[6] LifeCycles of responsibility—the first cycle of Saturn (part 2)

But, in the natural order of things, acceptance is followed by rebellion!  By the age of 14-15, you battle your way into adolescence beginning with the Saturn opposition.  While this is really about testing your own limits, being an opposition, it seems to come from outside, and in particular from those old symbols of authority, your parents.  Now, consolidating what you’ve learned so far and preparing for the next expansion of boundaries, it seems you are ready to take control of your life, although you’re far from ready yet.  You suffer the Saturnian depths of self-doubt while projecting its ideals onto new romantic partners as you begin to push the boundaries of relationship.  While many manifestations of this phase may be deeply troubling for the parents, and perhaps traumatic for the adolescent, this separation from parental limitation, is, of course, an absolutely vital step on the path to individuation.  Successfully negotiated, it marks the beginning of a more equal relationship with mother and father and a revision and expansion of the lessons of realisation from the conjunction phase 14 years ago.

The graphic shows the second half Saturn LifeCycle, from the opposition (180°) at almost 15, through the approaching square (90°) around the age of 22 and back to the conjunction (0°) or Return between 29 and 30 years old.

Receiving the key to the front door at 21 was the traditional way of acknowledging that you’d reached the age of responsibility.  It was perhaps a little early and today’s wide acceptance of the age of majority at 18 even more so in terms of the Saturnian LifeCycle.  But by the age of 22, the approaching square brings serious doubts about your identity, but it does also signify the beginning of a period when you begin to shoulder the burden of being a responsible contributor to society.  You have bought in to many of the rules and conventions of behaviour and are willingly participating in the creation of the structures of society in your own life—a steady job, a stable relationship, four walls around a place of your own.  And within these agreed-to boundaries comes the dynamism to create much of the personal, internal structures, the adult values and ethics that will be a foundation for much of the rest of life, despite the challenge about to arrive!

The return of Saturn to its natal position between the ages of 29 and 30 marks a time of intense re-appraisal of all that has gone before—who you are, what you’ve achieved, where you’re going.  It inevitably implies death: of relationships that no longer serve you, of dreams you no longer need.  It marks the final separation from emotional dependence on parents and learning to parent yourself.  At many levels, it is a rebirth, echoing the birth pangs of the original conjunction almost thirty years ago.  You are asked to leave the womb you have created for yourself until now.  If you do so, you will embark on the next great development cycle of your life.  But this can be scary, and you may refuse to do so, but only at the risk of personal stagnation.  After all, you’re at the beginning of the next LifeCycle of responsibility—you get another chance to learn the lessons, grow your power and push the boundaries of life again!

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