Natal Charts vs Progressed Charts

watergal asks:

It’s hard to fathom the progressions. but I have a question Elsa…people do grow and change..and when you think about progressions, does it show how maybe you have moved on from a past situation or a love or even your culture?..because I can see how I no longer love what I used to think of as my world..and want something different now..different kind of life and friends and just a different way of living and just “being”..?

This is an interesting question, though I may not understand it.  Consequently, I may not answer it well, but I’m going to try.

I hold the unpopular opinion that people don’t change. I’ve come to this conclusion because I have yet to meet anyone, ever, who does not express the energy of the their natal chart. Matter of fact, people tend to become more themselves as they age. I’ll use myself as an example.

I am into service. I really loved being a waitress…it’s my natural state.  Though I enjoy being served on occasion, I would be miserable if I waited on, as a matter of course. I would want to have the waitress sit, and let me work.

This is my nature. No matter how old I get, or if I were to get rich, or whatever…if  I were to come to live with some kind of privilege, I can’t imagine I would ever lose this quality. It’s too strong.  Service is what makes me happy.

With that understood, it’s not that I don’t think people evolve. I used to wait on drunks in  a bar. I don’t do that anymore. But wherever I go, the first thing I do, is look for how I might be able to lend a hand in some way.

The fifteen-year-old me, serving bikers drinks in a dive bar, is the same person who volunteers to bring Holy Communion to people in the hospital. It may appear that I’ve changed dramatically but I’ve really not changed at all.

I definitely think a progressed chart is valid. A person does evolve. For example, I wrote about wanting to be single when my progressed Venus was in Virgo. When she progressed to Libra, I immediately went looking for a partner.  But this did not change my basic nature!

There are other factors that complicate this. For example, I have Venus square Neptune. Consequently,  I’m easily influenced. I can fall into a bad crowd or a good crowd, but it does not alter my desire to serve. It doesn’t matter if my crowd is good or bad. If they interfere with my drive and desire to help, my involvement with them will be short-lived.

You mention that your world has changed. Well so has mine. But it’s not going to stop me from standing up in any environment and asking, “Can I get anyone, anything?”

I am a certain kind of person – Elsa.  I may become disillusioned, or mad as hell. I may feel inspired, optimistic…or depressed.  The feeling states may be fleeting, or they may last a good long while, but my essential character is still intact.

To put this in astrological context, I do like all the extra charts. Progressed, solar and lunar returns, composites, synastry, BUT.

But a person’s natal chart is still going to describe them.

Whether you’re happy about this or not, it’s probably due to your nature. Some people don’t like anything. I know, because I tend to make friends with them (Antisocial But Not Disordered)!

Want insight into your chart? Check these report options.

30 thoughts on “Natal Charts vs Progressed Charts”

  1. This is a great post, Elsa. I got my progressed report and it’s great to have. Thank you for explaining more in depth how this works.

  2. Well said! “You can take the boy out of Brooklyn (progressed chart), but you can’t take the Brooklyn out of the boy (natal chart).

  3. So true. The natal chart is that one and only STAMP no matter what. Progressed can add glitter or stains but the stamp is still there. I am experiencing that as we speak. I’ve gone through much life changes and changed my image but at the end of the day, I’m still me. I will still continue to love and give with just as much passion no matter how badly I’ve been broken. I went back to a night club for a celebration over the weekend. I haven’t stepped foot in one for the past 7 years because of children but once I got on the dance floor, it’s like I never left. I won’t stop dancing until the day I die 🙂

  4. The idea that we don’t change is unpopular but I really believe it is so. I see people, myself included, becoming just more of themselves as they become older. Our basic essence is the same throughout. It’s interesting to see photographs of adults when they were tiny – often characteristics are evident even then. Progressions can be useful to look at, but it’s still the natal chart that speaks so clearly. We can’t avoid our chart like we can’t avoid our genes!

  5. People may not change, but they do evolve. I used to have a temper when I was young, and now I see myself calmed. I still have the energy inside and I focus my aggressiveness into being more assertive than angry. So yes I think people change into better versions of themselves (evolve).

  6. Thanks Elsa – such great conversations on your site.

    Someone once said to me, in response to my question about progressions, that they were like internal developments – acorn to seedling to sapling to tree – while transits were like the external influences that affect these developments – sun, hailstorm etc.

    What you’ve said puts all of that in context by emphasising the fact that, internal or external, progressed or transiting, they’re all affecting the pattern described in the birth chart. Thanks again for your ability to bring clarity.

  7. Transit: passage from one state, stage, subject, or place to another
    Progression: the process of developing over a period of time

    I agree with Elsa. We do not change. Our natal charts are our inner makeup. Transits may challenge us as they pass or make contact. Progressions are our process of development or what we already are.

  8. I just finished building scenarios with my progressed chart. Neptune is in my progressed ninth, it’s a dream world alright. That’s just one tee hee. I guess I like the progressed chart because it makes me less serious.

  9. best description of expressing natal chart ever! so true, nature still remains, while evolving. I like, you are who are more as you age. lol 😀
    that is so true about the crowd you’re in, bad or good, easily influenced (I think it’s merging with the crowd or adaptation)

  10. see for me the natal is the potential that also points out the lessons I am here to learn, so for me just like the fool, one merges one house to the next one influence to the next and I get choice after choice in how I deal with things, and I use the steps the stones of what comes next in line so that I can learn. I can learn in a circle, i can learn in a spiral and i keep moving on 🙂 for me progressions show how I may have matured into a new phase of my thinking and decision making

  11. A little while back there was an article about how long it takes a planet to complete a cycle. Do progressed planets take the same amount of time to complete an orbit?

  12. I was told that the progressed chart shows what you allow into your life at the time. It doesn’t change who you are. Makes sense to me.

  13. That really helps to put it in perspective. Thank you, Elsa. Btw, Vid is so adorable in that picture. What a cutie he was. ❤ that is Vid right?

Leave a Reply to notch Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 

Scroll to Top