Today's astrological transits

What are astrological transits?

Astrological transits are the current movements of the planets, read against a birth chart. The planets never stop moving: the Moon crosses a sign in about two and a half days, the Sun in about a month, Saturn in roughly two and a half years. At any moment, each one is at a specific degree of the zodiac. This page shows where they are right now. When a moving planet reaches an angle to a point in your own chart, say Saturn squaring your natal Sun, astrologers call that a transit to your chart, and it's the main tool they use to talk about timing.

Current transits: the collective sky

"Current transits" can mean two things. The first is simply the sky everyone shares: which sign each planet is in today, which ones are retrograde, what aspects they form with each other. That's what the positions on this page describe, and it's the same for everyone on Earth. Horoscopes are built from this layer.

The second is personal: how that shared sky lines up with your own birth chart. Two people looking at the same day can have very different transits, because the planets are touching different points in their charts. Personal transits need your birth date, and for the Ascendant and houses, your birth time and place.

The background for 2026 and 2027

Fast-moving planets come and go; the slow ones set the backdrop for years. Right now that backdrop looks like this:

• Saturn and Neptune in Aries. Neptune entered Aries on January 26, 2026 and Saturn on February 14, 2026, after both spent years in Pisces. They stay there through 2027.
• Uranus in Gemini since April 26, 2026.
• Pluto in Aquarius, where it remains for many years yet.
• Jupiter in Leo from June 30, 2026, moving into Virgo on July 26, 2027.

Shorter cycles run on top of that: Mercury retrograde about three times a year, Venus retrograde from October 3 to November 14, 2026, and Mars retrograde from January 10 to April 1, 2027 (dates in UTC). The astrology calendar lists every ingress, station and lunation with exact local times.

How transits are calculated

The calculation is straightforward astronomy. We compute today's planetary positions from NASA JPL's DE440 ephemeris, the same data we use for birth charts, and compare them with the positions in a natal chart. A transit is in effect when the angle between a moving planet and a natal point is close to one of the five major aspects: conjunction, sextile, square, trine or opposition.

Transits use much tighter orbs than birth charts, because they're about timing. In our personal transit reports, for example, Mars is counted within 1° of exact, Jupiter and Saturn within 2°, and Uranus, Neptune and Pluto within 1.5°. That gives each transit a clear start, peak and end date. When a planet goes retrograde, it can cross the same natal degree three times over several months, so a single Saturn or Pluto transit may have three exact hits. The full method is on our methodology page.

Fast and slow transits

• The Moon transits your whole chart every month. Its contacts last hours and are usually read as mood rather than theme.
• The Sun, Mercury and Venus move through the chart about once a year (Mercury and Venus stay close to the Sun). Their transits last a few days.
• Mars takes about two years to go round. Its transits last days to a couple of weeks and are associated with energy, drive and friction.
• Jupiter and Saturn take about twelve and twenty-nine years respectively. A Saturn transit can stay in orb for months; the "Saturn return" around age 29 is the best-known example.
• Uranus, Neptune and Pluto move so slowly that one transit can stretch over a year or more. Astrologers read them as long background processes.

Most astrologers focus on the slow planets, from Mars outwards, and on contacts to the Sun, Moon, Ascendant, Midheaven and the personal planets.

How to read a transit

A transit combines three things: the moving planet (what kind of process), the natal point it touches (which part of you), and the aspect (how they interact). Jupiter trine your Venus is traditionally read as an easy, generous period for relationships and pleasure. Saturn square your Moon is read as a time when emotional needs meet responsibility or limits. The house the transiting planet is crossing adds the area of life.

A few principles keep transit reading grounded:

• A transit describes a climate, not an event. Astrology doesn't predict what will happen; it offers a symbolic way to reflect on a period.
• The natal chart comes first. A transit can only activate what's already in the chart, so read the natal placement before the transit.
• Tense isn't bad. Squares and oppositions are often associated with effort and change, and many people look back on them as productive.
• Don't base important decisions on transits. Health, money, legal and relationship decisions deserve real information and, where needed, professional advice.

Our article astrological transits explained goes deeper, and retrograde planets explained covers why planets seem to move backwards.

Your personal transits

To see transits to your own chart, start with your free birth chart, which gives the natal positions everything else is measured against. From there:

• The personal transits report covers six months from the month you choose: transits of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto to your chart with exact dates, the houses they activate, and the new and full moons falling in your houses.
• The year ahead report looks at Jupiter and Saturn in your houses, key transits, eclipses and Mars quarter by quarter.
• Membership keeps your personal transits up to date and adds them to your astrology calendar.

Prices for each are on the reports page.