Is your Uranus in Opposition? (No disrespect intended)

In my experience, a very often  (and apparently not-so-unusual phenomenon happens in my coaching practice) —I seem to attract people who are dealing with such similar issues as I am in my life and career.  If you’re a therapist, counsellor, boss or friend, you’ve undoubtedly experienced the same—when you client or colleague or friend of report starts to share what they think is their unique personal trauma with you, you think, hey, I know this — this is happening in my life too! I think God is on a mission; to show ourselves to ourselves in every encounter.

Many clients these days who partner with me in my coaching services are individuals between the ages of 38 to 43. I’m 40, so we in this group are in the middle of some crazy and defining years. In astrological speak, we call this time the ‘mid-life crises’ (aaargh—horrible term—”mid-life”) and it’s marked by the significant position that the planet Uranus occupies in the sky—it’s exactly opposite the position it occupied in the sky on the day each of us was born.   Known as the Uranus opposition, this cycle is the culmination of our life direction and suggests an often-dramatic shift into a new direction. Like any Uranus transit (the most impactful being at the ages of around 21, 41 and 84) we often experience unexpected events that shake up our old realities, messengers bearing synchronistic messages that jar us loose from old perceptions, or feelings of restlessness or even anxiety that disrupt old patterns.

Susan Jackson describes it like this; ‘The Uranus opposition can be like a summer lightening storm which releases the built-up pressure and clears the air. We are freed up from the ghosts of the past; we experience breakthroughs from the break down or break up of old ways of being and behaving. The lightening bolts of Uranus illuminate the landscape of our psyche and we see new directions and goals to move towards.’    Carl Jung refers to the period when he was 40 as a “Confrontation with the Unconscious” in his autobiography, Memories, Dreams, Reflections. He writes that this was a time of “inner uncertainty” (p.170) and “restlessness” (p.190).

I hear that!

The purpose behind it all?  The Uranus opposition, it is said, must move us beyond the known limits of shoulds and supposed-to’s and bring us into the richness and fullness of our authentic Self.