Lunar Return Calculator

The Lunar Return is a monthly return technique based on the moment the Moon comes back to its exact longitude at birth. The lunar sphere completes a full circuit on average once every 27.3 days, that is, over a sidereal month it returns to the degree and minute you were born under; for this reason you experience 13 to 14 lunar returns within a year. The technique is not a modern invention. Its roots reach back to the revolution (revolutio) logic of Hellenistic astrology, and from there to the Persian and Arabic tradition, to the writings on the revolutions of years and months by masters such as Abu Ma'shar, Masha'allah, Umar al-Tabari and Sahl ibn Bishr. In the later period Guido Bonatti in the Liber Astronomiae and Johann Schoener compiled and systematized these return methods. While the solar return gives the major theme of the year, the lunar return serves as a complement to read the emotional rhythm, daily flow and inner state of each individual month within that year.

This tool takes the birth data you enter and calculates the ephemeris moment at which that longitude is exactly re-established. Because the Moon moves quickly, the return moment is found with minute precision and the chart is cast for this moment. It lists all the lunar returns of the year you select in a single list; you will see roughly 13-14 dates. When you click a row, the chart and interpretation of the roughly 28-day period lasting from that return until the next one open. This way you can scan an entire year month by month and see which period emphasizes which house and which sign. You choose the house system yourself: you can pick between Placidus, Whole Sign, Equal, or Regiomontanus and Alcabitius. In classical practice return charts are mostly read with Whole Sign or Placidus; which one you choose affects the ascendant and house placements.

On the matter of location the tool honestly presents both approaches. In the classical tradition the return chart was usually cast for the birthplace (radix); that is, wherever you were, the chart was calculated for the city you were born in. Re-casting the chart for your current location, that is relocation, is a 20th-century modern practice and should not be presented as a classical method. The two approaches give a different ascendant and a different house distribution; in the tool you decide which one to use. On the results screen there is a comparative bi-wheel that shows the return chart together with your natal chart. The inner ring is your birth chart, the outer ring is that month's return chart. In addition, the aspects the return planets make to your natal points are listed; retrograde positions and important conjunctions are marked here.

Several anchors stand out during interpretation. The return ascendant shows the general emotional tone of that roughly 28-day period and by which door you will enter it. The house of the Moon in the return chart points to the emotional focus of that month, where your energy flows; for example, the Moon in the tenth house is an emphasis that career and visibility matters will gain emotional weight, while in the fourth house it signals that home, family and inner-world themes will come to the fore. The house where the light, that is the Moon, sits is read together with the tone of the rising sign. Because the Moon governs the body, the emotions and daily rhythm, the lunar return takes the pulse of a month; it is suitable not for major life decisions but for understanding the inner climate of the month.

The lunar return is not interpreted on its own. In classical doctrine return charts are always read within the framework of profection and time-lords (Firdaria, zodiacal releasing). First, with annual profection, you find which house and which house-lord of that year come into play; this lord of the year and profection house are examined in the sister tool Solar Return chart and give the major theme of the year. The lunar returns are the sub-layer showing how each month unfolds within this annual theme. So the correct order is this: build the framework of the year with profection, read the year with the solar return, scan the months with the lunar returns. These three layers feed one another; the lunar return should be thought of not as a context-free monthly fortune but as the monthly light falling upon the chart of the year.

To use the tool you need full and accurate birth data; the time information is especially important because it determines the ascendant. You can prepare your birth data on the birth chart calculation page and carry it here. When you select a year, the tool lays out all the lunar return dates of that year before you; it provides an ideal scan for planning coming periods month by month or for understanding in retrospect the emotional climate of a past period. Read the results not as simple predictions but as the emotional layer of the classical return tradition.