How each technique works, which astronomical principle it is based on and what kind of questions it answers. From the natal chart to synastry, with a table to pick the right one.
6 min read · Updated
They all start from the natal chart: what changes is the moment compared with it, or how charts are combined.
1The foundation of all astrology: the map of the sky at the exact moment and place of your birth. It describes your character, talents and core challenges.
How it works
Positions of the planets along the ecliptic, seen from your birthplace, plus the ascendant, midheaven and houses calculated from local time.
What it answers
Who am I? What drives me? What are my strengths and growth areas?
2Compares where the planets are today with your natal chart. It is the most used technique to understand what you are living now and anticipate phases.
How it works
Planets keep moving after you are born. When they form aspects to your natal planets, they activate those themes. Slow planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) mark processes lasting months or years, like the Saturn return around age 29.
What it answers
What is going on in my life now? Which phase is starting? When is a good time for a change?
3The chart of your year: cast for the exact moment the Sun returns to the position it held when you were born, close to your birthday.
How it works
The Sun travels the zodiac in a year. The chart of the instant it returns to your natal degree describes the themes until your next birthday; its ascendant and houses are calculated for where you are at that moment.
What it answers
Which themes will mark this year? Which areas will see the most movement?
4Like the solar return, but with the Moon: a chart for each return of the Moon to its natal position, describing the emotional climate of the month.
How it works
The Moon completes the zodiac in about 27.3 days (the sidereal month). Each return to its natal degree starts a new emotional and domestic cycle.
What it answers
How will I feel this month? What will I need emotionally? What will happen at home?
5Show how your chart "matures" over the years. While transits describe what comes from outside, progressions describe your inner evolution.
How it works
The symbolic "one day = one year" rule: planet positions 30 days after your birth describe your 30th year. The progressed Moon changes sign about every 2.5 years and the progressed Sun moves roughly one degree per year.
What it answers
Which stage of personal development am I in? What is changing inside me?
6Compares two natal charts to understand the dynamic between two people: attraction, affinities, friction and what each one activates in the other.
How it works
It measures the aspects between one person’s planets and the other’s (for example, one person’s Venus trine the other’s Moon) and which houses of each chart the other person’s planets fall into.
What it answers
Are we compatible? Where do we flow and where do we clash? What do we learn together?
7The chart of the relationship itself: instead of comparing two people, it creates a third chart describing the bond as an entity of its own.
How it works
It takes the midpoint between each pair of planets in the two charts (the composite Sun sits halfway between both Suns, and so on). The method was popularized by Robert Hand in the 1970s.
What it answers
What is this relationship for? What is its purpose and challenge as a couple, partnership or family?
8Combines letter numerology with the birth chart: it translates names and words into numeric values and relates them to your celestial configuration.
How it works
Gematria assigns a number to each letter, a tradition rooted in Hebrew Kabbalah and Greek numerology. On Aspectados it is calculated with AstroSpica’s astrogematria tool.
What it answers
What vibration does my name carry? How does it relate to my chart? Which name best suits a project?
| Your question | Technique | Time frame |
|---|---|---|
| Who am I and what drives me? | Natal chart | Lifetime |
| What am I going through now? | Transits | Weeks to years |
| What does this year hold? | Solar return | Birthday to birthday |
| How will this month feel emotionally? | Lunar return | About 27 days |
| How am I evolving inside? | Secondary progressions | Years |
| Are we compatible? | Synastry | The relationship |
| What is this relationship for? | Composite chart | The relationship |
| What vibration does a name carry? | Astrological gematria | Timeless |
No predictive technique is read on its own: a Saturn transit does not mean the same for someone with a strong natal Saturn as for someone with a weak one. That is why every technique is read against the natal chart.
To study a period, three layers are combined: progressions (the inner climate over several years), the solar return (the themes of the year) and transits (when each theme is triggered). When all three point to the same thing, the theme is highly relevant.
Synastry explains what each person experiences in the relationship; the composite chart, what the relationship itself is. Together they give a complete picture of the bond.
The most common questions about predictive and relationship techniques.
Transits use where the planets actually are today and describe external influences and events. Progressions use the symbolic "one day = one year" rule and describe inner evolution.
Many astrologers cast the solar return for where you spend your birthday, since it changes the ascendant and houses of the year. Others always use the birthplace. Both approaches are widespread.
Synastry overlays two charts and analyzes how the two people affect each other. A composite chart merges both into a single chart representing the relationship.
Yes. On Aspectados you pick the technique, fill in the details it asks for and the AI interprets the result in plain language.
The natal chart is included in the free plan. Transits, returns, progressions, synastry, composite chart and gematria are available in the paid plans.
Start free with your natal chart and explore advanced techniques whenever you want to go deeper.
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