One of the things that is often trickiest to get a hold of when you study progressions is the inter-relationship between the progressed chart and the natal. For example, if a progressed planet is making an aspect to another progressed planet, how do you interpret that progression in relation to the natal chart? On the whole, unless you’re very young, the inner planets will 
be in very different places from the natal. The outer planets don’t move very far, retaining a kind of overview, a supervisory position, acting as a spiritual anchor in the progressed chart, but the planets most near will be scooting around, causing havoc. The way to cheat, of course, (and many astrologers do) is to skip progressed to progressed positions entirely and concentrate on progressed to natal. Unfortunately, the laugh would be on you, because the progressed to progressed positions are the most vital tools we have in depth astrology, telling us exactly where we are in spiritual terms. Can I tell you how to interpret progressed-to-progressed aspects in regards to the natal? The answer is, yes, but not hypothetically. It depends on the planets and it depends on the houses and it depends on their relative importance in the natal chart. It also depends on what transits are affecting both the progressed and the natal at the time. The rule of thumb is that the action of the progressed aspect manifests in the houses of the natal, but there are many exceptions to this rule. Interpreting the progressed chart is an art form that takes time, experience, and a real understanding of cycles to perfect.
But one of the progression cycles that is quite easy to grasp is the cycle of the Progressed Moon and its relationship to the Saturn cycle in the natal chart. This is so vital to our soul development and our work in the world that I’m surprised it isn’t discussed more on astrology sites on the web. Especially since you don’t need an ephemeris to ‘get’ it.
I’ve touched on this before in my Moon/Saturn articles (you can find part 1 of the series here). It’s important to understand the creative relationship between the Moon and Saturn in a chart. The energy flow of the I.C. and the M.C. (natural houses for the Moon and Saturn) is all about how we bring the world ‘in here’ (the birth of consciousness at the I.C.) through our creative expression and create something ‘out there’ that is useful in the world. When this flow of the angles is working properly, we not only feel connected to a sense of personal power (I.C.), but by using that inner core of power, we feel legitimate and validated. We have a sense of inner authenticity and authority that no one can take away from us.
Part of the journey towards authenticity has to do with the development of the sense of “I.” We do this by the Asc/Desc axis and by testing our sense of “I” through the vehicle of “other.” One of the reasons that partnership is such a ferocious quest when we’re younger isn’t really to do with sex, but has to do with this inner need for self-definition. By partnering, we connect the male and the female halves of the psyche and get to experience ourselves through another. As we mature, partnership isn’t such a panic because we’ve been through these self-defining experiences. Not that the quest doesn’t go on–it certainly does–but it doesn’t have the same urgency, and sometimes we wish to avoid losing what was hard-won.
Everyone who knows anything about astrology has heard of the infamous Saturn return. That’s typical of the emphasis on the M.C. (external success) in this culture, and our equally silly avoidance of all things relating to Saturn. But yes, the Saturn return is difficult, because for the first time in our lives we’re faced with a responsibility that is all our own. We have to grow up. We have to start doing the things that we were put here to do, actually make a little impact in the world. But why is this so hard? Because the year before the Saturn return, we have been stripped of all our security by the Progressed Lunar Return.
Like all returns, the Progressed Lunar Return is both an ending and a beginning. However, the Progressed Lunar Return is the queen of all returns. And she’s the one who takes our security blanket away because she doesn’t like the way we’re clinging to our past. The calculation is simple. It takes the Progressed Moon twenty eight years to return to its own place in the natal chart. Usually, the year before the return is exact, when the Progressed Moon is ten to twelve degrees before the conjunction, we begin to lose our footing. Familiar things slip away, or we have the urge to get rid of things, habits and patterns because we’ve outgrown them. Usually, depending on the condition of the Moon in the chart, we get one of two reactions: we either have a real break from the past, or we become further enmeshed in family/tribal patterns and rituals, most often out of fear. We have a deep desire for change of any kind. Sometimes we wish to consolidate our familial duties and obligations, but this particular return is not the time for it. It’s asking for a shedding of the old and an initiation of the new. Again, a lot depends on the condition of the Moon at birth. I have a Moon/Uranus conjunction, and on my first lunar return I left for Europe, a marriage abroad, a brand new life.
Speaking of marriage, marriages at this time are not particularly recommended. (I can attest to this personally, as well as professionally.) They can be an indication of a desire to cling to the tribe, rather than individuate, and may be a doomed attempt at filling the gap of emotional insecurity we feel at this time. They may also fulfill, albeit temporarily, the urgings we have to ‘move on.’ I have no statistics, but from my client database I can see clearly that marriages at this time can be short-lived (or perhaps this is only true for people who consult astrologers). The other thing that occurs at this time is divorce, the divorces of those early marriages that may have been substitutes for other kinds of internal development.
Have you ever noticed that the planets we call ‘relationship planets’ all rule cardinal signs? Aries–Mars, Cancer–Moon, Libra–Venus, Capricorn–Saturn. (The Sun carries a separate symbolism with the Moon, having to do with the 5th house expression rather than the 10th house expression of the masculine energy.) The ‘story’ of cardinality is the development of consciousness, which must be evolved through interaction with ‘other’ in the widest sense of that word (this is why Saturn is exalted in Libra). Aries is the movement outward, the life force, and is pre-conscious. This is our metaphorical Year One. Seven years later, the Progressed Moon has its first square to itself. Age seven is considered the age of reason in a number of religions, the age when a child is expected to know right from wrong and therefore is responsible for his or her own behaviour. This initiation of conscious awareness is the ‘birth’ associated with Cancer. We will also experience at this time Saturn’s first square to itself, emphasizing the element of responsibility.
At age 14 we go through hell–otherwise known as the Saturn opposition to itself combined with all the hormone-arousing, exaggerated feeliness of the Progressed Moon’s opposition to itself. No wonder we’re in total chaos at this time, emotionally, spiritually and physically. Our feelings are raging, we know we need to separate from the tribe but we can’t yet, we try to create new tribes of our own. We know we have to be responsible but the burden of that responsibility, combined with the emotional chaos, doesn’t sit well. We don’t want to do what we’re told but we don’t know what else to do, either. The one thing that does happen is that sex takes on more and more importance, and finding a partner becomes a focus and a priority, whether we dare to try or remain in a fantasy world. We’re now in what is strongly a Libra/Aries phase, where the notion of the union of Self and Other is urgent. The push towards Self-discovery is intense. In a lot of cultures, this is the year that a real split can occur between the masculine and the feminine, and there are rituals where we leave our childhoods and ‘become’ a man or a woman.
If we’re lucky, over the next seven years or so we sort this out, until we come to our first understanding of our partnership needs and desires. At age 21, we move into our first Capricorn/MC year–where the impetus is to find our place in the world. For the first time, we need to define ourselves in terms of ‘the world out there’. Both Saturn and the Progressed Moon are in waning squares to themselves in the natal chart at this time. The waning square is the most focused and intense in the cycle, because it knows it has little time to accomplish what it needs to do. We sense an ending in the distance, yet aren’t quite sure how we’re meant to fulfill our requirements. Like all first cycles, everything in the first 28 years of life is fraught with the new.
During all of the crisis points of this cycle, there are opportunities for retreat. We can fall into old behaviour patterns at any time, lose our enthusiasm for our own progress, find it easier to avoid change. With the first Progressed Lunar Cycle, we are forced to confront what baggage we brought into this world and what we should do with it. This has more of a feel of cleaning up loose ends from past lifetimes than the satisfaction of accomplished individuation that can arrive later. We may have fame, success, all kinds of achievements in store before age 28, but there is usually the strange sense that they are not our own. At the age of 28, we begin to step up to the plate of individual responsibility, and have a much stronger sense that our lives need to be shaped by something more than instinct. We begin to need, to crave, a direction. Some area where we can focus our newly discovered selves.
Part Two to follow. Some of this article is excerpted from THE INNER WHEEL: A New Guide to Secondary Progressions, which will be available later this year.
Great article: you say; “They can be an indication of a desire to cling to the tribe” and follow up with the thought that this might be particularly so for people who do consult astrologers. I think this is a valid reflection, most people who actually come for a psycho-analytical reading are tending to individualize and not just follow consensus. Staying with the past and the familiar seems much more like a consensus frame of mind.
A little thing about the number 7; both Uranus (orb 12 times 7) and Chiron (orb 7 times 7) are both intertwined in these cycles, do you have any thoughts about these cycles in relation to what you write here.
Thanks again for an enlightening article, always great to swim in the waters of the queen of progressions…:)
Sol
Thanks, Sol. Nice to hear from you again.
I’m not clear on what you mean with Uranus and Chiron.
Hi Dawn
a lot to ponder here. I’m five years away from my second lunar progression (on my first I moved from the UK to New Zealand, I’m still here and happy though the Kiwi boyfriend I moved here with is long gone!)
My progressed moon has been under some pressure recently going through a testing time in opposition to Pluto and now at 10 Cancer is in square to Saturn and obviously will be for some time as they travel together.
It has been a time of deep clearing of emotional wounds from traumatic past lives, a call to maturity for my inner child and now Saturn is bringing up all the fears around trusting and connecting to my intuition as well as trust within relationship. This was a surprise as I had felt happy and stable in both areas – but I guess there are always new levels of inner maturity and power to grow to.
Hi Dawn,
How perfect, I have been wondering about my next prog new moon within the next year. It will be in sag conjunct progressed mars, merc, asc and part of fortune. All in the second house trine the natal midheaven. Would this mean a carrear breakthrough?
Hi, Hayley–
A progressed new moon is not a progressed lunar return. The progressed new moon is another beast entirely, a very important one, and I would hesitate an interpretation without a thorough look at both the progressed and natal charts. But it would bring a lot of energy to the natal midheaven, yes. However, it might mean a completely new attitude is needed, a new sense and definition of Self.
Very interesting article! I had a relationship that started in 1985. We were both from different countries, he Italian, I, an American…we met in Italy…big instant attraction, almost as if past life recall…His Neptune was on my MC, in Scorpio, My Moon was on his IC in Aquarius, also his Saturn conjuncted my Moon exactly in Aquarius 18 degrees but also was in his 3rd house. Our Sun’s trined exact degree 16 Sag (his) Mine 16 Aries.. My Venus is 2 Gemini and his Moon is 0.50 Libra, nice trine….we met again and again..but each time there was some misunderstanding/ reason on his part, even though he was adament he loved only me(!) as to why we did not stay together!! Amazingly enough… 25 years later (Aug 11th, 2010) we reconnected on Facebook, met again in Oct in Italy. It was all the joy and happiness and then after a couple months, he stopped contacting me…with no real reason…I felt betrayed, lied to and definately decieved…is this his Neptune in Scorpio (which is in
his 12th right on his Rising Sign) on my MC? My Pluto conjuncts his MC..and my Jupiter too in Leo (29 degrees is his, my Pluto is 26 and my Jupiter is 21, all in my 7th house) anyway..this ended again…with duty to his family, over love for me being the reason…yet again! He has a stellium of Capricorn in his second house, works at a bank and has done for 22 years, so this is not an irresponsible man. Please could you enlighten me?? What the heck is the real story here??? Thank you, Befuddled!
Hi Dawn, not sure this is the right thread but here it is anyway! Thanks for all your help!! Maggie xx
Hi, Maggie. No, this isn’t the right thread, I think you wanted the MC/IC in synastry articles, but I will answer here anyway. From everything you wrote, you already know the answer–yes, the Neptune factor is to blame. It would take a complete analysis to understand why the themes are repeating. We have to begin to understand that trines are not always all good. Trines allow things to flow, allow things to happen. If you add angular Neptune, you’re getting a lot of confused energy filtering through those angles. Your Moon/IC connection is very intense, especially with Saturn there. But folks who have Neptune rising don’t always have the clearest picture of their actions or motivations. And his Neptune falling on your MC means that you are capable of seeing whatever you want to see where he is concerned, not what actually is. His Neptune on your MC means that the two of you may have a hard time dealing with the realities of the external world, as far as the relationship is concerned.
It isn’t that his feelings for you aren’t legitimate (when you’re around). Neptune can be deceptive and illusive without knowing it; it’s Neptune’s job to create illusions and then to shatter the innocence. When we’re betrayed by others we are always betraying ourselves in some way, first. Try to figure out where you’ve been deceiving yourself, what falsehoods you’ve been hanging on to, and you will begin to understand why this happened.
Thank you Dawn. it is exactly what I want to hear, because the insanity of it all is what makes it so maddening! I saw what I was told by him to believe, yet something inside me told me differently…remember this was over an ocean or two, as in letters, then much later emails…but yes, I see that I was also wanting the Prince he wanted to be as well..what a joke love is, eh? One minute it is all so glorius, the rest it is all about your own unconscious sneaking in there yet again..one can be decieved by too much inner searching too…believe me. I can get with this answer understanding you haven’t seen the two charts, and I can see what lies I am telling myself, such as believing in love as the so called “answer”…but let us truely be honest…the only answer is SELF as the Godself, and when you get there…what you find is the life, all you look for and into was a made up dream, all an illusion of this so called material world…it goes on and on…like the beat of a heart…meaningful, meaningless…Pisces in Neptune has entered my second house, no planets there but Neptune natally in Libra 28 degrees in the 9th..can you tell? Thanks for the inner look! Maggie xx
Hi Dawn,
I seeee. I was under the impression you were talking about The progressed new moon cycle where the Progressed sun is conjunct the Progressed moon. I have never looked at the progressed lunar return?
I must say that with almost my whole chart progressed into sag in my second house all conjunct and starting to trine my Mc…. I am very much in a different state of mind… and My career fills as if its about to fly. I am a film and tv composer. I have been working my whole life at it.. and its been hard as hell! As I am a libra with scorpio rising with a stellium in the 12th and first. So its all moved out of Scorpio and into to Sag and the second.. I feel like a Sag…. not the heavy, intense scorpio, that has been where all my planets have been most of my life! So I have been reading up on how the progressed new moon works.This will be my second in this lifetime. At the first one, I started my career as a composer. So interesting to see how it works!
thanx for your great work! I love reading your blog
Hayley
Hayley, The progressed new moon is probably the most important progression we experience. It’s impact as a new beginning is much stronger than the lunar return–the lunar return is about shedding the old and gradually stepping into the new, whereas the progressed new moon is a major turning point in life. There will be a lot of new material on the progressed new moon, and the rest of its cycle, in the book The Inner Wheel, which will be available in the winter.
I look forward to reading your book!
I imagine that the second progressed lunar return is quite different? The second Saturn return is years later in that case. My progressed Moon recently entered my 12th house, and since my natal Moon is conjunct my Ascendant, my lunar return will happen when the pMoon moves out of my 12th. At the same time, my progressed Sun will conjunct my progressed Jupiter (both already in my 4th house). I was glad to see that you talk about progressed planet aspects with other progressed planets as I haven’t found much on this. Anyway, should be an interesting time! (Also, about a year later my progressed Ascendant changes signs to Libra.)
The second progressed lunar return begins the work that is initiated at the Chiron return we all have at age 50. The Chiron return is not the big party it’s cracked up to be. At the Chiron return, we acknowledge our mortality and, if we’re living consciously, we need to be thinking about what kind of legacy we will leave behind us. We know we don’t have infinite time to accomplish things anymore, so we begin to focus on what we can do, what contributions can we make to the world around us. When the second progressed lunar return occurs, a few years later, we should be ready to rearrange our lives. Again, it’s about shedding the past, but it’s about not carrying anything that we don’t need. Sometimes people make radical changes at the second return–they make new lives for themselves, pursue new goals. It can be a very exciting time if we’re willing to let go and find new avenues for expression. At this time, we need to begin to work on making our lives mean something, and the lunar return can help us carry that out.
Thanks for finally writing about >The Progressed Moon/Transiting Saturn Cycle in Synastry (Part One) | The Inner Wheel <Loved it!