Secondary progressions use a symbolic key: each day after birth stands for one year of life. The chart for your thirtieth day after birth describes your inner climate at thirty.
Most progressed planets move very slowly, so changes are rare and meaningful. The progressed Moon is the exception — it moves through a sign in about two and a half years and acts like an inner calendar of moods and needs.
When the progressed Moon changes sign or house, people often describe a shift in what they want, before anything visible changes outside. A progressed planet changing sign marks a slower, deeper turn.
Progressions are best read alongside transits: transits describe what arrives from outside, progressions how you have grown ready to meet it.
The progressed Sun moves about one degree a year, changing sign roughly every thirty years. Such a change often coincides with a quiet re-centering of identity — new priorities, a different style of motivation, a sense of entering another life chapter.
The progressed lunar cycle is especially useful. The progressed New Moon, when progressed Sun and Moon conjoin about every thirty years, marks a seed time; the progressed Full Moon, about fifteen years later, a time of visibility and harvest.
Progressed angles move too. When the progressed Ascendant or Midheaven reaches a natal planet, that planet's themes often become visible in personal identity or career. These contacts are slow and can be timed to within a year.
A planet that changes direction by progression — turning retrograde or direct — marks a long-term shift. For example, a progressed Mercury turning direct may coincide with someone finally expressing ideas they have long held privately.
Progressions require an accurate birth time for the angles and the Moon, but the slow planets are more forgiving. If the time is uncertain, emphasise progressed planets to natal planets rather than progressed angles.
Clients often find progressions affirming because they describe inner development rather than external events. They explain why something that once mattered greatly now feels finished, or why a new longing has appeared without obvious cause.
Read progressions as a story of ripening: not what will happen to you, but who you are gradually becoming.