We often treat our birth charts as if every placement and aspect in them are equally relevant and true at all times, but that's not always exactly the case. Say there's something in your chart that indicates that your partner is very Saturnian and you'll have a long lasting marriage. It's safe to say that this wouldn't really be relevant to you when you're only 10 years old. Maybe it won't be relevant to you until you're in your late 20s, or who knows when? We all grow and change, go into and come out of phases in life as we age and experience new things. It's just part of life.
So, is astrology able to show which phases we go through, when, and what events might happen during those times? Absolutely!
Timing techniques in astrology are able to tell you what in your chart is active or emphasized at different times throughout your life. There are so many timing techniques that ancient astrologers used into their practice when they were laying down the foundations of western astrology, and what would become the modern astrology that we know today.
Unfortunately, so many of the texts that those astrologers had written were still lost when astrology had a big surge in popularity, so we didn't have access or knowledge of all the techniques that were practiced thousands of years ago. Luckily, a good number of these ancient texts have been recovered and translated in the past 30 or so years, and professional astrologers have been able to study and teach these techniques that were long lost before the past few decades.
Probably the easiest timing technique to learn is called 'annual profections'. The most common form of profection is profecting from your ascendant (also called your 'rising'). It's extremely easy!
**NOTE: Use whole sign houses for profections instead of a quadrant house system like Placidus!! This is how it was originally used, and it's easiest to learn this way for a few reasons that I'll go over later.
**Another note: Use traditional rulerships for profections instead of modern rulerships!! Again, this is how profections was made to be used, so you'll see the best results this way. Also, the seven visible planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) are more personally relevant than the outer (generational, aka NOT personal) planets are, so you're much more likely to see personal emphasis on the traditional planets than you would with the generational ones (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto). With traditional rulerships, Mars rules Scorpio, Saturn rules Aquarius, and Jupiter rules Pisces.
**Yet another note: When I say "sign/house", I am NOT referring to the modern "natural house rulership". If you're in a 3rd house profection year, Gemini and Mercury would NOT be activated unless you're an Aries rising. If you're a Leo rising and you're in a 3rd house profection year, Libra and Venus would be activated. If you're a Sagittarius rising and you're in a 3rd house profection year, then Aquarius and Saturn would be activated. It all depends on YOUR individual chart. No astro alphabet method here.
Basically, each year of your life a specific house in your chart is activated, or made more relevant for that time. It starts with your rising sign (which is in your entire 1st house) on the day of your birth, then switches to your entire 2nd house on your 1st birthday, then moves to your entire 3rd house the next year, and so on. Obviously, each profection year starts on your solar return (birthday), and the themes of the profected (activated) house last until your next birthday.
The house that's activated will become prominent for that entire year. You'll see the house themes come up consistently throughout the year, or maybe there will be one specific event that occurs (and events leading up to it) that is related to that house's themes. I'll get more into this later, first you should probably see which ages activate each house.
Here's a handy chart.
Here are a couple of examples so that you know what you're looking at:
If you're 3, 15, 27, or so on, you're in a 4th house profection year. Themes like family, home, culture, etc. will come up for that year.
If you're 9, 21, 33, and so on, you're in a 10th house profection year. Themes like career, reputation, and authority figures will be obvious for that year.
If you're looking for an age that's not on this chart, the 1st house goes by multiples of 12 since there are 12 houses, and all the other houses just add 12 to the last age in the outer ring. For example, age 48 is a 1st house profection year (36 + 12 = 48), age 52 is a 5th house profection year (40 + 12 = 52).
If you're not sure what each house represents, here's my post on the houses in astrology to help you out.
Pretty easy, right? But wait, there's more!
The most obvious thing to look at is the profected house's themes, BUT, as with most things in astrology, there's much more that you can look at here! Here are some important things to pay attention to.
1. The ruler of the profected house.
The ruler of the profected house becomes the "Lord of the Year", which is a type of time lord (time lords are planets that are activated using any type of timing technique). The lord of the year is often viewed as the most significant planet to you in your natal (birth) chart for the year, in your solar return (birthday) chart for that year, and in transits. Whatever house that the lord of the year is in in your birth chart is also relevant.
Any transiting aspects made to the lord of the year in your birth chart are often more significant to you, as well as any retrogrades and stations for that planet. The same goes for your solar return chart, too.
The lord of the year in your own natal chart also becomes important, meaning that you'll probably feel like that specific natal placement resonates with you with you more strongly. Obviously, this happens in the context of your own natal chart, so if you have a particularly well placed lord of the year in your natal chart, the benefits of that placement will be brought into focus for the year. With the poorly placed planets in your chart being activated, the struggle of that placement will be brought into focus for the year.
I'll use my own chart as an example just so I can show you how this works:
I'm still in the beginning part of this profection year, so I won't use this year as an example in this post.
A more literal example was back when I was 21 years old. 21 is a 10th house profection year, so this emphasizes Aries in my chart, and makes Mars the lord of the year.
Just based off of a quick glance and what we've talked about so far, not only was I dealing with 10th house topics like career and reputation, but I also was dealing with Mars themes like action, assertion, and even the act of severing or ending things.
This was the year I quit (Mars representing severing ties) a job that I had kept longer than any other job I've had before, one that I had seen myself making a long term career (10th house representing career) out of up until some things happened in that workplace (I'll go over those events later). I went several months without a job, which was extremely frustrating for me because I'm a pretty ambitious (Mars-10th house things) person, and I couldn't stand feeling stuck (Mars is the planet of action, and I wasn't acting on anything at the time).
2. Planets in the profected house.
This one is pretty obvious. Any planets that are occupying the profected house will be activated sort of as subrulers (although, our lord and savior Vettius Valens placed more of a priority on planets IN a house than the planet RULING the house).
I like to look at it the way Chris Brennan puts it when looking at planets in a natal house vs the planet ruling the natal house. The planets (if any) IN a house show ongoing activity in that area of life, while the ruler of that house will tell you the end result of that house's significations. I think that the profected house and planets in the profected house will act as important influencers for the themes and events of the year, while the lord of the year indicates the main results of the year.
Continuing off of my last example, you can see that Saturn is in my 10th house in my birth chart. Saturn represents delays, restrictions, and it tends to say no to things. As I mentioned before, I'm pretty ambitious. When I was 20 years old, just before my 21st birthday, I was being trained by my superior to be promoted to his job once he relocated (this fits 9th house themes, as 20 y/o is a 9th house profection year, and the 9th house is often associated with mentors, learning, etc). But later, once it finally came time for his position to be filled, my application was rejected because I didn't have previous experience with the title of the job I was wanting to take. My whole plan for being promoted was suddenly delayed (Saturn in the 10th).
It's worth noting that Saturn in the 10th house is often interpreted as a person who is a late bloomer in terms of their career, which DEFINITELY is accurate for me in general, but it was especially emphasized in this 10th house profection year.
3. Transits through the profected house, and aspects made to the lord of the year in the birth chart.
This one is pretty straightforward. Transits through the profected house will be more important for you that year, along with transiting planets making aspects to the lord of the year.
If you're a 27 year old Leo rising (4th house / Scorpio profection year), transits through Scorpio that year will affect you more than it might on a different year. The same would go for any transits that aspect Mars in your birth chart.
Still using my own chart example where Aries/my 10th house were activated:
Since Saturn was activated as sort of a sub-ruler, it's also worth noting that while all of this was happening, transiting Saturn was in my 6th house, which is associated with the workplace as well. So you can see there are several indications of undesirable events happening with my career already.
4. Major events for the transiting lord of the year and planets in the profected house (if any) will be significant.
Transits are fun to interpret, but not all transits are equally important to every single person, and a planet's transits may be emphasized for you one year, but not the next. This could be partially due to activated planets. If Mercury is lord of the year, Mercury retrograde's effects will probably be more obvious to you. If the moon (or sun) is lord of the year, the lunations (full and new moons) and eclipses could be more impactful in your personal life.
Using my chart example once again:
Mars (the ruler of my 10th house) was opposing Saturn (a specifically hard planet for me according to my chart) around the time I was told that I couldn't be promoted because I had no previous experience. Once again, very strong themes of restriction and rejection since Saturn was opposing the planet that is responsible for my 10th house (career).
Also, when I had finally severed ties with (Mars) that company a couple of months later, transiting Mars was in its fall (Cancer) and was moving past my ascendant, sun and Mercury in my birth chart.
Minor things that are worth paying attention to:
-- Transits through the other house that is ruled by the lord of the year (Ex: If the profected house for the year is in Taurus, ruled by Venus, look at the house that is in Libra as well, as it is also ruled by Venus).
-- Planets in the profected sign/house in the solar return chart (Ex: If you're a Cancer rising in a 11th house/Taurus year, any planets in Taurus in your solar return chart are definitely worth noting. If your solar return ascendant happens to be in Taurus, it'll likely be a very significant year).
-- Transits through the houses/signs angular (in the 4th house, 7th house, 10th house positions) to the profected sign/house (this is a concept from Vettius Valens' Anthologies, but I don't see this technique used all that often. Valens suggests that if you're in a 5th house profection year, transits through your 8th, 11th, and 2nd houses could be somewhat important).
Annual profections are a great place to start, but it can be broken down even further. This will give you much more detail and even more accurate timing. There is such thing as monthly profections, daily profections, even hourly profections! They all work just like what we have talked about (one house is activated for each year of life), but they cycle within the year.
When profecting for smaller periods of time, you always start with the annually profected house, and then continue to profect one house per ~whichever time length~ until you reach the next solar return, which activates the next house for the next year of life.
For monthly profections, the profected house of the year is active for the first month following your solar return (birthday), then the next house becomes active for the 2nd month following your solar return, then the next house for the 3rd month, and so on.
Example:
If you're a Virgo rising and you're 32 (9th house/Taurus profection year) and your birthday is on 4/25, the 9th house/Taurus is active from 4/25 to 5/24, then the 10th house/Gemini is active from 5/25 to 6/24, then the 11th house/Cancer is active from 6/25 to 7/24, and so on. Remember, all this happens within the annual profection year, so don't forget about the lord of the year!
Daily profections essentially work the same way, but within the profected month. Some astrologers consider each daily profection to last 1 day, and the houses/signs just cycle through 2.5 times each month, but some like to consider each daily profection to last 2.5 days and it only cycles through once for the month. I won't break this down because it's a lot to process. I'd start with the bigger chunks of time first, and then work my way down to dailies.
In the example I was using where my 10th house (career) was activated, all of those major events at my job had occurred within the 1st month after my 21st birthday, which was when I was in a 10th house profection month for that year.
The last thing I'd like to touch on is that any planet or point in your chart can be profected. The easiest and most common point to profect is your ascendant (rising), which is what we've been doing.
The ascendant is the most commonly used because in ancient astrology, it is considered to be the most important and personally significant point in your chart. The ascendant represents you as an individual, so it makes perfect sense that it'd be the go to for profections. But some astrologers consider the sect light (the sun if you were born during the day, the moon if you were born at night) to be just as important to use in profections. The midheaven (MC) is another point that some people like to profect because it is such an important point, but remember you can do it with anything in your chart.
All you'd do is look at the profected point or planet as themes for specific things in your life (like Mercury representing communications, business, etc.) rather than the overall themes of your life in general for the year.
There are a ton of different timing techniques to use, but profections are the easiest to learn and they're still incredibly accurate! It's very useful to map out what houses and planets are active for you for the upcoming year starting on your birthday, and even journaling so that you can keep track of important events to see how a profection year affects you personally.