What a lunar return is
The Moon goes once around the zodiac in about 27.3 days, so every month it passes the exact degree it held when you were born. That moment is your lunar return. Astrologers cast a chart for it, just as they cast one for the Sun's return each year, and read it for the month that follows: the moods, needs and events that color the weeks until the next return.
The lunar return is not the same as the monthly cycle of new and full moons. That cycle follows the Moon's angle to the Sun and is the same for everyone; your lunar return follows the Moon back to your own birth position, so it is personal to you.
Choose a return and keep its date
The calculator lists the next 13 returns from your chosen start date. Choose a date above the wheel, use Previous or Next, or select a date in the table to open its chart and reading. Changing the town or house system keeps the selected return when it is still in the list. Changing your birth details or start date opens the first return again.
With a birth time, save the selected date or all 13 as a calendar file (.ics). The chart image, printed result and Copy for my AI summary follow the return you selected. Calendar files contain calculated return dates, without your birth details; importing one shares those dates with the calendar app, which displays them in its own time zone. No reminders are added. Without a birth time, the dates are approximate and no timed file is offered.
Reading your lunar return
- The rising sign sets the month's tone: how you approach it and how it meets you. It changes from return to return, and the calculator reads each one.
- The Moon's house in the return chart shows the month's emotional focus, from home in the 4th house to friends in the 11th.
- Planets on the angles are the loudest themes: a planet within a few degrees of the Ascendant, Midheaven, Descendant or IC is read as a big part of the month.
- The planets' aspects to the Moon add detail: Venus bringing warmth, Saturn weight, Jupiter lift.
Astrologers read the lunar return beside the solar return, which sets the year's larger themes, and the transit chart, which shows the day-to-day movements against your birth chart.
Where to cast it
The rising sign and the houses depend on where you are at the moment of the return, so the calculator casts the chart for your birthplace until you choose another town. Some astrologers travel for a return, choosing a place where a helpful planet rises; the table of the year's returns shows each one's rising sign for the place you choose.
How it is worked out
The Moon's position comes from the site's own ephemeris, the same one behind every chart here. Each return is found where the Moon's longitude crosses your birth Moon's, to the second, and the chart for that moment uses the house system chosen in the chart settings (Placidus by default). Your details stay in your browser.