What if there was a way to correlate each age of life with specific life themes spotlighted for growth during those 12 months? 

Well, there is. 

It’s called Annual Profections, and it comes from the Hellenistic period.

This age-based timing technique begins on your birthday and can help you anticipate cycles of growth on offer.

Once you understand a few basics, this is the simplest timing technique astrologers have in their toolbox AND now you do too.

That said, as with any timing technique in astrology, there are many layers in interpretation from the simplest to the more complex.

With that in mind, let’s dive into how to work with Annual Profections from its simplified to its most advanced version. 

Working with Annual Profections — Simple

This age-based system can work for you, even if you don’t know your birth time. But you do have to understand some astrology basics.

First, the traditional astrological wheel, or natal chart, divides life into twelve different Houses, each describing a specific area of life and themes associated with it. Some Houses center on our inner-world experiences while others deal more with concrete outer-world experiences.   

Looking at the astrology wheel, each age of life is assigned to one of the 12 houses starting with age 0 equal to the first house, age 1 equal to the second house, age 2 equal to the third house… and so on. 

Because each astrological house highlights a distinct group of topics and themes, we can anticipate that these topics will move to the forefront of an individual’s life at the ages assigned to each house. 

This is the very simplest way to incorporate annual profections into your intentions and goals for the upcoming year.

A Note on Repeating Cycles

Every 12-year cycle will bring about the same themes. However remember, you’re older and wiser, and like layers of an onion, you’ll likely experience those topics with a different perspective from 12 years ago.  

Think about it as having to repeat a grade in school every 12 years… the old lesson plans get easier and easier, therefore allowing the teacher to introduce more advanced topics to the mix.

Working with Annual Profections — Intermediate

If you do know your birth time and have a copy of your natal chart, you can add another layer of working with Annual Profections. 

This intermediate version takes the basic Annual Professions technique and personalizes it to your natal chart. 

For example, if you’re Aries Rising— Aries will correspond to your 1st House, Taurus your 2nd House, and Gemini your 3rd, etc. 

Here’s another example:  If you’re Libra Rising— Libra will correspond to your 1st House, Scorpio your 2nd House, Sagittarius your 3rd House, and so on.

By knowing which sign sits in which House, you can then get to the planet ruling the House and the planet that is activated during each profected year. This planet is historically referred to as the Time Lord, however, I prefer to call it your annual planetary bestie. 

Once you know your planetary bestie for the year, keep track of it. Pay attention to its current movements (sign and house) for an even more robust take on the outlook for your Profected Year. 

Let’s recap with an example. At age 52 you’re in a 5th House Profected Year. How fun… congrats! 

Now let’s say you’re Libra Rising and Aquarius is the sign that sits in your 5th House. Your planetary bestie for age 52 is Saturn. As 5th House topics arise for growth look to Saturn to help with mediating this change. 

Here is a handy list of the Traditional Rulers for each sign

Aries – Mars

Taurus – Venus

Gemini – Mercury

Cancer – Moon

Leo – Sun

Virgo – Mercury

Libra – Venus

Scorpio – Mars

Sagittarius – Jupiter

Capricorn – Saturn

Aquarius – Saturn

Pisces – Jupiter

[et_bloom_inline optin_id=”optin_10″]

Working with Annual Profections—  Advance

One final addition for working with annual profections that is more advanced is to work with natal planets located in the profected House.

Again, this advanced way of using annual profections will require the use of your natal chart and a basic understanding of the meaning of each of the planetary bodies Sun through Pluto.

Once you have that handy, locate your profected House on your natal chart and determine if there are any planets in that house.

For example, if you’re 37 you’re in a 2nd House Profected Year. Looking at your second house in your natal chart, you find that you have the Sun and Mercury there.

This means in addition to dealing with 2nd House topics, you can anticipate working through topics related to the Sun—  ego and identity and Mercury— perception, learning, and communication.

Working with Annual Profections this way gives you a ton more information about what to expect for each 12 months of growth and development.

Whether you opt for the simplified version or one of the more advanced ones, Annual Profections can help you through each new cycle that is initiated by the return of your natal sun.