Progressions and Directions

Progressions and Directions

Progressions and directions are two related astrological methods for predicting future conditions and developments. Prediction is the oldest element of the astrologer’s craft: Whereas contemporary astrologers tend to be more concerned with understanding individuals and their potential, traditional astrology tended to focus on prognostication (predicting the future). The most ancient and still the most important astrological tool for prognostication is transits, current and forthcoming movements of the planets that are transiting the sky. Progressions and directions are other ways of examining a natal chart for prediction purposes.

Secondary progressions (sometimes called secondary directions), the most popular method of prognostication other than transits, use the formula “a day for a year” to predict the future. This method’s underlying notion is that there is a relationship between the first day of life and the first year of life, between the second day of life and the second year of life, and so forth. The actual technique involves finding a person’s current age and moving the planets and house cusps of the natal chart to the positions they occupied at the same number of days after birth as the individual’s current age in years. These positions are then examined and tell the astrologer about the client’s life for the current year.

An oversimplified but nevertheless useful generalization of the transit/progression distinction is that transits indicate external conditions, whereas progressions indicate inner development (in the sense of changes in one’s personality and personal interests). Thus, transits are used to predict future environments, whereas progressions are used to predict inner changes (although, because there is always a relationship between inner and outer influences, these two cannot be so neatly separated in actual practice). For readings, astrologers often erect a chart consisting of three concentric circles. The inner circle contains the natal chart, the intermediate circle contains the progressed positions (in what is referred to as the progressed chart), and the outer circle records the positions of the transiting planets, usually calculated for the time of the reading. This tripartite chart allows the astrologer to view the interactions between the various levels at a glance.

The method of secondary progressions examines changes in the progressed chart, as well as how planets in a progressed chart interact with the natal chart. For example, John Smith was born when the Sun was at 4° in the sign Sagittarius. The Sun (which in astrological parlance is one of the “planets”) represents John’s basic self, so the sign Sagittarius colors his entire personality. Unless this sun sign is counterbalanced by other factors in the chart, John is probably a fun-loving guy who does not like to be tied down by obligations to anybody. Around age 26, his progressed Sun will enter the sign Capricorn. This sign tends to be focused on business and duty—very different from John’s sun sign. The progressed Sun’s change of sign does not indicate that John will suddenly drop his Sagittarian traits and be transformed overnight into a Capricorn. Rather, his personality will acquire an overlay of the latter sign’s orientation, becoming somewhat more serious and mature. Business matters may become more important, and the commitments entailed by such relationships as business partnerships and marriage will seem less unappealing.

Another method of progression, termed tertiary progressions, could be referred to as “a day for a month” system. In a manner parallel to secondary progressions, this approach takes each day after birth as representing a month (a lunar month, which is shorter than a calendar month) of life. This method, devised by the twentieth-century astrologer Edward Troinski, is used far less frequently than secondary progressions. Another infrequently used method, converse secondary progressions, entails using each day before birth as equivalent to a year of life.

Primary directions (also termed Placidean arcs, primary arcs, and equitorial arcs) is the name for another method of astrological prognostication—” a degree for a year” system. As one might anticipate, this method involves predicting events according to the movement of a planet through degrees, although primary directions uses degrees of right ascension (measured along the celestial equator) rather than degrees of the zodiac (measured along the ecliptic). Prior to the advent of computer chart-casting programs, primary directions was a comparatively difficult method to use, and thus fell into disuse.

Other degree-for-year systems are solar arc directions, which measure movement in degrees of celestial longitude (along the ecliptic), and solar declination arc directions, which measure movement in terms of degrees of declination. Yet other systems of directions are ascendant arc directions, vertical arc directions, radix directions, and symbolic directions. The very overabundance of these approaches is a primary (if not the primary) reason most astrologers stick with transits and secondary progressions. Nonetheless, the best contemporary chart-casting programs allow one to calculate all of them, a provision that vastly simplifies experimentation and research. Many if not all of these methods are thus likely to be the subjects of renewed interest to computer-equipped astrologers.

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