What Is a Solar Return—and What Does It Tell You?

If you have an astrology app on your phone, follow your favorite tarot readers on Instagram, or just have a few friends who are constantly talking about their horoscopes, then you’re probably very familiar with the phrase “solar return.” People who follow astrology are quick to wish each other “Happy solar return!” on their birthdays. But a solar return isn’t just a fancy way of saying birthday—it’s a little more astrologically complex than that.

What is a solar return?

Your solar return occurs when the sun returns to where it was in the zodiac when you were born, but this doesn’t always happen exactly on your birthday. The Earth’s orbit isn’t perfectly aligned with the 365-day calendar, which is why we have leap days. Depending on the year, your solar return may be up to two days before or after your actual birthday. And yes, the date and time of your solar return will vary from year to year.

What is a solar return chart?

Your solar return chart reflects the sky at the moment of your solar return. Your sun will be in exactly the same sign as it is in your birth chart, but everything else could be different—including the houses (more on that in a little bit). Your solar return chart is different from year to year. Think of it as a chart describing your year ahead. Some people like to look at their solar return chart on their birthday when planning for the year ahead or reflecting on the year that’s just finished.

To find your solar return chart, you need a lot of information: your birth date, time, and location, as well as the city where you’re currently living in (if it’s different from your birth city). Once you have all this, enter it into a free solar return chart calculator.

How to interpret a solar return chart

Your solar return chart will look a lot like a birth chart. But instead of looking at the chart as a way to decipher your personality traits and life purpose, use it as a road map for the year ahead. A year in your life during your 20s is very different from a year in your life in your 40s, isn’t it? Your solar return chart can help explain how and why.

You can examine every planet, point, and house in your solar return chart and how they all connect with each other, but the big three are your solar return sun, moon, and rising.

Your sun in your solar return chart

Your solar return chart will always have your sun in the same sign and at the same degree as in your birth chart, but one major thing can change: the house your sun is in. Just like your birth chart, your solar return chart is divided into 12 sections, called houses. Each house has different themes, which describe different areas of your life. When looking at your solar return chart, find the house your sun is in. That house’s themes will be the themes of your year ahead. Don’t have the houses memorized? Here’s a cheat sheet:

• 1st House: Identity, personality, ego, and the impression you make
• 2nd House: Values, valuables, and your relationship with money
• 3rd House: Communication, expression, and short-distance travel
• 4th House: Family, home, and your relationship with your roots
• 5th House: Sex, fun, and creativity
• 6th House: Health and wellness, routines, and day-to-day work
• 7th House: Serious relationships, partnerships (of all kinds—romantic, business, friendship, creative, etc.) and collaboration
• 8th House: Sex, death (not necessarily literal death), and transformation
• 9th House: Philosophy, knowledge, and long-distance travel
• 10th House: Career, reputation, legacy, and purpose
• 11th House: Community, social groups, and innovation
• 12th House: Intuition, secrets, and spirituality

For example, if your solar return chart has your sun in the 7th house, this might be the year that you enter a serious romantic relationship, begin an exciting creative partnership, take a big step in your existing relationship like moving in together or getting married, or explore new ways of looking at relationships—like polyamory, living apart together, or intentionally cohabiting with a close friend rather than a partner. If your solar return chart has your sun in the 9th house, you might finally take the vacation you’ve been dreaming about that could totally transform your view of the world.

Your moon in your solar return chart

Unlike your sun, your moon in your solar return chart might be in a totally different sign from your birth chart. The house and degree placements are likely different, too. This doesn’t mean your moon sign has changed. Rather, it describes the emotional theme for your year ahead. Along with the house (above), look closely at the sign your moon is in. These are the themes:

• Aries: Leadership, bravery, and new beginnings
• Taurus: Stability, luxury, and hard work
• Gemini: Communication, intelligence, and playfulness
• Cancer: Family, emotion, and home
• Leo: Fame, creativity, and generosity
• Virgo: Routine, wellness, and logic
• Libra: Justice, balance, and style
• Scorpio: Sex, intuition, and transformation
• Sagittarius: Travel, philosophy, and optimism
• Capricorn: Structure, responsibility, and ambition
• Aquarius: Innovation, humanitarianism, and progress
• Pisces: Wisdom, imagination, and sensitivity

Your rising sign in your solar return chart

Finally, look at your rising sign (also called your ascendant) in your solar return chart.

The house and sign that your solar return chart’s rising sign is in describe the energy of the year ahead, something like a vibe check. For example, if your solar return’s rising sign is in Scorpio (sign of transformation) in the 10th house (the house of career), you will likely have a transformative year in terms of your career—maybe getting a promotion, quitting your job, or deciding to pursue a new career path altogether.

The rest of your solar return chart

You can apply the same logic to reading the rest of your solar return chart. For each planet, look at the area of life it describes:

• Mercury: Communication and expression
• Venus: Love, romance, and pleasure
• Mars: Sex, motivation, and conflict
• Jupiter: Growth, luck, and expansion
• Saturn: Responsibility, challenge, and structure
• Uranus: Innovation, technology, and rebellion
• Neptune: Dreams and illusions
• Pluto: Transformation and the unconscious

Find the house and sign the planet is in to see what it tells you about your year ahead. If you look at your solar return chart and see Mercury (communication) in Aries (leadership, bravery) in the 4th house (family, home, and roots), you might feel called to courageously speak out about something relating to your family life or origins.

If this all sounds complicated, that’s because it is! You can spend hours and days poring over your solar return chart and still have more to learn. If this is your first time engaging with your solar return chart, I suggest focusing on just your sun or just your big three. This is only the beginning.