Transiting Planets foreground in Solar Returns

[Jim Eshelman]

Interpretations in the posts below are from Interpreting Solar Returns, copyright 1979 & 1985 by James A. Eshelman, all rights reserved.

Transiting Moon Foreground / Background viewtopic.php?f=20&t=227#p1533
Transiting Mercury Foreground / Background viewtopic.php?f=20&t=227#p1535
Transiting Venus Foreground / Background viewtopic.php?f=20&t=227#p1537
Transiting Mars Foreground / Background viewtopic.php?f=20&t=227#p1539
Transiting Jupiter Foreground / Background viewtopic.php?f=20&t=227#p1540
Transiting Saturn Foreground / Background viewtopic.php?f=20&t=227#p1541
Transiting Uranus Foreground / Background viewtopic.php?f=20&t=227#p1542
Transiting Neptune Foreground / Background viewtopic.php?f=20&t=227#p1544
Transiting Pluto Foreground / Background viewtopic.php?f=20&t=227#p1545

[Jim Eshelman]

Transiting Moon Foreground

Emotional excitement surrounds the individual with this placement of the Solar Return Moon. Being strongly responsive to the emotional quality of the immediate environment, such a person is keenly attuned to the fluctuating, unstable circumstances of his or her world. Changing conditions require the native to adapt to new situations, so the year is apt to be one of acclimating oneself to an impermanent or uncertain lifestyle.

Not only are the appetites easily aroused, including the sexual ones, but these people display intensive desires and considerable emotional force in whatever activities they seriously undertake. Sensation and feeling are dominant keynotes for the period in question.

A foreground Moon is one of a few astrological factors which hypersensitize people to the astrological themes presently operating in their lives. Due to an acute awareness of the "feeling tone" of a place, anyone with this luminary active is apt to more fully experience whatever their Solunars, transits, etc. describe. Such people are quite vulnerable, susceptible, readily seduced. They react more spontaneously to impromptu situations, giving way to whims and impulses which spring from their sensitized desire natures.

At the root of any lunar manifestation are the nurturance needs nestled inside all of us. When the Solar Return Moon is foreground, we either respond to the nurturance needs of someone nearby, or stand to receive somebody's affection, support, care and general emotional sustenance. Either way, the need to belong or merge with another living being is accentuated. Emotional security is an alluring payoff, commonly rooted in the sensual tactile immediacy of a loved one's (or coveted one's) presence. Popular attention by friends, family or community is a variation of this same principle, publicity being a common outworking of a foreground transiting Moon.


Transiting Moon Background

Unless Mercury, Uranus or Neptune occupies the Solar Return foreground, this will be a relatively calm, stable period. One's emotional antennae are retracted, so the feeling tone of the outside world doesn't intrude on everyday life. An individual's overall emotional involvement with people and circumstances in the environment is held to a minimum.

Barring contrary indications by foreground planets, a background Moon points to a relatively stable, solid, settled time in life. Little effort is wasted on distractions. Personal affairs can be given primary attention because the individual is not likely to be wrapped up in the frantic scatter of outerworld circumstances.

[Jim Eshelman]

Transiting Mercury Foreground

Transiting Mercury, as it interacts with an individual's natal planets, represents that person's own need to communicate an idea, make an announcement, share a piece of informative data, or otherwise personally express himself or herself to someone else. When transiting Mercury occupies the foreground of a Solar Return, these needs occupy the foreground of the native's consciousness.

Solar Mercury, prominent and unafflicted, indicates a year in which a person can be most effectively self-expressive. If it is well-aspected, say by a foreground Jupiter, the ideas are apt to be well received and bring considerable favorable attention. If traditionally malefic planets configurate Mercury, however, the thoughts begging to be voiced are much more likely to incite adversely critical reactions. This does not alter their need for expression.

Mercury "rules" transportation. A prominent Mercury often points to travel. More generally, it sponsors busy, active circumstances with rapid movement, scurrying, liveliness and a constant give-and-take of information. Such quickness can be an asset if the individual doesn't get lost in wasted motion.

Not only busy-ness, but the world of business is in high focus with a foreground solar Mercury. For a year, at least, the individual is strongly oriented toward commercial production. (S)he displays a knack for organization, and is highly resourceful. Mercury's aspects will usually have plenty to say about how successful any business venture will be, and in what directions they are apt to be headed.

Finally, transiting Mercury in the immediate foreground of a Solar Return provides an opportunity to further develop one's intellectual and communicative faculties, whether through formal education or independent endeavors. The native will be very involved with the world on an intellectual level. Problems may arise, though, if a pronounced intellect supplants feelings. The individual is likely to identify himself with his ideas, possibly becoming wedded to them and perversely dogmatic.


Transiting Mercury Background

It seems, during these times, as though nobody is listening to you! With a background Mercury, self-expression seems blocked for lack of a ready ear to hear or eye to see what you want to communicate. Little overt activity marks the time (unless it is shown by other factors in the foreground).

Private thoughts characterize the time. Meditation may be well undertaken, if other indications support the idea.

[Jim Eshelman]

Transiting Venus Foreground

This is likely to be one of the most enjoyable years an individual experiences, provided Venus is not too harshly aspected. The fundamental meaning of a foreground transiting Venus is affection received, which can take a variety of forms. The common denominator in all such manifestations is that an individual experiences the affectionate, friendly, loving, caring emotions available in his or her environment, usually in a supportive, harmonious, pleasant sort of way.

This implies that the native is likable and able to attract the affection of others. People with foreground solar Venuses are characteristically charming, congenial and friendly. They make inviting companions. This placement typically implies a love of social life and a strong sense of comradeship.

Complex instances occur when, for instance, the foreground transiting Venus configurates natal Saturn. An accentuated natal Saturn suggests that a person is holding his own feelings in check and being keenly conscious of his own inadequacies. This triggers survival behavior, such as aloofness or tenacious possessiveness (it can go either way). In such cases, the native's personality may not seem at all attractive. Almost despite this, friends and family are apt to act supportive and affectionate, suggesting that the individual, beneath a hard exterior, is still somehow making room for love in his or her life.

Basically, this person gravitates toward the beautiful, rather than the coarse. The environment is apt to be quite pleasant and harmonious. Softness characterizes the life. Trust grows, as the world is seen as an essentially safe place to be. Vulnerability can be risked without likelihood that the world will betray.

Typically Venusian circumstances prevail. The individual will be more popular and socially active. Others are available to care for him, or lovingly look after him if he's down in the dumps. Gifts may be received or exchanged, though these are only Venusian if they are tokens of affection. Venus' aspects will provide details on how these social contacts are experienced.

Others are very likely to express romantic or erotic interest in the individual. For the duration of this Solar Return, the native will feel most comfortable in close pair-bonds (with friends, romantically, etc.). Love unions are quite common, particularly with Venus in the rising or the setting foreground.

Biological matters are brought to the forefront of the individual's awareness. Children may suddenly be desired, for instance, by a person of the right age. Oriented to a life of the flesh, such people may find it all too easy to dally in sensual delights at the expense of life's more practical, workaday concerns.


Transiting Venus Background

Having fun and being entertained are probably not high priorities this year. Social involvement is held to a minimum. Any new romances cultivated are likely to remain rather casual, unless other Solar Return placements indicate heavy attachments. In times of stress, that "soothing something" doesn't seem to be on hand to wipe away the weariness.

[Jim Eshelman]

Transiting Mars Foreground

Involvement with Mars-related occurrences, situations, feelings and activities naturally dominates the year when transiting Mars holds a prominent spot in the Solar Return. The atmosphere will be tense, heated, aggravating, irritating, strenuous and confronting in a variety of ways. Most people, though, move right into such a period with little forethought, adopting the martial life tone quite naturally. Suddenly, their personal worlds become very active and hectic.

You may not realize that you have become more confrontive, candid, and obstinate than normal. Competition becomes a theme word for you, as you now rarely back down from anything. At the roots of these reactions is a scarcely-conscious belief that the world is an inherently threatening place, against which you must defend yourself.

Physical aggression is pronounced, whether in business drives, sexual desires or other personal passions. You are restless and edgy, feeling driven in your activities, and relating to the world in a forthright and direct style. Tempers may be easily lost (and not so willingly regained) as outside provocations play on the your vulnerable stores of anger.

The sex drive is apt to be intense, and jealousies dominant. In men, their malehood and virility become keenly important. Women with this placement incorporate into their personalities more of the traits socially attributed to men, including aggressiveness, assertiveness, ego-dominance, and establishing themselves as strong, independent people. The most sexually active periods of one’s life are those years when transiting Mars falls close to the angles of the Solar Return.

Overall discomfort, especially physical discomfort, is characteristic of the martial years. You are apt to push yourself hard, putting heavy strains upon the body, particularly the nervous system. Newfound courage in facing life can cause hastiness, impulsiveness, and recklessness with your own safety, so injury from accidents can occur with increased frequency. Excessive energy not burnt off in constructive ways will certainly find more destructive outlets.

Yet the high vitality and drive can be made constructive with so little effort, provided a person is willing to be creative and expressive. Mars is simply saying, “Come on, keep busy!” How to keep busy is up to you. Unless Mars is restrictively afflicted, significant advances can be made in your ambitions. The drive for accomplishment of personal goals can find fulfillment. Achievement is a major keyword of a positively operating Mars in an individual willing to accept life’s challenges head-on.


Transiting Mars Background

Overall, life's irritants seem to take a backseat this year. Circumstances don't feel very threatening. Although a foreground natal Mars can still stimulate aggressive competition, life is relaxed and pretty much at ease, with a basic trust in the safety of one's own world. In this relatively passive, inactive period of life, an individual is generally inclined to be cooperative, willing to listen to other people's ideas, and happy to let them live their lives, without feeling threatened by the way others differ from him.

[Jim Eshelman]

Transiting Jupiter Foreground

Happy birthday, indeed! Jupiter transiting the foreground of a Solar Return points to a year when life seems to treat an individual quite well. Symbolizing fortune coming from without, transiting Jupiter can indicate a year when other people contribute money, time, gifts, support in the form of a stipend and other indications of favor. Their generosity can be incredible. Even when the rewards aren't nearly so material, an unafflicted, prominent solar Jupiter promises tokens of esteem, congeniality, social recognition and respect.

People strongly attuned to Jupiter have a general dislike of problems. They focus their attention on pleasant things, and are attracted to what is good and qualitative in life. When transiting Jupiter beckons, people gravitate to fortunate circumstances which make them happy, contented and secure. Almost always it marks a step upward on the self-improvement ladder (either socially, financially or morally), raising people a rung or two above their usual life station, whatever that may be. Creating, being, living and growing simply feel good at such times.

Jupiter signifies the superior and excellent. A list of characteristically Jupiterian manifestations includes luck, advantage, material gain, honors--all things which elevate and put at ease by generating a feeling of blessedness.

Unfortunately, this can turn into laziness. The most negligent years of my life have been those when transiting Jupiter was foreground, a pattern I have regularly seen in other people's return charts as well. This can undermine Jupiter's cornucopia of apparent luck. There is a strong belief in personal success, a feeling of being gifted, elaborate confidence and a refusal to seriously believe in failure. Mixed with an urge to climb socially, these positive, optimistic attitudes can generate fabulous opportunities; but if taken for granted, they can point to an ostentatious wastrel, overextending himself and alienating others with his arrogance and blind pretensions.

Sometimes, Jupiter can signify ill health, even death. Usually, it promises good health, a result of high spirits. Sickness, in a Jupiterian time, coincides with favorable attention from family and friends, gifts, sympathy and a genuine effort to help one feel well and good. A Jupiter-signalled death will typically be the end of a long period of pain and suffering, thus a relief. Also, the funeral (a religious ceremony, thus Jupiterian) will loudly proclaim the individual's virtues and otherwise bestow honors.

The same occurs in life, where Jupiter indicates elevation, recognition and the fulfillment of ambitions. Relative prosperity reigns, and the mind might be quite materialistic. Jupiter aspects will describe the specific attitudes toward, and feelings about, "the good things in life."


Transiting Jupiter Background

Barring a prominent natal Jupiter, the silver spoon will slip from your lips at this time. Opportunities will seem scarce, particularly if transiting Saturn is foreground. The mind is less programmed for confident searching out of advantage, more sensitive to problems and roadblocks. While progress hopefully won't come to a halt, major gains will be made more through individual effort than luck.

[Jim Eshelman]

Transiting Saturn Foreground

Barring contrary indications, this will not be an easy year. It can certainly be a good one, though, in the sense of practical experience acquired.

Transiting Saturn, simply put, makes one sharply aware of the demands and expectations of people and institutions in the environment. This fundamental principle can, of course, manifest in many ways; but all have the same basic characteristics. Hard reality stands in the path of progress, emphasizing immediate survival before expansion. Limitations, delays, frustrations, obstacles, disappointments - in fact, any manifestation of Saturn's important restriction motif - characterize the basic flavor of large portions of this year. Financial hardship is not at all unlikely, this being the most common way in which people are brought to face the stern, practical verities of day-to-day existence.

Actually, most of these hindrances have been around before. Transiting Saturn in the foreground only times one's awareness of them. This is a vital point. Time after time, I have seen people enter Saturnian periods and suddenly find themselves weighted under by what appear to be monstrous burdens, responsibilities and demands. However, careful questioning regularly discloses that circumstances have not drastically changed, only the individual's attitudes and reactions to the circumstances.

Such people are very conscious of authority. Their sensitivity to expectations makes them more cautious. Personal resources have to be mobilized so that the person becomes more capable at manipulating his or her environment. Other people may be shut out emotionally because their motives aren't entirely trusted, so the individual may not be in much of a mood to accept assistance. A self-fulfilling expectation can be actualized whereby other people really do abandon the individual because they feel excluded and alienated.

Others in the environment are apt to seem highly critical and severe. Perhaps the person with this placement will feel harshly disciplined, unpopular, unloved and unwanted, therefore retiring from the rest of the world for awhile and forgetting about pleasurable social interaction. Separations (or any other type of loss) are typical Saturnian occurrences.

Strange to relate, many children respond to this influences better than most adults. Though some of the fun may be taken out of their lives, youngsters are called upon by transiting Saturn to grow up more quickly and typically take giant strides in becoming skilled, experienced, competent and able to exist realistically in their environment. Years with Saturn transiting the Solar Return foreground will be hardening, toughening and maturing.


Transiting Saturn Background

Outerworld demands do not press heavily on an individual with this placement of solar Saturn. Though a simultaneously foreground natal Saturn may indicate a strong sense of responsibility and the push of internal demands, external expectations can be ignored rather easily. Without the feeling of being held back or restricted, you can “get out from underneath” a pressing load more easily when responsibilities get heavy. You can relax as the critical, punitive elements of your environment are held at bay.

[Jim Eshelman]

Transiting Uranus Foreground

If you like surprises, you will adore this year. Uranus brings with it changes, new directions, and probably a milestone and turning point in your life. Usually these events burst into our awareness suddenly, with little warning.

Uranian circumstances can be either thrilling or frightening, depending on how much a given person enjoys change. Make no mistake, the presence of this planet in the Solar Return foreground can be totally uprooting, and in extreme cases separate an individual from every tie to the past that (s)he tenaciously clutches. But this is because Uranus, in its simplest and purest form, signifies freedom. It opens the individual to new areas of involvement and requires an honest, clear, objective viewing of feelings and experiences. @Look to the specific angle or house Uranus occupies for clues to where in this person's life you can expect to find an adventure, an awakening and the need to adjust to altered conditions. Remember, though, that such adventures are probably things these people have wanted to do for a long time, consciously or otherwise. Uranus transiting the foreground sponsors new feelings of freedom which allow them now to risk or try something new.

Transiting Uranus is commonly interpreted as "changes sponsored by something in the environment." This means that the individual is attracted to the novel, and open to experiencing change. Each day is lived for its excitement. Uranian events can include a change of residence or vocation, travel, or variation of scenery closer to home. They are characteristically surprising and electrical (which can mean shocking!).

The pervasive state of excitement and excitability may indicate considerable tension. In particular, this results when a person does not want change, preferring instead to maintain the status quo, not reevaluate his or her biases, and continue with old, familiar patterns. In these instances, Uranus will be experienced as unsettling and upsetting. Tension is a sure sign that the individual is resisting openness or change in some important area of life.

Hopefully, a year with transiting Uranus in the Solar Return foreground will be enlightening and progressive. Some inhibitions will be cast aside most likely, but the freedom acquired may be the freedom to say "no" as well as "yes." Personal limits need to be redefined at this time. This period can be stimulating, colorful, and future-oriented, opening original pathways to spontaneity and creativity. Above all, this is a year in which to move toward a clearer self-perspective founded in honest, objective self-evaluation.


Transiting Uranus Background

Very little takes an individual by surprise when transiting Uranus lands in the background of his or her Solar Return. Life seems much more quiet; or, should a foreground Moon, Mercury, Mars or Neptune indicate instability, busy-ness, activity or hysteria, the Uranian qualities of novelty, excitement and discovery are still noticeably absent. Such a person is far more willing to routinely accept familiar patterns, attitudes and ways of doing things than when Uranus transits the foreground.

[Jim Eshelman]

Transiting Neptune Foreground

Neptunian circumstances are marked by an exaggerated state of emotional excitement. This can be negative in the sense of hysteria, fluster or worry, or it can manifest in much more enjoyable ways, like the excitement which clutches the bleacher crowd near the end of a major sporting event.

People with this placement thrive on the emotional vitality which surrounds them, getting caught up in the flurry and madness of the moment. Other factors in the Solar Return will show how each person experiences and reacts to such drama-filled occurrences (whether they feel elated, frightened, shaken, enchanted, trapped, etc.).

In transit, Neptune offers a temptation. It is the "Forbidden Fruit" from the Garden of Eden, alluring with its mystery and elusiveness. When Neptune occupies the solar foreground, an individual is therefore open to seduction of all types. Pleasure-seeking is pronounced.

An active imagination may play havoc with the practical reality to which most people relate. Much of what fills the individual's private daydreams may suddenly appear to be attainable, though such an image cannot necessarily be trusted. The person is apt to more frequently indulge sexually, sensually, in food, drink or drugs. Whether induced by chemicals or the simple insanities of daily existence, inebriation may seem a way of life.

These individuals are impressionable and easily influenced. Frequently, therefore, transiting Neptune symbolizes the threat of victimization brought on by one's own misled and misplaced vulnerabilities. When others are involved, the native can be sucked into something which looks promising, and then be disappointed, if not betrayed and exploited. People can victimize themselves, as well, especially through oversensitivity to physical and emotional impressions resulting in illness. While Uranus represents freedom, Neptune commonly indicates dependency and overinvolvement - either by being dependent on other people (as when recovering from sickness or injury), or by finding another person depending on them, vampirizing their resources.

At its worst, transiting Neptune manifests as confusion, anxiety, despair, hopelessness, defeat, lack of self-confidence, resignation, procrastination and a general lack of perseverance, or sense of direction. The person dislikes change or surprise, and rarely risks when (s)he thinks something is really a gamble. Dealing with problems by avoidance is characteristic. In fact, an avoidance syndrome characterizes the Neptunian's behavior in many different ways.

On the other hand, Neptune can show captivation by drama, music, fantasy, mystery, mysticism and the psychic realms overall. Imagination can border on inspiration. Neptune extends an illusion, a vagueness; but our reactions to the mystical and mist-ical promise has much to say about how happily we get through the year.


Transiting Neptune Background

Rationality prevails, as the individual with a background solar Neptune typically goes through life with a reasonable amount of assurance. Highly immune to being emotionally led, caught up, or seduced, such a person is not likely to form highly dependent relationships (unless other patterns specifically suggest the contrary). In fact, with natal Uranus prominent, this can be an exceptionally independent, self-sufficient period.

[Jim Eshelman]

Transiting Pluto Foreground

Once Pluto conjoins an angle of a Solar Return, it tends to be foreground for several consecutive years. This isn’t a perfect rule, but holds true with a high degree of reliability, provided you don’t relocate to a new city. During these several years, your life stands an incredible chance of being entirely transformed. New phases begin while others are brought to a close, and a persistent need for readjustment and re-evaluation dominates the individual.

Pluto transforms. Rather than bringing simple hindrances or interruptions, Plutonian beginnings and endings feel absolute and final. When Plutonian circumstances are brought to a head, they seem climactic, breathtaking, intensive and sensational. Propelling you into a crisis situation (that is, a turning point with the promise of significant change and growth), such events are often described as unbelievable, having an “other worldly” quality about them.

By projecting the transforming power within yourself onto the outside world, you may find yourself confronting what appear to be forces descending upon you with mind boggling might. This is the basis of transiting Pluto’s nature. Yet, while it seems that a Deity-wielded blowtorch is redesigning, reshaping, remolding your very way of being, the power to transform is entirely within you at all times, and completely under your control.

When people will not own up to their own magical capabilities, they may feel that awesome power trying to dominate them. Many try to break free or rebel. In these cases (where Pluto feels very much like a transiting Saturn), there can be a battle to regain control from the outer world. Transiting Pluto’s nature is basically separative, whether from people, ideas, institutions, lifestyles or whatever. This can manifest in a great many ways, including (but not limited to) travel, saying farewell to friends and loved ones, changing jobs or, on occasion, someone’s death.

Pluto isolates. You are apt to feel yourself to be the exception to the rules, singled out from the herd whether alone as a hermit or elevated to a spot of singular personal significance. This can mean power and sudden promotion; or arrogance and overestimating oneself. Precedents are set. As a part of the “singling out” motif, Pluto also symbolizes the truly miraculous and awesome, those circumstances which break all odds, revolt against every established pattern and leave conformity in the dust. The normal rules and expectancies of the world “just don't work” anymore.

Over the course of a few years, as Pluto obstinately falls close to the Solar Return angles, precious inner changes can occur as well. Alterations of the physical environment are symptomatic of the internal metamorphosis taking place. The mystical experience, as William James described it, is Plutonian in every way. As one stands aware of powers greater than oneself, a deep potential for spiritual understanding emerges, often in dramatic soul-clutching instances of cosmic insight, which lay bare the source of Divine Consciousness within your own soul.


Transiting Pluto Background

Except for those periods when transiting or natal Pluto is emphasized, most people are willing to take the world as it is offered to them. Or, if they seriously question their world, they only do so in the way that world taught them. The average person in the streets feels comfortable living the relatively naive existence of one absorbed in the patterns of our present civil-ization. Such a tendency is abetted by Pluto's absence from prominence in the annual picture.