Secondary Progressions

SEK-uhn-dehr-ee proh-GRESH-uhnz

Definition

Secondary progressions (often shortened to SP) are a modern Western timing technique that works by a symbolic equation: one day after your birth stands for one year of your life. To see what your chart looks like at age 30, an astrologer reads the planets' positions on the 30th day after you were born. At this rate the Sun moves about 1° per year, and the progressed Moon makes its way once through the whole zodiac in roughly 27.3 years.

In Tradition

In the modern Western tradition, secondary progressions are counted among the three main timing techniques, alongside transits and solar arc directions. They are usually read symbolically — as a picture of inner growth and psychological maturing — rather than as a literal forecast of outward events.

In Practice

An astrologer builds the progressed chart by looking up the planets' positions for the day after birth that matches your age. The progressed Sun changes sign about every 30 years, marking major shifts of life chapter; the progressed Moon moves through roughly one sign every 2.3 years and shows where emotional growth is focused. Aspects from progressed planets to your birth positions are read with tight orbs — about 1° as it builds, 1° at the peak, 1° as it fades, around three years in all for an aspect of the progressed Sun. The progressed angles (the Midheaven and Ascendant) are tracked too. Secondary progressions are also widely used in chart rectification, where the dates of major life events are used to pin down an uncertain birth time.

Historical Origin

The day-for-a-year equation traces back to Babylonian astronomy; it was set out as a Western timing technique by Antonius Maginus around 1604, popularised in the 17th and 18th centuries by Placido de Titis (the Placidean tradition), and settled into modern English-language practice through Margaret Hone (1951) and Forrest's *The Changing Sky*.

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Further Reading