Pluto and square Uranus I can vouch for the fact that it left a huge void in my life. Good aspects such as a Jupiter conjunct an inner planet or one of the angular houses can indicate a beneficial effect. Currently Uranus is opposite sun and moon mercury and Lilith in the SR Chart, there is a kite and mystic rectangle in the chart which looks nothing like my birth chart. Hopefully it will be an interesting year!
The Art of Forecasting using Solar Returns by Anthony Louis. He says ‘Never interpret the Solar Return in isolation.’
‘If something is not promised in the natal chart it cannot be delivered by a solar revolution.’
I did not really have time to do it justice but it still seemed to me a complicated way of disentangling transits etc. Maybe you will have better luck. Do come back if you do.
Which book did you buy on Solar Returns please?
My 2025 SR looks interesting with Uranus on the Gemini Ascendant and Pluto on the MC. I also have a tight Jupiter-Moon conjunction and of course, many of us will have Saturn-Uranus conjunction this year.
I always refer to Mary Fortier Shea’s Planets in Solar Returns and Janet Stubbs & Babs Kirby’s Interpreting Solar and Lunar Returns to get me reflecting when beginning to look at people’s Solar Returns. I like to print out a stand alone Solar Return chart and then print out bi-wheel charts to see how it connects with the natal chart. And I always construct the Solar Return chart as a relocated chart if the person is going to spend the day far from home. Some people even go abroad to get a different Solar Return chart if they don’t like the look of the one set for where they live. They want to escape their fate for that year, they say. But I’m inclined to think the future opportunities indicated in the chart set for where they live would appear perhaps in a different pattern in the relocated Solar Return chart anyway. My son’s birth chart last year had a Solar eclipse on his natal Sun in his 10th house so I wondered how his career would be affected when I looked at his Solar Return set for his home in England, but as it happened he had to go abroad for work for a conference on his birthday and so he experienced unusual but positive unplanned career developments there. In the relocated Solar Return chart the Sun was in the 3rd house and he spent a lot of time communicating with new colleagues there.
Thanks Rohanna (and Marjorie above) for book recommendations