Astrological progressions are a predictive technique where each day after your birth represents one year of life. Secondary progressions (the most common form) move your natal chart forward symbolically — your progressed Sun, Moon, and inner planets shift signs over time, marking developmental phases. While transits describe what current planetary movements activate in your chart, progressions describe how you yourself are evolving from within.
If you were born on January 1st, 2000, your progressed chart at age 30 (the year 2030) is calculated using the planetary positions on January 31st, 2000 — exactly 30 days after birth. This 'day-for-a-year' method has been used in astrology for centuries. The progressed Moon is especially important — it moves through each sign for about 2.5 years, marking emotional life chapters that often correlate with major personal phases.
Your progressed Sun changes signs roughly every 30 years, marking the most significant identity shifts of a lifetime — moments when you become 'a different person' to yourself. Your progressed Moon describes your current emotional climate, often correlating with life chapters: relationship phases, career transitions, periods of inward turning, periods of expansion.
Progressions describe inner evolution while transits describe outer events.
A complete astrological reading uses both transits (what's happening to you from outside) and progressions (what's happening within you). Major life events often correlate with the alignment of both — a Saturn transit hitting a progressed Moon, for example, often marks a structural emotional reorganization. Reading them together gives the full picture of timing.