Understanding Transits

I got an email from someone today who said that she didn't really understand transits. There are at least several ways to understand transits. First, a few basics. At any given moment, the various planets (and other elements used in astrology) are at a particular point along the astrological wheel.

So we say, for example, that Neptune is in Aquarius at 22 degrees. We say that Neptune is in Aquarius because Neptune (if you could see it with the naked eye) would appear to be very slowly traveling through the constellation of Aquarius.

And that's essentially what 'transit' means. It means the apparent traveling that a planet is doing at the current time. The very name planet means essentially "one who travels." The name is a way of designating those things the ancients saw in the sky that were temporary in their location, unlike the fixed stars that never seemed to move.

So you can understand a transit in astrology as indicating something that is temporary in nature, something that won't last forever. Your natal chart or your birth doesn't change; your transits do.

As planets travel around the astrological wheel, they periodically send postcards to your natal planets back at home in your birth chart. They also call collect, send urgent faxes, telegrams, or text messages, email their travel photos, communicate in other ways, and even come back home occasionally for a visit. They keep in touch. What you experience during a transit is the result of those traveling planets keeping in touch with or visiting your natal planets.

Let's give an example of this. Let's say that you are experiencing a transit that astrologers call Pluto conjunct the sun. Pluto in his astrological travels has parked himself and his luggage at the same degree that the sun appears at in your personal birth chart. If this happens, you will feel it.

This is like Pluto moving into your house (uninvited), sort of like a very difficult mother-in-law coming in and taking over the place, bossing you around constantly and messing up everything in your formerly comfortable routine as you get down on your knees every night for long stretches praying "when will Pluto leave? Please God, when will Pluto leave?"

And because it's a transit, Pluto eventually will. One person undergoing a Pluto conjunct sun transit got involved in a documentary film project and couldn't get out from underneath it until the transit ended. It obsessed her; it consumed her time; she could not escape it until she had done her time with it. Pluto in this case was a symbol of the project. This was a very difficult time for her, spent on a very difficult project, and yet it was an admirable growth time for her as well.

Because unlike some house guests, the traveling planets have been brought up to believe that it is customary to leave a nice gift for the host after your stay. So the gift Pluto left after his stay was a distribution deal and significant career visibility.

That's an example of a planet paying an actual visit (conjunction) to one of your natal planets. Sometimes the planets keep in touch in other ways, too. Not that long ago, Neptune was in sextile to my natal moon. That means that Neptune in Aquarius was 60 degrees away from the spot on the wheel where my natal moon lives.

One of the conceits of astrology is that when the traveling planets are at certain angles to other planets, at designated numbers of degrees, it is sort of like the traveling planet is getting really good cell phone reception for awhile, or has stumbled into an internet café and is getting a great chance to catch up on all its emails to the folks back home. Certain angles give planets excellent chances to communicate with each other.

In this case, Neptune was getting a chance to chat with my natal Moon. Here's what it said when it called: "Hey, moon, I've been traveling out here in modern technology-land and you know what I was thinking you would totally love? Blogging! In a community blog. Wouldn't that be so cool? I think it would be totally cool. You should blog about astrology. Check it out; I think it would be a great opportunity for you to do something you enjoy—running your mouth! Hah hah, just kidding. No really, at least think it over. At least think about blogging about astrology."

So when Neptune left me that message via a transit to my moon, I did think it over. The idea to blog about astrology popped into my head (which is frequently how transits assert themselves, via ideas popping into your head). So I thought about it a bit and I started blogging about astrology. And Neptune was right. I did love it. That's how transits work.

The traveling planets go out and about picking up information and insight about the world and how it works, about current conditions, and then they are nice enough to pass along to you the information that they get.

This does not necessarily mean that your natal planets will always be pleased to get the news. Sometimes transits send along upsetting news. One client had a transit of Uranus in Pisces in square to her Sagittarius Ascendant. During the transit, her boss essentially told her that she was 'too enthusiastic.' This is an example of Uranus delivering his message via another person (another common way that transits assert themselves). Sagittarius is an enthusiastic Ascendant for sure, and Uranus was feeling pretty crabby about having to listen to all that bouncy enthusiasm all the time.

Those are three of the ways that transits most commonly work: via a project or outside circumstance, via an idea, feeling or obsession that pops into your head or heart, or via an outside person. Of course, I have only scratched the surface of understanding transits, but that is one way of starting to think about how they operate. For information on some of the transits specific to midlife, you can click here to see an article posted on my website.