Timing and cycles
Second Pass
Direct answer
Second Pass is the middle exact contact when retrograde motion repeats a transit.
At a glance
- Found in
- Transits & Cycles
- Related
- Birth Chart, Zodiac, Transit
Second Pass means the middle exact contact when retrograde motion repeats a transit.
The orbit map distinguishes physical bodies, calculated points, and symbolic cycles where possible.
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Where readings of Second Pass go wrong
A common error is to make second-pass language sound like failure.
A one-minute story
The Wandering Stars
How the moving planets were watched, named and found, and what a transit is.

Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Transits & Cycles
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
Track your timing
Second Pass in a book is one thing; Second Pass in your own birth chart is your life. The Oracle casts your real chart and tells you what it means for your love, your work, and your year ahead, in conversation, free.
Speak with the OracleThe Cosmic Codex reads a whole year of transits against your own chart, Second Pass included where it touches your love, your work, your timing. Open the Cosmic Codex
Related terms
More in Transits & Cycles
- Third Pass
- Uranus Retrograde
- Blood Moon
- Exact Transit
- Last Quarter Moon
- Mercury Cycle
- Planetary Cycle Phase
- Progressed Lunation
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Common questions
What is Second Pass?
Second Pass is the middle exact contact when retrograde motion repeats a transit.
What do people get wrong about Second Pass?
A common error is to make second-pass language sound like failure.

