How Long Does A Transit Last?

planetsHi, Elsa.

How long does a transit effect a person? Is it a matter of degrees; like if the transit is within 5 or 10 degrees of exact, or is it a matter of what else is going on in the chart, or is it just the person?

Studying

Hi, Studying.

All those things factor to some extent but seeing it that way won’t help. Here are some simple rules:

  • The effects of the faster moving planets are fleeting (Sun, Venus, Mercury & Mars).
  • The slower the planet, the longer the transit is in effect.
  • Transits are stronger coming in (applying) then they are as they separate.

In plain language, if Mars transits a planet in your chart, it will hot things up for about a week.

If Pluto transits a planet in your chart, it will affect you for about two years.

As for how these transits affect an individual, if your whole chart is tied up in a huge t-square, the aftermath of a major transit is going to be different from what a person with a transit to a single planet has to deal with.

Here’s an analogy…

Recently, my neighborhood was hit by a major hail storm. It took out my roof, my windows in front and quite a bit of paint. The next door neighbor lost the same, plus the shutters on the windows and chunks from the siding on her house. My other next door neighbor’s house has no visible damage.  There are variables between individuals!

Last, orbs do matter.  There are astrologers who say that a Pluto transit can be felt ten years in advance. Whatever!  To me, that’s like worrying about your kid’s junior year in high school as you’re dropping them off for their first day of Kindergarten!

Here’s a rough estimate of orbs, of when transits can really be felt (to a single planet), for people with average sensitivity

  • Sun, Venus Mercury – Three degrees applying, two degrees separating
  • Mars – Four degrees applying, two degrees separating
  • Jupiter – Five degrees applying, three degrees separating
  • Saturn – Four degrees applying, three degrees separating
  • Uranus – Three degrees applying, two degrees separating
  • Neptune – Three degrees applying, two degrees separating
  • Pluto – Three degrees applying, two degrees separating

I sell two transit reports which not only list the transits to your natal charts, but give the dates the transit is in effect.

This report covers the faster moving planets (Sun – Mars).  It’s good for day to day, week to week planning.

This report covers the slower moving planets (Mars through Pluto). It addresses the deeper processes occurring in your life.

Good luck with your study!

Have a question? Ask here – please include your city or country. This keeps things interesting!

17 thoughts on “How Long Does A Transit Last?”

  1. I love that question! Thank you to whoever sent it. Thank you, Elsa. This is great information and a great explanation.

  2. Glad to have this chart – thank you. Astro has had Neptune conjunct my moon for YEARS. I know with the retrogrades it does seem to last forever but with ‘-9 separating I think I’m way past it. had a relationship that started at almost the peak that was NOT what I thought it was. It’s good to trust my feelings again. Saturn just entering my 7th house is another story.

  3. I’ve seen separating transits still in effect. So I’m in agreement with these orbs. Very accurate to me.

    Transiting outer planets to the Sun and Moon and Venus are felt at a personal level. While the outer planet transits to each other are more generational.

  4. Love this thread.. orbs were always a nebulous topic! (My other favorite topic is HOUSE SYSTEMS!!!) Have to just get into practice as an astrologer and see how you and it works.. my own teacher used really tight orbs on both sides and that did not work for me,Elsa’s applying orbs really hit home for me.. there’s the build up–then the release…. in my own chart I tend to let it go by the exactitude..and figure I either got it or I didn’t.. but of course we deal with the effects of what we’ve done, in the separations,from those actions we did (or didn’t do..) during applying time… will enjoy seeing others post on this too.. My moon in Capricorn likes concrete endings to things! So I tend to try to let go of a transit after it passes exact,let it fade quickly..absorb the lessons..

  5. I’ve been watching the Pluto / Uranus square in people’s charts over the last three years. The exact squares coupled with lunar eclipses, full moons , and Mars transits seem to wreak the most havoc. I’ve been sadly disappointed to see people hit with accidental death and suicide with Pluto several degrees past the exact transit to the natal planet. My Mercury is at 7 degrees Sagittarius and I had what I consider the culminating event of the Neptune/ Saturn transit the first of July – the moon was in Gemini – so I think it triggered the Neptune/ Saturn square. My daughter became mentally ill – bipolar from using Zoloft . We had two months of suicidal thoughts and mania, hospitalization etc. Neptune has been past that point. I’m thinking 2 – 3 degrees past you are still under the influence. This was certainly the most difficult event of my life.

    1. I would agree with that observation. I have yet to see a Pluto transit pass out of existence with only two degrees of separation. And it should be noted that Dr. Liz Greene, Ph.D and Robert Hand, two of the pre-eminent astrologers practicing today, also give 3 degrees past “ground zero.” Dr. Greene is one of those who believes Pluto transits have a 10-degree approaching/departing orb. Myself, I can’t quite go for that, but if you know psychology and have patients, you can frequently discern when they stop writing in agony after a Pluto transit goes, say, 3 degrees out of org.

  6. Frankly I am not sure the way Orbs are calculated.
    I also have a question.
    What are Orbs for sextiles,squares,trines,oppositions etc?

  7. Can you please say how long it takes Saturn to transit a house ? Just found out Saturn is transiting my 8th house. Now of course I’m wondering when it will leave !
    Thanks,
    🙂

      1. Thank you very much ! I really appreciate the reply. I’d rather not have Saturn in the 8th ! Aughhh ! At least now I know what the duration is though. Maybe I’ll be able to live through it without dying, or having my private parts fall out or anything too horrendous, LOL ! Thanks again, you are a kind person.

  8. What about transits to natal planets at 0 degrees into a sign? My Venus is 0 degrees Taurus. Had Mars recently transit it, and it was like being suddenly punched in the gut, as though someone had broken my heart. Literally the day that Mars hit 0 degrees of Taurus. For about a week I felt like I was nursing a broken heart.

  9. Thanks a lot for these explanations,was very smart somebody to make it and they are so correct!Again thank you very much!

  10. Always glad to see this reposted. It has great info!

    Apparently Pluto is done opposing my Sun and Mercury! Hallelujah! I wonder if that’s where this burst of energy came from.

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