While the words Transits and Progressions are quite different, there is a tendency among astrology students to muddle the meanings of these two fascinating aspects of astrology. Often they are used interchangeably, which sometimes causes some confusion as to what kind of effective power either has in influencing what one feels and experiences in life.
To begin with, Transits and Progressions both emerge from the same starting point for the individual. They both start from the natal chart and the exact positions they were in place when life began.
Moving forward, however, they both follow different concepts. The Transits move through the solar system along their appointed orbits, year in and year out. Every time a transit finishes a 360 degree cycle of the heavens, it begins again to repeat it in the next cycle. Thus, the transiting Sun returns to its same place every year, then continues on to repeat its next cycle.
Progressions, on the other hand do not function this way. Starting from the natal birth degree they move forward in relation to the birth chart in a much slower way than the Transits.
To see this, consider the difference between the Progressed Moon which moves approximately 1 degree a month, and the Transiting Moon which moves approximately 1 degree every 2 hours.
In another example, the Sun Transits all 360 degrees of the zodiac once each year, yet if we Progress the Sun, we only progress it one day for each year of life or approximately 1 degree a year. Again, the Progression is much slower than the Transit.
Yet, a far greater difference between Transits and Progressions has to do with the fact that in the instance of transits, our natal planets remain fixed in the original stamp of our birth. Progressions, on the other hand, while not ignoring our original natal placement, make the assumption that as our life goes forward, so too do we, and as a result- experience on some levels progressed degrees, further along than our birth degrees.
Thus, the Progression is an overlay, or another layer that while not ignoring the natal degree position, acts as what experiences the individual is becoming familiar with in life, in addition to their starting degree.
Karmically, the person evolves from their natal degree with the possibility of learning and earning all the potential in the ensuing degrees that their progressions take them to.
Imagine if you will, an individual born with their Sun at 29 Scorpio. This would indicate a very high degree of evolvement in the Sign. Since there are only 30 degrees in a sign, the Progressed Sun, in this instance, would leave Scorpio and enter Libra when the individual is approximately one year old.
For the next thirty years, it would progress through Libra, even though the individual is still a Scorpio. As a result, the person, karmically finishing their Scorpio lessons early in life, because of attaining a high degree of learning in these lessons in past lives. In this incarnation they are now learning how to refine, and use all their intense depth and understanding in more social ways as a partner to humanity because of how their Progressed Sun teaches them through Libra experiences.
All through life, the individual will feel the Transits, and even though their Progressed Sun would be in Libra, they would nevertheless feel any transit over their 29th natal degree Sun in Scorpio, which stands during their entire lifetime as their blueprint for this incarnation.
However, as each year gives them Progressed experiences of Libra, they learn to deal with life with Libra overlays to the Scorpionic root source. They grow more cultured and refined in how they deal with Transits and are much less volatile and over-reactive than they would have been if their Sun were at an earlier degree in Scorpio, which would not progress into Libra until half a life time later.
Thus, the Transits and Progressions, because they are quite different, both work together in their different ways, to help explain how an individual karmically learns to evolve towards a more fulfilling and complete existence.
