Progressions

I don’t have any kind of systematic approach to what I write about in these newsletters, rather I prefer to just discuss whatever is important to me right now. It’s not very Virgoan of me I know, but sometimes even Virgos have to get a little crazy and spontaneous.

I’ve been spending a lot of time studying progressions recently. Without getting too technical about it, progressions essentially show our internal state – feelings, insights, shifts of perspective, reorientation of thinking, that kind of thing. Progressions are deeply felt and show how we are reacting to events around us. These events are shown by transits – such as the Uranus transit that happened on the day I moved house that I discussed last time.

Until recently I’ve relied mostly on transits in predictive work, and while this is effective, including progressions brings a whole new dimension of inner landscape to the work, making the readings much more complete and accurate.

Unlike transits which relate to the actual position of the planets in the sky, progressions show the symbolic unfoldment of a person’s birth chart – the distance a transiting planet moves in one day (i.e. its observed movement out there in the world) takes one year for its progressed counterpart to move. So progressions are much slower and much deeper than transits. For example, one complete Lunation cycle – from New Moon to New Moon – takes roughly 29.5 days, whereas the Progressed Lunation cycle extends over 29.5 years.

In a way it is like we experience our whole range of feelings / emotions etc in the first 90 days of our life (assuming we live to be 90 years old), and then these play out very slowly through the next 90 years as we assimilate the lessons of life slowly and deeply into our being.

Of utmost importance is the Progressed Lunation Cycle and the activities of the Progressed Moon. The former is one of the most important background cycles to our life. A new cycle begins with the Progressed New Moon (which doesn’t coincide with our birth unless you happen to be born exactly during a new moon). The couple of years preceding this is a time of release, endings and letting go – something important in our life is coming to an end now and there’s nothing we can do about it. If we try and hold on and keep things as they are then we are fighting against the unstoppable tide of life. That’s when things can get pretty ugly. The change is going to happen one way or another, whether we like it or not. As progressions are felt internally, then if we are honest we can always recognise this and hopefully let go gracefully.

The first couple of years of the new cycle can be a difficult, confusing time with a lack of clarity. Usually it takes around three years before we can understand what happened and see the green shoots of the seeds planted at the New Moon start to appear. This could manifest externally as in a change of career direction etc or it could all take place inside. Either way, the driving force is an internal one – some shift in terms of our internal values, what is important in life or our philosophy, perspective or understanding of ourselves and life.

For myself, the few years leading up to the New Moon (known as the Balsamic Phase) coincided with a great deal of loss – ill-health meant that everything I knew my life to be previously crumbled and disintegrated, leaving me with no money, no job, no social life. For a long period I could barely even move physically. This is an extreme example, but it was the only way that I would have made all the changes that I needed and wanted to in my life.

By the time of the New Moon in 2007 I was in the thick of it. Lots of things were happening and changing in my life but I didn’t have any idea then who I was anymore or what would become of all this change. Three years later, as the Crescent phase of emergence was beginning things shifted very suddenly. I found the answers to the big questions about life that I’d been seeking, I discovered astrology and my physical health situation improved drastically. All within the space of a couple of months. Suddenly everything made sense. Since then I have dedicated myself to the craft of astrology and as the Progressed Moon moves into the third phase, that of visible action out in the world, I find my astrology practice really taking off, while knowing that I will continue to perfect my skills for another eight years, when I reach the peak Full Moon phase of the cycle. When combined with the transits of the period, it is truly astonishing how the dates and events all line up perfectly.

So knowing where a person is at in terms of this cycle is crucial for answering questions about whether it is a time of release, assertion, action, fulfillment or reorientation. Whatever is happening out there in the world must be seen in the light of the current phase of the Progressed Moon in order to gain a full understanding.

The current sign and natal house position of the Progressed Moon can then be used to refine this further. Its house placement shows the area of life in focus at that time – it is like a spotlight highlighting a specific element of our life with which we are (or should be) concerned – e.g. family/home issues, relationships, money, career, creative expression and play, spiritual exploration or even a time of aloneness and withdrawal from the world, to name a few examples. The Progressed Moon’s sign placement gives a flavour of how we feel inside at a given time and how we express ourselves – e.g. when it’s in Aries we want independence, freedom to do what we desire, an ability to tackle life immediately and head-on and maybe even a time when we get angry or have more confrontations than usual.

Difficult times are an integral part of life. No matter how much we may want to avoid them it just isn’t possible. But when we are confused or bewildered astrology can help us to understand what is going on, what is the best action for us to take and (very importantly!) when things are going to get easier. Nothing stays the same forever though sometimes when we’re wallowing around in the depths it can certainly feel that way!