Which return is correct?

[norain]

I have done my Lunar Return with Sirius (Kepler is subset) and also on Astrodienst. I get two very different charts.
Astrodienst shows the return on Oct 6, while Sirius shows it as Oct 4. Looking at my ephemeris I get Oct 4, so I'm assuming Astrodienst is doing something strange with the info I give it.
This is the first time I've found any difference whatsoever between the programs.
My natal chart is identical in both programs.
I wonder how I can find out which is correct?
I've always thought Astrodienst was flawless.

The point of calculating this return chart is that 3 days before the return I already feel extreme emotional restlessness from it. The full-moon will be conjunct my Aries moon, trine Sun conjunct Eros in Sag conj Asc. Then, there is Eros conjunct Neptune conjunct Chiron, conjunct Jupiter opposite natal Jupiter in Leo in the 8th. This is all 8th house in the return chart too. Looks like some transformations happening...again.
Life is a wild ride this year!
-Del

[Aphrodite]

That's easy enough. The chart on the 6th can't be correct because the Moon is already into Taurus by then.

That is strange though. I can't think of what setting might be wrong to get the bogus return.

[norain]

Yes, I must have done something incorrectly on Astrodienst. I'll revisit that site later and see if I can discover the problem. Thanks for affirming that the 6th can't be right.
-Del

[Kim Falconer]

Hi Norain,

The sun can return to the position of birth the day before, of or after the actual 'birth date'. The point being, the sun returns to the exact position to the minute of birth. If your sun, for example, is 10 Libra 49:02 then the return that puts the sun at 10:49:02 is the correct return, regardless of the date.

Even if you put in a different location for the return you will still have the sun exact to the birth degree (but the houses and angles will change).

Does that make sense? Let us know how you go!

Kim

[Aphrodite]

Good point Kim. Except he's trying to get the correct lunar return for his natal Aries Moon.

Something barfed up in Astrodienst, which is quite puzzling. Beyond the norm for a mere Mercury retrograde. Sky patterns (Mercury/Saturn/Uranus/Neptune) have not been kind to computers or their users lately. I've been noticing this all month. So this is probably just an unexplained glitch.

[norain]

Just a glitch in Astrodienst I guess. I'm going to use the one I did with Sirius, looks correct to me.
Thanks
-Del

[Kim Falconer]

Yiks...LUNAR return!

Same applies though--always go with the chart that gives the exact natal planetary degree in the return.

Astrodienst has an automatically set location for the return which can be changed but if you forget what it's set for, it just does it anyway. Is that the case with Sirius? I would look to see if the charts were calculated for different cities.

[norain]

Yes, Kim. Thanks. I set Sirius to my current location. I bet I did not change it on Astrodienst, thats probably why I had the error with that chart! It may have been set to Germany or something.

Looking at this return chart I see about what I'd expect. 8th house Aqu busy with Chiron there to heal things, Pluto in 6th. 3rd house jammed with planets. I think this is right.
Looks like I'm gonna be busy putting my new career together.
Now I'll pretend I have water or earth in my chart, and try to read the water sign stuff in here ;D
My stepdaughter's birthday Wednesday, so get to do a solar return too.
-Del