The Astrology of Turning 36: When You Really, Finally Feel Grownup
By training, I am a western astrologer, but I enjoy learning from people who practice different kinds of astrology. One of the ideas has really captured my imagination comes from India. It says that the planets mature at certain ages. I love this idea because I can really intuit the truth of it. You weren't born with a fully developed brain. Why would you be born with a fully developed Mercury?
The last planet to come online is Saturn* at 36 years old. Saturn is the planet of discipline and authority. It describes your coming of age story. You can’t really experience Saturn fully until you’re old enough to be someone’s boss. Saturn is also the Old Man, which means that Saturn can’t really be what it is until it has started to understand aging.
The time around my 36th birthday was when I finally started to fell like a grownup. For most people, this is the time of the first Saturn square after your Saturn return, when Saturn is in a sign that is square their natal Saturn. Modern western astrologers say the first Saturn Square is when we're starting to really process the results of our Saturn returns.
First Saturn Square: Big Changes, Grand Designs
For me, 36 brought big changes in my career and my relationships. By the time my first Saturn square was over, my marriage of almost 20 years was also over, and I was well on my way to becoming a full-time professional astrologer.
I first got serious about astrology around my Saturn return, but I had no intention of becoming an astrologer. For the better part of the previous decade, I had been working full-time as a writer with astrology slowly starting to take up more of my time. When I was 36, I had the opportunity to take on design work at a startup. A group of us wanted to create apps for astrologers and tarot readers, and I was the only one who was willing to touch design. In the process, I learned that I love talking with people about their dream apps and helping developers create products users love. I decided to enroll in an intensive studying UX design and explore making it my day job.
I didn’t end up becoming a UX designer, but the skills I learned in that program were vital for building a successful astrology practice. The program helped me mature. It taught me how to listen more deeply to my clients. I learned to ask more questions and seek out constructive criticism instead of seeing feedback as a sign of failure. In the end, I was able to create a client-centered practice focused on using astrology to serve others.
A Maturing Relationship With Saturn at 36
Often, Saturn transits are a wakeup call, a time when you need to buckle down and do some hard work. Like most saturnine people, hard work has never been a problem for me. When my Saturn has been dysfunctional it has tended to express itself as a refusal to accept my own limits—especially when it comes to my career. I have the midheaven in Aries, and Saturn has a hard time with Aries energy because Aries is a natural sprinter. It is really good at putting an intense amount of energy into beginning a task, but it needs help from other signs to sustain that effort after that initial burst of effort is over.
Making a big career change can't happen overnight, which means it didn’t happen in the way my Aries midheaven would have preferred. Before my Saturn square, a transition like that would have been a disaster. I would have struggled to accomplish six months of change in six weeks and gotten sick or depressed if I failed.
Instead, I found that the advice I’d been getting for most of my adult life finally made sense. For the first time, I understood that organization systems only work when you have an external authority standing over you or those systems are used for work you deeply want to do. I started keeping a bullet journal full of lists of books to read and things I want to accomplish. It’s a constant reminder of my roadmap, a compass when I’ve lost my way. I learned that some projects are too big to keep in your head, and being able to see how far you’ve come boosts morale and helps to keep things in perspective.
What made the difference? Why was suddenly able to change the I work?
I can only guess the Indian astrologers are right. Saturn said I was finally ready to grow up.
*Technically, Rahu and Ketu come online after this, but they aren’t exactly planets.
Related Articles
