How Astrology Timing Changed the Way I Make Career Decisions

I started really doubting my HR career when I was around 27. Because of my stellium in Scorpio, I always had a keen awareness of my limited time on this earth, but it didn’t really matter that much to me until my Saturn return.

Saturn Return

Saturn returns to its original position in your birth chart approximately every 30 years. The time period known as a “Saturn return” frequently spans about 3 years leading up to its exact moment of return. Because Saturn is the planet most closely associated with our long-term legacy and career, its return to its original position in our birth chart usually calls into sharp awareness areas of our lives that are out of alignment with the legacy we are meant to lead.

During your Saturn return, you may find you purge quite a lot - Relationships, material goods, and even career paths - All things that you become aware are no longer meant for you. While often uncomfortable, Saturn returning ultimately helps us clear away things that are not serving the ultimate legacy we are meant to leave.

Jupiter Transits

You might be wondering, then - I’m not close to 30, 60, or 90. So why am I suddenly feeling the need for a career shift? You might be experiencing a Jupiter transit.

Jupiter is the planet of expansion, opportunity, and abundance. When Jupiter transits a significant point in your chart (your Midheaven, your 10th house, your Sun), it's not a guarantee that good things will happen. It's an invitation to say yes to things you'd normally talk yourself out of. In career terms, a Jupiter transit is often when the opportunity you've been quietly hoping for finally shows up — and the only question is whether you're paying attention enough to take it.

The catch is that Jupiter transits don't last forever. They move through a house or conjunction in roughly 12 months, and if you spend that window playing it safe, the energy moves on without you. If you've been waiting for the "right time" to ask for more money, pitch the bigger idea, or finally make the move, a Jupiter transit is often that window made visible.

Progressions

If transits are the weather, progressions are the climate. Your progressed chart evolves slowly over time, shifting one degree per year, and what it reflects isn't external events but internal evolution. The placement I pay most attention to in a career context is the Progressed New Moon, which occurs roughly every 29-30 years and marks the beginning of an entirely new life chapter. If you've ever gone through a period where everything you built suddenly felt like it belonged to a previous version of you — your interests shifted, your ambitions changed, your old goals felt hollow — there's a good chance a Progressed New Moon was either approaching or had just passed.

The Progressed New Moon is particularly useful for career timing because it tells you when you're genuinely in a beginning, not just wishing you were. Trying to force a major career move during the final degrees of a progressed lunar cycle — what astrologers call the Balsamic phase — is a bit like trying to plant seeds in the dead of winter. The energy is meant for releasing, not launching. I've seen clients burn enormous amounts of effort during this phase and wonder why nothing sticks. When we look at their progressed chart together, it usually tells a different story: not that they're failing, but that they're in a fallow season. The move they're trying to make? It's coming. Just not yet.

How to Find Your Transits

My favorite tool to use for charting is Astro.com. Go to “Horoscope Drawings & Data” → “Extended Chart Selection” to see current transits or progressions. Need help analyzing? Send me a message hello@meghanmurphy.coach.