All astrologers feel they are on thin ice when it comes to articulating future projections. We easily feel stranded. When we look at symbols formed for the future, something seems to stop the traffic of thought. We’re afraid.

The reason we feel stranded, alone, insecure is that we forget what has already taken place. Normally, there is a whole lifetime of development that gains greater or lesser focus as the years go by, and this must be the base of what is being built, the springboard for extending experiences into lifetime.

The reality development in life, our interpretative faculties that guide our planning are all based upon links among experiences and extensions of significances. Was George W. Bush not groomed all his life for following his grandfather and father into politics?

Listen to the child say, when I grow up, “I want to be a fireman or a doctor or an astronaut!” With parental support or diversion, life development gets underway as successive futures become immediate presents.

Notice how athletes and entertainers prepare for futures in complementary or diversified fields when their productivity and image flag with time and age. Notice how the college drop-out will so often keep the fire lit (to extend the plan) to return sometime in the future for that diploma. Notice how all too often the returning soldier, with his or her life development grievously interrupted by extended service at war, can feel lost, uncharted, anxious about “starting over, catching up, finding personal significance in the world back home.”

In a tight basketball game, with the score tied, with 8 seconds left to play, during a time-out under enormous tension, a plan is made, and this plan for the next shot, the final shot, is developed out of experience culled from the hour of preceding time in the strongly contested game: who’s got the ‘hot hand’? Who is regularly getting free from what defenseman? Who with the best foul shot record can attract the foul?

You’ve got the picture. –Now, as we face measurements ahead, let’s thicken the ice.

What astrology defines what period ahead? Your client has come to you –most usually not for Country-Club tea time curiosity— but because she or he feels tension, developmental tension; something is going on; something is about to go somewhere in their life activity.

While much information about what’s hoped to be ahead will emerge in the consultation, we must make sure to ask your client pointedly this all-important question: “What do you project for yourself in the next six months to a year?” –This taps strongly into the client’s personal involvement with development. Packages of change rarely just drop from trees; they are earned, designed, orchestrated, attracted; they are made to happen..

You will see this tension depicted in the present astrology; a “heads-up” crunch could have just occurred or looms just ahead. Ask yourself where development is headed; what and when could be the resolution of it all? Listen to your client, the common sensical content of whatever she or he is saying, while you scan the time ahead.

Usually, within 1.5 to 2 years ahead from the consultation date, or sooner, conspicuous Angular contact by Arc and/or transit will show up [Or strong contact with the Sun or Moon]. This period of time will probably fit into the scheme of things … this is most reliable. [A longer time projection than this proves unwieldy. Things lose focus in relation to the Now.]

That Angular or Sun or Moon contact you see ahead is the harbinger of change, accomplishment, fulfillment, or detour. [Be careful with the outer planets: orchestrate the three “hits” (D, Rx, D as is usual) strategically, aiming for conclusion with the final one.]

Work backwards in time Start there in the future, with that idea in mind, and work backward to the present. Imagine the angular contact time (which could be stretched over two or three months) as ‘the other side of a stream’ to which your client wants to cross. Working back to the present, settling on stepping stones of strong transits and other defining measurements, you are mapping the path to that other side of the stream. Then, when you get to the present, look ahead again, and you will see the developmental path that can/will get your client where she or he wants to go! –and, of course, these measurements during that most pertinent two-year projected span are studied and noted in preparing the horoscope, before the consultation. With this time structure already in place, the consultation discussion gradually brings meaning to that time structure. [Please see Tyl, Solar Arcs, “Time Flow” section, pages 122-131.]

A gentleman came to see me. He was miserable, and had been for about a year. We discussed his life development: he had “won” everything his whole life through, except of late: he had suffered a set of professional rejections that were terribly demoralizing to his Leo Moon and his track record, his self-confidence etc.

Ten months ahead, he was to take on SP Moon=IV-Xth axis, signaling the very very high potential of a “new start”, a re-definition of Self in terms of new directions. And there were meetings and communications clearly suggested by other measurements, en route to that time. –We discussed the alternative opened to him, to “get back on the track” (of success) and emerge out of misery. It was an easy, productive discussion; it signaled the welcome end to suffering and dejection.

I simply said: “You will see it all clearly in ten months: your new life direction will take off dramatically; congratulations! Now let’s look at the steps between now and then.” –The future measurement was appreciated in context; not every SP Moon=IV registers the same way; but within this man’s context we came to know how this one could!

Exactly in ten months, the man decided to re-marry, to change professional pursuits, to move residence, and wave his new flag. Wow!

A man is 60 years old. He has just retired; is living comfortably; is in good health. He shows –18 months forward from the consultation date—tr Saturn conjunct his Sun, ruler of his conspicuously articulated 8th House, squaring his Ascendant. Additionally, natally he has Neptune opposed his Moon in the 4th (mother), co-ruler of the 8th.

Now, how old would this man’s mother be at this time? Mid-80s.

“We know there has been difficult lifelong development with your mother (also he showed natally Sun quindecile Nodal Axis). How is her health now? How is the air between the two of you?”

You learn that she is quite ill. It is not unreasonable to extend this awareness to the target measurement of tr Saturn conjunct Sun, ruler of the 8th: “Her health issues may become severe in a year-and-half.” –“Very likely. Yes.”

“Are you prepared? Are there fences to mend? What about estate management at that time?” Etc.

Again, we see the future measurement evolving from past significances.

***Now: if we hadn’t understood the past development curves in these examples, we could not have framed the new development ahead. Tying the two together –past and future– expanded the consultation present backward and forward. Clarity and meaning emerged. The client supplied the details.

Work on this awareness in your projections for your clients. Make sense in terms of what has been and what can be, especially in focus with your client’s involvement. It makes your work easier and ever so much more productive.