Ephemerides calculation
During your involvement into astrology an ephemeris will be an indispensable thing for you. Lots of astrological students willingly buy ones. Every once in a while you would want to check the position of the planets in a certain period. Ephemerides are often calculated for quite long periods like centuries, but there are smaller ones available as well. Nowadays they are presented as in written so in digital forms. It is up to you which one to choose. Commonly believed to be the best are the ephemerides for Greenwich Mean Time, however, people actively use Pacific Time ones. No matter which one is of your choice it should correlate with your time zone. You can start with any, try whether you need larger compilation or not. Keep in mind that with your progress in astrology you would probably want to check some past events and see how the planets influenced them. Likewise, you may want to prepare yourself for the upcoming events and use ephemeris for this. Anyway it is a needed resource for studying astrology.
In any situation, as soon as you see the relevant positions of the celestial bodies, you will begin to see different events in your life through astrological prism that shows the dominance of signs and symbols and their subtle intrusion in our routine. With this knowledge you are ready to reconsider the way you observe the world, your self-treatment and tactics with others. Such a basic thing as birth chart opens infinite possibilities for cultivation of your inner wisdom and creating new, better version of yourself.
So, take your chart and draw the transiting planets and see their position. Check if some of them are angular like the, the Ascendant, Descendant, IC and Midheaven. What houses do the transiting planets belong to? Are there any aspects with other planets or crossing with other planets? It is better to start with the slowest trio of planets like Pluto, Neptune and Uranus to see if any of those are close to your chart. Then look are they in proximity to your chart and are going to cross it soon or have they already crossed some vital points in your chart. These planets are the starting ones for transitions analysis because they are comparatively slow and their position regarding any planet of our chart shows the general mood and theme of a certain period (usually three or more years). The next step is to look at the house position of any natal planets that are influenced by direct or indirect aspects. Step by step, understanding different meaning of the transiting planets and the influenced areas in the chart like natal planet and aspects, angles, position of the house, you will get more and more experienced and will see how this or that change influences the chart overall and how it results in your life by the period of this transit.
Introduction to Transits
Speaking about transits, we will face cycles of movements of the planets one more time, however, it will be way closer and more thorough. Transits in astrology refer to the positions of the planets regarding zodiacal belt by the particular needed moment.
Cycles
Astrology is a study that researches the motion of the planets and celestial objects around our solar system. Space and planets can give us expanded perspective of our lives and show interrelation with our roots.