In astrology, your birthday marks your Solar Return — the moment each year when the Sun returns to the exact position it held at your birth. We cast a Solar Return chart to gain insight into the year ahead: its themes, opportunities, challenges, and the energetic tone you’ll be working with.

Your Solar Return can fall on the day of your birthday, or sometimes the day before or after. These charts are best interpreted on or around your birthday, when the shift into your new personal year is freshest.

Because my birthday was last week, I thought it would be the perfect time to walk you through the concept — what a Solar Return chart is, how to calculate one, and how to start reading it for meaningful guidance.

One important thing to know: your Sun sign never changes in a Solar Return chart, but your Moon and Rising often do. These do not replace your natal Moon or Rising; rather, they describe the emotional style (Moon) and outward expression (Ascendant) you’ll embody for the year ahead. Think of them as your “annual costume changes,” much like progressed planets that evolve over time.

Astrologer Stephanie Gailling said about a solar return chart:

How to Calculate a Solar Return Chart

A Solar Return chart requires:

1. Your birth time
2. Your birthday (month and day)
3. The current year
4. Your physical location on your birthday

Your location matters because the chart is cast for where you are when the Sun returns — not where you were born.

My favourite calculator is Astro-Seek, because it clearly prompts you to enter the city you’ll be in on your birthday and includes a helpful tab showing the chart pattern.

If you’re using Astro.com, head to Extended Chart Selection, choose “Solar Return Chart” from the dropdown, and double-check that the location is correct before generating it.

Things to look for in a solar return chart

Below is my Solar Return chart for the coming year so you can follow along as I walk through my interpretation.

My Solar Return 2025/2026: A Year of Foundation, Healing, and Quiet Creative Power

As I step into my Solar Return year for 2025/2026, my chart reveals a deeply introspective cycle focused on foundations, wellbeing, intuitive creativity, and rewriting the rhythms of my life and business. A powerful water grand trine between Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, and Venus infuses the year with emotional wisdom, healing energy, and a quiet but unstoppable flow of creative expression.

This is a year where I reorganise my life from the inside out — preparing the ground for a 1st-house rebirth in 2026/2027.

Here’s a closer look at the themes emerging for my year ahead.

Placement of the sun by house

Sun in the 4th House: Foundations, Healing, and Preparing for Rebirth

The Sun in the 4th house signals a year of strengthening my inner world, emotional foundations, home, and family. I’m consciously preparing for my next 1st-house year — a major personal and professional rebirth starting on my next birthday.

The 4th house focus pulls me inward to realign my base, simplify, heal, and create a stable foundation that can sustain future growth.

Themes

• Home and family as central focus
• Slower pace, more rest, more spaciousness
• Healing, recalibration, and emotional repair
• Rewriting systems and foundations in life and business
• Quiet stabilisation before the next big outward chapter

Key Sun Aspects

• Sun trine Neptune: heightened intuition, creative downloads, and deep spiritual attunement that directly supports writing my book and strengthening my inner foundation.
• Sun sextile Pluto (tight): completing a powerful long-term empowerment cycle. This brings emotional strength, renewed boundaries, and a more grounded sense of truth and self-expression.
• Sun opposite Uranus: unexpected changes or disruptions to home, foundations, or family dynamics may arise, inviting greater freedom, flexibility, and innovation in how I live and work.

These aspects show a year of deep inner strength, intuitive flow, and surprising shifts — all helping me reshape my foundations in preparation for next year’s major personal rebirth.

Your Moon Placement

Moon in Aquarius in the 6th House: Healing Rhythms, Health Focus, and Daily Life Reinvention

The Moon in Aquarius in the 6th house shows that my heart is with the health and transforming my own daily rhythms.

There is deep soul-searching here — not in a heavy way, but with a cool, clarifying Aquarian objectivity. I’m redesigning my work life to match my real energetic capacity.

Themes

• Changing work routines to support neurodiversity (recent autism diognosis) and nervous-system health
• Spaciousness and flexibility
• A new way of working that prioritises sustainability
• Letting go of outdated structures and expectations

Aspects

• Moon conjunct Pluto (tight): a profound transformation in my relationship with work, health, and daily responsibilities. This is deep identity-level recalibration.
• Moon sextile Sun: emotional and practical foundations working together — ideal for healing and stabilisation.

Solar Return Ascendant (or rising) sign & ruling planet

You can also look at your Ascendant sign in your solar return chart to indicate your general temperament and attitude for the next 12 months. The ruler of the Ascendant also becomes the ruling planet for your year.

Leo Ascendant: Visibility, Confidence, and Creative Leadership

With a Leo Solar Return Ascendant, the year’s outer tone feels warmer, brighter, and more confident than the internal 4th-house Sun suggests.

I present strongly to others, even if I’m intentionally cultivating more spaciousness behind the scenes.

Leo rising supports:
• Leadership of my mastermind
• Creative expression
• Confidence in my book writing
• A renewed sense of personal identity
• Being seen — in a way that feels empowered, not draining

The ruling planet is the Sun, reinforcing the importance of strengthening my foundation in preparation for next year’s expansion.

Solar Return Mercury – What you are thinking about in the year ahead

Mercury in Scorpio in the 3rd House: Deep Writing and Focused Learning

This is a writer’s Mercury — intense, focused, researched, emotionally honest, and transformative.

Themes

• Writing my book
• Organised learning and study
• Strategic communication (perfect for mastermind leadership)
• Teaching and intellectual content creation
• Private or sensitive conversations

Aspects

• Trine Saturn in Pisces (8th): structured writing; disciplined progress; trauma-informed depth.
• Trine Jupiter in Cancer (12th): intuitive writing, spiritual retreats, travel for study or writing.
• Conjunct Venus: money through writing, teaching, speaking, and content creation.
• Mercury retrograde: refinement, rewriting, reworking ideas — excellent for editing my book.

Mercury forms part of the grand water trine, supporting powerful flow in writing, intuition, and deep emotional insight.

Solar Return Venus – Your relationships, financial situation and what you value in the year ahead

Venus in Scorpio in the 3rd House: Depth in Relationships and Income from Intellectual Work

Venus in Scorpio intensifies what I value and how I connect.

Themes

• Income through writing, teaching, speaking
• Deeper emotional connections with students and clients
• Transformational communications
• Stronger brand messaging with magnetism and depth

Venus participates in the grand water trine, enhancing intuitive income streams and creatively aligned opportunities.

Solar Return Mars – Where you may need to be assertive and take action in the year ahead

Mars in Sagittarius in the 4th House: Protecting My Energy and Boundaries

Mars energises my home, foundations, and family life.

Themes

• Taking action on creating stability
• Home organisation or structural changes
• Protecting my emotional space
• Advocating for what I need
• Balancing inner focus with outer commitments

Aspect

• Square North Node in Pisces in the 7th: tension between wanting retreat and needing collaboration. The key is pacing and clear boundaries.

Solar Return Jupiter – Beneficial events & expansion in the year ahead

Jupiter in Cancer in the 12th House: Healing, Retreat, and Spiritual Expansion

This is a gentle, mystical, highly supportive Jupiter placement.

Themes

• Intuition strengthened
• Retreats, solitude, spaciousness
• Emotional healing
• Quiet growth beneath the surface
• Inspiration for my book

Aspect

• Square Chiron in Aries (8th): I have multiple family health concerns with aging parents, a child with a mental health disorder as well as an extended family member. These issues could cause difficult periods that disrupt my peace and solitude.

Jupiter is part of the grand water trine, offering emotional protection and spiritual support all year.

Solar Return Saturn – Restriction and Structures in your life in the year ahead

Saturn in the 8th House: Shared Resources, Depth Work, and Emotional Maturity

Saturn in Pisces in the 8th house signals a year of taking responsibility for the deeper, often hidden layers of life — shared finances, long-term investments, energetic exchanges, and emotional entanglements. This is a period to make wise, grounded decisions around money that involves others, whether through business partnerships, family matters, or inherited responsibilities.

It’s also a year of psychological maturation. Saturn asks me to confront fears, untangle old patterns, and strengthen my emotional boundaries. Even if some situations feel weighty or require patience, they ultimately help create lasting stability in both my inner world and my financial foundations.

This placement reinforces the importance of clarity, integrity, and conscious partnership in all shared-resource dynamics.

Solar Return Uranus – Where you’ll experience change in the year ahead

Uranus at 29° Taurus in the 10th House: A Final Career Reinvention

Uranus at a critical degree signals a big year for career evolution.

Themes

• Sudden changes in direction
• A new level of visibility
• Redefining what success looks like
• Unexpected opportunities

This prepares the ground for a new public identity as Uranus moves into Gemini.

Solar Return Neptune – Where you may feel confused in the year ahead

Neptune in Pisces in the 8th House: Emotional and Financial Ambiguity

Neptune blurs boundaries around shared resources, deep emotions, and the unseen.

This is not a year for rigid financial projections.
Flexibility and intuition matter more.

Solar Return Pluto – How you’ll experience power & transformation in the year ahead

Pluto in Aquarius in the 6th House: Transforming My Work Rhythms

This is the core transformational signature of the year.

Themes

• Rewriting my daily routines
• Healing health patterns
• Changing expectations of myself
• Aligning work rhythms with neurodiversity
• Reshaping how I hold space in the mastermind

Pluto conjunct the Moon makes this a deeply healing year.

Other things to look out for in a Solar Return Chart

Solar Return planets on solar return angles

Planets Close to the Angles

In this Solar Return chart, Venus sits less than 2 degrees from the IC, making it the only planet tightly aligned with an angle. Venus so close to the IC brings harmony, healing, emotional nourishment, and a desire for beauty and comfort into the very foundations of my year. It highlights themes of home, family, inner security, and the values I want to infuse into my private life and personal sanctuary. This placement often softens challenges and brings support, love, or financial ease through family or home-based decisions.

While Mercury (3 degrees from the IC) and Uranus (4 degrees from the MC) are relatively close, they sit just outside the typical 2-degree orb used for angular activation. They still contribute subtle influence — Mercury adding depth to communication within the home and Uranus hinting at career shifts — but Venus remains the primary planet exerting strong angular emphasis this year.

Critical degrees

If you have any Solar Return planets at 0 degrees or 29 degrees, these positions carry heightened significance for the year ahead. They represent critical transition, initiation, or culmination points in the areas they govern.

In my Solar Return for 2025/2026, Uranus is at 29 degrees Taurus in the 10th house, highlighting a year of profound transformation.

Uranus at 29° Taurus in the 10th House: A Culminating Career Breakthrough

This placement signifies a pivotal year for career evolution, public visibility, and redefining how I show up in the world. Uranus at the anaretic 29th degree brings a sense of urgency, culmination, and breakthrough in my professional life.

Uranus in Taurus at 29 Degrees

At 29°, Uranus is completing its transit through Taurus, highlighting themes of stability, value, embodiment, and long-term resources. This final degree often brings sudden insights or changes that reveal what must shift so I can step into a more authentic and liberated professional expression. It’s a culmination point: the last release before a fresh cycle begins when Uranus moves into Gemini.

In Taurus, Uranus prompts me to revolutionise how I create security and define success. It may inspire more embodied leadership, or a business model that feels more aligned with my true values.

10th House Influence

The 10th house governs career, public reputation, leadership, and the legacy I’m building. Uranus here suggests a year of significant professional shifts — whether through a change in direction, a fresh wave of visibility, or a bold redefinition of my vocational identity.

This could manifest as refining my role as a teacher, stepping more fully into my mastermind leadership, expanding my authority as a published author, or embracing a new level of innovation in my offerings and content.

It’s a year where the universe may nudge (or shove) me toward a business path that better reflects who I’ve become.

Themes of Culmination and Release

With Uranus at the anaretic degree, this is a year of endings and breakthroughs. I’m closing a long chapter of experimenting with different professional identities and stepping into a more spacious, liberated version of my work life. This placement encourages me to release outdated structures, obligations, or public expectations that no longer feel aligned.

Sudden opportunities may arise. So might changes I didn’t fully plan — all designed to free me into a career expression that feels more authentic and less constrained.

Visibility and Innovation

This is a powerful year for increasing visibility and expanding my platform. Uranus encourages innovative approaches to marketing, online presence, and public leadership. I may feel inspired to experiment with new media, new teaching formats, or new ways of connecting with my audience.

My work may take on a more future-oriented or visionary tone — especially aligned with business astrology, spiritual entrepreneurship, and creative thought leadership.

Long-Term Direction

As Uranus prepares to enter Gemini, the themes arising this year point toward the next chapter of my public life:

• more intellectual communication
• more writing and teaching
• greater mobility and freedom
• new ways of sharing knowledge with the collective

A Year of Healing, Spaciousness, and Quiet Creative Emergence

Overall, 2025/2026 is a year of deep healing, emotional recalibration, and foundational strengthening. The grand water trine supports creativity, intuition, and income through writing and teaching.

My goals — growing my mastermind, writing my book, and creating more spaciousness — align beautifully with the chart’s message.

This is a year of preparing the ground.
A year of inner transformation.
A year where quiet growth creates profound future expansion.

Would you like to learn how to interpret your solar return chart?

Check out my solar return toolkit – just $49 – find out more here.

Create your Solar Return Chart