Annual Profections are an astrology technique that I implement when doing my Solar Return and Annual Transits reading that I offer. My course on transits started last week and since this technique gets a class all to itself in the course, this felt like an appropriate time to do this post. Also, I’ve been going through my website over the past few months (fixing SEO stuff and other things), and I noticed there were some SEO problems with the original blog post I wrote on this topic in January 2020. So I’m fixing those issues now and adding in new things not mentioned before.
**Also, the algorithm is fucking annoying (I could go off about that bullshit hahahaha but I’ll spare you), and likes “new posts.”

Annual Transits, Annual Profections & Solar Return readings are a service that I offer (and THANK YOU so much to all the clients I have that come back to me year after year to have me do their Solar Return and annual transits chart work for them!). If you are interested in having me do this kind of reading for you (or any kind of astrology reading), you can have me do that here. If you are someone who prefers watching stuff to reading you can find stuff on this topic on my YouTube channel.

What even are annual profections and the time lord? Essentially, starting from the Ascendant in the natal chart, each house of the chart represents a specific year of life (and depending on how old you are turning on your next birthday will show you what “House Year” or annual profection year you’re about to enter into). Here is a drawing to quickly show you what annual profection year you’re currently in or are about to enter into:

I’ll use myself as an example here to help all this make sense. In November of 2023 I turned 36 and entered a 1st House protection year. This causes things having to do with my sense of self (and other 1st House areas of life) to be very important this year (since the 1st House is the house that deals with the sense of self). My Ascendant and 1st House are in Sagittarius which makes self understanding and belief highlighted (Sagittarius energy expresses itself through “understanding” and through “beliefs”…among other ways). Now, the time lord comes into play 🙂 and the time lord is the planetary ruler of the profection year house you happen to be in. Since I’m in a 1st House year (and I have Sagittarius on the cusp of the 1st House), this makes Jupiter my time lord (since Jupiter is the planetary ruler of Sagittarius). Below is a table of planetary rulership:

Just to throw this out there – I use dual rulership (lol why the fuck not?!). There are astrologers that feel like only using traditional rulership with annual profections and the time lord is what one should do. I think to leave the modern ruler out of this technique is to leave out a dynamic that shouldn’t be left out. On the flip side of that if you only use modern rulership with this technique, the time lord in transit won’t do as much/make as many different aspect with natal planets throughout the year (since modern rulership involves the outer planets that don’t move as quickly). To leave out the traditional rulership feels like a dynamic gets left out that shouldn’t be left out.

After you figure out what planet (or planets) is/are your time lord(s) for the year, the next thing you want to look is WHERE that time lord planet is in your chart. The house that the time lord falls in your chart will bring that house into the equation (meaning that house’s “areas of life” become important that year like the annual protection house). For instance, I have my Jupiter in the 4th House in Aries. So not only are 1st House areas of life (like sense of self, etc.) important this year, but so are 4th House areas of life (like home, family, private spheres of life, etc.). When looking at the time lord for the year you want to consider what the time lord planet is doing in the natal chart. Is it retrograde or direct? Is it out of bounds? What aspects does it make to other planets in the chart (those aspects WILL be highlighted this year)? Things that I would consider along with Jupiter’s sign and house as the time lord would be the fact that it’s retrograde (meaning this year might have a retrograde-y flavor) and the aspects that it makes in the chart (like the trine it makes to my Ascendant and the square it makes to my Moon). All of these things, and other things not mentioned that Jupiter is doing in my chart, will be lit up this year.

There are trends and themes that can occur over and over again when looking at this stuff. For instance, every time that I have been in a 1st House profection year I have moved. This is a theme and a thing that happened when I was 0 (I don’t remember it, but it happened), when I was 12, when I was 24, and now again at 36. Why would moving each of these years make sense? Because my sense of self was impacted in some way by these moves (1st House profection year), and the move gave me a new home base (4th House).
**Side note: this one of the reasons that I feel like my chart works best in Placidus, Porphyry or a house system that puts my Jupiter in the 4th House (there are many reasons, but this is one of them). It’s actually through looking for themes and things like this through annual profections and the time lord that might help you to figure out what house system makes sense for you to use.

I encourage you to go through your chart and figure out what annual profection year you are in this year. Then look and see where the time lord (or time lords) are by sign, house, aspects made and planet condition. Once you’ve done that think back to what you remember about the last time you were in that annual profection year and the planetary ruler was your time lord; what themes and things were going on for you then? Are those same kinds of themes and things going on for you now?

How to read annual profections and the time lord in practice (my opinion) – you want to look at what the time lord is doing in transit AND what transit planets are making aspects with the time lord in the natal chart. Planets in transit that make an aspect to the time lord(s) in the natal chart are usually felt strongly for the year that the planet is the time lord. The time lord in transit is also important to take note of, and what aspects it is making with natal planets (these will also be felt strongly). If the time lord in transit turns retrograde, this will probably be felt in an exaggerated way (for better or worse, lol). I take note of planets that happen to transit the annual profection house in a way I might not always notice. For instance, Mars transiting the 7th House (not making any aspect to a natal planet) might not always catch my attention (I have found that a planet just transiting a house without making an aspect to a natal planet may or may not be felt much by the native). However, if the person is in a 7th House profection year and/or if Mars is their time lord for the year, this causes Mars transiting the 7th House to become more important and will definitely catch my attention.

You can even apply this technique to the solar return chart, though modified slightly. I don’t look for the time lord or annual profections in the Solar Return Chart, but I DO look to see what the time lord from the natal chart is doing IN the solar return chart. I will take note of anything going on in the annual profection year from the natal chart in the solar return chart (for instance, since I’m in a 1st House profection year in my natal chart, the 1st House of my solar return chart is something I looked at even more closely). By throwing annual profections and the time lord into the mix with the solar return chart, it add another layer of depth to the reading.