Adding Nuance to Annual Profections
Profecting from the sect light, Fortune, and the MC
Annual profections from the Ascendant are a good way to figure out where the energy of the year is likely to be focused. However, this Hellenistic timing technique is far more versatile than it might seem if you’re only profecting from the Ascendant each year.
We can profect from any sign—using it as the focus of a traditional planet, Lot, or angle’s location—as well as in smaller timeframes.
As with profecting from the Ascendant, you start with the sign of the point you’re profecting from, and then count the same number of signs as that from the Ascendant. So if you’re in a Cancer year, and Cancer is the fourth sign from the Ascendant (i.e. a “4th house year” as an Aries rising), then you would also count four signs from the other point you’re profecting from. If that’s the Sun in Sagittarius, then the sign of the Sun/Sagittarius is the first sign, making Pisces the sign activated by profection from the Sun.
Each point is selected for a reason, in an effort to see a specific piece of information about the coming time period. While you can go absolutely nuts and profect from all the points listed above, that is (very likely) excessive. Part of doing astrology well is knowing what specific information you need, knowing which techniques can be applied, and then choosing which and how many to use judiciously. Throwing every tool you know at a question sometimes just muddies the waters, or has you sitting there with a Swiss army knife wondering how you’re supposed to use the corkscrew and the screwdriver for a task that really only needed the tweezers. Look for multiple confirmations, but know when you have enough.
With that in mind, there are three additional points that Ali Olomi notes were commonly used aside from the Ascendant in assessing solar returns: the destined light (sect light), the Lot of Fortune, and the MC. I’ve tried these in deeper assessments of solar returns, and they turn up some interesting info.
While I’ve checked this for a few different individuals, this post is going to use my personal solar returns and experiences, because 1) I remember exactly what happened to me, and have the emails to back up dates and details for checking the timing elements, 2) it’s an opportunity to see how things play out in detail in the chart of an everyday person with an average chart rather than a celebrity, and 3) some of it is, admittedly, still a bit speculative. I’m sharing it now because what I’ve found works, and I figure it gives others a chance to try something new with their charts to see if it works for them too. Crowdsourced research ftw.
Content warning: there is a mention of an assault as well as conflict in a living situation in the section on layering the techniques.
Profecting from the Sect Light
If you don’t know whether the Sun or the Moon is your sect light, look at your chart (as a circle chart) and see whether the Sun is in the top half/above the Ascendant-Descendant line, or below it. If the Sun is above, then you have a day chart and the Sun is your sect light. If below, then you have a night chart and the Moon is your sect light (regardless of whether it’s above or below the horizon).
While profecting from the Ascendant shows the overall direction and themes of the year, profecting from the sect light shows the general condition of the year.
The way I assess this is to determine the sign activated by profection, pull the solar return chart, and then look at what that sign and its ruler have going on in the natal chart, in the solar return, and then over the course of the year.
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Topics covered include:
Profecting from the sect light
Profecting from the Lot of Fortune
Profecting from the MC
How to layer all four profections to get a comprehensive picture of a year
In-depth examples of what to look at and how it can play out over the course of a year
Thoughts on timing and activations of significations
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