Making a Midlife Transition

I recently read that Al Gore describes himself as a "recovering politician."  After a political career that spanned 24 years, Al Gore has remade himself as a spokesperson for the importance of addressing climate change issues, as evidenced in the movie An Inconvenient Truth.  He's put politics behind him (he says) and devoted himself to something that's always been a part of his makeup--love of the earth.  At the age of 58, Al Gore is a prime public example of a significant midlife transition. 

Astrologically, this makes perfect sense to me.  When I look at people's charts, I don't just see "mid-life crises," I also see "midlife transitions," positive changes that allow parts of our potential to unfold. The chances are good that your chart portends a midlife transition or two, as well. 

Very often what I see in an individual's chart is that specific elements of purpose come into play, or are scheduled for fruition, at certain times. Often those times are in what is now called frequently called mid-life.  The ages between 40 and 65 are often times when major portions of a chart's potential are finally developed. 

In our culture, it often seems to me that we don't look at it that way.  The truth is, no one can do everything at once.  An astrological chart knows this, but often American individuals don't seem to.  It's as though we're encouraged to cram everything into young adulthood--a career, raising a family, participating in the community, surfing the Internet, keeping up with the Joneses, and being a good son or daughter to our parents.  After racing around madly trying to keep up with the demands for 20 or 30 years, we are then expected to plop down and retire to a life of travel, retirement communities, and prescription medications. 

I don't think life is really supposed to work this way. It's more seasonal.  The aging process brings opportunities for different parts our personalities to flower, for us to develop new interests and activities and to "find ourselves," like Mr. Gore, in new expressions of our core concerns.  In Mr. Gore's case, his Venus in Taurus in the 11th house makes him a ideally suited to being a popular spokesperson for global issues concerning the environment.  He always had this potential, but his chart had other fish to fry during other periods of his life. It would have fruitless for Mr. Gore to undertake this endeavor 25 years ago, because nobody would have listened.  In order for Gore to fulfill the potential represented in his placement, he had to wait until conditions were right. 

So it is with the rest of us.  I have a client who has enrolled in cooking school in midlife, quitting her job of seven years. She always had this potential in her chart; her chart however, was not ready for her to take this step until she had completed other important tasks in her life. 

The fact that life is developmental in its essence rather than static is one of my beefs with computerized astrology that purports to tell you your personality based on your birth chart.  These reports are written as though you are intended to have a single personality throughout your life. You aren't really.

Your personality will grow and flower and develop and alter and morph through time.  You may go from a hard-charging career woman to stay-at-home earth mother.  Or vice versa. You may go from unhappily married to very happily re-married.  You may go from socially isolated to socially connected.  You may go from employee to entrepreneur.  From health to unhealthy and back again.  You may go through a large number of substantial transitions in your life, and with each one different aspects of your birth chart will unfold. 

The truth is, people do change, and often radically over the course of their lives.  One astrologer called this "unaccountable changes in interests."  To me, they're not unaccountable at all.  They're living proof that we don't express everything in our charts at one time, in some rigid expression of our "full potential," but engage in an ongoing dialogue with the universe, ourselves, our circumstances, and the people in our lives. 

I recall an astrologer who consulted with a man who had been a physician and medical researcher for many years, who then retired. She described him in his retirement years as a nice man but "unaccountably" angry with the medical establishment he'd been a part of for so long. He seemed to delight in spending his post-working years as a gadfly, a thorn in the side of the same institutions he'd once labored for.  She seemed to feel this turn of events was a failure of sorts, a failure to "integrate" his placements smoothly and harmoniously. 

Curious, I took a look at his chart. I didn't see this "transition," as a failure at all. It was a liberation.  The man had diplomatic and conciliatory elements in his chart that enabled him to work smoothly in institutions, as well as abrasive and irritated ones that didn't want to.  After retirement, this man was finally able to liberate one of the less diplomatic elements of his chart, an angry Aries Moon in the 12th house (always wanting to stick up for the underdog) to speak his mind about the problems in the medical industry.  He'd always kind of wanted to be a gadfly, but his chart wouldn't let him while he was doing the important work of medical research that required him to get along with the established system. In fact, our angry physician was having a ball finally getting to use a natal placement he'd had to keep under wraps his whole life. 

Of course, seeing it that way is a matter of perspective. I see success where someone else sees failure.  I might see it that way because when I look at my own chart, I see myself scheduled for at least one or two more major transitions in mid-life, and I'm determined to welcome them and the "unaccountable changes of interest" they'll bring as positive chances to express more of some of my own underdeveloped placements--as chances to get to do some of the things I've always wanted to do whether anyone likes it or not!

If you want to know something about the likely character of your own "transitions", take a look at the last two or three planets in your chart.  These planets are often the ones hardest for us to express early in life (particularly if they're in the 12th house).  Got an angry moon as your last planet?  Get ready to allow yourself to let loose with it in midlife. Got a late Venus?  Maybe like Al Gore, you'll find your own form of popularity and purpose or develop your artistic talent or fall in love.  Got a late Saturn? Maybe you'll start your own business as a midlife transition.  The possibilities may not be endless, but they are definitely there. 

Whenever I get down in the dumps about my current life (it does happen), I pull out my chart and look at those last few planets and I fantasize about the midlife transitions to come and how I'll finally get to let those planets out to really play.  It never hurts to have something to look forward to--and I encourage you to explore your own chart and the potentials you have yet to reach.