by Chris Turner (faa@peg.apc.org)
(As originally posted on the Festival Mailing List for Astrologers. This article describes the routine that professional astrologer Chris Turner uses for making predictions for her clients.)

Hi all who are interested in this,

Ok, go get a cup of coffee, and let's go through this.

A couple of points first. This is not a hard and fast routine. It's what I use to keep myself focused (something I have to practice, doesn't come naturally) and that I teach and is obviously adaptable. I am also open to any criticism (constructive) and suggestions, as part of the reasons I'm doing this is to learn too.

I am assuming a full natal work up has been done too. This whole exercise is pointless if you don't have the holistic natal chart uppermost in your mind the whole time. The main themes of the natal chart as well as the stand out patterns. I keep the natal chart right beside me throughout the whole exercise, and refer to it all the time. Then more or less follow the following route.

1. Find out what has been happening in the client's life in the last year or so. This is because much of what will happen in the next 12 months will be a direct follow on, and directly influenced by the past 12 months. I focus on 12 months, because what will happen in 2000 depends very much on the choices made in 1999, and we don't know those yet. But kowing the choices made in 1997, and being made in 1998 gives us a clear background for 1999.

2. Check the transits and Prog Lunation cycle for Mundane cycles. Is the person going through a Saturn Return or a Progressed New Moon. Don't forget the not so obvious ones, such as the T Pluto conj Neptune in the 20's, or the cross T Pluto/Uranus happening in the early 50's, or the intermediate PLunation points such as the Quarters. These Mundane Cycles will be the underlying themes of what is happening in the person's life.

3. Check transits for major personal cycles, i.e. outer planets conj personal planets. This will also indicate a turning point of some kind.

   The beginning and ending of major cycles will always give you a clue as to what is motivating the events and changes taking place.

4. Then look at the Solar Return paying particular attention to the angular planets and close aspects. Also note the natal house that the SR ascendant occupies.

5. Compare this with the natal house occupied by the Prog Moon. These two houses are likely to be the general environment where all the action is taking place.

6. Then look at the transits to see if one type of aspect is predominant. For example more semi and sesquisquares than anything else indicates a lot of stress; a large number of quincunxes, pressure and probably a significant separation or loss of some kind.

7. Compare this to the Secondary progression aspect predominance - does it back it up, or does the predomance of an aspect type in the Sec Progs mitigate to a degree what is indicated by the predominant aspect in the transits?

8. Back to the transits, and note major outer planet transits (from Saturn to Pluto), focusing more on the planets being aspected rather than the aspects themselves. Is a personal plant being transited by more than one outer? These planets will be more important than those only recieving one "hit". The more hits a planet is getting, the more likely this will be the major "event" in this person's life, the others being side effects or offshoots from it.

9. Check Sec Progs, and Solar Arc (and this is where I also use Sec Regressions) and see if those same planets are being triggered - recheck Solar Return.

10. Double check back to the transits to see if they are repeating themes stated in the SP and SD.

11. At this point I sometimes look to see if any of the SP or SA planets are being transited, or being aspected by the other - but this is *only* for further confirmation. I *never* take these alone.

12. To see which houses are being emphasised I use a time diagram (there is a copy of this in the Eagle and the Lark by Bernadette Brady). Taking a major transit I note the houses diagramatically thus: (All natal)

    For example my recent T Saturn sq N Sun

    T planet	N planet
    8	10	house occupied natally
    4 (5,6)	11,12	house(s) ruled natally
    7	-	house being transitted

    This indicates that the Transitting Saturn is natally in the 8th, it rules the 4th, co-ruling 5th and 6th, and is currently transiting through the 7th. The Sun being transited, is in the 10th, and rules the 11th and 12th.

    When you do this with the aspects from the Transits, SP and SA, that you feel are going to be having the most effect, you will quickly find that some houses - if you are lucky only one or two, are constantly being repeated. Do these match the houses indicated by the SR and Prog Moon?

    OK, that's the general workup! Now it's time for detail, and starts getting trickier. By now, especially if you have been talking to your client, you will be getting a feel for what is happening, which houses are important, which planets and which aspects. Now comes the hard part, the luck part and the test of your intuition. Decision time. GET RID OF ALL IRRELEVANT CONFIGURATIONS. Decide which are the important ones, and either ignore or put to the side all that are not important, which will be 90% of the information you have. It is these irrelevancies that confuse and muddy the issues, and create inaccuracies. You don't have to pick what's going to happen to someone every day - only the main themes and events, which will affect their lives.

13. Check the natal health of the planets you have chosen. Are they easy or difficult characters in your clients life - include any major planetary patterns, because they will also be triggered. Are any of the dynamic configurations you have chosen presnt natally as a different aspect? If so, it will not have the same impact as it would if the two planets are not connected natally. (e.g., there is no aspect between my NSun and NSaturn, therefore it packed a wallop - especially as my Sun is natally conj Jupiter, which made the Saturn wallop even harder.)

14. Ask your client to tell you what happened last time those two planets came together? For example you would ask me what happened about 7 years ago when T Saturn opposed my Sun. There is usually a connection between what happened then, and what is happening now, but be careful, sometimes it's subtle, and may require some clever probing on your part.

15. Then look at the secondary progressions and regressions in more detail. I look at them as the inner changes and needs of my client right now. Paying most attention to the aspects you consider important, and using the others, if you really have to, to give you background information.

16. Do the same with Solar Arc Directions, looking at these as the probable outer expression of these needs and changes. I tend to focus on hard aspects with Directions, and pretty well ignore the soft ones (a bit of crossing with Cosmobiology). Again focus mainly on those configurations you have decided are important, and discard the rest.

17. Go back to the Solar Return to further refine which of these are going to have the most effect.

18. Use the transit chart for timing. I find that midpoints of transits here are often important. For example, the person may be between hits of a major Pluto transit, but there is a build up of Jupiter transits, or a Uranus transit in that 'tween time, which seems to trigger the big Pluto one.

19. Make your predictions! Based around what you know of the client and the client's life style, and what is happening to them right now. Keep in mind that you will do the client the most good by making one accurate prediction and nothing else, than 10 unrelated ones, only one of which proves to be vaguely correct. And give several different scenarios for how it may manifest, as rarely will you be 100% correct. Remember the more specific you are, the higher the odds that you will be wrong, and even a little bit wrong is completely wrong in the client's mind. If you can, try and give your client ways of controlling it. For example, if I see Saturn coming up to quincunx or square the ruler of the 7th house, I may advise them to take a holiday on their own - leave the partner at home during that time. In other words control the likely separation, make it happen, rather than let the separation be the controlling factor. This isn't always possible of course, either to advise them how to control it (who can control Pluto?) or for the client to take your advice, but it sometimes helps.

Of course it also helps, when you are learning, to go back over events that have already happened with different people, using this routine, and see how it has played out. The easiest is with celebrities, the more "ordinary" the person, the harder it is, but it is an essential exercise. I wouldn't do it with your own chart, as you are too close to it, and will read things into it that you know you felt or thought at the time, and thus lose clarity and objectivity. Do it with people you know and can talk to, to ask questions.

Please, I would welcome any comments and thoughts.

Hope it helps some of you.

Chris

( Copyright 1998 Chris Turner )