Ciro Discepolo

Read the Free Book to Interpret the Solar Returns

Ricerca ’90 Publisher

Translation and editing: Luciano Drusetta and Ram Ramakrishnan

Copyright © 2011 Edizioni Ricerca ’90
Viale Gramsci, 16 
80122 Napoli - ITALY
info@cirodiscepolo.it
www.solarreturns.com
www.cirodiscepolo.it
Printed in USA

A Daniela

This method (Solar Retuns), besides being the easiest to manipulate and the richest source of deductions, is also the one that conforms best to the demands of the scientific mind.
Alexandre Volguine

The birth data of the people mentioned in this book proceed mainly from Lois M. Rodden’s database and from Ciro Discepolo’s archives. Other birth data are taken from web-based databases.
Astral maps and calculations are produced by the exceptionally precise astrological software Astral and Aladino (also referred to as Module for the Automatized Research of the Aimed Solar Returns ‘RSMA’).

Table of Contents

Preface
Preface to the new Text
01. What Solar Returns are and how they work
02. With what force do they work?
03. The Twelve Houses that you can adjust in Solar Returns
04. The Celestials in the Houses
05. Which place should you considerto calculate a SR?
06. How to ‘target’ a location
07. A little geography for the Aimed SR’s
08. Signs of Short and Long Ascension
09. The Effect of Latitude in Aimed SR’s
10. How you can make Calculations by Hand
11. Dating the Events
12. How much does the Sidereal Time progress
13. When exactly does a SR start working?
14. It is not Necessary to know the exact Time of Birth
15. How Long should you Remain at the ‘aimed’ Location?
16. What happens if the Time Zone has changed?
17. At the Age of 33, is the Ascendant of SR the same as the one in the Natal chart?
18. What is a ‘Bomb-like’ SR?
19. Four ‘Pearls’ that I must tell you about
20. Four little ‘Miracles’
21. A moving story
22. The Fraioli case
23. Results of the More Recent Researches
24. The Objections
25. 60 Examples for Rehearsing the SR’s
26. An essential astrological bibliography

Preface

Modesty is not always a virtue. Often, when it becomes an excessive habit and it is manifestly contrary to the truth, modesty may turn into foolishness. This is perhaps my case. In the past years I have shied away for long from both my readers and colleagues: in response to their compliments I would say, “Thank you”, and would smile and add: “You’re too good…” I went on for nearly a quarter of a century this way, studying astrology day and night (for example, I am writing these lines at three o’clock in the morning), with love, passion, enthusiasm and the greed of the researcher. I published works that I consider quite important, such as manuals, ephemerides, research works. Yet, I have never got a swollen head. 
Every time I was addressed a good word, I simply replied that after all, I had not done anything extraordinary. Then, slowly over time, it was my good colleagues – those whom I esteemed the most – who began to provoke me, literally shouting at me: “Come on, Ciro – haven’t you got the […censored] to assert yourself?” Eventually, that is exactly what I have done. 
At some point I realized that I had produced more than twenty books (about fifty at the time of writing the preface to the Italian edition of this volume). Some of them may be defined successful; others can surely be of great value to every student. Consider my Guida all’Astrologia, for example: it has been reprinted more than a dozen times in four editions; it sold over 50,000 copies since 1979 – a real best-seller. So, after speaking personally – or getting in touch through letters or phone calls – with thousands of indirect pupils of mine, one day I realized that I had taken a way on my own, different from any other stream of thought, despite my full respect for the astrological tradition. Thus I realized that I had become the founder of a school of thought. 
One day, the historians of astrology will state whether I have been a good teacher or a bad one. In any case, I have founded Active Astrology (Astrologia Attiva in Italian, which is also the title of a volume published in Italy by Edizioni Mediterranee). That is to say, an approach to astrology that refuses the notion of a human being overwhelmed by a fate engraved in his/her DNA, bones and birth chart. On the contrary, the approach of Active Astrology is to give you certain tools (which I have been improving little by little) with the aim of spurring you to act according to the motto, God helps those who help themselves. 
The two tools that I have first elaborated, and then improved, are the exorcism of symbols and the Aimed Solar Return. I am aware of the criticism the former would attract: “This is no invention! Many others before you...” Yes, yes, of course, I am conscious of it. But to my best knowledge, those who deal with the exorcism of symbols were not astrologers; and anyhow, the way I put this technique into practice is absolutely original. 
On the other hand, I think that I can really claim an absolute right of primogeniture over the latter (the Aimed Solar Returns), especially if you consider the application of the technique of relocating Solar Returns on such a large scale and in such huge numbers as I have been doing for years. In fact, to my best knowledge no others before me have done the same; and even if so, nobody can prove it with such a large number of publications as I can. In the seventies, here in Italy there was a magazine published by Armenia called Gli arcani. There you can find many of my articles on Solar Returns. Many of my counselees and students – who later have become very good colleagues – accepted and followed my theories and put in to practice my technique of the aimed birthday. One might ask, though: “How come you were the first, when this technique was already known to your colleagues?” 
The reason is very simple. In 1970 – the very same year in which I started studying astrology – I happened to read a few lines of André Barbault’s Practical treatise of astrology, published in Italy under the title of Trattato pratico di astrologia. There he explained the Solar Returns, clearly stating that you have to cast it (i.e. ‘domificate’ it) considering the place in which you physically are at the very moment of your birthday – not the place of your birth. Reading these lines was like a bolt out of the blue for me. At that time, I was barely able to grasp the predictive implications of this reality. I simply read – which immediately convinced me – that you have to domificate the Solar Return for the place where the subject is at the time of his/her birthday. 
Being fairly good with math, I resolved to plunge into this ‘unknown sea’. But this would not be enough. Despite my skill in math, if I had wanted to study the charts of a single birthday over twenty different towns of the world, I would have had to spend many hours computing and drawing charts manually; and this would have taken plenty of time, considering that I was and that I still am a perfectionist in this field. 
By those times I directed the laboratory of electronic devices at the Institution of Motors in Naples, belonging to the CNR (Italian National Research Council). Thus, I deployed my knowledge of electronics developing, with the help of professional programmers – much before the era of personal computers – original routines of software that allowed me, by simply pressing a few keys, to cast a chart of Solar Return in few minutes for any town anywhere in the world. I have written evidence, published in major newspapers of the sector (the magazine BIT, for example), that since the dawn of the era of personal computers and even earlier, I used to publish articles concerning my own software routines, describing how they were programmed, what flow-chart they followed, what you could get out from them, and so on. 
I must say that the majority of my astrologer colleagues were not very familiar with computing; they were not even aware of the existence of those machines. Some of them did know about them, but they refused the very idea of machine computing of an astrological chart. For this reason, I can say that – studying for many years plain Solar Returns and ‘targeted’ or ‘aimed’ Solar Returns – I have been gathering an experience of thousands of cases. This is especially true in the last three or four years, in which further works of mine have been published that have spurred many counselees and pupils to ask me for consultation. To make a long story short, you may judge me modest or arrogant, but I must admit even to myself that I have shown a way and that along the decades I have become the leader of an astrological movement.
That is why I resolved to title this book A Practical Treatise of Solar Returns, not A Guide to Solar Returns. In fact, what you are about to read is the gist of my experience gained in this field over many decades. I am confident that you will see clearly the several points analysed here, which give me the right to call this volume a Treatise.
I do not know exactly why I have written this book now and not in another year. Maybe it is because I had previously proposed it to three or four different publishers who had rejected it. One considered that this volume is far removed from their policy, another thought that the scope of this volume was of no interest for the reader. I think otherwise. This is why I have wanted to take this risk, and have built this volume entirely with ‘my hands’ editing it by myself (this refers to the first Italian edition of 1993). 
Back to the Solar Returns, now. I must add that to me, they have opened one of the windows on the Truth, and that the ‘aimed’ Solar Returns (please note that the term Aimed Solar Return has been created by me) have opened an even wider window on it. Those who keep on denying the value of these predictive tools are missing a moving train. 
In fact, both new and old students and colleagues who have read my books or those of Alexandre Volguine, with tens, sometimes hundreds of examples (also included in my astrological quarterly Ricerca ’90) have immediately become convinced of the exceptional potentiality of this method of astrological analysis. Since I am personally convinced that ‘an example is worth a thousand words’, you’ll also find several practical examples in this volume. Today, I cannot read properly a case about which I am asked to give my astrological opinion unless I have three charts in front of me: the subject’s birth chart, his/her current Solar Return and his/her following Solar Return. For me, a birth chart is ‘blind’ without its relevant Solar Return alongside. On the other hand, it is my opinion that any other position deserves to be respected. 
I started studying the book of Alexandre Volguine on Solar Returns in French, translating it in a botched way. Of course I recognize in him my first teacher on this subject. This is why I asked the publisher Armenia to publish an Italian version of his volume, to which they eventually agreed. 
On the other hand, with all due respect, I must say that my experience on the Aimed Solar Returns is many miles away from Volguine’s, for the simple fact that in his time, travelling was the preserve of a few classes. By those times very few people could afford a journey, especially over long distances. In addition to living in the age of computers, I have been lucky enough to work during the decades when the transcontinental voyages have become commonplace. One example? Between winter and spring of 1993 you could purchase a return ticket to the United States from Rome, with little more than seven hundred thousand Italian Liras. Today, travelling has become a mass sport. Therefore, no one opens his eyes wide if I propose that he goes to spend his birthday in Australia. Some of my counselees relocated their SR so far away that they reached the very edge of the maps that can be commonly found in the marketplace, boldly going where no Westerner had gone before.
I must also add that I haven’t found it useful to consider the position of the MC of the Solar Return in the radical Houses. Also, I disagree with Volguine on the dating of events within the year covered by the Solar Return, which he obtained by mixing (in an inappropriate way, I believe) judicial astrology with exoteric astrology.
There is another important point that I wish to mention in this preface – it is yet another recommendation to my readers. Do not scare people and always give them a chance, an alternative to the relocation of the Solar Return (using the exorcism of symbols, for example). 
Before concluding I would like to bring to your attention a few points that I have been ‘shouting’ for years. A lot of my students have been giving their favourable feedback on them, checking and trying them out in practice. I refer to the fatality of the Twelfth, First and Sixth Houses (a real guillotine if one of them is involved in a Solar Return); to the never enough emphasized goodness of the Tenth House; to the very strong connection between the Eleventh house and grief or death; and to the close link between the sense of sight and the axis of the Sixth and the Twelfth House.
There is yet another point that I tell you after many years of study and silence, because now it seems to me that it is an evident piece of truth. I refer to Taurus being the sign that, immediately after Pisces, has the most fragile nerves. Meditate on this judgement and review your personal collections of birth data: I am sure that you’ll give me a positive feedback on this point too.
Finally, I would say that I have included small charts in this volume. I had two reasons for doing so. The first reason is that I wanted to devote more space to the written text, which could not be sacrificed. 
The second reason is that these charts have been produced by my software ASTRAL and printed out with a plotter: thus they are razor sharp, also considering that they have been drawn – as André Barbault would say – in the only possible correct way: with the celestial bodies outside the circle of the Zodiac, not inside. 
Naples, Summer 1993

Preface to the new Text

Apparently, this volume is the third edition of my Practical Treatise of Solar Returns, published by Ricerca ’90 and Blue Diamond Publisher. Actually, it is much more. In fact, after about ten years since I wrote it, I thought it useful to start working again on it with a deep revision of the original text, which has partly been re-written, and with the addition of new sections. Something has been deleted, too. Above all, this volume has been updated with the results of my most recent research in such a difficult and critical area as that of the Aimed Solar Returns. Let me also add that this volume has profited from the valuable work of my friend Lorenzo Vancheri’s editing. For a long time now, Lorenzo has become the only and irreplaceable supervisor of my works.
In short, this is a completely new book; this is also why I changed its title.
Here, you will find the summary of a series of ‘patches’ – as they say today in the computer world – that are intended to fill gaps or to correct positions that over time, eventually proved to be partially incorrect. Only a practice of thousands and thousands of ASR’s can offer the guarantee of abundant material to such an extent that it allows us to write down rules, which of course are susceptible to be updated, yet they still are rules.
In my case, I have collected around sixteen thousand ‘aimed’ birthdays, which I have personally followed with the persons involved; and at about one year after the relocation of their Solar Returns, I have also discussed personally with each of them the astrological implications of each relocation. Consider that the average of those who actually aim their SR is one fourth of the people to whom the astrologer suggests relocation. Also consider that for about 33 years I have worked on a sample of approximately 64,000 SR’s, of which 16,000 have been aimed – i.e. relocated – and the rest have not been relocated at all. Thus, you can see that I have been able to elaborate statistics that have helped me to correct my direction along a path that – please let me underline this once again – had no literature of reference except the one that I had written myself. Let us elaborate this point. Before my several volumes on this subject, the only volume on Solar Returns (and entirely devoted to Solar Returns) was Alexandre Volguine’s. Despite mentioning the possibility of relocating a Solar Return, the Author stated clearly that he had never relocated any Solar Return, nor had he suggested relocation to anybody. The simple reason is that, at those times, travelling, for example, to the United States from Europe was so expensive that you would had to sell your house to afford it…
I would never stop repeating that the chart of SR shall not be read the same way as a birth chart. This is exactly the reason why I had to ‘break many bones’ before realizing that the Ascendant of SR falling in the 1st natal House is exactly as detrimental as the Ascendant of SR falling in the 12th or in the 6th House of the birth chart. Has anyone read it somewhere else, in any book? Do you still have doubts about this reality? 
So, today this work of mine – enriched by the prestigious edition of the publisher Armenia – may be considered the culmination of my latest researches on this specific segment of astrological knowledge.
I think therefore, that you can all benefit from it. In fact, unlike some of my colleagues, I believe that astrology should not be esoteric. What I mean is that those who presume to know some fragments of it should – as it is the case with this volume – facilitate its utmost diffusion, so that everybody can benefit from their knowledge.
Naples, on the 21st May 2002, at 6:31 pm

1.
What Solar Returns are and how they work

In a book of this kind I feel I am required to try to explain, before anything else, what Solar Returns are and how they work. Let us start with the horoscope (i.e. the natal sky, also called birth chart or radix). Astrology theorizes that each of us, coming into the world, takes the distinctive features of the place and of the moment in which he/she was born – just like a good vintage wine. For everybody knows that Chianti bottled in 1969 is completely different from Pinot bottled in 1975. 
We astrologers claim that the very same thing happens with human beings in their relationship with the ‘stars’. Those who do not believe so do not believe in astrology either; and the matter can be considered closed for them. But for those who believe in this reality, it will not be hard to believe also in Solar Returns.
Let me also stress that the theory of the Solar Returns is extremely ancient: we can already find traces of it in texts dating back to several centuries ago. However, the author who first revived them in modern times is the French astrologer Alexander Volguine, more or less in the middle of the last century. My personal research took inspiration mainly from him. Nonetheless, it soon took a different path, since personally and almost immediately (in 1970) I started to deal not only with plain Solar Returns, but also with what I call the Aimed Solar Returns.
Coming back to our initial conversation, let me remind readers that we the astrologers might swear on our own sons about the reality of astrology, but we would never be able to say how astrology works. The reader would find the discussion of the latter issue, especially from an epistemological/scientific point of view, in my book Astrologia: sì e no, written together with Enzo Barillà and published in Italy by Blue Diamond Publisher. It can be freely accessed at http://www.cirodiscepolo.it/Osservazioni.htm. 
The most basic and classic ‘explanation’ that can be given in relation to this, is that, being born and breathing for the first time with our lungs, we ‘fix’ that astral imprinting featuring exactly a precise cosmic moment in a determined place. We also claim that that astral imprinting, that is to say: that horoscope or that natal chart (birth chart or radix) is nothing but a detailed map of our whole personality, of our medical history, of our destiny in general and in particular this means in connection with our love affairs, our feelings, our professional life, our money, and so on.
Needless to say that if we believe in this, we should also believe that once we came to the world, not only the astral imprinting that we received with our first whimper would ‘influence’ our life, but also many other occasions of imprinting, relentlessly.
Now it seems to me that both for the astrologer and for the layman it should be extremely clear that if we believe in other occasions of astral imprinting, we must not think about such occurrences of imprinting as a sequel of random events (i.e. fortuitous, occurring without a fixed timeline), but as a wave of events that cyclically repeat themselves according to a precise law. Now what are the cycles that govern the universe, or at least, life on Earth? I would certainly say: those that also regulate the movements of celestial bodies in our solar system.
Roughly fifty years ago a new discipline was established called chronobiology: the science that deals with biological rhythms or biorhythms. Before that time, doctors prescribed drug delivery either in the morning or in the evening indifferently. But when the scientists realized the importance of biorhythms in humans, they also understood that a molecule ends up being better activated or weakened down, simply depending on the time of day in which it is administered to the patient.
It is obvious to everyone, or at least I think so, that the cycles are related to the movements of celestial bodies in our solar system. Let us consider only three examples of this. The beautiful book of Lyall Watson Supernature, published in Italy by Rizzoli, Milan in 1974 informs that it has been determined that, in primis, a circadian rhythm exists in humans – i.e. a rhythm that lasts about a day, just like the Earth’s rotation around its own axis. There is plenty of evidence of this fact. Consider, for example, the curve showing how the function of urination or how the blood pressure varies within the twenty-four hours of a mean day. Or you can also consider the fact that every day in the animal ‘man’ there is a peak in the production of melatonin half-hour after sunset (melatonin is a naturally occurring compound found in animals which favours sleep; it is in fact a fully natural, light antidepressant). Some specific laboratory test, such as the Takata test, shows that certain chemical values in our blood are quite different at sunrise and sunset; and to make a long story short we have better not to go on and on.
The second example is the sight before everybody’s eyes. It is relevant to the twenty-nine days during which our natural satellite, the Moon, takes a complete lap around the Earth: just think of the female menstrual cycle, if you have doubts about it. Of course the most important cycle of all is certainly the annual, 365-day long cycle, ticked by the revolution of Earth around the Sun. Evidence of this rhythm or cycle is numerous and very evident in nature: animals hibernate every year in the same period and do the same for migration and for the season of love. Even the trees bear fruit in the same period of the year. For example, around the 15th of May, be the weather good or bad, at our latitudes cherry trees give us cherries: this is a kind of birthday for the plant.
And the same happens for man: starting from the moment of birth begins a cycle of approximately 365 days, which is repeated n number of times until the death of the individual. The day of the (true) birthday, that is when the Sun, seen from Earth, returns exactly in degrees, minutes and seconds to the same point of the ecliptic that it occupied at the moment of an individual’s birth, a cycle of 365 days ends and another one begins, just like in a sine wave (as shown in figure at the end of this chapter). This is a point of extreme importance for us: the imprinting that we receive at this very moment is essential and it should not be confused with other occasions of random imprinting. In other words, the horoscope that we can draw upon our yearly solar return, which is beaten exactly by the time and is relevant to the exact place where we are in that moment, that horoscope would ‘condition’ us strongly for the following 365 days. 
Now, if you believe in what I have just explained, you will also understand that if we study, for example on a computer monitor, how the sky of our next birthday looks like in different places on Earth (we have – theoretically – 360 different possibilities of seeing the sky from the Earth), we can also determine in which town of the planet we may receive the best imprinting of all, according to the laws of astrology. So, if the day of your birthday you are under the sky of your home place, say in Milan or Paris or New York, the astral imprinting is of a certain type; while if you choose a different sky, for example a very harmonic sky with certain features that you wish to ‘activate’, it would obviously be something quite different. However, it should be noted immediately that a sky of Solar Return, contrary to what many people believe, cannot and should not be read by the same rules of a birth or natal chart.
The above described is the starting point for the study of Solar Returns and of Aimed Solar Returns. Let me add that we define a Base Solar Return (BSR) as the sky of the birthday that we ‘take’ if we stay at home on the day of our astrological birthday.

Continue Reading Solar Returns ->

The Preface of the Book

I reckoned – by an approximation – that until spring 1997, after twenty–seven years of intensive practice in astrology, I had ‘forwarded' at least ten thousand persons 1 to an aimed birthday (over twenty thousand in 2007). What's more, year after year I've been recording their outcome, about the splendid reality of the Aimed Solar Returns.
This is not the topic of this volume, which is rather meant to address all those who investigate or wish to investigate Solar Returns, regardless of whether they are planning to put into practice the active relocation of the Solar Return – that which I term as the Aimed Solar Return. I made reference to such a high number of events simply because I wish to claim, with neither conceit nor silly vanity, that my experience in the field is remarkable. What's more, it's a practical experience, not merely a theoretical exercise.
In this volume you'll read quite different observations than those which you might find in any other book. Two examples follow that substantiate this reflection. In the next sections you'll read that a Solar Return starting, say, with Jupiter at the Medium Coeli gives one hundred–times lower positive effects to the native's social and professional promotion than a Solar Return with the Ascendant lying in the 10 th House of the birth chart. Reading the following sections you'll also realize that the SR Ascendant in the 1 st House of birth is one of the worst positions that could ever strike a man. The above remarks, together with many other observations, originate from an extremely long practice and are supported by hundreds of personal reports of people who relocated their own SR according to the method described in this book, who can confirm every single point of what I have written down here.
This volume can not be considered as a substitute either to my Guida ai transiti or to my Trattato pratico di Rivoluzioni solari . It is intended to be a complement to these books and help the reader to understand better the transits and the Solar Returns, based on the results of years of research carried out after the publication of the afore mentioned books.

What I intend to demonstrate with this volume is:

1) It is impossible to be able to make correct forecasts unless you consider the Solar Returns and the transits together

2) The Twelfth, the First and the Sixth House are tremendously negative

3) By making joint use of the Solar Returns and of the transits it is possible to make really accurate forecasts – but only if you read Solar Returns and the transits according to the method described in these books.

Be clear that I don't deny that other, very good authors may be able to make quite accurate forecasts based upon other systems of analysis. I simply believe that the other methods are bound to be positively inferior compared with the results that can be obtained with the method I propose. It is my opinion that those who make use of the Solar Returns in practice, but read them according to other streams of astrological thought, would never obtain the brilliant prognostic results that can be attained following the rules listed in the following pages. I say so being perfectly aware that I don't mean to claim that I am an infallible astrologer! I simply rely upon a huge practice that allows me to trace classifications, set priorities, mention scales of values, and make use of exclamation marks after certain items.
It's you, dear reader, who'll eventually decide whether this method works or not. You might recommend it to your colleagues or you might throw it away instead after trying it without result, but of course, during the trial time, you should not change any single rule according to your own mind!
I am confident that application will prove me right. I don't claim that my precision reaches hundred percent. Yet this method possesses a high degree of verifiability – so high that it allows you to follow it without making serious mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes: the most important thing is not doing your best not to make mistakes at all – the most important thing is to do your best in order to reduce your mistakes to a minimum.
There are two more considerations. In the description of transits you'll perceive that I have tried to reduce my own involvement to a minimum; I have tried to be as ‘silent' as possible in my relationship with the reader. On the other hand, when you read the section about Solar Returns you'll find that my participation there is more incisive. There I write in the first person, with quite personal comments. The reason is that in those pages I face a subject in which I have felt the need to strike a blow, to take sides, to underline a much more personal reasoning compared with that of the transits.
Lastly, I would like to say that in this volume you'll often come across the terms ‘negative' and ‘positive' when reference is being made to isolated individual positions of Solar Returns and of transits. Many people would be appalled at ‘such a language', claiming that one should mention only harmonic and disharmonic positions – never ‘positive' and ‘negative' ones. Forgive me, but I don't stand demagogy. We live in a time of political correctness in which the blind are called visually handicapped; the poor are called needy; the handicapped are called disabled; foreigners are called non–EU citizens, and so on – but I am accustomed to calling a spade a spade. Therefore even if you try hard to convince me, you'll never have me say that a Saturn transiting over the Sun in the 12 th House is a disharmonic transit that makes people to grow. I'll stick to my opinion: such a transit is above all a disaster that everybody would like to avoid. The thought that people grow spiritually and psychologically under duress can at best be a philosophical conjecture.

Notes
1 Some times, during any given day up to ten different persons, call me asking for advice. Since my computer is running constantly, I immediately open the program called Molriv and, during the course of the conversation over the phone, am able to indicate to them a proper destination for their Aimed Solar Return. After a year has gone by, I note their experiences concerning Aimed Solar Returns.
This is why I seldom forget anything about ASRs, despite the fact that certain other subjects completely slip my mind.

Chapter 18
Jupiter of SR in the Houses of the Solar Return

It’s a fairly important element of the SR: it tells where you’ll find your main resources during the twelve months to which the Solar Return refers. You’ll see that the help of Jupiter will be crucial for the overall result for the year. Jupiter may give you a helping hand both in a propulsive way (it gives a trump card for a precise play) and by acting as a kind of guardian angel (it restrains the damage of a certain situation). Yet, you should keep an eye on the way Jupiter ‘works’ in the following three Houses: the second, the seventh, and the eighth. Often, in these three houses the lord of Sagittarius reveals a behaviour which is opposite to its classical one. It is something similar to what I wrote about the transit of Jupiter in the same three Houses of the birth chart.

Jupiter in the First House of SR: Its effect is usually very positive concerning recovery from a state of depression, or from physical and mental dejections; convalescence after surgery; release from a period of financial, professional, sentimental, or familial trouble; end of a breakdown due to a death or a very bad disillusion, and so on. With Jupiter so placed, individuals who usually act with a massive dose of distrust would tend to lower their guard, considering others with more trust than usual. With this position of Jupiter, people act with more naivety and more uncritically. This Jupiter is favourable for social contacts, for opening doors of any kind; but it may be harmful in view of the possibility of being swindled by fellow human beings. You must be careful, because this position of Jupiter fattens people, for it makes them relax and it gladdens their heart.
In the most negative cases, it may favour the proliferations of all kinds – even the pathological ones. Thus it may mean hypertrophy in general, immoderation, exaggerations, overvaluations. Nonetheless, even when you read this position as a problematic one, you must consider that Jupiter is basically a positive planet, and that it has to be considered as one of the most powerful protections for one’s health, and in general, a bearer of good luck. Moreover, if it’s very close to the Ascendant it’s a real ‘Prozac’ of the stars, for it reveals an extremely valid antidepressant performance: it may be a real relief after a bad year.

In the Second House of SR, Jupiter is in one of the three adverse positions that we have to consider carefully. In the section about the transits of Jupiter you can read what I wrote about the bistable oscillator. Let’s repeat it once again here in brief. A bistable oscillator is an electronic circuit that determines the inversion of the output signal for any input impulse. For instance, assume that the oscillator switches on an output bulb when the first impulse arrives. If a second impulse arrives the oscillator switches the bulb off. At the third impulse, it switches the bulb on again, and so on. This mean that the position of Jupiter in the three aforementioned Houses usually induces an inversion of the previous condition. Jupiter in the 2nd House of SR means certainly an increased circulation of money, but it may be either an input or an output of money. Only a general outlook of the individual’s current situation helps you understand in which way this Jupiter will work. Here are some examples. If you find this position in a SR with other Houses involved such as the 12th, the 1st, or the 6th House, it almost certainly means loss of money. If the SR refers to dealers or businessmen whose Saturn is transiting their 2nd or 8th radix house, then it almost means certainly an outflow of money. If the individual is making repairs at home, or if he is purchasing an estate, and his SR shows an occupation of the 4th House, then it indicates cash disbursements – a real a drain of money. On the contrary, if the SR shows an occupation of the 4th House and the native is selling an estate, then this Jupiter should mean an inflow of money – much money. If you stick to this reasoning, you should be able to understand the direction of the flow of capital with a good degree of precision. If a worker has been laid off and he has got bad transits, with a Jupiter in the 2nd House of SR he might even lose his job and reduced to penury. Of course, as they say: last but not least – you have to consider the birth chart of the native. For if you are able to make a fortune selling grasshoppers in Africa, or refrigerators in Alaska, then you are able to increase your income even with this celestial position. If you were unlucky with money since birth, expect to face further financial trouble with this celestial position. Such a position may also indicate an increased ‘presence’ of the native, who will probably participate in TV programs or public ceremonies, or his picture may appear on a paper or be broadcast in the news, during the year of this SR. The native may also show an increased interest (and receive particular satisfaction) in the fields of photography, theatre, graphics, design, computer–aided graphics, commercial art. He might decide to purchase tools to operate in the aforementioned fields of activity. The native may even become more beautiful thanks to a diet, a new look, a different hairstyle, a fine new set of teeth, plastic surgery, or by simply growing a new beard and/or a moustache, and so on. He takes more care in dressing. With this position of Jupiter it is almost impossible that the native does not purchase a monitor or a large screen television set, or that he does not become keen, maybe occasionally, on taking pictures or videos. Probably his picture will be published in the papers, or maybe he improves his sight by having his eyes operated with laser surgery. If he’s an actor, he will perform more during the year, for instance he may appear often in a TV commercial.

When Jupiter is in the Third House of SR it simply, although very often, indicates the purchase of a new car or of a new motorcycle, or a motor scooter, a bicycle, a van, or any other means of transport. It also points to possible travels and much movement. It may announce a new job, or a new love affair, or a new therapy involving commuting – usually, a happy and easy commuting. It further portends much communication. You may purchase a new mobile phone, a cordless phone, a fax machine, a local exchange, a satellite dish, a modem, an ADSL connection, a printer, a new word processor. Good news arrives to you by letter, by cable, by fax, or by telephone. You experience good luck in your education.
University students may pass exams brilliantly. You stand good chances to win contests and tenders. You may take part in courses not only as students, but also as teachers. You may take advantage of this situation by enrolling in courses of languages, in training courses with computers, in pursuing postgraduate qualifications, in demanding workshops; or taking part in seminars, debates, or teach–ins. It’s a good time for writing. You may receive positive criticisms from the press. There may be very good news from your brothers, sisters, cousins, and brothers–in–law or sisters–in–law. If you suffer from a pulmonary pathology, you can expect to recover from it. Good business ideas, lucky decisions. With such a position many individuals learn how to use a computer. For instance, a learned man who had been writing for fifty years with pen and paper may start using MS–Word under this celestial configuration. Many natives get their first driving licence or boating licence, regardless of their age.

Jupiter in the Fourth House of SR almost inevitably means advantages from real estate. It may result in a good trading or transfer of property; an important business or a move; or restoration or renovation of your house or your office, your workshop, your shop, or your workroom… This refers to your own property as well as the places where you operate from. For instance, a bank clerk may be transferred to another, more comfortable agency under this celestial position. You must seize this opportunity if you plan to purchase a house. It is a very good position for those who wish to take possession of their own house after years of difficulties of different kinds. Jupiter in the 4th may also be a time for individuals to eventually take a rest at home after having travelled for years.
You may inherit a real estate. From a different point of view, this position may indicate a better condition for your parents (or parents–in–law), particularly of your father (or father–in–law). They may improve their financial, professional, sentimental, or health condition. Improvement of habitat may also refer to your parents or in–laws (it may be also your boyfriend’s or your girlfriend’s parents). Your relationship with your parents gets better. You may purchase a camper van or a time–share flat. You may rent a new studio or garçonnière. You purchase new hard disks or other devices to increase the memory of your computer. Jupiter in the 4th House may also indicate that you recover serenity at home or at work. You may get to feel fine once again there after a period of troubles. Ironically, this position may refer to diseases as well. In fact you might spend much time at home, and enjoying it, simply because you are sick and you cannot go to work.

Usually Jupiter in the Fifth House of SR is rather spectacular and it facilitates very much the birth of new love affairs and new flirtations, unless the native’s birth chart shows that he’s subject to bad luck in this field. Keep in mind the remarks that follow. Many users of astrology are persons with a shallow knowledge of the subject. They think that such a position should grant them the right to get love, always. In fact, things are a little different. For instance, let’s talk about inaugurations. I often happened to be asked to indicate a good date for the opening of a commercial enterprise. And then, years later, my client complained that things had gone very wrong financially despite my good piece of advice. Well, this is quite logical – in fact the variables involved are not only of the astrological kind. One has to take into due account the market conditions. Thus, if you try to sell furs in a tropical country, your enterprise is bound to fail even if it was born under a wonderful sky. Similarly, if a definitely ugly man (or a not really charming one) tries to woo a woman during a party of young, bold and beautiful cadets of a naval academy, you can easily guess that he stands very little chance to conquer the heart of a lady. Thus this celestial position may bring a new wonderful love affair or the return of the beloved one in the period spanning from one birthday to the following birthday, provided that there are objective conditions for it to happen. In any case, the native has more fun during the year of such a Solar Return. This fun may derive from playing cards, videogames, music, using the computer, but also reading classic literature. Even boring books will do. Sometimes I happened to listen to many people who admitted (after their Solar Return had come to an end) that they did have fun, although it had been a matter of simply discovering the pleasure of having conversations with people after a period of seclusion. Jupiter here also announces possible sports, more cinemas and more theatre. With such a Jupiter people tend to go out to dinner, to concerts, to the disco, to the country more often. They also have more sex. You should receive good news from your kids or from young people in general (this has particularly reference to teachers). You may overcome a problem relevant to your children. You may also have a baby, even if you don’t wish. With this celestial position the native’s fertility increases dramatically, be it a male or a female. Only in extremely rare cases, you have to read this position as a negative one: for instance, it may involve troubles from your children. Still about love – the most popular subject of all – I must add that Jupiter in the 5th certainly heralds a nice year as far as sex or love is concerned, provided that the native is not ‘tainted’ in this field. Except a few cases, it usually forecasts a new meeting, or the return of an old flame. Some say to me: ‘I am fond of Jeff. If it’s not Jeff, I am not interested in anybody else...’ Well, stars are much more long–sighted than the human being. Thus, often, even if it’s not Jeff – Jupiter makes the native happy.

In the 6th House, the lord of Sagittarius is able to amend many a bad situation, as far as one’s health is concerned. In fact, it gives you good support in healing diseases and it offers you often unexpected resources to enhance your psychophysical wellbeing. It also acts very well during convalescences, and more in general, when you recover from hard times due to sentimental, financial, professional trouble; or due to the death of a beloved one. Therapies starting under such a Solar Return stand better chances to get positive, concrete, definite results. It is a good time for surgery, especially for plastic surgery. You can expect better working conditions, better human relationships at work. It is advisable to recruit new employees, collaborators, contributors, staff, domestic help during such a SR. Old grudges in your working environment (your office, your company…) find a solution. The period may be good for a member of your staff too. It also may be that you find that your job, previously considered as a hard and unpleasant task, is not so bad after all and you reconsider your view about it. Jupiter in this position means advantages from any kind of therapy, such as mud–bath; thermal treatments; Shiatsu; physiotherapy; fitness; slimming or detoxifying diets… You may receive satisfaction from a pet. Remember that the most protective positions for your health are the following: Jupiter and Venus in the 6th House of SR or Jupiter and Venus in the 1st or 12th House of SR (the latter position, especially if the aforementioned planets are very close to the Ascendant, is certainly very good for this purpose, although it is usually inconvenient for love life).

In the Seventh House of SR, Jupiter behavior is more or less similar to that of it’s transit of the natal 7th House. Usually, due to the ‘bistable’ effect that I have already described, Jupiter lends you a helping hand and solves your troubles concerning your love life, marriage, and anything related with stamped paper. If you are not involved in any affair but you strongly wish to be involved – and if there are at least the theoretical preconditions for that to happen – you can surely hope to have a promising encounter during the twelve months of the Solar Return. It may be an important person with whom you might establish a quite steady relationship. Also, if your love life has been recently spoiled by a crisis, a temporary separation, and/or by incessant tensions, with the arrival of a Solar Return with Jupiter in the 7th House you stand very good chances to overcome your misunderstandings, and to restore the nice, peaceful and loving atmosphere of the good old times. The same happens for legal issues, lawsuits, legal proceedings, pending issues with justice. If you are under investigation or if you are on trial, if you are engaged in an exhausting lawsuit, then it’s highly probable that you’ll find an important resource, an unexpected help, a kind of miraculous support, something or somebody who gets you out of trouble or manages to produce a favourable judgment – or at least, a sentence which is not so bad for you. The other way around, if you are having a wonderful time in your love life and if you aren’t facing any trouble at all with the law, then Jupiter in the 7th House may bring huge quarrels, separations, even a divorce, stamped paper of all kinds, troubles with justice, individuals or institutions attacking you, declared enemies, and even more: with this Jupiter one can even expect to be a victim of acts of terrorism, robberies or attempts of robbery. Someone might wound you. As I said, it is not clear how it really works: still, having collected and studied thousands and thousands of charts of Solar Returns, I can assert for certain that this rule proves to be true in the overwhelming majority of the cases, if not in all of them.
The same reasoning can be ascribed to your partner, husband or wife, associates in business, education, politics, etc. Nonetheless besides the bipolarity that I have defined as ‘bistable’ there’s another attribute that I’ve often met with this celestial position. During the twelve months of such a SR, your partner, boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife, associate or whatever, is bound to stand out for some reason. They might recover from bad health or they might grow in their profession or social position, and so on. It is a good time, anyway, to take somebody into partnership, if this is what you are looking for.

Jupiter in the 8th House of SR, as well as in the 2nd House, means surely a definite increased flow of money within the native’s natural financial situation (i.e. a few millions for someone, billions for some others). This flow may be incomes or outflows depending upon inheritance you take possession of; donations; gambling wins; endowments; pensions; severance pay; arrears; unexpected income; good transactions; or brokerage; but it may also be gambling losses; theft; huge expenses for your house; your partner’s debts; frauds you are a victim of; bad stock speculations or bad speculations in general; money that you lent and that will never be returned, and so on.
If you don’t pay attention, with this position you run the risk of facing real drains of money. Sometimes the effect of this Jupiter may be deceptive. For instance, it may help you obtain a loan, a subsidy, a financing, and it helps you to be granted quite huge amounts too – but you may not be able to refund this money later on, so that eventually its presence in the 8th House may be adverse for you. This position of Jupiter also indicates possible advantages from a death – not only financial advantages.
You stand a fair chance in any kind of underground research – it may also be a matter of digging into your own psyche. Your sexual life gets better. The latter point is not subject to any two–faced interpretation: it often tells you that a new love affair is arriving, or that things are bound to settle down positively with your partner. There may be a possible amplification of the native’s psychic powers and likelihood of benefits that have something to do with cemeteries.

Jupiter in the Ninth House of SR almost always forecasts long and wonderful travels for the native; journeys to distant places; staying far from home; benefits obtained from foreign people or foreign places, or relevant to other countries or towns than your place of birth or of residence. From any point of view the ‘abroad’ and the ‘far away’ are favourable to you: they give you benefits, they help you in finding work, money, health, love, or fame. You may be cured by foreign doctors and/or in a foreign hospital. Jobs or collaborations may be offered to you provided that you move to another town. You get the chance to attend foreign courses, in foreign universities. You may obtain a higher qualification abroad. Jupiter in this House also favours any kind of advanced studies, mainly if they refer to anything far from your daily fields of expertise, such as philosophy, astrology, parapsychology, theology, yoga, and so on. You can learn a foreign language or a programming language; you can also get to master a particularly complex piece of software. It is an excellent period for going and living in another town or for trying and reaching an agreement with people or institutions not belonging to your geographical area. How could we define ideally what the 9th House really refers to? It refers to any place where they speak a language or a dialect other than your own. In my long years of practising and studying Solar Returns, I very often happened to see that this position of Jupiter corresponds, for instance, also to the first flying experience of people who have a deep distrust of planes.

Jupiter in the Tenth House of Solar Return is almost always a positive signal concerning your growth – normally it’s a professional growth. Such a growth may refer to more general kinds of emancipations, such as learning to swim or to swallow pills (many adults are not able to do it in fact). Some people ‘grow’ by getting rid of an unpleasant person; some others fly for the first time in their life. Others get a perfect sight thanks to a successful surgery. Others learn a foreign language perfectly; others get to master a personal computer. You may also become stronger psychologically; overcome fears or taboos; identify profitable projects for the future; meet people who can change your life; complete your university education; purchase your dream house; become a father or a mother; get married, and so on. Nonetheless I have to say that such a position is much less powerful than an Ascendant of SR in the 10th House of birth (on the other hand the latter has got contraindications, while Jupiter in the 10th hasn’t got any at all). I don’t know why, but I’ve personally experienced it over thousands of cases. The results that can be obtained by a Jupiter in the 10th House of SR are, almost always, irreversible. It is my opinion, formed after many decades of experimentation, that (expect a few cases) a Jupiter strictly conjunct with the MC is the best combination that one can obtain in a Solar Return chart. In some cases this celestial position announces a very good period for the native’s mother: she may improve her professional position; she may become famous; she may get financial benefits; she may experience a particularly good period for her health or her love; or it may be that the native’s relationship with her mother gets better.

Jupiter in the Eleventh House of SR helps you very much through friends in high places, important contacts, powerful acquaintances such as politicians, judges, officials. These people may offer you a job, give you a position of responsibility, contract you, or ask you to estimate something. They may show you the precise way to get to be operated by a famous surgeon or to be visited by important specialists. They may put in a good word for you to attend a course or to be accepted into an exclusive club. In other words you may get support in any field of your life, even ordinary spheres of your daily life – as for instance, somebody might put you through to his own personal car mechanic and ask him confer preferential treatment to your car… During the twelve months of such a Solar Return you might receive assistance of all kinds; you will sense more friendship around yourself, and receive concrete signs of support from your friends. In a nutshell, this will be – a year of very good projects; propel you toward professional growth; your projects begin to show desired results. There may be possible benefits from a death. You easily overcome a risk of death for yourself or a beloved one. This year will establish new and very good friendships. Jupiter in the 11th House has always to be read as a positive factor, and it’s only a rung lower than Jupiter in the 7th House of SR.

Jupiter in the Twelve House of SR is perhaps in its best position because, although it does not help you effectively in any precise direction, it works like a wild card, like a guardian angel who helps you recover from every negative situation and avoid all dangers; it helps you rehabilitate, get out of troubles. It is a real universal remedy to recover after a disease; to get out from legal troubles; to overcome a financial tragedy; to recover from the suffering of a separation or of a death. Its effects are never impressive, but they are extremely evident for those who honestly consider their own condition. Its presence in a Solar Return guarantees that you won’t have any dramatic year, from any point of view. You won’t run any risk even if, say, you walk on a rope suspended between two skyscrapers: Jupiter will be your ‘net’ below you. This is the position that – more than all the other positions – makes you appreciate that Jupiter really is a good planet – only if it wants to be good.

The Index of the Book:

Ciro Discepolo's Bibliography