The Weekly Nerd
May 3-9 2026
Welcome to The Weekly Nerd, the official newsletter of The Astrology Nerd. Thank you so much for subscribing.
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Transits of the Week
05/04 Mars square Jupiter 7:09 PM MST
Mars-Jupiter aspects bring together action and faith. Unfortunately for the square, there's an imbalance between the two energies. You may have the drive but not the faith or the faith but not the drive.
05/04 Mercury square Pluto 3:06 PM MST
Transits from Mercury to Pluto can lead to some obsessive thoughts. With the square, you may waffle back and forth between Mercury's more light-hearted thinking and Pluto's dark and obsessive thoughts. Maybe you're trying to keep the obsessive thoughts at bay, but the keeping sneaking back into your consciousness.
Please keep in mind that these are the general transits of the day, applicable to the collective but not necessarily to you as an individual. If any of these are activating planets in your own chart then they will be more relevant to you specifically.
Weekly Article: What's My Future? How Astrologers Make Predictions
Why do people go to astrologers? They want to know what the future holds in store for them, of course. This is, after all, what astrology is known for, making predictions. Some scoff at the ability of astrologers to do this. Others are true believers. And still others are skeptical but open-minded.
But how does this work exactly? How does an astrologer look at a page or computer screen with a lot of funny looking symbols and be able to predict the future with that? And how much and how accurate can an astrologer's predictions really be?
It is beyond the scope of a weekly newsletter to do a deep dive into all the techniques astrologers use to make predictions, so I will be focusing more on a general explanation of this topic.
As I mentioned in the article in last week's newsletter, an astrologer's "forecast" of your future is more akin to a weather forecast than what you would see of crystal-ball-peering psychics in the movies and TV. No matter how good the astrologer is, you're never going to hear something like, "Next Tuesday at exactly 7:34 AM, you'll go into your local Starbucks and order your usual cafe americano and while you're waiting for your drink, you'll strike up a conversation with a cute barista named Shannon who likes the same kind of music you do and you'll ask her to join you at a concert you plan to attend the following week." That's not going to happen.
What you're more likely to hear would be something like, "There's a possibility of a new relationship starting at this time. Are you single? You'll probably meet this person in your neighborhood, possibly doing something really mundane, like grocery shopping, going to the post office, or ordering a coffee at your favorite cafe if you do that sort of thing."
Unless you're friends with the astrologer, they don't know you and what your life circumstances are. They can look at your chart and see what the planets are suggesting, but then they have to ask you questions about your life to try to decide where it all fits in. Whatever transit or progression the astrologer is looking at, there are multiple possible interpretations.
The meeting-someone-at-a-coffee-shop thing, for example, would probably come from the astrologer seeing something suggesting a new relationship related to the person's third house. The third house is the house of one's neighborhood or familiar everyday environment. The line of questioning two paragraphs above would be an attempt by the astrologer to see if the client regularly went to any specific places in their neighborhood where meeting someone new might take place.
Transits
Transits are the easiest and most-used technique for making predictions in astrology. It involves comparing the location of planets in the sky at the time of the prediction to where they were in a client's birth chart.
At its core, astrology is all about cycles. The Earth moves round the Sun once every year. From our viewpoint here on Earth, it appears as though the Sun is moving around the earth. Throughout the year, the Sun makes its way through all the signs and, in turn, all the way around our charts. This cycle is regular and predictable, which is why astrologers can say where the Sun will be on any given day. As I type this, it's in Taurus and so people born during this time of year are having their birthdays.
Other cycles, though, are less regular, though no less predictable. Mercury moves around the Sun and around our charts every 88 days. He goes retrograde about three times a year and so Mercury won't be in the same spot at the same time of the year as with the Sun. One needs an ephemeris or an astrology app to find out where Mercury is on any given day.
The cycles of each of the planets move at different rates, but all follow the same cycle. Just as with the Sun, Mercury will travel through all twelve houses of your horoscope and form various aspects to all the natal planets. It just does so faster than the Sun.
Mars-Pluto do the same thing, but at slower rates than the Sun. Jupiter, for example, takes about 12 years to go around the Sun and thus around one's chart.
As it does so, it moves through each house and makes contacts with each natal planet. There's a cycle with respect to the natal Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, and so on and so forth. That cycle moves though conjunction, sextile, square, trine, opposition and back through each aspect until the next conjunction. Then the cycle starts all over again. This is really what astrology is all about: cycles.
If Mars, for example, is making an opposition to your natal Sun, then that means it's halfway through the Mars-Sun cycle. When Mars was conjunct the natal Sun, new projects were started. At the sextile, things were proceeding smoothly. At the square was the first challenge. Something goes wrpong. Adjustments have to be made.
At the trine, everything is moving along swimmingly. There is no resistance to what you want to do. At the opposition, the second big test of what was started at the conjunction takes place. Your actions may have caused people to oppose you. You might have to contend with people in power or people who do not support what you're doing. The opposition is an aspect of relationship and so it usually works out through other people.
From there, it then goes to the next trine, then another square, then another sextile, until finally it forms another conjunction. This then begins a brand new cycle. And this happens with every transiting planet with respect to every natal planet in your chart. Cycles upon cycles, repeating in perpetuity. This is why astrologers have such a big job to do. That's a lot to keep track of.
Progressions
Progressions are transits that are symbolic instead of literal. A transit represents one day for one day of life. It's a 1:1 ratio. Progressions, on the other hand, are one day for one year. If, for example, you are born with the Sun at 24° of Aries, then by progression, it moves to 25° at your first birthday. That might not sound important, but over the years progressed planets will form new aspects to natal planets.
Sometimes they will even "close" a natal aspect. Let's say that you have Mars at 29° of Libra. An astrologer would then say you have the Sun square Mars. But it's not exact. It's off by 4°. But, at approximately age four, the Sun will have progressed, one day for a year, to 29° of Aries, thus making that square now exact. That's called "closing an aspect."
At around age four then, we could say that there will be some form of challenge (Mars)to the identity (Sun). Mars can indicate an accident or illness, or something that is thrust upon the child by outside forces. Looking at the sign placements of the two planets, which houses they are in and which houses they rule, will give further clues as to what might happen.
The Sun in the fourth house, for instance, could indicate a need to move at that time. Some sort of upheaval like a fire (Mars in Aries) or divorce (if Mars is in or ruling the 7th house or opposing the ascendant) could occur at the time. No doubt this would have a profound effect on the child. If the Sun is in the fourth, it could affect their sense of having a real home or their ability to put down roots as an adult.
Solar Arc Directions
The same as progressions except that the movement of all the planets is tied to the movement of the Sun. The problem with progressions is that Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are essentially useless because they move so slowly. Those planets may move a few degrees throughout one's entire life, especially if they are also retrograde.
Solar arc directions solves this by making the movements of all the planets the same as the movement of the Sun, approximately 1° per day, which of course, equals to 1° per year. This means that Pluto is just as important as the Moon.
Solar arc directions are often used to "rectify" charts, that is to try to adjust an inaccurate birth time. Astrologers do this by looking at when solar arc planets conjunct one of the angles of the chart (the ascendant, descendant, midheaven, or nadir). For example, Neptune hitting the ascendant can mean an illness, a lonely or quiet time, or maybe the person taking up photography as a hobby, among many other possibilities.
Other Considerations
These are the three most common techniques astrologers use to make predictions, but there are many others. Some like to use new and full moons as well as eclipses. Others make use of converse directions, that is, directions that go backward in time to before the birth. Asteroids and other celestial bodies like Chiron are sometimes favored for making predictions. Others use a technique called "profection" that deals with different planetary influences for different ages. Then there are the "return" charts, like solar and lunar returns. Solar returns, in particular are quite popular. I really like to use something called the "diurnal" or daily chart. I find it great for day-to-day predictions. I also use it to try to pin down the exact day that a long-term transit, progression, or solar arc will manifest.
As you can see, astrology is quite complex and requires a skilled astrologer to make sense of it all. Now, at least, you have some basic idea as to how we do this. It's not magic. It's not psychic powers (though some astrologers have that gift as well), and it's not making blind guesses in the dark. Yes, there is a lot of guessing going on, but it's educated guessing, based on where the chart is leading the astrologer.
The natal chart always reigns supreme, and so the competent astrologer lets the chart point us in the right direction as far as interpretation goes. That and listening to the client and what's going on in their life at the time of the reading are the best ways to give the most accurate interpretations.
Shea (The Astrology Nerd)
Celebrity Birthdays
May 3rd - Christina Hendricks (51)
Known for her role as Joan Holloway on Mad Men
May 4th - Lance Bass (46)
Known as a member of 90s boy band, NSYNC
May 5th - Adele (38)
British singer-songwriter who has become a global phenomenon
May 6th - George Clooney (65)
Best known for his role on long-running TV show ER
May 7th - Alexander Ludwig (34)
An actor best known for his role as Bj0rn on the TV show Vikings
May 8th - Melissa Gilbert (62)
Actor best known for her role as Laura Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie
May 9th - Rosario Dawson (47)
Played Ahsoka Tano on both The Mandalorian and Ashoka TV shows
Recommended Astrology Book of the Week
Planets in Transit: Life Cycles for Living - Robert Hand
This is the definitive book on transits. Hand gives interpretations for all transits from the Moon to Pluto to all natal planets from the Moon to Pluto, and even the ascendant and midheaven. This is "cookbook" astrology that doesn't, of course, take into account your own chart, however, it is a great way to learn about the transits and how they work.
And that’s the end of The Weekly Nerd for this week. I hope you enjoyed it. Watch your inbox next Sunday for another one.
Have a wonderful week! And if no one has told you yet today, you are important and the world needs you.
Bye for now.
Shea (The Astrology Nerd)
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This publication may be shared but not sold or altered in any way. Written by Shea Ballard. Photos from Canva or Pixabay.
