Planets in Solar Returns: Yearly Cycles of Transformation and Growth

by Mary Fortier Shea

Book Overview

The book covers everything you need to know to interpret Solar Return charts. There are interpretations of each planet in every house and aspects. Ms Shea gives a description of positive and negative possibilities, including all life events.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1930310250
• ISBN13: 9781930310254
• Release Date: April 2018
• Publisher: Mary Shea
• Length: 426 Pages
• Weight: 1.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.0" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

If you only have money for one book on solar returns, this is it!

This is a seminal book in 20th century astrology. It is strikingly accurate, and very accessible to a reader who may have never understood the concept of solar returns prior to reading it. The writing style belongs to a professional psychologist without being clinical. The book makes the novice want to check solar returns for the past decade on every chart that they follow, in order to understand how the author's extensive insight applies to real situations. So what's wrong with the update? Many readers are probably curious how Chiron and the Nodes fit into a Solar Return (SR) picture, but the updated version attempts no new discussion. A discussion of SR planets that fall very close to the SR Ascendent or Midheaven would have been most useful (the author highlights the possibilities inherent in a SR transit of the Ascendent without considering the unique interpretations associated with such a placement, regardless of transit). In the event that there is no difference, such an insight from an author with Shea's platform would have been instructive for the less experienced. A little more synthesis of outer planet placements might have also helped. Read this book carefully, and even a novice can figure out that a SR with an 8th house Sun, 1st house Uranus, and 10th house Pluto will be an utter make-or-break year for a subject. To her credit, the author does cover less obvious combinations than this one, but she doesn't do it quite enough to satisfy. And one other thing that I really hoped to see that wasn't there. Some discussion of folks who have travelled more than once to adjust their SR charts. She relates one example of a woman who overused this strategy until it was no longer effective for her. It would have been interesting to hear from those who began the events of an upcoming SR three months before it became exact, and then experienced a real shift in events subsequent to travel. Accounts from those who have used their "free will" sporadically without abusing this strategy would have satisfied a lot of us who are merely curious. The book still gets five stars because it deserves it. But a truly updated version would have filled in a lot of the gaps that are still there.

Excellent book!

I bought this book five years ago, and have referred to it so much my copy is tattered and scribbled in. I love this book. I love everything about this book, including the areas I feel Ms. Shea is weak in. Her psychology training shows clearly, as her psychological interpretations of the Solar Return planetary placements is spot-on. She has not been wrong about any one placement on that level. On the other side of things, her interpretations of the events that accompany a particular placement are usually terrible, or way off the mark. This is fine for someone familiar with astrology enough to know to ignore those parts; I give her five stars for even trying. I wish the aspects would be described more fully, but am glad she included them, and with her usual psychological accuracy. She goes into some depth about the cycles that pervade Solar Returns, which is lovely since one might not notice that right away (especially if the reader is young). She also describes the effect of hemisphere, quadrant, and element on the Solar Return. This book is highly complete, thoroughly written, and gives you a solid understanding of Solar Returns without cluttering your head with jargon (astrological or psychological). It's a wonderful book!

the "beach astrologer"

Ms. Shea puts the annual "solar return" into the larger perspective by giving us the astronomical pattern the "solar returns" follow. This book and Mr. Merriman's revised and updated "solar return" book together will give you everything you need to make your annual "solar return" understandable in both the practical sense and in the larger picture. Then, hopefully, you can take the authors's sugestions on celebrating and using it, as well!

Mt. Astrologer Magazine Review

This is a revised edition of a book originally published in 1992. Mary Shea, who has a M.A. in Counseling Psychology, has written a comprehensive book on the subject of solar returns. The author has found solar returns to be most useful for understanding self development and inner growth; her book specializes in the psychological issues represented in the solar return chart.Ms. Shea's counseling talent is well represented as she describes the range of issues likely to manifest in any year, along with valuable advice on how to make best use of the time. The author has a mature understanding of the kinds of personal issues that can emerge in an astrological consultation; i.e. self esteem, creativity, intimacy issues, anger, making this an excellent reference for those astrologers working with clients. The ideas given here can be applied in client work; it is constructive throughout and contained within the scope of most astrologer's skills. Although she addresses a wide range of possibilities - from spiritual transitions to business concerns - she stays within the range of issues that most astrologers can safely address in a consultation; this work is not designed to trigger emotional minefields or process very difficult therapeutic issues.In the beginning of her text, Ms. Shea demonstrates the cyclic patterns that the Sun and Moon make in successive solar return charts - a phenomena that occurs if one stays in the same location (and is not too far south or north in latitude). One of the strengths of her book is in placing the solar return in a cyclic context, showing how one can take advantage of opportunities for each year while preparing for the next year.Retrograde planets, hemispheric emphasis, element and mode balance are covered before a discussion of planets paired by aspect. The main part of her text, however, is the planet's position by house, which she has found to be the most important influence. (This work emphasizes reading the solar return chart as a separate chart, without reference back to the natal.) Mary Shea writes for at least a page on each planet in each house, making this a very thorough text. She reports many events from her client files, with the view that the actual events have been motivated by the inner urges.I have refereed to Mary Shea's work often in working with solar returns and have recommended it to those ready for a new focus in their studies. She is positive, growth oriented, experienced, and communicates in a very clear and well organized way. (For readers familiar with the earlier version, this edition has expanded sample charts and interpretations, as well as some new graphics.)reviewed by Mary Plumb of "The Mountain Astrologer Magazine" in the jan/feb 2000 issue

An excellent book for the amateur and the professional!

This new addition of the author's old work adds even more great information to a wonderful book! Shea's description of the planets in Solar Return Houses is practically infallible.