Four times a year the Sun crosses a line that everybody notices, whether or not they follow astrology. In March and September day and night are nearly equal. In June and December one of them is as long as it gets. Astronomers call these the equinoxes and the solstices. Astrologers call them ingresses, because at each one the Sun enters one of the four cardinal signs: Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn.

An ingress chart is the chart of that exact moment. It has been cast for centuries, mostly for countries and cities, to describe the year or the season ahead. Our report does something more personal with it: it casts the chart for the place where you live and reads it against your own birth chart.

The four ingresses

The Aries ingress is the moment the Sun enters Aries, at the March equinox. It is the start of the astrological year, and its chart has long been read as the chart of the whole year, until the next Aries ingress twelve months later.

The Cancer ingress, at the June solstice, opens a season that lasts until the Libra ingress about three months later.

The Libra ingress, at the September equinox, opens the season until the Capricorn ingress.

The Capricorn ingress, at the December solstice, opens the season until the next Aries ingress.

So the Aries chart works as a frame for the year, and each of the other three as a frame for its quarter. The names of the seasons follow the tradition of the northern hemisphere, where the system was born, but the charts are the same moments wherever you live. Someone in Buenos Aires reading the Capricorn ingress in the middle of summer is reading exactly the same sky as someone in Oslo reading it in the dark.

Same moment for everyone, so what is personal?

This is the first question people ask, and it is a good one. The Sun enters Aries at one instant for the whole planet. Eight billion people share that moment, and they cannot all be having the same year.

Two things make the chart yours. The first is the place. The planets stand in the same degrees wherever you are, but the houses and the angles depend on the horizon, so the ingress cast for your city has its own Ascendant, its own Midheaven and its own arrangement of houses. The second is your birth chart. Laid over it, the ingress planets fall into your natal houses and make aspects to your natal planets. One person's Aries ingress puts Saturn on their natal Sun; their neighbour's puts Jupiter in their natal second house. Same sky, very different weather on the ground.

A hypothetical example. Suppose the Libra ingress, cast for where you live, has the Sun falling in your natal seventh house and the ingress Mars in close square to your natal Moon. That tends to describe a season in which partnerships and agreements take up attention, with some friction around how you feel about them. The person next door, born under a different sky, might find the same ingress Sun in their natal tenth house and the season leaning toward work instead.

Which ingress the report chooses

The Ingress charts card lists the four ingresses and preselects the next one to come. Open it in late October and it offers the Capricorn ingress of December; open it in April and it offers the Cancer ingress of June. You can pick any of the four instead.

The card also has a starting date. The report finds the first ingress of the chosen kind after that date, so leaving the date as today gives you the coming one, and choosing a date in the past lets you look back at an ingress you have already lived through. Looking back is often the best way to learn how these charts speak to you: read last season's chart and compare it with what the season was actually about.

If your profile uses a sidereal zodiac, the report finds the moment the Sun enters the sidereal sign instead, which falls some weeks after the equinox or solstice. The idea is the same; only the moment differs.

The place it is cast for

The card has no place field. The chart is cast for the residence in the birth data when there is one, and otherwise for the birthplace. Once the report is open, you can type another city and run it again, for example the place you expect to spend the season in. As with a planetary return, the planets stay where they are and the houses turn with the place.

What the report shows

The report gives the exact moment of the ingress in the time zone of the place, and how long the chart is in effect: until the next Aries ingress for the Aries chart, until the next cardinal ingress for the other three.

A two-ring wheel shows your birth chart inside and the ingress chart outside. Then come the points that define the ingress for you: the ingress Ascendant, which sets the tone of the period and how you meet it; the ingress Moon by sign and house, which describes the emotional climate; and any planets on the angles of the ingress chart, which are its loudest voices.

Tables list the ingress planets with both their ingress house and the house of your birth chart they fall in, and the twelve houses of the ingress chart with the planets inside each. Last come the aspects between the ingress chart and your birth chart, closest first, each with its reading. You can also ask the AI astrologer to read the whole ingress chart for you.

How to read it

Start with where the ingress Sun lands in your natal houses: that is where the year's or the season's attention tends to go. Then look at the ingress Ascendant and Moon, and at any planet on an angle. Only then go through the aspects to your natal planets, which describe how the period touches you in particular. A slow planet in close aspect to your Sun, Moon or Ascendant usually matters more than a cluster of light contacts.

An ingress chart is a frame for a period, not a prediction of events. It describes the shape of a season and the themes it tends to bring forward, and it reads best alongside your transits and, around your birthday, your solar return. The tradition reads it as a backdrop, and that is how it works best: something to notice, not something to brace for.

When you are ready, find the Ingress charts card among the advanced reports and cast the next ingress for where you live.

Frequently asked questions

What is an ingress chart?
The chart of the moment the Sun enters Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn, at an equinox or a solstice. Our report casts it for where you live and reads it against your birth chart.

How long does an ingress chart last?
The Aries ingress is read for the whole year, until the next Aries ingress. The Cancer, Libra and Capricorn ingresses each describe the season of about three months until the next cardinal ingress.

If the moment is the same for everyone, how can the chart be personal?
Through the place and your birth chart. The houses and angles of the ingress depend on where it is cast for, and the ingress planets fall in your own natal houses and aspect your own natal planets.

Do I need a birth time?
For the aspects to your natal planets, no; the report works from a noon chart. For the natal houses, yes. With no birth time, the natal-house readings are left out, and the aspects are what to read.

Does it matter that I live in the southern hemisphere?
Not for the chart. The seasons are named after the northern ones, but the ingress is the same moment everywhere, and the chart is cast for your own place.

Can I look at a past ingress?
Yes. Choose an ingress and set the starting date before it, and the report finds that one. Comparing a past season's chart with what actually happened is a good way to learn how these charts work for you.