What Do Three Planetary Returns in One Year Mean? Which is the True Return?

by Robert Wilkinson An interesting thing about Astrological cycles is that while most of us only get one Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter return per year when these come back to conjunct our natal planets, many people get as many as THREE planetary returns in a year! For example, this year Jupiter entered Cancer in mid-June, goes forward to 26 Cancer, and then retrogrades back to 16 Cancer, where it goes stationary direct in March 2026. It them moves forward through its shadow zone of 16 to 26 Cancer before it move into Leo in early July. That means it traverses 17 to 25 Cancer three times; the first time between mid-August and late October 2025, the second time between late November and mid-February 2026, and the third time from early April through early June. (16 and 26 are only transited twice; once at the station and once when direct in motion.) I had three Jupiter returns in 2010 when Jupiter transited my natal Jupiter three times between May and December 2010. This can happen with any planetary return except the Sun, Moon, Neptune and Pluto. We have only 1 Solar return and 13 or 14 Lunar returns in a year, and don’t live long enough to have a Neptune or Pluto return. And if we live long enough, we could have multiple Uranus returns depending on where our Uranus is located. Uranus will exactly conjunct my Uranus at 6 Cancer for the first time between late August and late September 2033 when direct. It will retrograde back across my Uranus between late October and late November 2033. And it will conjunct it a third time in June 2034. Going back to the period of October 2024 through April 2025, people with Mars between 18 Cancer and 6 Leo had three Mars returns. Earlier this year, people with a Venus between 26 Pisces and 10 Aries had three Venus returns. People with Mercury between 28 Pisces and 9 Aries had three Mercury returns. Each of these gave us an initial return, a retrograde return, and a return after the retrograde. As I offered you last October in the article The Jupiter Return – New Truths, New Views, New Freedom, and A New Life Adventure, the inner planets generally have one return a year (with Mercury having the most triple returns when in its shadow zone), Mars has a return to its natal position once every two years, Jupiter has a return every 11 to 12 years, and Saturn has its return every 28-29 years. We only get multiple returns when our planet occupies the shadow zone of a transiting planet. Every planetary return indicates a point when an old cycle related to that natal energy ends and a new cycle begins. The timing of the return is fairly exact when it comes to the inner planets, but in the case of Jupiter or Saturn, the return can span several minutes or more, depending on how fast or slow its going. For example, when Jupiter goes stationary retrograde at 26 Cancer this November, it’ll occupy that degree for the first three weeks of the month! As an aside, I’ve found that our planetary returns kick into motion in a general way the day the planet enters the same sign as our natal planet. Even though my Saturn is at 29 Virgo, I began experiencing my Saturn return in early September 2007 when it first entered Virgo, even though Saturn didn’t exactly conjunct my Saturn until October 2009. And yes, I had three exact Saturn returns at that time; once in October 2009, another when retrograde in late April and early May 2010, and the third in the last half of June and early July 2010. When it comes to the exact degree, minute, and second, I’ve found the return is for the entire time it’s on that degree. The software will calculate an exact time, but the influence certainly is in play the entire time the transiting planet is on the same degree as our natal planet. So what happens when we have three Jupiter returns in a year, as many thousands do? The Jupiter return is an important time marking the end of an old Jupiter expression. It can be the end of a long term quest and the beginning of a new one, or the end of an old truth or future and the beginning of new truths and a new future. I once heard long ago that the Vedas state it’s a time when the magic of one's life can renew itself for 12 years. It is a time of Jupiterian endings and beginnings, when the Great Merciful Protector who opens new futures blesses us with a new quest. If we have three Jupiter returns in a given time period, I see the first time the planet returns to its natal position is the initial re-set for that cycle. That point closes the old planetary cycle and begins a new one. A chart done for that moment is important to determine the qualities of the coming return period. But if after the first return a planet goes SRX and makes another return to its natal position while RX, we are given a new look from a different angle on what the new cycle will be about along with a review of the past. So we see the future patterns at the first return, and then an entirely new look at the completed cycle when retrograde. I would think the retrograde return chart gives us a different take on how the past has led to the present showing us the future. The third and final return allows us to “set sail” into the next Jupiter period, with the third chart showing us more about the coming cycle. As I wrote a while back, if a planet makes three returns, the third is additional to the first, similar and yet different, since the third return has the benefit of the insights of the second RX return. It is also possible that all three charts operate equally during the next cycle, since each brings its unique patterns to the general principle of the planetary return. For example, the position of Mercury, Venus, and Mars will be radically different between the first, second, and third Jupiter return. However, it can also work a different way. The first return can seem like the apparent beginning of the cycle, which must be reconsidered during the RX return through the third return. The first return could indicate a “false start,” or a start which requires review, reflection, and reconsideration before the actual cycle begins at the third return. So all three charts are in play, with one a promise which gets revised before it can be launched. Using Mars as an example, I know someone with Mars at 5 Leo. When Mars conjuncted her Mars in November 2024 it ended an old Mars cycle and began a new one. But because Mars went retrograde at 7 Leo, it retrograded back over her Mars in late December, and after it went direct in February, it made its third Mars return in late April. Each Mars return brings new lessons in how we express our Mars. Mars is the planet of action and initiative. I would think that the first return brings the promise of the next 2 years, but when retrograde, this person had to confront that something needed to be re-done, reverse engineered, or something else needed to develop before the new cycle at the third return could begin. I’ve offered the analogy in the past that the first return is the dress rehearsal, the retrograde return is where the play is tweaked to give a different approach or perspective, and the third return is where the process moves forward with confidence in whatever was set during the first return. I believe multiple planetary returns over a short period is less about which one is correct and more about seeing how the three charts all paint a comprehensive picture of how the past is feeding the future in that planet’s “department of labor.” So take a new look at past planetary returns to see if you’ve had one or more planets with multiple returns, and how those three charts all worked together to create the next planetary cycle of expression. © Copyright 2025 Robert Wilkinson

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