Secondary progressions is by far one of my favorite astrological timing techniques, due in no small part to the teaching and mentorship of Kelly Surtees.
Secondary progressions—often simply called progressions—looks to a day of life to describe a year of life, such that the 90 or so days following birth foreshadow the 90 or so years of an average life. The transits—or the real-time movements of the planets—on the days following one’s birth provide a microcosm of the macrocosm of one’s life, like a fractal unfolding across multiple scales of time. These scales of time are fundamentally solar in that both a day and a year are defined by the movements of the Sun—a day demarcated by the Sun’s rising and setting, a year demarcated by the Sun’s journey through the 12 signs of the zodiac. The Sun’s journey through the zodiac correlates to the cycle of the seasons, the Wheel of the Year, which is qualitatively similar to the warming and cooling of each day and night. Sunrise is like springtime, noon like summer, the setting Sun like autumn, and midnight like winter. Progressions recognizes a kind of equivalency between these solar cycles in order to describe the developments and becomings that compose a life. While we can look at any planet by secondary progression, the framework for this technique is defined by the motion of the Sun. Even the progressed lunation cycle—arguably one of the most popular and useful components of working with secondary progressions—is defined by the progressed Moon’s relationship to the progressed Sun, a matter of condition relative to the synodic cycle. Why is the Sun so central in this technique? Perhaps because the Sun is the source and sustenance of all life in our solar system. Our lives are the unfolding of living thermodynamic processes that begin with the Sun. Astrologically, the Sun also describes a central organizing principle in our charts/lives, as I recently discussed with Kelly Surtees in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=573Nd32Gcf8 Progressions are also entirely personal. Unlike transits that we are all experiencing in our own ways simultaneously, progressions are specific developments from the origin point of our unique charts. That uniqueness also reflects a solar principle: the Sun is the only star in our solar system, the only celestial body that generates its own light. It is unique in these ways, and similarly progressions describe developments that are entirely unique to us. In working with progressions, along with the progressed lunation phase, we can pay attention to when progressed planets change signs or bounds, when they make aspects back to the natal chart, when they station retrograde or direct, or when they make conjunctions with fixed stars. We can also look at the movements of the progressed angles—the Ascendant, Descendant, Midheaven, and IC—but know that there are a number of different ways to calculate the progressed angles. Some people also interpret progressed planets aspecting progressed planets, but I prefer there to be some direct connection back to the natal chart. If you would like to learn more about progressions, here are a few excellent courses that Kelly has available: -Intro to Progressions: https://www.kellysastrology.com/product/live-webinar-introduction-to-predicting-with-progressions/ -Predicting with Progressions: https://www.kellysastrology.com/product/predicting-with-progressions-workshop/ -Professional Predictive Power (blending progressions and transits): https://www.kellysastrology.com/product/professional-predictive-power/ Kelly also had a great discussion about secondary progressions with Chris Brennan on The Astrology Podcast in 2018: https://theastrologypodcast.com/2018/02/22/secondary-progressions/ I use secondary progressions in all of my Year Ahead + Timing astrology consultations. If you would like to learn what is developing in your own secondary progressions, you can book a consultation with me on my Bookings page. If I am currently fully booked for consultations, you can join my Mailing List here, and you will be notified when I am booking consultations again.
0 Comments
I was very excited to be invited as a guest co-host with Vanessa Montgomery for The Cosmic Eye Monthly Forecast on the Astrology University Podcast. We chat about all things Pisces, classic Pisces folks Kate Bornstein, Amanda Gorman, and Simone Biles, PLUS the new and full Moon, the Venus/Mars marathon conjunction, Venus enclosed by Mars and Saturn, Jupiter in Pisces, and this month’s cosmic movements so you can plan your month ahead in alignment with the energies unfolding.
We also talk about TGIJP—the Transgender, Gender-Variant & Intersex Justice Project—as this month’s featured nonprofit. TGIJP is an advocacy and support organization for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated transgender, gender-variant, and intersex people. Learn more and donate to their work today at http://www.tgijp.org/about-us.html You can listen to the podcast here or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Erotic Ecologies + Embodiment: Maps for Making + Revelation
A Threshold Event hosted by home—body I was delighted to be part of this public conversation “Erotic Ecologies + Embodiments” at 1:30pm eastern on February 13, 2022. This event was hosted by Mary Grace Allerdice with guests Alkistis Dimech, Anicka Austin, and myself. We explore connections between the erotic and creative embodiment, the erotic as a way of seeing and knowing the world(s) of which we are a part, the power of the erotic, and more. February 16 is the first of two conjunctions Venus and Mars will make this year. Venus stationed direct on January 29, and is still moving rather slowly, allowing Mars to overtake Venus in this first conjunction. For the next month, Venus and Mars will be moving within 1º of one another. This could be a tense but passionate dance between these two planets over several weeks. Then they will make their second exact conjunction at 0º Aquarius as Venus builds speed to pass Mars, just minutes after they both ingress into Aquarius on March 6. Venus draws us toward connection with beauty and grace; Mars severs and separates, cutting ties or charging off on our own. At their best together, Venus and Mars can describe the erotic thrill of intimacy and distance, pulling one another close, backing away, then coming together again. Mars keeps us from merging, and across the space between us, we are enraptured with longing. When more troublesome, this dynamic could describe relationship dynamics that are on again/off again, the uncertainty of are we together or are we separated, and the anxiety that comes with unstable attachments. Try to be mindful of these dynamics and make choices during this time that both align with your values and honor your boundaries. These two conjunctions and the weeks in between could also describe a weaving together of the areas of your life ruled by Venus and Mars. Look to the parts of your chart occupied by Taurus, Libra, Aries, and Scorpio, and consider how those areas of your life might be described by this dance of arousal, connection, separation, and reconnection.
[Image reads: 16 February 2022: Venus Conjunct Mars in light lettering on a dark starfield]
I’m so excited to share this episode of The Strology Show hosted by Kirah Tabourn with guests Mo Olufemi, Jason Kei, and me discussing the earth signs—Capricorn, Taurus, and Virgo—in astrology!
This was such a rich and satisfying conversation, and it was an honor to be talking with such brilliant and thoughtful colleagues. Whether you have significant placements in one of these signs—like your Ascendant, ruler of your Ascendant, Sun, or Moon—or you are a student or practitioner of astrology interested in hearing some old and new perspectives of these signs, I hope you give it a listen. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRlxjs6Hve4 Captivate: https://thestrologyshow.captivate.fm/episode/earth-signs [Image 1 reads: Season 3 Episode 2 The Strology Show Earth Signs with Michael J. Morris, Jason Kei & Mo Olufemi with images of Michael, Jason, and Mo in the middle of a light blue background. Image 2 reads: Season 3 Episode 2 On this episode – Kirah is joined by Michael J. Morris, Jason Kei, and Mo Olufemi to talk all about the Earth Signs. Listen as they deep dive into qualities of each earth sign, address stereotypes and explore the nature of the earth element in astrology and society.] I am very pleased to release the video and audio recordings of a presentation entitled “The Atomic Age, Urgency, Danger, and Kinship: Astrology and Climate Collapse” which I co-presented with Drew Levanti on December 12, 2021, at the Astrology and Climate Change Conference, hosted by the Mayo School of Astrology. The recordings are available for immediate download here.
Description: The threat of total annihilation pervades the discourse on climate change, significantly entering public consciousness with the cataclysmic initiation of the Atomic Age. Following threads of prominent configurations between the Moon and Saturn in the inception charts of the atomic bomb, we examine features of not only the ecological realities of climate collapse but also relational complexities for mitigating the relentless acceleration of extraction, consumption, and extinction endemic within these global crises. Download includes: -90-min video recording (mp4) -90-min audio recording (m4a) Imbolc—one of the eight sabbats in the Wheel of the Year—is the midway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, traditionally observed on February 1. Imbolc is often translated as “in the belly,” describing the forthcoming spring germinating beneath the cold ground of winter. It is a time when we cultivate hope and honor that which is yet to come.
This year on February 1, we have a New Moon in Aquarius, just 3º from a conjunction with Saturn—the ruler of Aquarius—and closely squaring Uranus in Taurus. After a year of Saturn and Uranus moving in and out of exact squares with one another, this New Moon has the potential to mark a new beginning, planting the seeds of systems and structures for supporting the worlds to which we aspire. In the aftershocks of all the disruption and destabilization we have experienced, what are the ideas and ideologies that we are gestating capable of carrying us into the futures to which we are devoted? The Sun is in its antithesis or detriment in Aquarius—sometimes called its exile. It is a place that is far from its home sign of Leo, a territory where it must make use of the unfamiliar resources of distant places in order to accomplish that for which it is responsible. Whatever perspectives and plans we are developing must come from the margins, emerging from the spaces far from those currently enshrined at the center of our social values. At the same time, Venus is conjunct the asteroid Vesta in Capricorn (see previous post). It is a time for asking: what do you consider to be your sacred calling? What if the altar of your sacred calling burns with the flames of your truest desires? May we all follow the flame of our hearts’ desires—especially those that are excluded or marginalized within our current world—to discover the blueprints for the worlds we will build together. [Image 1 reads Astrology of the Wheel of the Year Imbolc 1 February 2022 in gold letters on a background collage of stars and flowers. Image 2 shows the chart for Imbolc on 1 February 2022 at sunset, 7:44am in Columbus, OH, USA] |
AuthorMichael J. Morris is a witch, an astrologer, a tarot reader, an artist, a writer, and a teacher. Categories
All
Archives
February 2025
|