How to read your converse progressions in astrology

So as I mentioned in my last post, I'm reading Predictive Astrology by Christine Shaw. (You can find the book here on Amazon, but I got mine here through Thriftbooks. Not to worry, none of these are affiliate links :) ) There's a wealth of information in the book - but unfortunately the woman is a ghost, and I find it hard to reach out to her. I even reached out to the FAA (Federation of Australian Astrologers) to see if they had heard of her or if she was a member. She's not, but we'll see if anything else comes from it :) Thank you so much for checking.

The book is basically all progressions. And while I'm already familiar with them, she explains things in a way that is easy to understand and very clear. She also covers techniques I'd never heard of, such as converse progressions. So while regular progressions represent a day after birth for each year of life (for example, 34 years of age would be calculated by going 34 days after your birthday in an ephemeris), converse progressions are a day before your birthday for every year of life. To my knowledge, you'd read a converse progressed chart much like how you'd read a progressed chart - alone and then overlapping the natal with a biwheel.

And since I am my own best guinea pig, I though I'd put them to the test. If you're looking to calculate your own converse progressions, you can calculate them on most astrology softwares. You can also calculate them for free on Astro-Seek here. Just go from Angles & Direction and press Converse Prog. (Backward Direction, ARMC 1 Naibod).

So, here is my regularly progressed chart:

And here is my converse progressed chart:

One thing I noticed was the importance of the chart ruler (both natal chart ruler and converse progressed chart ruler) in my converse chart. My regularly progressed chart has not changed Ascendant signs yet (though that should be sometime this year / the next), though my converse progressed chart has long had Libra as the rising sign. This is important for transit work, which I'll explain in a minute.

I mentioned in my last post that this most recent Venus retrograde in Leo was an absolute doozy for me. Like, changed my perspective on love, rocked my world, type of event. Venus happens to be my converse chart ruler, and also happens to be in retrograde. Now, this is interesting for a few reasons. (Not to give you all the hot gossip about my life, but it will make more sense as we dive into the importance of the chart ruler.) In December of 2019, I made the decision to be conciously single. I wasn't ready to date, knew that, and decided to just take time to be me. That month was when Venus turned retrograde in my converse progressed chart.

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So I thought, huh, I'll go back through my transits and when Venus has been retrograde within the last four years. It's been retrograde three times - once in Gemini in 2020 (May through June), once in Capricorn in 2021-2022 (late December to late January), and most recently in Leo in 2023 (July through September). The Gemini retrograde I clearly remember focusing on myself. The pandemic had just hit, and it was a time of self reflection and growth. I was able to focus a lot on therapy. (note: Gemini is my 8th house sign.) So this one wasn't a biggie as far as the rest of them go - but still worth noting.

The Capricorn retrograde was when I started this astrology blog, started writing interpretation reports, and had my first paid reading. I started the business officially in the retrograde shadow period, so just two days after the official end of Venus retrograde. Something important to note is that this is the sign of my natal Venus, so I had three Venus returns that year (yeah, three). Capricorn is my 3rd house sign.