Direction

Definition

Direction is a family of symbolic predictive techniques that advance the planets and angles of a natal chart at a chosen mathematical rhythm. The two best-known variants are solar arc direction, which moves every planet by the same daily distance as the Sun, and primary direction, which moves the angles in step with the sky's rotation. Direction is older than secondary progression and reads time at a different beat.

In context

If your natal Mars sits at twelve degrees of Leo and your solar arc at age thirty places it at fourteen degrees of Virgo, the symbolic Mars has now crossed a sign boundary while the natal Mars stays put. The directed chart layers on top of the natal chart the way a progression does, but it ages the chart differently. Direction tends to deliver sharp dated events more often than progression does, because every planet moves at the same Sun-like pace.

To go deeper

Direction belongs to the family of predictive techniques:

• Progression: the other main symbolic technique.
• Transit: the real-sky predictive surface.
• Natal chart: the base layer all techniques use.