Solar Arc Directions Study
Solar arc is the most widely used of the symbolic direction techniques, and its appeal is its simplicity: one arc, applied uniformly to every point you direct. The Solar Arc Directions study gives you the dates on which each directed point perfects an aspect to a natal place, for the natal record you select.
Because the Sun moves close to one degree a day, and the day-for-a-year measure equates a day with a year, the solar arc works out to roughly one degree per year of life. Slow natal planets that would never form a progressed aspect within a lifetime are brought into contact with natal places all the same, which is what makes solar arc a technique for the whole set of natal points rather than only the fast ones.
Create a Solar Arc Directions Study
To add a Solar Arc Directions study to the current workspace:
- Click Direction Studies → Solar Arc Directions on the menu bar.
Alternatively, click the Direction Studies drop-down button on the toolbar and select Solar Arc Directions from its flyout.
The new study appears at the bottom of the Studies list and is selected automatically, so its settings open immediately. It takes its name from the study type.
What This Study Finds
The study generates an event each time a natal point, advanced by the arc of the secondary progressed Sun, perfects an aspect to the natal place of another point. Two roles are involved in every direction. The directed body is a natal point advanced by the solar arc; the modern technique directs every natal point, angles included. The natal body is the point whose natal place the direction is aimed at.
The Sun never retrogrades, so the solar arc increases strictly with age: one arc value per age, and one age per arc value. That lets the study invert the relationship directly, computing the separation each combination must close and solving for the age at which the arc closes it, so every combination yields exactly one event. The date range is therefore a filter rather than a search window, and how long generation takes depends on the two body lists and the aspect angles alone. A pair that is already in exact aspect at birth dates its event at the birth moment and is reported like any other.
The technique is wholly ecliptic. Every point, the Ascendant and Midheaven included, is advanced by adding the same arc to its natal longitude, and aspects are measured in longitude, so there is no declination or right ascension geometry anywhere in this study. Directions are exact by construction, with no orb setting, and the natal positions come from the natal record's own location; the study's Location supplies only the time zone the resulting dates are shown in.
Settings are laid out on two tab controls. The upper one carries Ephemeris, Natal Data and Directions; the lower one carries Directed & Natal Bodies and Aspects. The Ephemeris tab hides its Reference Plane row, because solar arc directing works entirely in ecliptic longitude and a plane choice could only relabel the reported positions.
Events Table Columns
The events table shows the columns below. Several columns are hidden by default, as the table notes. Right-click any column header to show or hide a column, as described in Choose Events Table Columns.
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Date Time | The date the direction perfects, in the application's long date-time format. Always the first column, and it cannot be moved. Visible by default. |
| Event Type | Whether the row is a direct solar arc or a converse solar arc. Visible by default. |
| Directed Body | The natal point advanced by the arc. Visible by default. |
| Directed Longitude | The directed point's ecliptic longitude after the arc is applied, in degrees. Hidden by default. |
| Directed Sign | The directed point's position after the arc is applied, as degrees, sign and minutes of the zodiac. Visible by default. |
| Directed Natal Longitude | The natal ecliptic longitude the directed point started from, in degrees. Hidden by default. |
| Directed Natal Sign | The natal position the directed point started from, as degrees, sign and minutes of the zodiac. Hidden by default. |
| Natal Body | The point whose natal place the direction is aimed at. Visible by default. |
| Natal Longitude | The natal body's ecliptic longitude in degrees. Hidden by default. |
| Natal Sign | The natal body's position as degrees, sign and minutes of the zodiac. Visible by default. |
| Aspect | The cycle angle applied to the directed body, in degrees. Visible by default. |
| Solar Arc | The signed displacement applied to the directed point, after the Arc Multiple, in degrees. Negative on a converse direction. Visible by default. |
| Age at Event | Elapsed years of life at the direction, counted in the study's Year reckoning. Visible by default. |
| Event Interval | Elapsed time since the previous event in the list. Hidden by default. |
Carrying the directed position and the natal starting position on the same row is what lets you read the arc at work without deriving it again.