Human life is all about cycles, particularly those that connect the Earth with the Sun.

We wake up as the Sun rises, we head for work and peak when it traverses the Midheaven and return home to our partners when it is in the 7th house.

We slow down and head for sleep when it reaches the Nadir, to rest until we are ready to wake again when it crosses the Ascendant.

The Earth’s journey around the Sun also has a powerful seasonal cycle, with peaks at the summer solstice and troughs with the winter one.

We celebrate our birthday each year when the Earth completes this revolution. 

These two routines are deeply embedded in the human psyche and if someone was taken away from them and isolated in a cave with no sense of this Earth/Sun cycle for a long period of time, they would probably go mad.

In astrology we use solar returns cast for the moment the Sun reaches its exact natal position each year, to tell us something of the quality of the coming one.

But what about a longer Earth/Sun combination?

The progressed year return, where the Sun returns to its natal place after 365 years?

Because we live for 80/90 years on average it is hard for us to conceive of cycles that are longer than our own lifespan but if we are thinking about our soul’s journey through a number of lives, a progressed solar year would probably play an important role.

If a solar return describes the major themes of our life for that year, could a progressed solar return do the same for our soul’s journey over 365 years?

I have been thinking a lot about this recently.

My researches into my own past lives have revealed a personal tragedy that occurred in the late 16th century which prompted me to give up all of my wealth and join a Sufi monastery.

This was, as far as I can make out, the first time I led a spiritual life. It occurred on my last regressed solar return with the Sun in Capricorn in the 12th house.

My feeling is that it started a period of lives, where spiritual themes would be important.

I have also just completed a Past Life Review for a client who has the Sun in the 4th house within a degree of his mother’s 10th house Moon (a mirror reflection of King Charles).

My client has had a powerful connection with his mother and past life regressions have shown him that it goes back many lifetimes.

As his mother was coming to the end of her current life, he wanted me to check this connection using my methods of astrological regression. I felt that the obvious time to focus on would be when his regressed Sun was last conjunct his Sun and his mother’s Moon (early 17th century).

This brought up extremely powerful themes for both of them, ones that they have been processing ever since.

It has led me to confirm something I have been mulling over for a while which is the importance of a progressed solar return.

And also what to call it.

I am tempted to christen it as a Great Year, despite the fact that this term is already in use, referring to the celestial cycle of approximately 25,920 years, which is the time it takes for the vernal equinox to precess through all 12 zodiac signs and ages.

I feel that this time scale is so outside the observable experience of humanity as to be practically useless, so until I come up with a better term, for me a Great Year will be 365 years.

This led me to wonder what, if we are considering things from a soul perspective, was occurring one Great Year ago.

The mid 17th century seems to be an important time in the history of astrology, a time when its divorce from science began.

Until that point all astronomers were naturally astrologers too, but the so called Age of Enlightenment ushered in a split between the two disciplines and the former became keen to distance themselves from the latter.

Astrologers may also have contributed to that distinction since then by being not very scientific or even that good at their own subject.

It is arguable that the last truly great astrologer was William Lilly, who according to Wikipedia “is described as having been a genius at something “that modern mainstream opinion has since decided cannot be done at all”

Lilly was born in 1602 but his career peak was certainly in the 1640s when he became a key advisor for both Charles 1 and the Parliamentary side during the English Civil War, instructing them on when and where to fight their battles.

In 1647 he published Christian Astrology, a masterpiece of Horary Astrology, which remains to this day the greatest book on the subject ever written.

“After the Restoration of Charles 11 in 1660, Lilly very quickly fell into disrepute. His sympathy with the parliament, which his predictions had generally shown, was not calculated to bring him into royal favour.”

I googled what happened in November 1660 (365 years before today) and the headline said that the most significant event was the formal foundation of the Royal Society of London on November 28th.

“The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom’s national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, recognising excellence in science, supporting outstanding science, providing scientific advice for policy, education and public engagement and fostering international and global co-operation. Founded on 28 November 1660, it was granted a royal charter by King Charles II and is the oldest continuously existing scientific academy in the world”

It feels like this was a pivotal moment in the separation of astrology and science.

Perhaps this is shown in its noon chart.

A Sun/Mars conjunction in Sagittarius in the 9th house is determined to boldly go forward in the world of academia.

Mercury in the same sign in the 10th house opposite Pluto in the 4th would be keen to put a bomb under old ways of thinking.

If we take this chart forward to its progressed solar return we reach the end of February next year.

This is very interesting, not least because it is the date that the Saturn/Neptune conjunction at the beginning of Aries becomes exact.

Maybe we are looking at the dawn of a new era in thought.

Let’s face it science has not been doing very well recently. More and more “ordinary people” seem to distrust the “experts” and prefer to take their cues from the likes of Robert Kennedy Jr than Anthony Fauci.

I can’t help feeling this is partly science’s own fault. It has set itself up as an arbiter of truth, despite the fact that quantum discoveries within its own discipline have rendered most of its stances no longer tenable.

The laws of science have been eroded and replaced by the laws of algorithm. What you observe to be true is so for you, by the very fact of your observation of it.

Albert Einstein himself struggled with the quantum view of life. His quote “I like to think that the moon is there even if I am not looking at it” was a counterargument to the view proposed by Niels Bohr that quantum systems exist only in a state of potentiality until measured.

100 years ago Werner Heisenberg “submitted a paper that created the first consistent mathematical framework for quantum mechanics, which he called “matrix mechanics.”

1925/26 seems to mark the birth of quantum physics.

But in the century since then, science has struggled to come up with any workable interpretation of life that takes it into account.

So maybe we are coming to the end of The Royal Society’s era.

It could be argued that the chief achievement of the Society over its own Great Year has been to develop weapons that have helped bring humanity to the edge of its own destruction.

Scientific method needs to take its own quantum jump.

Perhaps by returning to embrace astrology, science can find a way of making this leap forward.

But not the type of astrology that is most widely practiced. For the most part our discipline is still dominated by the zodiac sign and horoscope column. Even the way the vast majority of astrologers look at natal charts is held back by this nonsense.

Astrology is not perceived as an exact science, even by the most of the people who practice it.

William Lilly’s branch of astrology was both exact and quantum in nature.

In an article published a year ago – Horary – The Art Of A Vertical Science, I bring a lot of these themes together. I’ll quote from it.

“We are all conditioned to think, measure and experience things occurring in time.

But what if, as the both the mystics and quantum physicists tell us, time as we believe it, does not actually exist? That everything occurs in an eternal now.

If this is true, we have no means of measure and our day to day lives lose the meaning we have carefully and painstakingly built for them.

We have no structures to fall back on, no compass to guide us through this quantum Universe.

It’s a scary thought right? But it needn’t be.

We just have to change to a different type of measurement. 

Astrology gives us this possibility. We can look at our own charts and see how the moment of our birth is interacting with the here and now, and try and make the adjustments to our thinking that are required by our transits.

But our natal chart still ties us to that moment of our birth. A horary chart does not. It is an instant capture of the Universal qualities of a moment in time, a quantum jump of a combination of planets many millions of miles away, straight into the mind of the questioner.”

Why does horary work? Why should the moment a question occurs in the mind of a querent produce a chart that can give the answer?

Who knows? All we can be sure of is that it does.

The more you use the horary method, the more profoundly it speaks to you in this way.

But instead of dismissing all these quantum possibilities as “you only see what you want to see” like contemporary science tends to do, we should perhaps see this challenge as the next step in our evolution, how to use horary to access this means of understanding and furthering life on Earth.

Over the last few years, I have come to realise that another truly vital and much misunderstood area of astrology is also quantum in its nature and key to understanding the true nature of reality.

We could perhaps say that horary works because things that have symbolic resonance belong together, even if they appear to come from entirely different places.

A thought occurring in a moment has the qualities of that moment and can be understood by looking at other things that depict that moment, like the relative positions of planets many millions of miles away.

The same is true of people.

And the branch of astrology that connects them is progressions/regressions.

I have referenced my own soulmate story many times in recent articles so will not repeat that here.

Instead by way of example I will use another one that I have already written about.

In Soulmates Can Reach From May To December, I discuss this principle of quantum progression.

“This is another reason why this quantum magnetism works when it does.

The progressions latch on exactly to the placements in each person’s chart that have the strongest connections to each other.

But when synastry and progressions are this tight age and geographical distances are irrelevant.

Catherine Zeta Jones has a Libra stellium in the 9th house which is already telling us that relationships and long distance travel would be key themes in her life.

Her extremely close trine from Venus in Virgo to Mars in Capricorn forming a Grand Trine pattern with Saturn speaks of a powerful earthy sensuality that propelled her to stardom due to her appearance in the TV series The Darling Buds Of May.

It was this that brought her into the orbit of her own September.

The synastry is staggeringly strong.

Catherine’s Sun is 2.18 Libra, Michael’s Sun is 2.23 Libra (odds of this alone happening by chance are over 2,000/1 against).

Catherine’s Uranus is 4.16 Libra, Michael’s Neptune is 3.56 Libra

Catherine’s Mars is 2.40 Capricorn, Michael’s Moon is 3.36 Capricorn

Both have 4 planet Libra stelliums

Both have Mercury / Jupiter conjunctions in aspect to Uranus.

Both have Venus / Mars aspects.

Both have Mars / Saturn and Mars / Uranus aspects.

Despite an age difference of a quarter of a century, and background at least as divergent (Michael born into Hollywood royalty and Catherine a humble Swansea family) these astrological connections had to bring them together.

And the timing was entirely down to their progressions.. 

Just to reiterate, progressions are very simple. They will only make one major aspect to any natal planet or placement in a whole lifetime. 

So when you get one, it really counts. 

Catherine and Michael met in 1998 and married in 2000.

Catherine’s progressed Sun was sextile her Mars and sextile her Venus, right in the middle of the two.

Michael’s progressed Venus was conjunct his Moon and square his Sun.

When you remember that these are the placements that are so tightly woven into their synastry, these progressions become even more on point.

Because Catherine’s progressed Sun was sextile Michael’s Moon

And Michael’s progressed Venus was conjunct Catherine’s Mars and trine her Venus.”

Since writing this article I have discovered more about the soulmate resonance progression/regression connection.

The moment of one’s birth can be seen powerfully in the other’s progressions, even if it occurred 25 years later or earlier and on the other side of the globe.

It is clear that the progressed Sun conjunct the natal Venus (or vice versa) is the strongest soulmate connection. It is a progression that most people would experience in their lifetime.

If we look at Michael Douglas chart we can see that the Sun and Venus are 24.5 degrees apart, but as shown, these two soulmates didn’t meet up until he was in his mid 40s.

But if we progress his chart to the moment Catherine was born

His progressed Sun and Mercury are exactly conjunct his natal Venus.

So this was the moment Michael Douglas’ soulmate would make her appearance on Earth.

If we regress Catherine’s chart 25 years to Michael’s birth moment.

Her Venus/Mars exact natal trine at 2 degrees Virgo/Capricorn is powerfully triggered.

Her regressed Moon forms a Grand Trine with both of them. This is the first time it could have done this going back from her birthdate.

Her regressed Venus is quincunx her Mars, again the first time it renewed its natal connection by aspect.

Her regressed Sun is in exact trine to her Saturn.

Her regressed Ascendant is conjunct her Jupiter.

So again, just like the other examples of King Charles with Elizabeth, Diana and Camilla and Richard Gere with his wife we have extremely powerful progressed/regressed aspects occurring at the birth of these two soulmates despite the fact that they occurred 25 years and 4,000 miles apart.

Why does this consistently happen?

It simply confirms the essentially quantum nature of our souls’ comings and goings through our lives.

What about Catherine’s own Great Year?

A regression to the 28 June 1604 brings her regressed Sun back to its current position and also obviously conjunct Michael Douglas own Sun.

On top of that her regressed Mars is exactly conjunct her current life Venus and trine her Mars.

Her regressed Ascendant is within a minute of her current one.

Her regressed Venus and Mercury are exactly conjunct her Midheaven.

I like to think of the two of them first meeting on stage at Shakespeare’s Globe which was built 5 years before this date, and perhaps given the time of year in a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, or Romeo and Juliet.

Maybe, given the age difference, she was Desdemona to his Othello.

Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary this month. That’s the same length of time as their age difference.

An old Hollywood star with a young wife is not unusual, but it lasting this long certainly is.

Their extraordinary synastry and their progressions/regressions shows that for a whole Great Year, this has been a fatal attraction of a different kind.

But this is what it is.

“Quantum entanglement is a phenomenon where two or more particles become linked in such a way that they share the same fate, regardless of the distance separating them.

Their fates are linked.  Entangled particles, even when separated by vast distances, remain connected so that their quantum states cannot be described independently of one another.”

Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones have a quantum connection that is way beyond this life. They may appear 25 years and 4,000 miles apart but they are astrologically entangled particles so they had to come together again.

But to understand this our own study of astrology has to take an equally quantum jump. We have to look beyond our charts for this life alone.

Only the method of Secondary Progressions/Regressions can do this.

And until now, this branch of astrology has been neglected or essentially misunderstood, but its application to the comings and goings of souls is that quantum jump for our subject.

Interestingly this comes just at the point where the Royal Society and the separation of astronomy from astrology is ending its own Great Year.

There was another important event occurring in 1660.

The Return Of The King, Charles 11 saw the Restoration Of The Monarchy in England, 11 years after the Revolution and the Execution of his father Charles 1.

The chart for Charles coronation the following year is a powerful one.

An exact square between the Sun in Taurus at the Midheaven and Uranus in Aquarius seems to point to a battle between the forces of convention and revolution.

This is confirmed by the T square between Mercury in Taurus, Saturn and a T Square apex Moon in Aquarius.

But it could equally point to a battle between conventional science and astrology.

If so, transit Pluto comes to conjunct that Uranus and square the Sun next year.

And this moment has its own Great Year coming up, ironically with Charles 111 nearing the end of his own reign.

The progressed Sun for Charles 11’s coronation returns to its place and Venus joins it both in square to Uranus,

it looks like 2026 will be a year of a quantum jump and mark the Restoration of the true king – Astrology.

Posted on 2 November 2025

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