Solar Arc and Transits on the Dial

The "Forecast" page of the Uranian mode looks at timing in two ways: solar arc, which moves slowly and gives the frame of a year, and transits, which give shorter periods. Both go on the outer ring of the dial, and the app looks at which natal factor or midpoint they touch.

What solar arc is

Witte defines the solar arc as the distance from the natal Sun to the progressed Sun, where one day after birth stands for one year of life. Every planet of the natal chart is then moved on by this same distance, as if the whole chart turned together.

He insists on the distance the Sun really travels, not a round 1° a year. An example from his own table: for someone born on 27 January 1859 the solar arc on 1 August 1914 is 55°47′, at an age of about 55 and a half. Close to the age, but not the same.

Transits, as Witte uses them

In 1922 Witte writes that a transiting planet passing straight over a natal planet seldom gives a clue to the matter. What he always observes is a transiting planet setting off a sensitive point of the natal chart. In 1925 he sums it up: in most cases a transiting planet sets off not a single planet but a whole picture. That is why the lists in the app show contacts with midpoints as well as with factors.

On precision, he counts the day on which the transiting planet is exactly on the midpoint, and he shares out the work: the Sun sets off the day, the Moon the hour, and the Meridian the minute.

He uses the two methods together. The planets moved by solar arc decide the matter, and the transits of a given day set off both the natal positions and the moved ones.

In the app

• On the "Forecast" page, choose a date and set "Outer ring" to "Transits" or "Solar arc".
• "Natal contacts" lists what touches the natal chart on that date, tightest orb first.
• "Contact dates" lists the days of exact contact within 1 month, 3 months or 1 year.

Each entry gives its time frame: from weeks to years for a slow transit, from hours to a few weeks for a fast one. Solar arc moves about 1° a year, so an orb of 1° means about a year before and a year after the exact date. These frames are the app's own convention.

How to read it

These lists do not name events in advance. They point to a period when a theme comes to the fore. A good way to practise is the one Witte suggests to his readers: go back to things in your life that are already past and whose date you remember, and see what touched your natal chart on that day.

Sources

Articles by Alfred Witte. Page numbers are those printed in the journal.

• "Die Auswertung eines aktuellen Planetenbildes", Astrologische Rundschau, 1921/1922, pages 43 and 45
• "Das Planetenbild", Astrologische Blätter, April 1924, page 15
• "Die Differenzierung der Radixsonne und die des unteren Geburtsmeridians", Astrologische Rundschau, April 1924, pages 14 and 16
• "Wahrscheinlicher Lauf des zweiten Transneptun-Planeten Hades", Astrologische Blätter, June 1924, page 76
• "Direktionen und Planetenbilder", Astrologische Rundschau, May 1925, page 55
• "Der Lauf der Erde (Sonnenbogen) in Tagen vom Geburtstage an", Astrologische Rundschau, July 1925, page 88

The app's own conventions: the time frame of each entry, the orb, computing the outer ring for 12:00, and writing the result as the theme of a period.