Glossary

Transit

A transit is the aspect a planet in the sky right now makes to a position in a birth chart, and it is the main way astrology describes timing.

The birth chart does not move; the sky does. When transiting Saturn reaches the degree of a natal planet, the tradition reads it as that part of the chart being tested, and the slower the transiting planet, the longer the period.

Speed is what separates a transit worth noting from one that passes unnoticed: the Moon crosses a natal point every month, Pluto perhaps once in a lifetime.

Frequently asked

How long does a transit last?

From hours for the Moon to a year or more for the outer planets, and longer when retrograde motion brings a planet back over the same degree.

Do transits predict events?

We read them as timing and tendency. Nothing in our reports claims an event will happen.

See also