The Moon comes back to its natal degree roughly every 27.3 days. A chart cast for that moment is your lunar return, and it works like a solar return on a monthly clock: a short, practical picture of where your attention and moods will go until the next one.
The Astrolas Lunar Return tool finds the return in effect for any date you give it, casts the chart, compares it with your natal chart, and then goes a step further with a day by day calendar for the whole cycle. This guide covers each part of the page and a quick routine for reading it. The theory side lives in lunar return: the month ahead.
What the tool does
Give it your birth data and a target date. It finds the most recent lunar return on or before that date, which is the one whose month you are living in, and shows the exact return moment. Then it does four jobs:
- Draws the return chart and its internal aspects.
- Pulls out key indicators: the return Moon, the return Ascendant and its ruler, the return Sun, Chiron, houses 8 and 12, and the Lot of Fortune.
- Compares the return with your natal chart (LR ร NA).
- Scans every day of the cycle for hard hits from the transiting Moon, transiting Mars and the progressed Moon, and flags days where several things point at the same spot.
What you need before you start
- Birth date, time and place. The return Moon's degree depends on your natal Moon, which moves about half a degree an hour, so your birth time shifts the return moment noticeably. See why birth time matters.
- A target date. Today is the default.
Step by step: filling in the form
Open the Lunar Return tool and fill in:
- Name, any label.
- Day, Month, Year of birth.
- Hour / Minute of birth, or Unknown Time if you have none.
- City / Location, chosen from the suggestions.
- Target date, any day inside the month you want to read.
Press Run. The heading shows the lunar return moment in local time with its GMT offset, for example "Lunar Return ยท 15/09/2026 3:22 AM (GMT-5)". If your target date was the 29th, that is correct: the tool is showing the return that started before your date and is still running.
The result screen and the three tabs
Beside the wheel you get Previous LR and Next LR buttons, with the LR moment between them. These are the quickest way to step through the year month by month without touching the form. The wheel has the usual Display, Share and Export menus, and the bodies list includes the East Point along with Chiron, Lilith, the Nodes, Fortune, Vertex and the main asteroids.
LR analysis
This is the main reading. It holds the Aspect grid in LR chart and then Key Indicators, a set of cards that each answer one question:
- Moon LR, "Where will it happen?" Its house in the return chart and the natal house it overlays, with a short description of the emotional focus.
- ASC LR, "How you live this month." The return Ascendant's natal overlay, plus the ruler of the return Ascendant with its return house and natal house.
- Sun LR, "Focus of the month." Where the Sun sits in both charts.
- Chiron LR, "Type of wound."
- Houses 8 / 12, with their rulers and where those rulers land.
- Structure, any aspect configuration in the return (grand trine, kite, yod and so on).
- Fortune LR, the Lot of Fortune's house with a Fortune score and a breakdown of how that score was reached, using whole sign houses. Part of Fortune and the lots explains the idea.
Below the cards come Aspects of LR angles, which track potential event triggers, the ruler of the return Ascendant's hard aspects, East Point aspects with a visibility rating, and Message of the month: the tightest internal hard aspects in the return, 12' or less.
LR ร NA
A grid of aspects from the return chart to your natal chart, with Major, Minor and Parallel filters and orbs marked applying or separating. The page's own advice is to watch conjunctions, squares and oppositions, since these are often the signature of events during the month.
Daily Loop
A calendar and table covering the whole return window, usually 27 or 28 days, with a summary of how many hits it found. Each day is scanned for hard aspects from the transiting Moon, transiting Mars and the progressed Moon to natal and return points. A day is marked convergent (with a star and a count) when its hit lands on something already under pressure from the LR ร NA contacts or from background solar arc and transit aspects. The calendar also marks New, First Quarter, Full and Last Quarter Moons, eclipses, and void of course Moon periods. Click any day to see its full list of hits by time.
How to read the result
A ten minute routine that works:
- Moon LR card. Which natal house does the return Moon overlay? That is where your feelings will pull you this month.
- ASC LR card and its ruler. The overlay house describes your approach; the ruler's house shows where effort goes.
- Message of the month. Any exact hard aspect here is the tension of the month in one line.
- LR ร NA. Pick out conjunctions, squares and oppositions within about a degree, especially to your natal angles, Sun or Moon.
- Daily Loop. Find the days with the most convergent hits. Those are the days to keep flexible or to schedule carefully.
If you want the fuller picture for aspects and houses, aspects explained and the twelve houses explained cover the basics. Void of course periods in the calendar are explained in the void of course Moon.
Tips
- Use Previous LR to look back at a month you remember well. It is the fastest way to calibrate how lunar returns work for you.
- Read the monthly chart inside the yearly one. Your solar return sets the theme for the year, and the solar return page even lists every lunar return in that year.
- For a finer look at the New and Full Moons themselves, try the Lunation Analyzer.
- Save the chart link from the Charts panel's Copy URL option so you can come back mid month.
Questions people ask
Why does the chart show a date before the one I entered?
The tool shows the return in force on your target date, which started on the most recent return before it. Press Next LR to see the one that follows.
How long does a lunar return last?
About 27 days, until the Moon reaches your natal degree again. The Daily Loop window shows the exact span.
Does a low Fortune score mean a bad month?
No. It rates the material and physical conditions around the Lot of Fortune for that one cycle, and the card lists the warnings and the potential side by side. Treat it as one input next to the Moon, Ascendant and LR ร NA contacts, not a verdict.
Try it with this month
Enter today's date, read the Moon and Ascendant cards, and then flip to the Daily Loop to mark the busy days. The tool is at /tools/lunar-return.