Over at our awesome Chart Harmony Discord, I get asked questions. Recently, one of ’em was about the speed of the planets moving through the same sign. Specifically, the question was about the Moon and Mars. Of course, I’m going to zoom out and share about more than just those two. So…
The Moon moves fastest (about 13° per day). She gets ALL THE WAY AROUND your whole chartwheel in less than a month!
It takes Mars 2 years to travel all the way around your chartwheel, so he’s going to take far longer to travel through a sign than the Moon does. (To be fair, he’s going around the Sun… the Moon is only going around the Earth. So… smaller job.)
Notice when each planetary body changes signs. Keeping up with ingresses will help you learn how fast they are. And that helps you know how long they may stay at any particular degree or in any particular sign. Most importantly, this will help you know how long a certain vibe is gonna be in a certain part of your chart.
Remember: The planet is the WHAT, the sign is the HOW, and the HOUSE is where it all shows up in your life. (Related: How Long Do Transits Last?)
These are GENERAL timelines. There are variations — most notably, due to retrogrades — and you can always check with an app or site like those on our astrological resources list to know for sure what’s up.
Moon = 2.5 days
Mercury = 3.5 weeks
Venus = 4 weeks
Sun = 4.5 weeks
Mars = 2 months
Jupiter = 1 year
Saturn = 2.5 years
Uranus = 7-8 years
Neptune = 13-14 years
Pluto = 11-32 years
Here’s a great (free) tool at Astro-Seek if you’re more of a visual person with this stuff.
Also worth noting: the nodes take 18.5 years to go through all 12 signs, so that’s 18 months in each sign. Chiron takes 50+ years to go all the way around and the time in each sign varies (between 2 and 9 years per sign) because of its irregular, comet-like orbit!
With these general guidelines in mind, head on over to your calendar (or come get my new plan•it planner if you REALLY want to have my touch on your year ahead) and enjoy the woo weather!
Much love,
Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!