Solunars by Aldebaran Sidereal Academy

Sidereal transits are inherently precession-free. They operate an an aprecessional framework. This was the pivotal discovery that started the string of discoveries that established Sidereal astrology because it gave Cyril Fagan access to correct timing of solar and lunar returns.

I recently had occasion to explain this to an interested group of Tropical astrologers and thought some of you might find the explanation useful for similar conversations in the future. As Siderealists, we can be lazy about this topic because we don't have to do anything special to get the aprecessional results. The occasion that arose was an inquiry into the United States' upcoming Pluto return (our first complete Pluto cycle) and some very worried thoughts about what it meant. I gave a summary of England's three Pluto cycles since 1066 and clarified that these were calculated in a precession-free framework. One of the astrologers asked me to explain what I meant. Here (in the next post below) is what I wrote.

The simplest things sometimes take a lot of words to explain them: The Tropical zodiac that you probably use, is in constant retrograde motion due to precession of the equinoxes. That is, the vernal point (Tropical 0° Aries) moves backwards (against the whole of space) about 50"/year (0°05' for every six years of life), or about 1° in 72 years. One of the great discoveries in late 20th century astrology IMHO is that transits operate most accurately if they are measured against the non-precessing framework of the rest of space. It's a little confusing until you get the idea of what "the whole of space" is (the universe as a whole) and that the Tropical zodiac is continually shifting. (Analogy: The vernal point's regression along the zodiac is comparable to the lunar nodes' continual regression along the zodiac, with which you are likely familiar. It's a very similar phenomenon.)

The transit theory I'm describing as "precession free" is often called "precession corrected" (which probably should be called "precession deleted"). It is the view that transits occur against the point in ACTUAL SPACE where a planet was at birth. However, if one is using the Tropical zodiac, it looks like this point is moving. Concrete example: Donald Trump is 72 years old, so the equinoxes have moved backwards almost exactly 1° in the course of his life. (Actually, it's 1°01.) Therefore, his Tropical Moon longitude 21°12' Sagittarius marks a spot in space that is no longer Tropical 21°12' Sagittarius: It is now Tropical 22°13' Sagittarius. Timing of his transits will be wrong if you apply them against the 21°12' longitude. Timing will be more exact if you compensate for the precessional shift and calculate his transits against a point 1°01' later. - Similarly, since July 4, 1776 the equinoxes have moved 3°23', so transits to the U.S. chart (in the Tropical zodiac) need to be calculated against points 3°23' later.

I say "needs." This obviously remains controversial. While Sidereal astrologers have the luxury of not having to do any special math to consider this (the Sidereal zodiac isn't affected by precession), many Tropical astrologers have also discovered the greater timing precision of compensating for the effects of the precession. (Leading astrological software will do the math for you automatically if you choose.) Perhaps most impactfully, to today's astrologers, Rob Hand took a stand for precession-correction in Planets in Transit. Others on this page [amundane astrologers' Facebook, where I was posting] , understandably, will disagree with my flat statement that transits operate in a precession-free environment. I do consider it a "settled" matter, but not everyone will, and you would have to experiment on your own.

So, "precession-free" means "in a framework not affected by precession." There are two ways to do this. One is to use the Sidereal zodiac which isn't affected by precession. The other is to use the Tropical zodiac and delete the accumulated precession (by adding 50"/year, or 0°05' for every six years of life, to the Tropical natal positions).

For the Solunars crowd, here is a bit of Sidereal history. By the late '60s and early '70s (probably sooner), a few Tropical astrologers were using the Tropical zodiac but calculating transits be adjusting for precession. Brigadier Firebrace politely called this the LB Zodiac.

LB stood for "little bastard" to express his disparagement of the legitimacy of the approach. I think his view was that if you're going to admit that transits (including returns) work best in a precession-free environment, it's like "lying a little bit about who the child's father was" (or: the roots or "parentage" of your astrological thinking aren't exactly properly married).

So, following Roy's lead (which Fagan, Bradley, and Duncan always found entertaining), I've always privately called this the LB zodiac I consider it a seductive, safe-seeming "threshold drug" to offer free to Tropical astrologers who can then get sucked into the question on their own, though it isn't particularly helpful to use Roy's name for it.