Most forecasts answer the question "what is going on?" They look at a day, a week or a month and tell you which transits are active in your chart. Sooner or later, though, almost everyone asks a different question: when, exactly? When does this Mars transit peak? Is it this afternoon or tomorrow morning? Which day this week should I keep free of difficult conversations?

Upcoming Transits is built for that question. It is a calendar of the exact moments ahead, calculated for your chart automatically, with a short reading for each one. You do not choose anything or set anything up: you open it, and it shows you what the sky is about to do to your chart, minute by minute.

Why the exact moment matters

A transit is active for as long as the transiting planet is within orb of the aspect, which can be a few hours for the Moon and many months for Pluto. Somewhere inside that window there is one moment when the aspect is exact, to the degree and the minute. That is the peak.

Knowing the peak does not mean the transit happens only then. Transits are usually felt on the way in, and fade gradually afterwards. But the exact time is the anchor: it is the moment an astrologer marks on the calendar, and it is often close to the moment something that has been building becomes visible. For the fast planets, the window is short, so the exact time is most of the story. A Moon transit that peaks at 09:40 can be over by lunch.

For the slow planets, there can be more than one exact date for the same transit, because a planet that turns retrograde can cross the same degree of your chart, move back over it, and then cross it a final time. Upcoming Transits lists each crossing as it comes, and the R next to a position tells you which pass you are looking at.

What it finds

Upcoming Transits searches an ephemeris recorded minute by minute and lists every exact transit to your chart in the days ahead. It covers the transiting Sun, Moon and planets out to Pluto, along with the North Node, Chiron, Lilith and the asteroids. For each of them it finds two kinds of event.

Aspects. The moment a transiting body makes an exact conjunction, sextile, square, trine, opposition or quincunx to one of your natal planets, your Ascendant or your Midheaven.

House ingresses. The moment a transiting body reaches the cusp of one of your houses, which is the moment it enters that area of your life. Venus crossing into your seventh house, Mars into your sixth, the Sun into your tenth: each has its own minute, and each is listed.

How to read the table

Each row is one event. It gives the time in GMT and in your local time, the position of the transiting planet (with an R when it is retrograde), the natal point and its position, the aspect, and a reading of that transit. The reading describes the tendency of the contact: what it usually stirs up, what it is good for, and what it asks of you.

Click the time to open the chart of that exact moment, with the sky drawn around your natal chart. It is a good way to see the transit in context: what else the sky is doing at the same minute, and which other natal points are being touched nearby.

The list can be sorted by date, by transiting planet or by natal planet. Sorting by date gives you a diary. Sorting by natal planet shows you which part of your chart is busiest, which is often more telling than any single contact. There is also a search box for finding, say, everything that touches your Venus.

Two buttons make a long list easier to handle. One hides the readings so you can see the whole table at a glance. The other hides the Moon. That last button is more useful than it sounds: the Moon makes so many exact aspects that a busy list can look like a diary written by someone who cannot sit still. With the Moon hidden, the slower and more structural contacts stand out.

How far ahead it looks

Members see the next three days, which is enough to plan the immediate future: a meeting, a trip, a conversation you have been putting off. Premium members see the next 31 days, which is enough to see the shape of a month, where the busy weeks are, and when a slow transit you have been feeling finally peaks.

If you need a date further away, or a date in the past, there is a separate tool for experts, Transit Inquiries, which searches for one specific transit across any range of years.

A short example

Say your list shows transiting Mars conjunct your natal Mercury, exact tomorrow at 14:20 your time, followed the next morning by Mars entering your third house. Read together, that is a day or two when thinking and speaking speed up, opinions come out sharper, and the area of short trips, messages and everyday exchanges gets more energy. Useful for a debate or a deadline. Less useful for a message you might regret, and the table even tells you which afternoon to be careful with.

Now say that further down the list, a few days later, transiting Venus trines your natal Moon. Sorted by date, the week now has a shape: a sharp, busy start and a softer, warmer end. That is the kind of picture a simple list of exact times can give you, and it is usually more useful than any single line in it.

Getting the most out of it

Read the slow ones first. A transit from Saturn, Uranus, Neptune or Pluto that peaks this month matters more than a dozen Moon contacts. Sort by transiting planet, or hide the Moon, and see whether one of them is in the list.

Look for clusters. When several transits hit the same natal point within a few days, that point is the theme of the period. When several fall on the same day, that day deserves a little extra attention.

Check the house ingresses. They are easy to overlook because they have no aspect name, but a planet entering a house changes the area of life it works in, often for weeks.

Compare with what you notice. Keep an eye on what happens around the exact times for a few weeks. Most people quickly learn which planets they feel strongly and which ones pass almost unnoticed, and that is worth more than any rule in a book.

How it fits with the rest

Use the daily, weekly and monthly forecasts to understand what a period is about. Use Upcoming Transits to see exactly when the nearest contacts peak. Between them, they cover both the meaning and the timing.

And keep in mind that an exact time marks the peak of a tendency, not an appointment with fate. Nothing is guaranteed to happen at 14:20. But if something does, you will at least know what to call it.

Open Upcoming Transits from the reports page and see what the next days have in store for your chart.

Frequently asked questions

What does Upcoming Transits show?
The exact moments in the coming days when a transiting planet makes an aspect to one of your natal planets, your Ascendant or your Midheaven, or enters one of your houses, each with the time, the positions and a reading.

How far ahead does it look?
Three days for members and 31 days for Premium members.

Which aspects does it include?
Conjunction, sextile, square, trine, opposition and quincunx, plus the moments a transiting body enters one of your houses.

Why are there sometimes several dates for the same transit?
Because a planet that turns retrograde can pass over the same degree of your chart, move back over it, and cross it again when it turns direct. Each crossing is an exact transit, and the R next to the position shows the retrograde pass.

Do I need my birth time?
For transits to your planets, no. For your Ascendant, Midheaven and house ingresses, yes, since those depend entirely on the time of birth.

Why is the list so full of Moon transits?
Because the Moon moves about thirteen degrees a day and touches almost every point in your chart within a month. Use the button that hides the Moon to see the slower transits more clearly.