1. Progressed angles: progressed angles are very much alive. They are more than the skeleton of the chart, they are lightning rods for active change and evolution. The cardinal houses indicated will be highly active and very conscious to the individual involved, and will take priority over the natal angles in terms of aspects made. Progressed angles tend to work in polarity even more strongly than natal angles: a conjunction to the MC, for example, could indicate a re-examination of the home life via the MC conjunction. Much depends on other aspects.
2. Progressed angles to progressed planets. (Progressed angles to natal are also significant, but more complicated to interpret.)
3. Natal angles: where do they fall? Do they activate via progression?
4. Aspects of the progressed Sun
5. Aspects of the chart ruler or any angle ruler
6. Are angle rulers in aspect to one another? If so, this is a highly significant and challenging period of self-actualization.
7. Angular or heavily aspected natal planets in the progressed chart
8. Progressed planets to natal moon
9. Progressing Moon: House, conjunctions, aspects to progressed planets, angles
10. Note houses ruled by active progressed planets (any progressed planets making aspects to one another)
11. Mars, Saturn, Uranus Neptune and Pluto in hardaspect to personal planets
12. Natal planets in aspect making an aspect via progression (ie: natal Mercury sextile natal Saturn; progressed Mercury square progressed Saturn).
13. Remember the rule of 3: need three thematically related configurations plus confirmation in the natalfor an aspect to make itself conscious. One configuration should be a transit
14. Check transiting conjunctions to progressed planets, particularly Sun and Mars
15. Check transiting Sun and Mars for conjunctions to progressed aspects, or transits of a planet featured in the aspect (ie: transiting Mercury conjunct progressed Pluto, when progressed Pluto is square progressed Mercury)
16. Remember that hard aspects are the strongest and most indicative of change and/or external manifestation: conjunctions first and foremost, followed by oppositions, squares, semi-squares and sesquiquadrates, and the inconjunct, which is particularly difficult via progression and tends to manifest in some physical form. Think of them as Saturn substitutes.
17. The ‘soft’ aspects are not always so ‘soft’ via progression. Sometimes they cause a ‘flow’ of energy, which can go to excess in an almost Jupiterian way. This is particularly true if a soft aspect is also part of a hard aspect (i.e.: progressed Neptune square progressed Venus, progressed Moon trine progressed Venus).
18. Slow-moving planets in aspect in the natal chart becoming exact via progression—highly significant. A Saturn/Pluto square, for example, that is a couple of degrees from exact may at some point in the life become exact to the minute. It’s a long, long process coming to a peak of tension. When it does, the energies can be explosive and will muscle in on all other progressions and transits, which will carry the colour of the outer planet exact. Any transits or progressed positions touching it by aspect will be highly activated.
19. Do transits and progressions repeat themes? For example, does transiting Uranus oppose natal Moon and progressed Moon conjunct natal/progressed Uranus? In this case the houses ruled by both are highly important., and will be affected by the Uranus/Moon theme of change, intellectual distance, sudden enlightenment, etc. The person will be torn from his or her comfort zone in the areas the houses indicate, and their emotional reactions to the affairs of those houses will undergo a sudden shift.
20. Aspects in the progressed chart can manifest on many levels at once during the period of exactitude. A change can be felt on an emotional or spiritual level and not manifest as anything physical in the life. The more a person is in tune with his or her own evolution, the less the aspects manifest as an external ‘event’ (as a general rule—there are exceptions). A person who is continually surprised at what life is throwing him or her is usually less self-aware. This is important to keep this in mind when discussing the chart with the client. The person who is more aware of internal development will be keenly in touch with the unfolding progressed aspects and may respond to them more strongly than transits.
The Progressed Chart in general:
Examine the angles and the angle rulers. When the Progressed Asc conjuncts a planet it especially will color the entire three or four year period. See how the progressed angle rulers behave in the natal.
Examine the Progressed Sun in light of the challenges and lessons of the natal Sun. Any aspects to progressed Sun are highly important and indicate an opportunity for major growth and change. Take into account the polarity of the natal Sun and progressed Suns. Conjunctions to natal and progressed planets are particularly strong, and will indicate an incorporation of that planet’s energy into the solar energy. This is particularly true in the outer planet conjunctions, which will always be challenging if not downright difficult.
Examine the progressed Moon for where the client is ‘at’ at any given time. The progressed Sun indicates long term soul development and integration, but the progressed Moon indicates what is most on the conscious mind in the day to day. The progressed Moon ignites whatever else is active in the progressed chart—again, mostly by conjunctions and hard aspects, but sometimes by softer aspects as well. (The soft aspects seem more like an underlying ‘vibe’, while the hard aspects can indicate immediate awareness or sometimes actual events.)
Aspects between planets are usually strongest when most exact, but this rule is altered if the aspect is also subject to an important transit. The transit will activate the progressed aspect, even if not exact.