returnAspectsWestern Astrology

A return isn't an aspect; it's a body arriving back where it stood at your birth — technically a zero-degree conjunction with itself. The sun does it about yearly, the moon monthly, Saturn every twenty-nine and a half years.

This cycle structure is the least contested part of astrology, because it's an astronomical fact: planets have orbital periods, so everyone carries a set of metronomes of different lengths running at once. The Saturn return falls between twenty-nine and thirty, which is why the upheavals of that age cluster statistically — not mysterious, just a period completing.

The practical use is as a reference point rather than a prediction: the moment a body regains its place is a good time to look back over the circuit it just finished. Measuring against yourself a year ago turns out to be far more useful than measuring against anyone else.