life cycles - saturn return and the midlife crisis

I recently read Gail Sheehy’s Passages, a classic book on the predictable crises of adult life; and without references to astrology, her understanding of the various phases a person undergoes in one’s lifetime echoes very well with cycles in my astrology studies. 

One relatively talked of astrology cycle is the Saturn return that occurs roughly between age 28-30.  A “return” basically means the time during which a planet returns to its original placement in one’s natal chart, and since Saturn takes 28-30 years to complete its orbit around the Sun, such is the time of the first Saturn return. 

Astrologically speaking, Saturn represents characteristics such as mastery, self-discipline, limitation and structure.  And depending on the placement of Saturn in one’s natal chart, during a Saturn return, we will be asked to face the themes represented by Saturn in different ways.  In Sheehy’s book, she talks about the “Catch-30” phase and she begins this chapter by saying:

“A restless vitality wells up as we approach 30.  Almost everyone wants to make some alteration.  If he has been dutifully performing in his corporate slot, he may suddenly feel too narrowed and restricted.  If he has been in a long period of training, such as medicine, he may wonder at this point if life is all work and no play.  If she has been at home with children, she itches to expand her horizons.  If she has been out pursuing a career, she feels a longing for emotional attachments…  The restrictions we feel on nearing 30 are the outgrowth of the choices of the twenties, choices that may have been perfectly appropriate to that stage.”

During my own first Saturn return, I was re-entering the corporate life after two and a half years off exploring other interests and travels, something I longed to do after college which I never got around to do; it was a time for me to re-assess my career and life goals. 

On a similar but different note, the half Saturn return (that’s when Saturn opposes natal Saturn), which occurs 14-15 years prior to the Saturn return is what is often known as the adolescent crisis.  As the planet Saturn is also associated with authority, we see a breaking away from authority or in other words, rebelliousness, as a hallmark during this phase for many teenagers!  Many begin to question who they want to be and to break away from whatever their parents have wanted them to be so far in life.

Sheehy’s book goes on to talk about yet another important life phase which she labels the “Deadline Decade” that occurs somewhere between 35 and 45 for most people.  Astrologically, this Deadline Decade coincides with two important and major astrological transits: Pluto square Pluto and the Uranus opposition to Uranus.  Pluto is the slowest moving planet and takes around 248 years to go around the Sun while Uranus takes 84 years to do the same.  For us to understand what midlife crisis often entails, it is helpful to understand what Uranus and Pluto symbolizes astrologically. 

Uranus is the planet of truth and authenticity, during an Uranus opposition which occurs in midlife, outer circumstances in life may manifest that shake us up in a way that invites us to leave old paradigms and live a life that is more representative of who we are deep down.  Similarly, some may experience an inner stirring of restlessness that kicks them into making changes more aligned with their deeper passions and callings.  Pluto, on the other hand, is the planet of shadow and transformation, the transit of Pluto square Pluto can bring pressure that forces us to make adjustments and changes in life on many levels.  Depression during this life phase is also not uncommon as we navigate thru the ups and downs that midlife brings.  

Sheehe delineates this phase as a time we first catch a glimpse of the “dark at the end of the tunnel”, she writes:

“The halfway mark.  No gong rings, of course.  But twinges begin.  Deep down a change begins to register in those gut-level perceptions of safety and danger, time and no time, aliveness and stagnation, self and others.  It starts with a vague feeling of…  I have reached some sort of meridian in my life.  I had better take a survey, reexamine where I have been, and reevaluate how I am going to spend my resources from now on.  Why am I doing all this?  What do I really believe in?  Underneath this vague feeling is the fact, as yet unacknowledged, that there is a downside to life, a back of the mountain, and that I have only so much time before the dark to find my own truth.”

But Uranus and Pluto aren’t here to kick our butts and keep us in the dark hole forever and ever, rather, they are unconscious forces or energies that seek to wake us up and keep us alive.  Pluto wants you to transform not for the sake of change itself, but for the sake of survival.   This energy wants you to get rid of whatever that doesn’t serve you so you can thrive.  Uranus is the same, it wants you to re-examine all the life structures you have built so far, uproot whatever that needs to be uprooted (if necessary), and pursue a life more true to yourself.  Midlife crisis is, afterall, not a crisis really, but an invitation into our second inning in life, a fuller more authentic way of living.