SECONDARY PROGRESSED CHART INTERPRETATION:  Why do I feel so different now?

Why you want this report:  Did you know that your current Sun sign may be different than the one you were born with?  (And I’m not talking about those of you who were born on a day that’s a sign cusp and discovered years later you were something different than you’d always believed.)  You may have been born a Cancer but now you could be a Leo or even a Virgo and those around you may be scratching their heads wondering why you’re so different, even if you’re not aware of it yourself. If you’ve recently experienced what is commonly known as an “identity crisis” or feel as if you’re not at home in your own skin anymore it could involve a major change that is reflected and easily explained by your progressed chart.  Sometimes these major influences can be explained by a transit analysis, as described in the previous section on daily horoscopes, but those often evolve more slowly than some progressions which can sometimes be upon you in the proverbial flash. Nonetheless, progressions can also last for a long time, even your entire lifetime in some cases. If you’re experiencing extremely troubling times it’s good to take a careful look at both. 

As you might expect from its name, this chart provides information that addresses how you’re progressing as a person.  It represents your personal evolution and how you’re changing with time and maturity.  It also shows how different energies are affecting your life, which you may feel and wonder about. 

The effects of progressions have been compared to what it’s like to move to different locations relatively far from your birth place.  For example, you may have been born in California but if you move to Iowa you will discover that the culture there is slightly different from your native one.  If you live there for several years you‘ll eventually acquire some traits and behaviors specific to that area.  But at your core you’ll always be a Californian.  Thus, your natal chart is still in force but it will blend with your progressed chart, sometimes easily, sometimes not, depending on the energies driven by the aspects within and between them.  This stuff is never simple.

Chart Used:  Your natal chart “progressed” using the “day for a year” formula.  It’s important to have an accurate time of birth, otherwise this calculation will not be a valid representation for this time in your life.  Secondary progressed charts are most commonly based on the “day for a year” formula. For example, the progressed chart for when you were five years old is derived from where the planets were located roughly five days after your birth.  The chart for when you’re 30 years old will represent where the planets were about 30 days following your birth.  No, I am not making this up.

As stated by the author of this report, Riley Goodwin, “Many techniques for following the development of man from birth through life have been devised and studied by Astrologers since about the second or third century BC. The technique used in this Report . . .uses the "Day for a Year" process which appears to have been practiced since Ptolemy and Copernicus, and was supported by the German mathematician Johannes Kepler (1571-1630).”

(Yes, Kepler was indeed an astrologer as well as a brilliant astronomer, just like Galileo and Copernicus, something the scientific community doesn’t want you to know. 

As strange as this may sound it works in an amazing way.  Your life is filled with cycles and patterns which are driven as well as explained by astrological factors, even though you often have to dig pretty deep to find them. 

If you have moved a substantial distance from your place of birth that introduces some ambiguity as well.  If possible, get it done for both locations and see which one is the better fit.  In some cases automated reports may not give you the option of entering a location, anyway.  Your birth location is always your baseline but when you move to a new location new energies are introduced.  More on that later.

Information Provided:   

Since this chart operates on a “day for a year” formula you may have already figured out some of the changes it will reflect.  If you were born in the early degrees of a sign it will be several years before your natal Sun progresses into the next sign.  For example, if your natal Sun is 6 degrees Aries, you will be approximately 24 years old when it progresses into Taurus.  At that time you will find yourself being drawn to behavior that is more stable, be less impulsive and provoked less easily.  Financial and emotional security will be more important and you’ll find yourself taking steps in that direction.  Your ascendant gradually changes as well, with it the primary indicator of the face you show to the world and your outward personality.  All the planets move as well but the outer planets, which move very slowly, may not ever change signs in your lifetime.  Planets that were retrograde when you were born may station and go direct, or vice versa, shifting that energy.  Odd as it may seem, even if you live to be 100 your astrological “progress” will be contained in an ephemeris over less than four months’ time subsequent to your birth date.

I want to emphasize that Sun sign and ascendant changes are major and usually noticeable to both yourself and those close to you.  If you know which degree of its sign your Sun is in you can “do the math” and estimate when you had or will have your first Sun sign change.  If your Sun is in a late degree of its sign this may have occurred when you were a child or somewhere inbetween; if you’re 30 years old or beyond you’ve definitely been through at least one. If you have children and one of them suddenly seems to become a different person this could be a factor for him or her as well.  This is one place where astrology comes in as a valuable helper for parenting.  For example, when your sweet little Pisces progresses into Aries you may be in for a bit of a shock.

One major astrological influence that changes every two and a half years is your Moon sign.  This is felt at the emotional level and can be unsettling as well, especially when it changes from a fairly stable and objective sign such as Aquarius and goes into dreamy and intuitive Pisces or from logical Gemini into sentimental Cancer.  Both Pisces and Cancer are highly emotional Water signs which can be quite a shock if you suddenly find yourself crying all the time or hurt more easily than usual.  Often people (or those close to them) wonder what’s wrong with them when this happens.  I had an employee who had this happen and knowing I was also an astrologer outside my “day job” she asked me what was wrong with her that she was suddenly crying all the time.  As I suspected, her Moon had just progressed into a Water sign and I was able to assure her that about two and a half years down the road it would change again.  She didn’t like the answer but at least now she had a reason for it which satisfied her practical Virgo Sun.

The best part of these lunar progressions is that they give you a taste of what it’s like to have your natal Moon in another sign and thus give you greater compassion and understanding for those born that way.  This will only happen when you’re aware of what cosmic energy you’re being immersed in, which is one of the reasons to seek out the positions of your progressed Sun, Moon, ascendant and planets.  Otherwise it can be analogous to being in the middle of an unfamiliar city without a map.

A secondary progressed report will usually tell you how many more years you have left in a sign progression for your Sun, Moon or planets.  Most computerized reports will compare natal and progressed planetary positions and explain how they could blend together, which primarily involve the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars.  The outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, move so slowly that frequently they don’t progress to another sign during your entire lifetime unless they were in a late degree when you were born.  New aspects created between the planets in your progressed chart should be addressed as well as aspects formed between planets in the secondary progressed chart and your natal chart.  These two charts interact closely and in a powerful, synergistic way.

Your lunar phase, i.e., the phase the Moon was in when you were born, progresses as well which is another indicator of how you see life and approach its challenges.  Those born under a New Moon have different characteristics than those born under a Full Moon or anywhere inbetween. Sometimes a lunar phase report is included in a secondary progressed chart interpretation and sometimes not.  I always provide them as part of the secondary progressed computerized reports I sell to my clients but in other cases they may be sold separately.

It seems appropriate to mention here that one time I sold a secondary progressed report to a client who complained that it was identical, word for word, to a report she’d purchased elsewhere but under an entirely different title.  Thus, you may not always know what you’re getting when you purchase reports with mysterious or enticing names that don’t specify what it’s based on or how it’s derived.  This is where it pays to be an informed astrological consumer and ask for clarification to make sure you’ll get what you’re expecting.

Not Provided:  Computerized secondary progressed reports primarily address how you will feel, similar to a natal chart interpretation, and thus do not provide the timing of specific events, partly because they often neglect houses.  However, an astrologer may be able to do so by comparing it with your natal chart.  Besides addressing how your natal and progressed charts compare, these reports also will not integrate contradictory indicators, the same problem encountered with computer generated natal interpretations.  Again, retrograde planets, which often have major implications if they station by progression, are seldom addressed.  Since your progressed chart moves so slowly, it’s common for an outer planet such as Pluto to be retrograde for your entire life.  The inner planets may eventually go direct, but it will still usually be several years of effects before they do.  When they station, either direct or retrograde, they present another astrological situation that is going to last for a while and can represent a major change.  For example, Mercury is usually retrograde for approximately three weeks but that translates to 21 years in the progressed chart.  When Mercury goes retrograde by progression you may find yourself finishing up projects started earlier as opposed to moving on to anything new or if it stations direct you may finally get to move on to something else, depending on the house involved.

[NOTE:--If you’ve moved a substantial distance from your birth place it may be worth it to have this report generated for both your birth place and current location because there are likely to be a few differences between them involving the ascendant and house cusps.  Automated systems may not be able to handle this but a report run by an astrologer can reflect this difference.  The effect of relocating your place of residence on your natal chart will be discussed more below.  Once again, the effects of the charts will blend, contributing to your complexity as a human being.]