By: David Mulligan

Although the position of the Solar Return Sun will give definite information about a person, it must always be looked at in context with the birth chart and the progressions. The Solar Return chart acts to focus and direct what is happening to the person at the deeper level of the progressed chart.

To tell someone who has Solar Return sun in the second house conjunct Jupiter ruling the second, that they are going to expand their financial base is usually a safe bet. But if the birth chart has Jupiter opposing Uranus and the natal second house is involved; and the progressed chart shows sun conjunct Uranus – well, then it might easily work that the expansion that Jupiter brings to the Solar Return chart is an exaggeration of the “freeing” capacity of Uranus and they lose most of their resources that year.

As with all “cookbook” astrology, the following can only act as general guidelines. Each chart has to be looked at as a whole.

House Position of the Solar Return Sun

The house position of the Sun in the Solar Return gives emphasis on this house for the coming year. These are similar in meaning to the Sun in that house in a birth chart. Any aspects that the Sun makes must also be taken into account.

1. Encourages independent action. Makes one more appreciated than in other years. This general indication for personal success seems to be an energizer for the house that rises in Leo. This other house will be highlighted in a year that the Sun falls in the first house.
2. Earnings come more easily. There is a clarification of perception concerning one’s earning potential, values and the use of personal resources. Under strong affliction, this position will still bring the clarity, but that clarity will highlight the difficulties in this area of life. Ambition and firmness of purpose usually are stronger this year, but pessimism about one’s abilities and stubbornness can be manifest with affliction.

3. Indicates a year with more than the usual interaction with siblings or neighbours. With squares or oppositions, there may be conflict with same. With trines, there can easily be an opportunity to make new friends close to home. The other natural focus of this year is learning new modes of communication or brushing up on old ones. Writing, talking, chatting and socializing all increase this year. Unless there are hard aspects and sometimes even if there are, it can be a good year for initiating and signing important applications and petitions. Success in studies should be judged from the aspects.

4. Does not only emphasize the normal things of this house – home, parents, roots, property – but also seems to have its greatest impact in the last quarter of the year. Depending on the aspects to the Sun here, this could be a year of changing homes or involving oneself in real estate.
5. As with the Sun in the first house, the Sun here is very dependent on its rulership for expression. Ruling the first, third or ninth, it focuses on expansion and expression of awareness. Ruling the second or tenth, the focus would be on business, money, career, etc. If it rules the seventh or eleventh, then the issues of relationships will dominate the year. As to its fifth house connection to children: that may occur, but here it behaves as any other planet and is highly dependent on its aspects.
6. Focuses the year on health, or brings about a need to be very busy with the issues of the house that the Sun rules. As a health focus it is generally unfavourable, but can be eased by a strong conscious attention to the body’s needs especially in terms of rest, diet, exercise and stress alleviation. As the sixth house is one of service (to the issues of the house the Sun rules) it is important that the service be given freely, without resentment. Again, the aspects will give more information. In hard aspect to Mars and connected (by rulership or aspect) to the 10th house, for example, one might do injury to the career by too hasty an action that was meant to better the status.
7. This position favours the partner more than oneself. If already in a relationship, this would be a year of re-definition of that relationship. This would be initiated by the partner. For singles, this is a year of interacting with others on a one-on-one basis far more. The aspects will indicate whether this will be easy or hard, stressful and painful or exciting and joyous. The Sun in close opposition to the Ascendant can bring conflict, putting the power over your life in someone else’s hands. In competitions or lawsuits that may arise during the year, the strength is on the other’s side. The house that the sun rules may give strong clues to the underlying basis of relationships begun or reformulated during this year.
8. Is usually an indicator of a death during the year. Who or what will die can be seen by a thorough examination of the aspects, their rulerships and their natures. When the death will occur will be shown by the progression of the moon during it’s day’s travel or more often, by the quotidian progression of the angles in the chart. If there is no indication of death in the progressed chart then the “death” in this case is either not close to oneself, or is of a thing or situation rather than a person. With “easy” aspects this is a good year for investments, increase in revenues, and decrease in debts. Any conflict situation (see 7th above) will likely be won by oneself. This is especially true if the Sun is at the end of the 7th and being read as in the eighth. Hard aspects do not mean disaster here necessarily, and can best be looked upon as opportunities for transformation.
9. Produces a year of learning. This need not be formal but may show itself as spiritual development, and, often, as travel. In the latter case, timing of a trip will show through the quotidian progressed angles more often than the Moon. With hard aspects to the Sun, these issues will still dominate but there may be hurtles, blockages, opposition or downright failure – for example, a student who drops out of university in a year in which the Solar Return Sun is in T-square in the 9th. This year is one of higher than usual ambition.
10. Will bring prominence in the career and in the public life. The reputation will spread and unless there is strong affliction, one will have no difficulty finding support, credit, patronage and aid. This is frequently a year of promotion or some outstanding achievement. Afflictions here do not usually deny the prominence but may make it more difficult. Again, the house that the Sun rules may likely indicate a connection to the rise, acclaim or reputation.
11. Unless poorly positioned or strongly afflicted, favours the realization of plans and goals, especially those that relate to the house that the Sun rules. With squares and oppositions, and especially with inconjunct aspects, this year may be the time to set goals and plans for the future rather than realize them. It can be a time of increased activity on a group level but often acts to bring a new friend into one’s life. As with the ninth house, this can be a period of increased ambition.
12. Usually acts to enlighten one to the nature of this house. It generally does so through some discomfort: the revelation of some hidden disease that causes one to have to seek treatment. If the Sun is very afflicted, it will threaten the health, but this is generally a good position for all things governed by the twelfth house.

Solar Return MC in Radix Houses

1. Solar Return MC in the natal first house is generally a good indication, enabling the native to influence his destiny and to orient it in the direction he prefers. This superimposition always promises individual action that somehow or other helps his future. It is frequently seen in years when the native chooses his vocation, or begins a project that turns his life in a new direction. This position gives a great deal of opportunity.

   The difference between this superimposition and that of the annual Ascendant on the natal tenth house is this: in the latter instance, the native must act on his own, discover the means and the opportunities, and bring about the proper conditions; whereas if the MC is in the natal first house, fortune plays a larger part; he will find help, money, patronage, etc. In a word, one way or another, things will come to him. It is generally a very good sign, and better than that of the annual Ascendant in the natal tenth house.

2. Solar Return MC in the natal second house indicates a year in which the native will be well or badly paid, depending on the favourable or unfavourable disposition of these two houses. It is a sign that finances are very important and should be carefully examined, even if the second house is unoccupied.
3. Solar Return MC in the natal third house indicates a social position that requires much travel, or which is connected with writing. If the Solar Return is “benefic,” this superimposition may bring an improvement in the social position as a result of a short business trip, or the receipt of an important proposal by letter. In feminine charts, and in the charts of persons with no profession, this orientation generally indicates that their situation depends on their associates.
4. Solar Return MC in the natal fourth house raises questions about land, parents, past or the home. Very often it indicates achievement of a project of long standing. Since the fourth house governs the end of things, this orientation can mark the year of retirement. If afflicted, this orientation threatens a loss of position, especially if the natal and Solar Return MCs are in opposition (within 2-3 degrees).
5. Solar Return MC in the natal fifth house is generally a good sign and may indicate a position connected with the arts, or sports, a success through, or for, children, or an engagement or affair advantageous for improving the native’s standing (more common in a feminine chart). Sometimes it is a sign of a life caught up in worldly pleasure. But if the Solar Return is afflicted, there is a danger of the disintegration of all the native’s hopes (because of the MC’s opposition to the natal eleventh house.)
6. Solar Return MC in the natal sixth house is a sign of a subordinate or dependent position. If the Solar Return promises illness, this position is an indication of the repercussions bad health will have on the native’s career. If this orientation is reinforced by Saturn’s presence in the MC, it indicates that the native is more or less a slave in his work, because it reduces his freedom of choice and freedom of action, and opposes the achievement of most of his desires.
7. Solar Return MC in the natal seventh house: well disposed, it could signify promotion through marriage, partnership, or a business contract. Unfavourably disposed, this superimposition could cause changes through divorce, dissolution of a partnership or even by trial. In feminine charts, it frequently indicates the wife’s dependence on the changes that occur in the husband’s business.
8. Solar Return MC in the natal eighth house: favourably disposed, may indicate financial returns, occasionally an inheritance, or a favourable settling of accounts. Unfavourably disposed, this superimposition indicates a death with repercussions on business, or problems with debts or financial obligations. The question of “debts” almost always plays an important role during the year marked by this superimposition.
9. Solar Return MC in the natal ninth house indicates that the native’s career will require a journey, or that a journey will influence his career. Sometimes this configuration emphasizes the importance of the native’s business dealings involving foreign countries, or success coming from a distance. In the charts of writers, this could be when their works are translated into foreign languages.
10. If the MC of the Solar Return coincides with its natal position, it is generally a good sign for everything involving profession, occupation, reputation or fortune. As stated earlier, the conjunction of the angles indicates a rather important year. Falling in the natal tenth, but further away from the radix angle, this elevation is less pronounced.
11. Solar Return MC in the natal eleventh house indicates a career at least partially dependent on friends or connections. In general, it is a very good omen for the achievement of the native’s plans and aspirations during the year. Occasionally, this configuration induces him to live in, and work for, the future more than the present – sacrificing immediate rewards to a long-term plan.
12. Solar Return MC in the natal twelfth house, lastly, generally indicates a year of great ordeal in or through the career, danger of libel, slander or difficulties in finding or keeping a job. Unfavourable aspects linked to the cusp of this house will aggravate these tendencies. If favourable and unfavourable configurations are about equal then this superimposition could be interpreted as the native being discontented with their current lot.

Reference: The Technique of Solar Returns by Alexander Volguine
English translation 1972, ASI publishers, Translated by John Broglio