7 Reasons to Obsess over Your Time-Lord Planet

What do you think your most important planet is? The Sun? Moon? Your chart ruler? Think again. The most important planet in your chart right now is your time lord. Your time lord is the planet that has co-rulership (with you, of course) over your life this year. As the name implies, your time lord sets the agenda for the year and determines how your days will flow.

The concept of time lords is extremely ancient (read: thousands and thousands of years). But it’s making a resurgence in contemporary astrology which is super exciting. The phrase time lord comes from the Greek chronocrator, which translates to time and ruler. Essentially, a time-lord planet has influence over a certain duration of your life—whether long or short (length depends on what time-lord identifying method you’re using).

During its “reign”, your time-lord planet becomes the most important planet in your chart and life. Think of it as a light switch that’s been flipped on. This planet is fully activated, empowered, and given the celestial go-ahead to do what it wants. All planets have a job in your life. They each have an agenda or wish list. But it doesn’t really get to act on its wish list until it’s activated as a time lord.

Here's the thing: not everything in your natal chart is active right now. And thank goodness for that—that would be too much to handle. Certain parts of your chart are turned on or off during certain points of life. When they’re turned on (by becoming a time lord), whatever events or circumstances they represent are more likely to come to pass.

For example, if the planet in your chart that represents relationships is activated as a time lord, it's more likely that whatever relationship events are foreshadowed by that planet, for better or for worse, come about during its time rulership.

By now, I bet you’re dying to know which planet is your time lord. The truth is, there are multiple time lords working together in your life right now, and there are a handful of ancient astrological techniques you can use to identify them. Spoiler alert: they’re complex.

I recommend starting with a simpler technique called Annual Profections. It’s the technique I wrote my entire second book about (Cosmic Year—coming in 2026), and I walk you through it in this webinar. By the end of the webinar, you’ll know who your planet of the year is (AKA your annual time lord) and what that means for your year ahead.

Okay, now that you know which planet is your time lord, your homework is to learn as much as you possibly can about that planet. Why? Well, here’s seven reasons to obsess over your time lord.

Your time lord teaches you more about your astrology chart than anything else.

Like I said earlier, your time lord activates certain pieces of your natal chart while the rest waits its turn in the background. When a part of your chart gets switched on, you get a masterclass in what it means. How? Your daily life. You’re now living and breathing that part of your chart. All you have to do is observe. For example, I always had a hunch that my chart ruler (Jupiter) in the third house had something to do with my life path involving writing. But it wasn’t until Jupiter was activated as time lord that my hunch was validated with the release of my first book and the contract for my second.

I also like to think of your time lord as a part of you, and when it’s activated you have an opportunity to get to know this part of yourself better. This part of you comes to the forefront and you get to make friends with it. You get to understand it, listen to it, and make decisions with it. This may or may not be comfortable in the moment. Your time lord may represent a part of you that you’ve put in a corner or ignored. For example, if your time lord is Mars, you may be getting to know a facet of yourself that’s uber direct, impatient or bold. Depending on the rest of your chart, this may be quite an adjustment.

Your time lord gives you a heads-up.

Yes, your natal chart tells you about your character and your personality. But from an ancient perspective, it's more like a map of your life’s potential and the events and things that will occur throughout it. As you know by now, whenever a part of your chart is activated, whatever it represents will bubble up to the surface. If you know what this part of your chart means, you essentially know what’s going to happen over the next year. Your time lord gives you a heads-up about the year’s major events.

Your time lord sets the agenda for the year ahead. It decides what’s going to happen, what you’ll be able to accomplish with ease, what’ll take more elbow grease, or what’ll be a flat-out no. You can fight against this, or you can see it as a major favor that your time lord is giving you a heads-up. If you let it, your time lord can tell you what to “pack” for the journey ahead. For example, if you know you’re going on a Mars journey this year, you’re going to pack Mars things like courage, energy and speed. A Mars suitcase will be filled with much different things than a Venus suitcase.

Your time lord can help you make peace with the past.

This is one of my favorite ways to use time lords, but probably the most overlooked. Time lords naturally organize your life into seasons or chapters, and each of these seasons has its own narrative and its own flavor. Once you understand time lords, they can help you make sense of past events by giving you cosmic context and perspective.

For example, once you discover a certain year was ruled by Saturn, the disappointing event that happened that year might start to make more sense. Now, of course, cosmic context doesn’t magically erase the pain of these events, but something about having an elevated perspective is soothing.

To get started with this, I suggest making a life timeline broken down by age. For example, write down all the major events that happened when you were twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and so on. Then, superimpose the annual time lords on top and begin to draw patterns. This activity definitely deserves its own blog post in the future.

Your time lord helps you manage your energy.

Your time lord determines what’s in flow this year and what’s a no. You can be stubborn like me and still try to make the no’s happen, but you risk wasting a lot of time, energy and money. If you want to learn from my stubborn mistakes, allow your time lord to reveal the path of least resistance.

If you know what’s in flow and what’s a no, you can be very strategic about how you spend your precious resources. Because you know what’s going to work out, you can pour your love and attention into those things and put the rest on the back burner for now. Time lords are sanity savers if you’re super busy or overwhelmed. They give you permission to just focus on what’s active right now and let the rest be. Remember, when you’re using time lords, everything has a season to thrive at some point.

Your time lord doesn’t just tell you what’s happening, but when it’s happening.

The fifth reason to obsess over your time lord is, obviously, timing. Your time lord doesn't just tell you what's happening, but when it’s happening. Your time lord is a real planet in the real sky making real moves right now. For example, it might station retrograde, or it might move into a new zodiac sign, or it might make a major aspect with another planet. And guess what? When your time lord makes a move, your life makes a move.

If you’re astro-savvy, this will allow you to plot the ebbs and flows of life this year. For example, I don’t typically care too much about Mercury retrograde. But! I knew that the most recent one was going to oppose my time lord. That told me that this retrograde might be a little trickier than usual, and wow did that check out.

On the other hand, if you know your time lord is about to do something fantastic, like make an aspect with Jupiter or Venus, or move into a sign of its rulership or exaltation—you can plan on cashing in on some good stuff.

Your time lord makes astrology less noisy.

The sixth reason to obsess over your time lord is simplification. Using time lords makes astrology way less noisy. Unpopular opinion: You can forget about any current astrology that doesn’t involve your time lord. You really just need to focus on your time lord to be fully informed about your life. You no longer have to wonder what astrological weather is important for you, or worry about that Mars transit. If it doesn’t involve your time lord, you can basically cross it off your list.

For example, if your time lord is Jupiter, all you really need to do is pay attention to Jupiter in the sky right now. Yes, you want to understand what Jupiter means in your birth chart, but you also want to know where real-time Jupiter is and what it’s up to. You want to know if Jupiter is “happy” or “sad” in the sky right now and what that might mean for you.

Your time lord is your number-one source for guidance.

I saved my favorite for last. Your time lord can become your go-to resource for insight on anything. You just have to ask. Your time lord isn't just some ball of gas in the sky. It’s a powerful force that you get to co-create with. You get to ask it for advice. And yes, it will answer you.

How? Through a practice I’ve been doing for years. I call it Planet Channeling, and it’s when you ask a planet to “speak” to you through your pen. It’s as easy as grabbing a piece of scrap paper, posing a question to your time lord at the top and free writing from there.

Start thinking of your time lord as a friend or ally that wants the best for you. Check in with it regularly and bring it your questions. Your time lord isn’t going to insert itself in your life without permission. But once you ask, it’s so eager to help.

Want to know who your time lord is? Watch this webinar to find out.