What is a planetary transit in astrology?
Learn how astrologers compare the current sky with a natal chart and how to read a transit without treating it as a forecast.
Two moments, one comparison
A natal chart maps positions at birth. In personal transit astrology, a moving planet's current position is compared with a position in that birth chart. A transit can also describe a planet crossing a region of the chart. A contact between two planets in today's sky is a different comparison: it uses no birth chart.
Why a transit can last beyond the exact moment
An aspect becomes exact at a particular angular separation. The orb is the gap from that exact angle. A planet can be within the chosen orb for a period before and after the exact contact. Different bodies move at different speeds, and apparent retrograde motion can bring a planet back to the same contact.
Read one contact in Synchronicity
Open the Transits section of your Horoscope with your birth profile and identify the moving body, the aspect and the natal target. For example, in ‘transiting Mars square natal Mercury’, Mercury belongs to the birth chart. Check how close the contact is before reading the interpretation. If you use it as a journal prompt, write down what actually happened separately from what the symbolism led you to expect.