To understand leap year, it’s best to start by knowing how it came about. Humanity built calendars and clocks to represent the movement of the sun and moon against the backdrop of the stars that appear to be “fixed” in the sky. This was necessary for life itself as our hunter-gatherer ancestors prepared for regular animal migrations, then planting and harvesting when agriculture was developed, fresh water availability and more that was dependent on seasonal/annual events in nature.
Our ancestors watched and recorded the movement of the sun’s journey through the changes of seasons and the related lengths of days while they also observed the monthly phases of the moon, and its locations throughout the year. Since these very early times, the challenge was to integrate the timing of the sun and the moon, and this hasn’t been easy.
Various cultures have addressed the problem in various ways, and our method was to add a day every four years to our calendars to match the sun/moon seasons. Our Nile River ancestors added five god/goddess celebration days at the end of the 360 day twelve-moon cycle to make a sun-moon year, sounding a lot more fun than a Leap Year!
So how do astrologers deal with a leap year in a client’s chart? Many astrologers set birthday charts for their clients each year, known as a Solar Return. So what do they do for a person born on February 29? Actually, it’s simple. Your annual solar return is the time at which the sun is in the exact degree as it was at the time when you were born. It can, and often does, fall on a day adjacent to your calendar birthday, rather than the date on your birth certificate.
Everybody gets an annual solar return, so everybody gets an astrology birthday each year! The Solar Return is read as a forecasting model for your entire up-coming year. Astrologers can even help you find a location to celebrate your solar return that will give you the most beneficial chart for the up-coming year. Even someone born on February 29 can take a birthday trip each year to a fun location to give their next year’s astrological outlook a boost.
So a leap year is essentially a year when we play catch up to see that all is right between our calendars and our seasons. An idea to make a leap year special might be to have a group celebration on February 29 to catch up with our friends and make sure that we are all in sync with each other. Shall we start a great tradition each February 29 and celebrate being in harmony with each other like the Egyptians celebrated their gods/goddesses to be in harmony with them? Or maybe do something a bit more quiet and just go back to Nature, allowing Mother Earth to embrace us and welcome us back to her as her beloved children?
Whatever we choose, there are millions of options to help us feel whole and safe.
Brightest blessings
Ana
