Each year the Sun returns to the exact degree it held at your birth. A chart cast for that moment — the Solar Return — is read as the outline of the year that begins around your birthday.
Start with the return Ascendant and the house holding the return Sun: together they show where attention and vitality gather. Planets close to the return angles tend to be the year's most noticeable themes.
Then compare the return chart with the natal chart. A return planet landing on a natal angle or personal planet shows which part of your lasting character the year will activate.
Think of the return as weather, not destiny. It describes the season you are entering so you can dress for it, not a sequence of events that must happen.
Because the Sun returns to its natal degree at a slightly different time each year, the return chart's angles change considerably from year to year. That is what makes each return chart distinct even though the Sun's position is identical.
Location is a debated question. Some astrologers cast the return for the birthplace, others for where the person actually is at the exact moment of return. This atelier uses the current residence by default and notes the choice in the report.
Read the return Moon next. Its sign and house describe emotional needs for the year, and its aspects show whether those needs flow easily or meet friction. Because the Moon moves quickly, it is one of the most individual features of each return.
Angular planets — those in the first, fourth, seventh and tenth houses of the return — usually carry the year's headline themes. Saturn angular may mean a year of commitment and effort; Jupiter angular, expansion and opportunity; Venus, relationships and pleasure.
Combine the return with transits for timing. The return describes the overall climate, while transits show when particular themes peak during the year. Together they produce a forecast that is both broad and practical.
Avoid overreading small details. A single tense aspect in a return chart does not doom a year, and a pleasant one does not guarantee success. Look for repeated themes: the same house or planet emphasised in several ways.
A good return reading ends with intentions: what to plant this year, what to tend, and what to let go before the next birthday.