*
Chapter Two: The Age Factor
In the humanistic approach, events are important only in the context of the
meaning given to them by an individual. This context of meaning is directly related to
and dependent on the age of that individual at the time of the event - for age
is the “container” in which life’s experiences are being held. The exact same
event occurring at different times in a life would have a totally different
meaning. Take, for example, the experience of accidentally being locked in a
bathroom. Such an experience might well be deeply traumatic for a 2-year-old,
while an adult would probably find it either amusing or annoying.
Although most astrologers realize, at least in theory, that progressions and
transits must be considered in relation to the age of the client, in the actual
interpretation of a birth-chart they often ignore age and read the chart the way
they were taught i.e. by the cookbook method; they simply do not know how to
employ the age factor. Most astrological texts ignore the age factor, perhaps
because writers feel that it is too obvious to mention, or, more likely, because
omitting it is an editorial necessity. For example, a standard text of 300 pages
would run to perhaps 3000 pages or more if the “meaning” of each aspect were
presented in terms of the different ages at which it might be experienced. A
second and perhaps lies in the breadth of the astrologer’s experience The
majority of an astrologer’s clients will usually be contemporaries. Thus, ninety
percent of the clients they see will be of a single age group - their own. How
can they be expected to have a knowledge of the life cycle broader than their
own experience of life. If a student of astrology can look neither to books nor
teachers, nor to the experience of their astrological practice to learn about
the age factor, where then can they look? Modern depth psychology provides one source:
the work of Carl Jung.
*Cf. Particularly Vol. 8, The Collected Works of C.J. Jung: The
Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche, pp. 387-403, “The Stages of Life.”
The Life Cycle
A holistic view of life is fundamental to any discussion or interpretation of
the age factor. One must see that life itself is a cycle, and that the different
periods of life are merely phases in that cycle. Like the phases of the Moon,
the life cycle has a waxing half and and waning half. Therefore is is an error
to assume that the meaning of life ends with the passing of youth and expansion.
The waning half of life is as full of meaning as the waxing half, but the
meaning changes. Astrologers must consider this difference between the
problems of youth and those of old age and must recognize that they
cannot be solved in the same way. Youth, the ascending wave of life, is
basically extroverted, a time of growth and expansion on all levels of
development - physical, mental, emotional and social. The problems of
this time of life are extroverted problems - education, marriage (and
divorce), children, money, social position, career and sex. The challenge
is to clear away the barriers to expansion on all levels, and this
requires extroverted solutions - i.e., action in the physical/material
world.
After a symbolic full moon period the descending wave of life begins.
The problems of this second half of life are introverted and necessitate a
reappraisal of all those values esteemed during the first half. It becomes
necessary to appreciate the importance of ideals opposite to those of youth.
The challenge is to become increasingly more objective toward
everything that seemed important during the first half of life. Values
become less absolute. Everything human is relative because, psychologi-
cally, everything rests on an inner polarity of values. This axiom is one of
the foundations of astrological symbolism as well as of Jungian depth
psychology, and it should be fundamental to astrological interpretation
as well. Many psychological problems which arise during the second half
of life derive from incompletions and omissions from the first half. The
attempt to prolong youth is a result of not having actually experienced it
in its proper time. While it should be clear that the waning half of the life
cycle is not the time for extroverted concerns, it should be equally
obvious that the waxing half is not the time for introverted concerns.
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heavens. . .”
The Generic Structure of Life
There are two distinct ways of approaching the age factor. The one most familiar
to astrologers is to trace the planetary cycles individually, interpreting their
phases in relation to the specific planetary energy. Although there is much to
be gained form such a study, it must be remembered that all the planets are
moving at the same time. Holistic astrology refers not only to a holistic view
of the birthchart and the individual it represents, but also to a holistic view
of the solar system. Concentrating on the cycle of one planet alone produces a
lopsided perspective.
The second approach is to study the generic structure of human life by
establishing the stages of individual development which can be normally
expected on the basis of age exclusively and regardless of any astrological factors.
This study should actually precede the first, as it establishes the generic
foundation for the individualized interpretation of progressions and transits;
without this information, such interpretations can never be really helpful or
vitally significant in an individual sense. It not only places the present
problems of the client into a perspective, but also gives an added dimension of
meaning to past experiences or events which may have led to the present crisis.
The greatest importance of this generic structure is that it exists for
the psyche as well as the body, and it operates on an unconscious level in
each individual however unique they may feel themselves to be. This common
structure is what Carl Jung calls the “Collective Unconscious” and
what Rudhyar calls “the generic soul in all, the human-ness which is
the common foundation from which surge even the most exalted flights
of devotions and creative imagination, the subtlest overtones of
mysticism and art.” This generic structure of human destiny can be
known, and along with an understanding of the individual cycles of
growth revealed by the progressions and the transits, it is possible to attain a
knowledge of Self with a depth of meaning rarely encountered. The
procedure is simple; yet, as with all basically simple things, the actual
understanding of what is revealed by this procedure requires careful
reflection and a deep sense of psychological evaluation.
Major Astrological Correspondences with the Age Factor:
Age 7 Waxing square of Saturn to its natal place.
Age 12 First return of Jupiter to its natal place.
Age 14 Saturn opposition natal Saturn
Age 19 New nodal cycle begins
Age 21 Waning Square of Saturn to its natal place
Age 24 2nd return of Jupiter to its natal place
Age 27+ Progressed Moon returns to its natal place
Age 28 Uranus trine Uranus; conversion of the position of
the Moon's nodes.
Age 29 1/2 Saturn returns to its natal place
Age 30 The natal Sun-Moon aspect repeats itself in progressions.
Jupiter opposes natal Jupiter.
Age 36 2nd waxing square of Saturn to its natal place.
3rd return of Jupiter to its natal place.
Age 38 New nodal cycle begins
Age 42 Uranus opposition natal Uranus; Neptune in waxing square
to natal Neptune; Jupiter opposition natal Jupiter.
Age 44 2nd opposition of Saturn to its natal place
Age 47 Inversion of the position of the Moon's nodes.
Age 48 4th return of Jupiter to its natal place.
Age 51 2nd waning square of Saturn to its natal place.
Age 55 Progressed Moon returns for second time to its natal place.
Age 56 Uranus in waning trine to natal Uranus; beginning of 4th nodal cycle.
Age 59-60 2nd return Saturn to its natal place; 5th return of Jupiter
to its natal place; Pluto in waxing square to its natal place; the natal Sun-Moon
aspect repeats itself for the second time in the progressions.
Age 63 Waning square of Uranus to its natal aspect.
Age 65 Inversion of the position of the Moon's nodes.
Age 66 3rd waxing square of Saturn to its natal place.
Age 72 6th return of Jupiter to its natal place.
Age 75 Beginning of the 5th nodal cycle; 3rd opposition of Saturn
to its natal place.
Age 80 3rd waning square of Saturn to its natal place.
Age 82-83 2nd return of progressed Moon to its natal place.
Age 84 Uranus returns to its natal place; 7th return of Jupiter
to its natal place; inversion of the Moon's nodes.
The Seven-Year Cycle
Rudhyar has suggested that the complete development of a human being,
as an individual personality theoretically and archetypally considered,
takes 84 years - a complete Uranian cycle. There are many ways to divide this cycle.
The seven 12-years periods and the twelve 7-years periods will be treated
at length in Chapter 5, “The Jupiter Cycle”; and Chapter 8, “The Uranus Cycle”.
Additionally, this 84-year cycle can be divided into 3 periods of 28 years each.
These roughly correspond to the generic cycles of Saturn and will be dealt with
at length in Chapter 6, “The Saturn Cycle”. Each 28-year period corresponds to
an essential level of development of the personality - the hereditary, the individual
and the spiritual. However, as most people never reach much higher than the first or
hereditary level and rarely live a truly “individual” life, Rudhyar has found it
best to concentrate the analysis upon the more traditional 70-year cycle,
containing 10 7-year periods. The dividing point is the 35th year. Up to that
age the tide of the life-force mounts, and thereafter begins to recede. This
ebbing of the life-force is a well-known fact in the realm of sports and
aviation; and according to esoteric doctrines, after the 36th year there is a
slow, progressive repolarization of all the nerves and the vital centers in the
body, and in those psychic structures that are correlated to them. At
approximately this time the truly individual Self of a human being should
begin to operate. It is an age which often corresponds in a person’s life with
some definite step or decision - inner, outer or both - which gives an entirely
new direction to the consciousness of the individual.
Prior to age 35, a human being is trying to build their life on the
foundation of what their heredity, education and social environment have
given them. During this period problems arise in relation to youthful
illusions, the mastering of the parental images, and the overcoming
of obstacles to their profession or marriage - to all those things which
are a part of the expansion of life. Youth finds the solutions to such problems
primarily in terms of outer activity. Often the problems arise as a result of
exaggerated expectations, under-estimation of difficulties and
unjustified optimism or pessimism. Such problems can be grouped as
contradictions between subjective assumptions and external facts.
Another group of problems are due to inner psychic difficulties and
can exist even when the social or professional activities present no
problem. In many cases the disturbance of psychic equilibrium is caused
by the sexual instinct, as Freud has demonstrated, while in other cases
there is a feeling of inferiority due to strong sensitivity. According to
Jung, young people who have had to struggle for existence are mostly
spared inner problems, while those who for some reason or other have
no difficulty with external adaptation, run into sexual problems or
conflicts arising from a sense of inferiority. The one feature particular to
the problems of the first half of life is a clinging to the childhood level of
consciousness, and a resistance to the fateful forces in and around the
individual which would involve him in the world. Of this feature Jung
says, “Something in us wishes to remain a child, to be unconscious or, at
most, conscious only of the ego; to reject everything strange, or else
subject it to our will; to do nothing, or else indulge our own craving for
pleasure or power..” *Jung, C.W. Vol. 8: The Stages of Life p. 393.
During each half of the 70-year cycle there are five 7-year periods.
These describe the flow of the life-force and establish five levels of
integration which Rudhyar has named: physiological, volitional
psychological, social and spiritual-personal. These levels correspond to
the several “bodies” of esoteric teaching: physical, etheric, emotional-
mental, buddhic and spiritual. According to this concept, the individuals
task is to work with the forces of integration as they operate successively
at each level. To become a creative and complete personality, one must
try to assimilate and integrate into themselves as much of the universe as they
can, not only physical nourishment but also the learning and wisdom of
past generations and the social substance of one’s relationships - from
sex to politics. If this integration is effectively accomplished, the spirit
will descend into the integrated personality around the 35th birthday.
The result of such a visitation of the spirit, if it takes place at all (and at
a deep unconscious level, unnoticed by the conscious awareness)
will become clear during the second half of life. True personality
integration shows in an increasingly creative and luminous life, radiating
vision, serene power and significance, and the capacity to lead others to
greater integration and nobler living.
During the second half of life one retraces their steps from level to level,
as if “reaction” molded itself faithfully upon the pattern of “action”
established by the youthful person during the 35 years of the waxing tide
of vitality. There is a direct relationship, for instance, between the period
extending from age 14 to 21 and the period extending from age 49 to 56.
Both of these periods correspond to the psychological, emotional-mental
level of development. This relationship could be called karmic in that the
behaviour of the youth tends to condition the way in which the conscious-
ness and the social and personal reactions of the adult about to enter old
age will develop. The failures and successes, the fears and the noble
confrontations experienced in youth will tend to bring a harvest of
corresponding values in the adult who passes through the fifties.
Likewise, the tragedies of the forties are, to some extent, the
repercussions of the problems met in the twenties. Rudhyar concludes:
“...one constantly meets their past after the mid-point of their lives.
What one does as a result of the meeting conditions in turn either their
future life (if reincarnation is accepted as a fact), or their death state
(if personal immortality in transcendental realms is believed in), or it
simply contributes to the moulding of the culture and social behaviour of
the future generations (if one accepts only racial-cultural immortality)."
American Astrology, Jan. 1942)
The counselling of adults must therefore have different objectives
from the counselling of young people. It will no longer be a question of
clearing away the obstacles that hinder expansion, production and
ascent; one must instead stress everything that will help the descent and
the concomitant development of wider consciousness. The transition from
life’s morning to life’s afternoon means a reassessment of one’s earlier
values. One must come to appreciate the opposite of one’s former ideals,
says Jung; to perceive the error in those former convictions; and to feel
how much antagonism and even hatred lay in what, until then, had
passed for love. Not that one must throw away everything that seemed
good and true, and live in complete opposition to their former tendency,
but Jung insists we must learn the lesson of relativity. One should
conserve their previous values while recognizing the value of their
opposites and consciously admit the relative validity of all opinions.
This is what is meant by the development of consciousness - the keynote of the
second half of life. Such a development is not easy, as Jung remarks:
“...nature cares nothing whatsoever about a higher level of conscious-
ness and society does not value these feats of the psyche very highly
either; its prizes are always given for achievement and not for person-
ality...We overlook the fact the social goal is attained at the
cost of diminution of personality. (The Stages of Life p. 394)
The Waxing Hemicycle
Many of the following ideas were formulated by Rudhyar in his articles in
American Astrology Magazine and in his books, especially
Occult Preparations for a New Age (Quest Books, 1975).
Age 0 to 7: The Organic Level - Development of the body, it’s organs and
their psychic over- tones. Basic adjustment to outside pressures, especially
within the family.
During this period the body and the basic psychic structures of the
future personality are built. The substance which will fill these
structures is furnished by heredity, both genetic and cultural, by the
environmental conditions of the family, and by the general social
conditions prevailing at the time and place of birth. These will produce
either opportunities for harmonious growth or frustrating tensions.
Everything that happens at this organic level of development will leave
its mark. These conditions influence not only the biological growth of
the child, but also their basic instincts and the essential psychological over-
tones of these instincts. As the period of maximum growth and learning,
not only will a child achieve 70-74% of their physical growth potential, but
at the same time they will master all the essential skills needed to live as an
independent being. One learns to feed and dress themselves, to walk, talk,
read, write and do simple arithmetic. They also learn the specific dangers
of their environment and the things necessary for survival, including
negative and anti-social behavior such as lying and cheating and stealing. One’s
basic values and beliefs are instilled in them at this time. All of these things
give a child their particular characteristic attitude toward life, and many
psychologists are of the opinion that the adult never really manages to
overcome and transform whatever was was built into one’s body and psyche
before the age of seven.
Equally important to the child’s later development is the influence of
missing factors. Just as a lack of calcium during this time will inhibit the
development of strong, straight bones, the lack of loving will inhibit the
development of that child’s ability to love. The adult who goes through
life looking for a mother probably missed the experience of being
nurtured at this phase. Thus, those aspects - especially conjunctions -
which become exact by progression during these first 7 years of life will
give the key to the basic conditioning of the child’s attitude toward life.
Age 7 to 14: The Power Level - Building of the conscious ego; development
of the I-sense. Testing one's personal powers in active self-expression.
The first period ends during the seventh year, but before the seventh birthday.
This change of level of phase often occurs at the time when the first permanent
teeth emerge, which according to Rudhyar, is a significant symptom of a very
basic organic and spiritual crisis. As the mature, self-grown teeth replace the
milk teeth, the child must then “chew” their experiences on the basis of their
own ego-characteristics rather than on his mother’s example. The waxing square
of Saturn to its natal position is the astrological correspondence to this
turning-point and reveals either an acceleration or a delay in the process of
growth.
The psychic equivalent to the new set of teeth is the development of
the ego as an autonomous psychic structure. Near age 7, Uranus reaches
the second phase of its cycle* - the phase of substantiation or
incarnation. The principle of individuality, the “I”, begins to operate
more forcefully within the organism as the child increasingly speaks of
themselves in the first person. Until the child says “I”, he or she is still an
expression of the influence of the parents rather than an autonomous
psychic organism. This is so regardless whether the child accepts or
rebels against the image which the parents and family attempt to impress
upon them. In either case, during this period their truly personal existence
begins, and the child reveals an increasingly definite and individual
response to life. He or she will attempt to exteriorize their inner feelings -
assuming attitudes and creating situations wilfully in order to test the
reactions of their body and psyche, as well as how the family and peers will
react. To build this sense of “I” and their personal power, the child must
make forceful gestures and take a personal stand, and then observe what
happens. They must measure themselves against the limitations imposed by
parents teachers, authority figures, and their peers.
*Cf. Chapter 8. The phases of the Uranus cycle referred to here change every seven years;
and each phase begins as transiting Uranus makes a new aspect to natal Uranus by 30° in-
crements, hence by semi-sextile, sextile, square, trine quincunx, etc.
The basic issue in this second 7-year period is creative self-assertion - the
development of the will. To express themselves harmoniously, the child
must be able to assimilate fully the experience which life brings to them.
Whatever happens during this second period will greatly influence their
capacity reveal themselves to themselves, and to express outwardly what was
revealed. The will may be expressed either through activities directed
against some potential or actual adversary, or it may manifest creatively
through activities which mold inert materials into an image of one’s own
choice. It may be seen in the competitive games of children with their
opportunities for the exercise of leadership, prowess and power, the
extreme example of which is gang warfare. This same force of will may,
on the other hand, be expressed through the spontaneous play
of the artistic faculties, especially at the age of 101/2, - the midpoint of this 7-year
period. In creativity there exists no adversary, only materials to be used,
fashioned and transformed into what one wills them to be. The potential
difficulty here is that the child at this age finds their creative efforts stifled
by the various social and cultural conventions and taboos of the adult
world. Exquisitely perfected toys do not provide an opportunity for
individual creativity to flourish, and the child misses the excitement of
self-discovery in seeing the reults of their own efforts at shaping and
transforming raw materials. He becomes a mechanic - a technician
rather than a creator. Out of this womb is born a specimen of the
collective mentality instead of an individual.
Age 14 to 21: The Psychological level - Emotional and mental development.
Emotionally-centered self-orientation to associates, friends, comrades, as well
as toward the culture, religion and institutions of one’s society.
This 7-year period begins with the crisis of puberty. According to
Jung, the eruption of sexuality corresponds to the birth out of the psychic
womb of the parental and family environment. A conscious differentia-
tion from the parents should now take place. The father and mother
should now be seen as adults (although in the strictest sense this term
does not often apply), as human beings with the right to make mistakes,
rather than as infallible parent- figures of one’s early childhood. At
the beginning of this period Saturn opposes its birth position and the
sextile of Uranus to natal Uranus begins the third phase of its cycle. The
opposition aspect in astrology is always a symbol of objective awareness
through the impact of experiences in human relationship. In the
Saturn cycle, the object of awareness is the sense of responsibility in
one’s intimate relationships, and this problem of relationship presents
the central challenge of adolescence. Prior to the age of 14, the young
person will express themselves creatively and assert their will without
necessarily any regard for the results of their actions or their effect on
other people. One’s fundamental nature is to be themselves - to
discover through experimentation the possibilities latent within them. In
this third phase of the life-cycle one has the chance to become more fully
what they are through Saturn, while becoming different through the impact
of the new type of everyday experiences they now have with Uranus.
Suddenly, at the onset of adolescence (for adolescence is something
that doesn’t happen gradually), one feels a new urge growing within
them - the urge to form deep and significant relationships. Under the
stimulation of biological and glandular changes, adolescent love is born
and becomes the prime mover of the third phase of the life-cycle. On the
biological sexual level, and occasionally on other levels as well, the
adolescent becomes subservient to a more-than-personal life-rhythm. In
one way or another, one begins to feel the urge to participate in the
rhythm of the larger whole of which they are an expression - the human
race. Seemingly fateful forces, both within and without the individual,
draw them into the world and involve them in it. Things previously alien to
one’s experience are now of vital concern. The horizons widen, and
the previously narrow frame of reference is shattered in the tension of
opposites, leading ideally to a broader and higher range of consciousness.
For the first time the young person must learn by contrast (the opposition
aspect) who and what they are. Love becomes the great revealer. As
confrontation is the nature of the opposition aspect, the beloved
becomes the mirror image of the self and its needs. Initially, the loved one
is an idealized figure based on the illusions of childhood and formed
principally by the mass media. When the ideal image is projected onto a
real human being, the experience of the difference forces one to modify
those illusions. The loved one can eventually become an embodiment of
the highest aspirations of the self when true conscious relationship
replaces projection. Before the emerging individual can truly realize their
full potential they must first envision it. Love is this vision.
The school years of this period have a purpose far greater than the simple
amassing of data. This is the time one learns social responsibility. Also they
are the years of higher education and more important, voluntary education.
Before this age the child was legally bound to remain in school. The
parents were responsible for keeping them there. However, after the age of 14
(or shortly thereafter) the student is free to leave; and if they remain, it is
by choice. Thus accepting the responsibility for their own education, the young
person becomes an active participant and takes the first step in the assumption
of full, adult responsibility; and by the end of this period one may take their
individual stand socially, politically and professionally.
Age 21 to 28: The Social-Cultural Level - Choice of associates and of
one’s type of social participation. Establishment of the basic attitude towards
the fruits of the personal and social- cultural past. Rebellion against family
or society.
This 7-year period is linked astrologically to the first waning square of Saturn
and the waxing square of Uranus, which opens the fourth phase of the Uranus
cycle. The latter aspect coincides with the effort to break through (waxing
square) into the professional, commercial, and cultural world; and to fit
oneself as well as possible into the life of one’s community. The Saturn aspect,
on the other hand, points to the need to cut oneself off from the past (waning
square) and from the attitudes which were based on the carefree life typical of
the school years. Many of the ideals and aims previously held must be examined
in a new light and adapted to the realities of day-to-day adult existence. This
may be difficult and strenuous for many people. Youth tends to cling to its
adolescent, emotional attitudes, and would like to continue to act as if life
were a field for the unrestricted expression of Self according to strictly
personal desires. In this fourth phase of the life-cycle, the last remaining
vestiges of youth are shed.
The experiences of this age period reveal very clearly the difference
between a waxing square and a waning square. The crisis described by
a waxing square is extroverted and exists on the level of activity. It is often
accompanied by a sense of elation and adventure or excitement, as the
individual rushes out to meet the difficulties which life puts in his path
and to work out his own destiny in an objective and concrete manner.
The waxing Uranus square affects the young person in this way and
directs their attention toward the future - to the goals they will set themselves to
accomplish. What lies ahead for them are new and interesting opportun-
ities. Concurrently, the waning square of Saturn directs the attention
inward toward assessment of the past, pointing to those things which
must be left behind, or at least modified and reconsidered. It challenges
one to break with established habits and ideals, often a very difficult task.
The crisis described by this waning square is introverted, demanding
growth in personal maturity. Such personal needs, however, can only be
fulfilled by attending to the needs of society. Thus, the principal lesson of
this waning Saturn square will be to realize the necessity to act in a
responsible manner in all types of relationship, whether they be inter-
personal or social. The success of the Uranian effort to blaze a new path
as an individual will depend on one’s success in breaking away from the old
attachments and attitudes under the Saturn square, and the success in
interpersonal as well as social relationships will depend on the strength
of an individual’s will to attain social maturity.
Astrology clarifies the point that one’s personal success in later years
will depend almost entirely on the way in which an individual manages
these two squares between the ages of 21 and 28. The astrologer should
also look to strong progressed or transit aspects to the natal chart during
this period. These will show the specific opportunities or confrontations
which will enable the young adult to break out of the psychic womb
constituted by parental influences of childhood as well as by the
emotional and cultural attitudes built into the ego by a particular
socio-cultural and economic environment. These attitudes and
influences form the barriers to one’s true experience of Self, and until
one can recognize them as precisely that and not to confuse them with
the “I”, one will not be able to assert their true individuality.
Everything experienced in life prior to the age of 28, therefore,
revolves around one’s relationship to their family - or whatever
may have substituted for it. A person must grow and discover themselves
- their own truth and life-purpose while living within a family environment.
At the same time the individual must make an effort to grow out of the
family and separate themselves psychically from its predominant influences
if they are to become true individual. As one emerges from the state of
dependence on parents and family patterns if not physically at least
spiritually, the problem takes on a new and different form in their life.
After the age of 21, people generally seek to build their own families -
they train themselves for a job, they marry, and they have their own
children. The majority of people have experienced these things before
reaching the age of 28, or at least they know the way in which they want
to organize their lives. What happens after 28, until the next major
turning-point in the life near age 56-60, will be the result of the options
taken and the attitudes adopted before the age of 28. What must be
clearly understood, therefore, is that whatever is done before the age of
28 will represent, psychologically, the various ways adopted in the effort
to emerge from the family matrix and from the pressures of the social
environment. The alternative to this is passive adjustment - quietly
accepting and following the established family and social patterns.
Age 28-35: Individual or Personality Level - Release of creative endowment
of the personality. Possibility of a “2nd birth”, as a creative germ of the
future. Negatively, progressive crystallization of personal attitude in terms of
ancestral and existing social conditions.
In the threefold division of the Uranus cycle, the 28th year marks the
beginning of the second period with the trine of Uranus to its natal
position. This opens the fifth phase of the cycle. The progressed Moon
also returns to its birth position in that year, and the positions of the
Moon’s nodes are inverted - the transiting North node being on the
natal South node, and the transiting South node on the natal North
node. In the progressed lunation cycle, The Sun and Moon repeat the
same aspect at age 30 that they did at birth, and transiting Saturn returns
to its natal position and begins a new cycle. In addition to all of this, at the
age of 30 transiting Jupiter and Saturn will be in an aspect opposed, and
therefore complimentary, to their natal aspect. Thus, if they were in
conjunction at birth, they will be in opposition at age 30. From all this an
astrologer can readily see that the period from age 27 to 30 is a most
important turning-point in the lives of all people. A second such turning-
point will occur during the period age 56 to 60., and will be discussed later.
Rudhyar refers to these ages as the potential second and third births. In
this phase, the individual is born out of the collective; while in the rebirth
yet to come, the spiritual self is born out of the personality.
Each individual conceived is the sum total of the collective past and,
up to the 28th year, remains primarily a result of their ancestral
and cultural heritage. The purpose of these first 28 years - the first
complete cycle of Saturn - is to assimilate all that one can of the past.
Then, and not until then, can the true creative individual emerge. Only
out of an individualized synthesis of the collective influences and fruits
of the past can the fully-expressed personality flow. Prior to the 28th
year one is still dominated by these collective influences, and unfortun-
ately many people continue long after that time to remain passive
followers of their ancestral ways - undistinguished examples of a
national or local culture and a collective mentality. At 28, however, the
door is opened and one is presented with the opportunity to begin asserting
their own true individuality, manifesting their own unique destiny and making
their own particular contribution to the world.
The Uranus trine - symbol of this opportunity for creative vision -
is capable of making one realize what they are here for, however dim this sense
of relation to some ideal, goal or function may be felt. Each one of us, in
the humanistic view, is potentially a completely new element which can
be added to the human race - a potential answer to a new human need.
The realization of that need comes around age 28 - the time of a possible
“second birth” at the level of psychological and mental achievement. The
28th year is the potential beginning of life as a creative individual. From
age 28 to 42 the basic issue will be the definite establishment of self as an
integrated personality working in a new and particular way in one’s
community, and capable of producing something of value within this
community. Saturn’s return to its natal place marks the opportunity to
give a new meaning to one’s life, based on a truly individual attitude and
also on the capacity to relate oneself responsibly to the greater whole of
which can be a conscious and creative part. The reversal of the
Jupiter-Saturn birth aspect reveals the possibility of a more objective
outlook on the traditional social, cultural and religious ways of one’s times.
Theoretically, everything that has happened since birth has been
leading, in the spiritually successful life, to the realization around age 28
of the individual contribution one can make to life. From then onwards,
life can have an original and personal meaning, but only if one realizes
more or less clearly the type of ideal, purpose or human need which one is
capable of fulfilling and then concentrates their attention consciously on this
goal. One must discover their own ways of taking an individual and
independent stand in relation to the problems which they choose to meet.
Whatever one succeeds in accomplishing or producing before age 28 will
be the flowering of the past - their soul past or their genetic past. It will not
be an expression of their individual identity. A person may be born with
special gifts; however, what matters is what they will do with them as an
individual. They must make them serve some new, consciously decided
purpose, or else those gifts will use them. In other words, the test is always
how to use one’s legacy of the past on all levels as a means to reveal the
true spiritual identity. That is why it is important near age 28 to
transform the relationship to one’s past in such a way that, instead of
being simply an expression of it, a person may decide how they will use it as
a means to contribute something new - something which did not exist
before they existed.
Age 35 to 42: Individual or Personality Level - Culmination of physical
and personal endowment. Further crystallization of personal attitude in terms of
the activity and consciousness developed between ages 28 and 35. Need to decide
clearly what one wants to do in life, perhaps leading to attempts at purifying
the personality.
This 7-year period marks the beginning of the waning hemicycle of
life. Prior to this time, the life-energies have been building
and expanding; now they begin their descending wave. Each successive level
from this point onward will be an introverted expression of its
extroverted counterpart during the ascending wave, and the opposite
values and ideals will come into play. The extroverted level corres
ponding to age 35 to 42 is the period immediately preceding it - age 28 to
35. Together these two levels form a plateau. (See diagram: "The 70-year
Life-Cycle) Both are personality levels, the earlier dealing with the
external manifestations and the release of creative energies; while the
age 35 to 42 period deals with the personal attitudes and beliefs from
which creativity springs. The latter period makes more concrete what
was initiated in the previous one.
Of this plateau period between age 28 and 42, the basic requirement
of life, according to Rudhyar, is to be a self and to take one’s place in the
world as a self. This means being self-determined and self-sustained,
aware of one’s individual destiny. But before one can go on to meet this
life-destiny, they must first free themselves from the final vestiges of external
influences, and consciously choose their own basic reaction to life. The best
opportunity for such an awareness of Self will come in the 35th year,
which is not only the mid-point of this plateau period, but also the mid-
point of the life-cycle itself. Symbolically, the 35th year is the full moon
of the life-cycle - the awareness point. Here the external confronts the
internal, and the realizations that can come from a synthesis of these
two factors can provide the vision of a true sense of “I”. Here it becomes
possible for a person to see why they do what they do, and then to
choose either to do it or not do it. Choice, however, requires an
acceptance of responsibility. As long as a person remains bound by the
psychic apron-strings of some “mother image” - be it an individual
person (such as a parent, marriage partner or spiritual mentor), a group
or institution, or an ideology - they will have something outside themselves
determining their actions and assuming responsibility for them.
Feelings of guilt or inferiority provide an excellent excuse for per-
petuating this kind of emotional immaturity. These feelings are fed by
the memory of past failures, and projection of these failures into
the future. The refusal to accept responsibility for one’s failures places one
in the position of permanent victim - forever at the mercy of whatever
they have chosen to be the “mother image” which runs their life. If, during
the age 28-35 a person has not succeeded in separating themselves from
the need for a psychic scapegoat, then the vision that they see at 35 may,
at least temporarily, pull the emotional rug out from under them. One
may see that their life does not work and the old scapegoats no longer
serve them. So, they go out to find new ones. Superficially, they may appear
to be regrasping lost opportunities; however, what they are actually doing is
looking for a new “mother image” to assume responsibility for their lives
- a new womb to crawl into. Failing to see that it is one's beliefs which must
be transformed, they will go out in search of new techniques, a new
ideology, a new mentor, or a new marriage partner. Unfortunately, none
of these will provide a solid ground-of-being from which one can meet the
crisis of the following 7-year period (age 42 to 49) and without which the
experience of menopause can be chaotic or even tragic. This period be-
gins approximately at the waxing square of Saturn and ends around the
time of the waxing square of Neptune.
Age 42 to 49: Social-Cultural Level - Leading a routine life and passive
submission to things as they are, or the need to revise actiel one’s attitude
toward intimates. Attempts at making a new start in life.
This phase of the life-cycle corresponds to the 7-year period age 21 to
28, which is also a social level. Astrologically, both periods are marked by
transits of Saturn and Uranus. In the earlier period these aspects were
squares, symbolizing the extroverted nature of that time. The emerging
adult moved out into the world, perhaps married, established themselves
socially and created their own interpersonal relationships. The aspects of
Saturn and Uranus in this later period are oppositions, indicating
awareness rather than action. The Uranus opposition occurs at the
beginning of this 7-year period, and shortly thereafter, at approximately
age 45, Saturn opposes its natal position for the second time. Thus, the
primary challenge of this 7-year period is the need to find the real
meaning and value in one’s interpersonal and social relationships.
Establishing a new attitude toward one’s relationships may require
that certain habit patterns of may years duration be broken. The
pressures of family, business and social considerations need no longer
dictate the selection of one’s friends. Extroverted motivations for
maintaining relationships often no longer apply; therefore a personal
value for those relationships must be found. A marriage held together
“for the sake of the children” will dissolve when those children grow up
and leave home unless a truly personal raison d’etre is found. Likewise,
relationships originally formed because they would advance one’s career
or social position become meaningless with the realization that one has
probably already risen as high on the social or business ladder as he will
go.
The problems which arise during this seven year period are based on a
sense of loneliness which becomes increasingly difficult to bear. To
compensate for this feeling of isolation one may try to escape into
a dream world (soap operas, romantic novels and the like), lose themselves in
their work or social activities, rush off into some heroic adventure, or even
run away from home to start a life anew. An undercurrent of anxiety runs
through this entire period - a general feeling of “last chance”. One may find
themselves grabbing at love compulsively as though it were the brass ring on
a merry-go-round that will never go around again. The emotional upsets
that accompany “falling in love” precipitate a new kind of adolescent
crisis. While the adolescent is in love with love, people in their forties
seek love to absorb or blot out a sense of failure. This rush to make a new
start, to find love before it is too late can result in severe emotional
turmoil and the outcome of it can be tragic.
Although the descending wave of life actually began in the previous
7-year period, it is not until age 42 to 49 that one has the conscious
awareness that they are in the second half of life. As they watch their parents'
generation die off and their own generation aging, suddenly one day there
comes the realization that they are the older generation. Should a person
forget for a moment the reality of their age, their grown children and the
mass media will serve as a constant reminder. The natural, immediate
reaction to this denial. Many people try to prolong youth by imitating
the dress, mannerisms or speach of the young people, and some even reject
association with those older than themselves as though aging were
a contagious disease.
By the forties a person notices that their body is increasingly losing its
energy and staying power, and that one can no longer depend on it as
automatically as one did in the past. This causes a great deal of anxiety and
results in a preoccupation with the body - the way it looks, feels and
behaves. Because in most people’s belief patterns the body is so
intrinsically tied to their ability to love and be loved, this preoccupation
with the body is frequently experienced on the level of relationship. A
man’s waning sexual potency may drive him to seek out the companion-
ship of a younger woman as proof of his virility. The problem is entirely
different for a woman. Her sex-drive may be stronger in her forties than
in earlier years; however, since she has always judged her sexuality in
terms of her desirability, the appearance of wrinkles sagging skin and
the other external signs of age are equally traumatic. The growing
awareness of physical decline points to the need for a basic change in
one’s attitude toward others as well as toward oneself. Try as one might,
extroverted solutions no longer apply. One must realized at some time
during this period that they are not going to get stronger or richer or better -
that they have climbed as high as they will climb. The exterior is starting to
deteriorate, so one had better concentrate on the interior. However, this
is not the affliction of aging, but it’s reward; as the physical vitality begins to
ebb, there is a complimentary development of the internal powers. The
body declines, as it must in all natural organisms, while the energies of
the personality concentrate themselves in the mind and the individual
soul. Mental capacity can remain strong as ever, and where the
individual achieved psychological maturity, it will become even greater.
Only in those lives in which fear and emotional distress prevent the
person from changing their attitudes and cause them to rebel senselessly
against the normal aging process does the mind also tire. It is, in fact, the
ego that tires rather than the mind; the ego gives up when faced by the
need for a basic change of outlook or when called upon to take an
unfamiliar step in a new direction. Not the body but the habitual and
fixed patterns of thought hanging around one’s neck like a millstone pull
them under. If, in their forties, a person has achieved a state of personality
integration and freed themselves from the unconscious demands of their
beliefs, then this 7-year period can signal the time of a real illumination
of the spirit, or some deep change in the positive direction of one’s life.
Age 49 to 56: Psychological Level - Education of others. Assuming greater social
responsibility. Negatively, mental rigidity due to incapacity to change adopted
life-attitude and behavior.
This 7-year period corresponds to the extroverted Psychological
Level from age 14 to 21. Just as the growing youth who tries to carry over
their childish egoism into adult life must pay for their self-centeredness with
social failure, so whoever carries over into the afternoon of life the aim of
money-making, social achievement, or dynastic ambition must pay for it
with damage to their soul. As Jung says,
...aging people should know that their lives are no longer mounting and
expanding, but that an inexorable inner process enforces the contrac-
tion of life. If it is dangerous for a young person to be too preoccupied
with himself, for the aging person it is a duty and a necessity to devote
serious attention to themselves… A human being would certainly not
grow to be seventy or eighty years old if this longevity had no meaning
for the species. (“The Stages of Life,” p.399)
The lesson to be learned from this phase of the life-cycle is the meaning
which can and must be gathered in from the life that has been lived thus
far. This is described astrologically by the second waning square of
Saturn occurring at about 52. Once again the person will pass
through a process of severance from ancient images and ingrained habit-
patterns and attitudes. While on the extroverted psychological level the
individual was asked to break with familial patterns and to free themselves
from the traditional concepts generally imposed on them at school, at age
52 they are asked to dismiss the memories of past failures - the psychic
or organic difficulties which the crisis of the forties may have brought
about. He must clean the psychological slate in preparation for the time
when the third Saturn cycle begins around age 59.
Here again the attachment to or identification with the parents or
familial attitudes become prominent - however this time in an
introverted way, and on a psychic rather than physical level. During the
extroverted psychological period age 14 to 21, many young people
attempt to break the bonds of psychic dependance on the parents by
leaving home. But rebellion does not signify freedom. The extroverted
solution did not answer a problem which is basically subjective; thus, at
the corresponding introverted psychological level, the problem
reappears. This time one is no longer financially dependent on
their parents - on the contrary, they may be financially dependent on them;
and if they are living together, it is their home rather than the parents. Again one
is confronted by all those attitudes and values which they may have
thrown away in their youth simply because they came from their
parents. Now one has the opportunity to consciously choose those hereditary values
- to see the parents objectively, in a new perspective, and to establish an
individual relationship with them. If the parents die or must be
institutionalized before one can experience a truly personal relationship
with them, then one may be left for the remainder of their lives with a sense
of incompletion. The ensuant guilt can raise a formidable barrier to the
true experience of self, and one then moves on to the third stage of life
and the potential rebirth at age 60 with a permanently smudged slate.
In the 50th year Uranus enters the 8th phase of its cycle - the
regenerative phase. This may bring deep occult experiences. The mental-
psychological crisis of the forties now becomes a biological crisis. During
this period one will see the concrete results of whatever took place in the
middle forties. If the person does not succeed in constructively facing the
impeding physical obstacles or the psychological obstructions arising
from their failure to become an integrated personality, then they will now
see a gradual crystallization of the established psychological and social
attitudes and beliefs which they had not the inner will to modify. They will
become “to old to change.”
The person who manages to live through this 7-year period in a
positive manner - because they have the spiritual courage and a strong
enough sense of destiny to go through whatever crisis or tragedies life has
brought them - should now try to bring the harvest of their experiences to
a seed-condition. In other words, they will be ready to assume greater
social responsibility and to teach others on the basis of what they have
learned and experienced. One should be ready, because in the previous 7-year
period they undertook consciously and deliberately to change their
relationship to society. After about thirty years of productivity, during
which the tendency is usually to judge everything and everyone in terms
of this productivity and its fruits, one is now ready to introduce a new
quality into their relationships - the quality of wisdom. In their younger
days they received from the past a vast legacy of knowledge, skills and com-
forts. Realizing this, he or she is now ready, at the end of his or her life, to
give back to society and especially to its youth the fruits of long exper-
ience in handling and using the legacy he or she has received.
Age 56 to 63: Power Level - Possibility of a “3rd birth” in the Uranian
Cycle. Demonstration of the capacity to focus the spiritual quality of being
inherent at birth "through" the personality. New spiritual activities or, negatively, further
crystallization of mind and feeling responses.
The period from age 56 to 60 is as important as that from age 27 to 30.
The 56th year coincides with the third birth in the Uranus cycle - the
9th phase. This is the second chance in every life to reorient and
transform the character, as well as the nature of one’s human
relationships. Being able to see oneself in a new way, it becomes possible
to meet others in a new way, and so to embark upon a new kind of social
participation. What can happen at this time, positively speaking, is the
conscious or unconscious decision to devote the evening of one’s life to
some form of creative fulfillment and harvest. Negatively it means
letting oneself go and settling down to a crystallized and limited form of
physical and mental existence - retirement. Besides the third birth in
the Uranus cycle, this period sees the return of both Jupiter and Saturn
to their natal placements. A fourth nodal cycle begins, which indicates
the potential renewal of the pattern of destiny and personality
integration. Lastly, the natal Sun-Moon aspect repeats itself in the
progressions around age 59, and Saturn begins its third cycle in the life.
From all these astrological indications one sees a new trend beginning
to unfold at age 56 - a trend which will reach a climax at age 59-60 with
the beginning of the new Saturn cycle and which will become more
clearly defined as the sixties begin. A keynote will be set here for the
remaining years of the life, or at least until age 70-72, after which old age,
as it is considered today begins. “Old age” may of course actually begin
at 60 if the person does not take the positive attitude toward the change of
life-direction initiated in the forties. In any case, the more the person has
lived a sort of life different from the average, routine existence imposed
by modern society, the more likely will the period age 56 to 70 be positive.
Since the time of ancient Greece, age 60 has been considered the age
of philosophy in the sense of a search for essential meaning and
fundamental values. This should be the main interest during the
afternoon and evening of life. Moreover, in the life of the creative
individual, there should be an effort made to harmonize one’s individual
outlook with the real needs of the collective. It will then become possible to
act more wisely, more serenely and efficiently in all relationships. The
creative individual will use these latter years to bring the spiritual or
socio-cultural fruits of their experience and reflection to their community.
For this they may receive honor and relative fame, and perhaps a relative
degree of social security. If, however, the community does not appreciate
the value of this harvest, then these later years can be lonely ones.
Dane Rudhyar once observed that a creative person usually does not
manage to make their mark upon their time before they are 60. The works
performed by the creative person after age 28 (the time of the beginning
of true individual creativity) become impressed on the consciousness
(and even the unconscious) of the generation born at the time these works were
performed or produced. This impress is the foundation of the social and
cultural immortality of the truly creative mind. When the generation
born at the time of such a mind’s creations reaches maturity - age 28 -
then it will be in a position to understand and appreciate their value. The
creator will then be about sixty years of age. Thus, it should be during
this period of life that one should realize the importance of trying to
make something permanent, and in some cases immortal, contribution to the
life of their community, great or small. One must concentrate on the spiri-
tual future, both of themselves and of humanity.
A spiritual repolarization can occur at this time of life. Essentially,
this necessitates a review of everything one has assimilated during their
life - deciding what to keep and eventually to pass on to future
generations, and what to discard. The individual must discover the best
way in which what they become can fulfill some basic collective need of
the times. It is never too early to begin the task of discarding what is non-
essential, and then to go about strengthening, clarifying and, if need be,
recording for the coming generations the harvest of one’s experience.
One should do this during this 9th phase of life, because at age 60 one will
be best fitted to do the job. What should count is not so much the time
spent on the task, but the quality of the achievement.
Age 63 to 70: Body or Organic Level - Conscious preparation for the
“after-life,” or senility. Radiating wisdom or, negatively, sense of boredom,
emptiness, futility. Bringing the life to some sort of seed-consummation.
Sixty-three is a particularly crucial age. At this time Uranus comes to
the waning square to its natal position, and Saturn is then nearing the
waxing square in its third cycle.* The waxing square of Saturn around
age 66-67 can mean a new, great adventure into spiritual realms. If,
on the other hand, the person has nothing positive to offer society
or they are not open to new realms of consciousness, then the process of
body crystallization and lowering of vitality takes on added power. The
latter alternative will occur particularly if the waning Uranus square
at 63 meant the gradual severance of the creative self from the body
and established routine existence. This severance may be due to a feeling
of hopelessness at the way in which society and the power of tradition
keep frustrating any creative effort of the Self. It may also be the end re-
sult of the outer personality’s failure to meet the crisis of the forties
and to deal with its results during the fifties in a constructive way.
*The 63rd year is also the age of consummation of the important 7-year and 9-year
rhythms of the life-cycle: 7x9=63. The spiritual-individual rhythm (7) and the
physical-collective rhythm (9) can be fully harmonized in the individual at this
time; thereafter the life will be stirred to its depth by a new impulse. The
number 9 - and therefore all 9-year periods - refers in humanistic astrology to
the gradual working out of the spiritual and ancestral karma. Therefore, at age
63, the way in which the individual destiny and the collective destiny meet is a
determining factor.
As ever, the positive role is played by the spirit within. When the
everyday personal life can no longer contribute anything of value to the
spirit, then the spirit gradually or suddenly withdraws. The body and the
mind are then left to disintegrate, or, for awhile, to crystallize. One
grows old out of a lack of interest in life - out of a sense of failure to
gather any harvest of value from personal experience. This is a Uranian
death: a letting go of some unbearable situation largely under a
Neptunian sense of defeat. Saturnian death, on the other hand, is the
slow result of a progressive crystallization of the bodily and the psychic
structures which have become increasingly rigid and contain ever less
spiritual content. This means death in automatism, meaninglessness or
senility. The reason the time of death so often does not seem to register
clearly in the birth-chart is that the actual time of disintegration of the
body is not spiritually the most significant moment. Many people are
inwardly “dead” whose bodies are still organically alive, and some are
indeed “live” whose bodies no longer function. Here, says Rudhyar, we
touch the mystery of what really constitutes a person’s true identity.
Beyond the Seventy-year Life-Cycle
The sense of responsibility towards one’s own and humanity’s spiritual future
which may have redirected the life from age 60 onwards, can lead to a “third
puberty” near the age 73-74 when Saturn comes to its third opposition to
its natal place. If the end of life is being dedicated to the attempt at
becoming a seed for the future in terms of what the individual has
accomplished during their life, then a new rhythm of life-contacts can now
be established (73-74) between the individual and society, and between
the conscious ego and the spirit within, depending on where the
attention is concentrated. If the body has stood the strain of this new
type of relationship from age 70 onwards, then the fruits of this new
relationship will lead to further change of magnetism at age 77. This
age corresponds to 7x11 - 11 being the number of the Sun and of
the circulation of solar energy throughout the solar system. Then, at 84,
a “fourth birth” occurs. This according to Rudhyar, takes the individual
altogether into a new realm of destiny - to a disintegration of the
personality or (relative) immortality.
The Seven Year Cycle
The 1st year begins at birth, then age 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42,49, 56, 63, 70, 77, 84.
The 2nd year begins at age...1, 8, 15, 22, 29, 36, 43, 50, 57, 64, 71, 78, 85.
The 3rd year begins at age...2, 9, 16, 23, 30, 37, 44, 51, 58, 65, 72, 79, 86.
The 4th year begins at age...3, 10, 17, 24, 31, 38, 45, 52, 59, 66, 73, 80, 87.
The 5th year begins at age...4, 11, 18, 25, 32, 39, 46, 53, 60, 67, 74, 81, 88.
The 6th year begins at age...5, 12, 19, 26, 33, 40, 47, 54, 61, 68, 75, 82, 89.
The 7th year begins at age...6, 13, 20, 27, 34, 41, 48, 55, 62, 69, 76, 83, 90.
The first half of the cycle (3½ years) manifests as an involutionary trend with
an accent on ACTIVITY and the effort to INCORPORATE the new impulse born
in the 1st year, to find adequate means to ACTUALIZE it. The second half of the cycle
(3½ to 7 years) marks an evolutionary trend with an accent on growth of CONSCIOUSNESS.
There should be an attempt to express individual VALUES and MEANINGS through ideas
or through group activity.
The Individual Years
Each year within any seven year period* has its individual meaning
and is an expression of the period within which it falls. The starting point
for a given year is the birthday of the person considered, and it extends to
the next birthday. The occurrence of a major transit or progression must
be considered not only in the context of the overall period within which it
occurs, but also in terms of the specific year.
*Cf. American Astrology, Rudhyar’s article on “The Seven Year Cycle,” April 1942.
Also Rudhyar’s book Occult Preparations for a New Age C.6, p. 86 ff.
The First Year
The type of development which will characterize any 7-year period begins
as a new impulse which is based on what has happened in the last year of
the proceeding 7-year period. This impulse is usually not immediately clear,
even though some definite occurrence may set the stage for it. Very often,
this year is peculiarly elusive and uncertain in character, or filled with
emotional confusion. The primary development is internal and below the level
of personal consciousness. Life seems neither one thing nor another. Yet,
in some cases, there is great impulsiveness, experimentation and emotional
intensity which may include a sense of freedom and of new beginnings.
The Second Year
In this year the new impulse and the new destiny may give a new direction to
the life and change the foundation of the person’s feelings. On the other hand,
what happens may reveal a great deal of resistance to the new trend in the form
of fears, memories, and social inertia. What was developed in the preceding 7-year
period may oppose the new direction one wants to follow, or else the new trend
has to push through the old ideas step by step. Psychological conflicts and
financial or social problems may arise at this time. Important decisions may have
to be made.
The Third Year
The new trend takes on a more definite form. One usually has some idea of
what life now offers. This should be a year of definite exteriorization and action,
even though one may feel very lonely; the new ideals appear unrealizable, and
one’s abilities seem most inadequate. This lack of technique and of adequate means
is often acute, yet there is a deep sense that one has to go on, even if motivated
only by emotion or irrational enthusiasm or devotion.
The Fourth Year
The new trend should now be incorporated into new activities. New possibilities
are revealed, and new issues are met - both social and personal. This must be a
year of struggle, of conflict, and often of hard work, yet also of spiritual
fecundation - otherwise it will be a fruitless resignation to old patterns. A
choice either conscious or unconscious, personal or social, is usually made, or
seemingly forced upon the person by circumstances. It may come at the exact
midpoint of the 7-year period (three and one half years, which is the cyclic
turning point), but more generally it occurs throughout the fourth year.
The Fifth Year
This is often the year of greatest self-expression when the keynote of the
entire 7-year period may reveal itself with the greatest personal intensity - a
year of flowering and of conscious development within the limits of what has
been realized or visualized during the third year. A contact with the highest
reaches of one’s nature attainable in that 7-year period is usually made now.
One may find a “teacher” guide or helper - or one may function as a leader
themselves. Negatively, destruction of hopes, “matter” or “human nature” wins
over spirit.
The Sixth Year
This may be a year of fruition and culmination, yet with the need for some kind
of sacrifice, perhaps the giving up of some cherished ideals and personal
contacts. One must cultivate compassion and understanding to encounter the deep
and often tragic experiences, the dissatisfactions, and the restless sense of
frustration which may arise - even in the midst of apparent success and happiness.
One should try to evaluate one’s degree of success or failure and be ready, ideally,
to dedicate one’s efforts to the attainment of some future new state.
The Seventh Year
The seed year. The entire period is being concluded, and the need for some
new life-values and a new phase of destiny or character development is felt -
sometimes with poignant intensity. This should be a period of consummation
and illumination, a high point in consciousness. In many cases, however,
the negative factors predominate; the need and hope for a new phase of life
is stronger than the joyous fulfillment of the old phase. And yet, the fulfillment
of the old will actually create the new. Where there has been frustration instead
of fulfillment, or a sense of inadequacy in the face of family or social pressures,
the need and hope for the new “cries out to heaven” for another opportunity to
start afresh. In either case, this seventh year contains in seed form the substance
of the subsequent 7-year cycle, the promise of a new beginning, and one should
prepare confidently for it.
Applying the Age Factor
This is a very general pattern which the astrologer must apply according to the
age, life-conditions and social or personal problems of the individual. When the
astrologer takes these generic cyclic patterns as a background for their
interpretation of the individual progressions and transits, their interpretation
will have a deeper and more intimate meaning. The age factor will not reveal the
success or failure (both of which are value-judgements) of a venture, or whether
an event will end happily or unfortunately; rather, it will indicate the part
the event will play in the total life-development of a person. The astrological
configurations - natal, progressed and transiting - at the time will help to
determine whether the positive or negative meaning of the year and the 7-year
period will enter most into consideration.
We may take marriage as an example. Rudhyar stresses that in attempting to
discover the meaning of a marriage, or of any strong partnership psychologically
similar to marriage, one must not think only of outer happiness or apparent
success in the eyes of society. Many an outwardly successful marriage has meant
spiritual death to at least one of the partners. What counts here is the purpose
which that marriage will play in the life-destiny of that individual. In this,
the age factor can reveal as much as any other astrological factor as to the
deeper significance of the union. The 7-year period between age 21 to 28 is the
time during which everyone normally develops the social phase of their character
and destiny. Since marriage is basically a social impulse, most people who marry
do so generally between the ages of 21 to 28, or make some decision then which
will lead to marriage later. Next, the astrologer should note which year of this
7-year period the marriage, or the decision to marry took place. If it occurred
during the second year, one might presume that the partnership is likely to be
somewhat confused, and the social issues at stake may bring conflict of some
sort. The partnership will help greatly to make concrete the keynote of the
7-year period, yet resistance and psychological confusion can be expected.
If marriage, or any union to be considered the psychological equivalent of
marriage, takes place either before or after the “social level” - age 21 to 28 -
this fact in itself will give a particular meaning to the union. A marriage
taking place before the age of 21 would stress the “psychological factors”
rather than the “social” and may be based on a purely emotional or
instinctual-sexual impulse which may or may not last. At that age a person is
looking for emotional security and a parent figure rather than a partner. The
same may be true of a marriage which takes place during the introverted
psychological level - age 49 to 56. At the same time, however, the person may be
looking either for a parent figure, or for someone to whom they can be a
parent-figure. In both cases, however, the primary motivation is emotional
security.
Marriage after the age of 28 is likely to have a very “personal” meaning. A more
mature personality unites with another to satisfy mutually personal, spiritual
needs - needs which are individuallyformed, rather than the results of collective
agreement. From age 35 - 42, which is the introverted personality level,
there will also be an expansion of consciousness through human relationship
as a motivating force in the union. A marriage taking place during the introverted
social period - age 42 to 49 - may be based on the need to ensure social security;
the person may be looking for an escort or a hostess rather than a soul-mate.
It may also be a psychological reaction to the frustrations of work, or to
personal losses experienced during the first half of life (the basic keynote of
the period 42 to 49).
What is suggested here in relation to marriage or other close pair-bonded
relationships also applies to the choice of one’s life work. The usual time such
a decision is made is during the age 14 to 21 period - the extroverted
psychological level. At this time of life, a person is most influenced by
peer-group pressure so that a choice of career at this time is likely to be
based on the emotional security of peer approval - i.e., that it will provide
them with a good income and thereby social standing in their community rather
than being the expression of their personal creativity.
The selection of a career made at another time in the life would have a very
different meaning. Take for example, four individuals all of whom chose to be
doctors. None of them made that decision at the usual time (age 14 to 21).The
first decided to become a doctor when he was five years old. In this case he was
merely exteriorizing the values of his family - his father and grandfather were
also doctors. Thus, for him, medicine was an expression of family tradition, and
his life-work was decided by the pressures of that tradition rather than by a
consciously made choice. The second person did not decide to enter medicine
until their 22nd year. At the same time they were a psychologist working with
schizophrenic children, and they realized that they could do more for those
children if they had a medical degree. Their decision to enter medicine,
therefore, was made on the basis of the contribution they could make to society.
Scorning the more lucrative and glamorous branches of medicine which appeal to
one seeking approval of their peers, they entered a field of genetic research -
a specialization which reflects the social level.
In the third example, the individual did not decide to become a doctor until she
was twenty-eight years old. Earlier she abandoned a career in mathematics in
order to marry, and although she was devoted to her family, felt the role of
wife-mother was personally stifling. Her choice of a medical career was an
expression of her individual creativity. The fourth example did not choose to
become a doctor until he was thirty-nine. He felt that this was the last chance
to fulfill the dream of a lifetime. More than a change of career was involved
here; there was also a change in personal attitude and life-style. By the time
his children were approaching college age and he was well-established in another
career. Entering medical school necessitated the liquidation of all his worldly
goods and uprooting his family; however, since the decision was made with their
approval and support, when he finally received his degree, the wife and children
shared in his sense of personal accomplishment.
In this same way, all important decisions or turning points in the life can be
measured in terms of the age factor, thereby providing an additional dimension
and a more persona meaning above and beyond the event itself. In addition to
marriage and career, all major illnesses, changes of residence, divorce, loss of
a parent, creative or social achievements, birth of children and religious
conversions may be examined in terms of the age at which the individual
experienced them. This generis cycle gives a framework which will be universally
valid even though each individual introduces particular modifications of the
pattern it establishes. At the same time, the more significant the individual
destiny in a spiritual sense, the closer the individual cycles will follow the
generic pattern. This according to Rudhyar is the great paradox. As he said in
The Astrology of Personality,
"The supremely individuated personality reveals the most perfectly in its outline of
character, consciousness and destiny the form of generic Man. The most
individual becomes the most universal, just because of being the most
individual. He becomes a “solar Hero” - an Exemplar or Avatar, whose deeds
and whose personality are universally significant."
(1st edition, 1936, p.239)
