Your Life Has Seasons: Astrology as a Compass
- Astromeg
- Dec 30, 2025
- 9 min read
Understanding the Cycles That Shape Who You Become
Every human life unfolds in seasons.
Even though no two charts are alike, many people notice that similar challenges, awakenings, and turning points arise at similar ages. This isn’t coincidence — it’s rhythm.
Astrology doesn’t describe a fixed fate. Instead, it maps the cycles of maturation we move through as we grow, age, release, and reorient. Certain planetary movements act like milestones, marking moments when we are asked to step into greater responsibility, freedom, clarity, or wisdom.
In this article, we explore the longer planetary cycles — the ones that correspond to major life thresholds. As you read, you may recognize moments from your own past, or gain insight into the phase you’re currently navigating.
Why certain years tend to feel like turning points
Even though every chart is wildly unique, it’s striking how often people hit similar crossroads at similar ages. That’s because human development has a rhythm — and astrology mirrors that rhythm through planetary cycles.
Each planet takes a consistent amount of time to orbit the Sun. Saturn completes its circuit in roughly 29–30 years, while Uranus takes about 84. When a planet reaches major angles to its natal position — returning to it, squaring it, or opposing it — we often experience a milestone moment: a pressure point, a growth edge, or a new chapter that asks us to mature.
Because the faster-moving planets cycle frequently, this guide focuses on the longer arcs — Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto — along with a few key points that mark our life direction (like the lunar nodes), plus Jupiter and Chiron for their unmistakable timing signatures.
As you read, notice what resonates with the phase you’re in now. You might also think of loved ones — parents, siblings, friends — and recognize these cycles in their stories too. Keep in mind: the age ranges below are approximate. Retrogrades and individual charts can shift timing slightly.
Let’s begin.
To locate your natal placements, generate your birth chart using a trusted chart tool: www.astro.com
Your Childhood Years
Age 7–8: Opening Saturn Square
One of the first major developmental thresholds arrives around age seven or eight: Saturn forms its first square to its natal position (a 90° angle). Saturn symbolizes structure, limits, and reality. When it makes this first strong contact, we begin to understand: I am a person separate from my caregivers.
This can feel tender — increased shyness, fear of rejection, anxiety around school or social groups, or longing for the safety of “before.” But it’s also a powerful stage of inner strengthening. We start learning how to meet the world on our own two feet.
This same Saturn-square milestone repeats later, too — roughly around ages 36–37, 66–67, and 96–97. Each time, it acts like a checkpoint: new boundaries, new responsibilities, a new level of self-respect.
Age 9: Nodal Opposition
Around age nine, we reach a subtle but meaningful midpoint called a nodal opposition. The lunar nodes point to what we’re learning to move toward (North Node) and what we’re learning to release (South Node). When they oppose their natal positions, priorities shift.
Friendships and social belonging become more complex. Self-awareness increases. Body image and the desire to be perceived “correctly” often begin here. It’s a quiet turning of the inner compass.
Nodal oppositions repeat every nine-ish years after nodal returns, showing up again around ages 27, 45, 63, 81, and 99 — each one a fork in the road of desire and letting go.
Your Tween and Teen Years
Age 12: Jupiter Return
Every 12 years, Jupiter returns to its natal place — and each time, it tends to bring a feeling of growth, confidence, curiosity, and “more life.” The first Jupiter return often coincides with a sense of boldness and experimentation — and for many, it mirrors physical expansion and the onset of puberty.
Jupiter years can feel lucky, expansive, and full of discovery — though not always cautious. The wisdom of Jupiter grows with each cycle, repeating around ages 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, and 96.
Age 14: Saturn Opposition
Around age fourteen, Saturn reaches the point opposite its natal position — a Saturn opposition (180°). This often corresponds with the heavier emotional and social gravity of early adolescence.
Insecurities can sharpen. Mental and emotional wellbeing becomes more noticeable. We begin to recognize consequences more clearly — and we start training for adulthood, whether we want to or not.
Saturn oppositions return again around ages 44 and 74, testing how we handle responsibility and emotional maturity at new levels.
Age 18–19: Nodal Return
Between eighteen and nineteen, the nodes return to where they were at birth: a nodal return. This can feel like the “wheel” turns and points directly at you: direction, purpose, desire, and release come into focus.
It often aligns with leaving home, finishing school, choosing a career direction, traveling, or stepping into adulthood legally and socially. It’s a major pivot point for the soul’s storyline.
Nodal returns repeat around ages 36, 54, 72, and 90, each time asking: What matters now? What am I ready to outgrow? What is calling me forward?
Your Twenties
Age 21–22: Closing Saturn Square + Opening Uranus Square
In the early twenties, Saturn makes its second square to its natal position — a closing Saturn square — the final major test before the first Saturn return. This is where we learn to overcome obstacles with real-world grit: leaving school, starting work, choosing a path, making adult decisions without a safety net.
Saturn can trigger fear, but it also builds capability. This cycle returns around ages 49–50 and 79–80, repeating the theme of commitment, boundaries, and long-term maturity.
Around the same time, Uranus makes its opening square. This is the first big Uranian push toward freedom and authenticity. The early twenties can be scary — but also wildly liberating. It’s when you start letting yourself be unusual, original, and real.
Age 24: Second Jupiter Return
At twenty-four, Jupiter returns again — often bringing a sense of momentum. You’re not entirely “settled,” but you’re more confident as an independent person. It’s a bright, forward-facing year that can open doors through learning, travel, opportunity, and confidence.
Age 28–30: First Saturn Return
Then comes the major rite of passage: the first Saturn return. These years often mark the moment we become undeniably adult — emotionally, financially, relationally, professionally.
Some people commit to partnership, have children, shift careers, move cities, or finally choose a path that feels real. Saturn rewards consistent effort — and calls out what cannot last.
Saturn returns repeat around ages 58–60 and 88–90, each one building upon the last.
Your Thirties
Age 36–37: Nodal Return + Opening Saturn Square
In the mid-thirties, the nodes return again — and the question of purpose tends to sharpen: What am I building? What am I contributing? What am I ready to release?
This phase is often associated with career shifts, family decisions, and refining life direction.
At the same time, Saturn squares its natal position again (the opening Saturn square), acting like a reality check after the first Saturn return. If changes were needed but delayed, Saturn will make them harder to ignore.
Age 36–42: Pluto Square
In late thirties into early forties, Pluto often forms its first square to its natal position. Pluto’s timing varies widely because it moves so slowly, but when it hits, it’s profound.
This is a period of transformation: confronting power dynamics, deep psychology, fear of loss, desire for control, or the urge to claim authority in a new way. Therapy, shadow work, meditation, and journaling can be especially potent.
Age 39–40: Neptune Square
Around 39–40, Neptune often squares its natal position. This can be disorienting — not because something is “wrong,” but because what once felt meaningful may start to blur.
It’s a time when people question relationships, careers, identities, and old dreams. The lesson here isn’t to force certainty — it’s to listen to the longing underneath the confusion.
Your Forties
Age 42: Uranus Opposition
Around forty-two, Uranus opposes its natal position — the transit most associated with the “midlife pivot.” Uranus demands authenticity. If you’ve been living according to someone else’s script, this is when your inner truth pushes hard.
For some, the changes are dramatic. For others, they’re quiet but irreversible: choosing freedom, truth, and alignment.
Age 44: Saturn Opposition
Soon after, Saturn opposes its natal position again. This tests the choices you made through your Saturn return years. It’s often when health, stress, and lifestyle choices begin to show clearer outcomes — and boundaries become non-negotiable.
For many, it’s also a time when emotional maturity deepens and self-responsibility becomes central.
Age 49–50: Chiron Return
Around fifty, Chiron returns to its natal position. Chiron speaks to wounds that shape us — and the wisdom we earn through healing.
This can be a tender period: seeing how far you’ve come, recognizing what still needs gentleness, and stepping into mentorship. It’s often a time when people become guides in new ways — not because life was perfect, but because they’ve learned how to carry what was difficult.
Your Fifties
Age 50–51: Saturn Square
In the early fifties, Saturn forms another square — the final sharpening before the second Saturn return. Responsibilities, boundaries, finances, health, and long-term planning come into focus.
This is Saturn asking: What is sustainable? What must be adjusted so your future is supported?
Age 54: Nodal Return
At fifty-four, the nodes return again. Many people find it helpful to reflect back: What was happening at 18 and 36? What themes are repeating — and how are you responding with more wisdom now?
Age 58–60: Second Saturn Return + Jupiter Return
A second Saturn return arrives around late fifties. This is often a powerful stage of earned authority. If you struggled to claim your expertise earlier in life, it can become much easier now.
Around this time, Jupiter also returns — bringing expansion and perspective, sometimes through teaching, mentoring, travel, or new purpose.
This stage of life feels like enjoying the benefits after having put in the effort.
Your Sixties
Age 63–64: Closing Uranus Square
In your early-to-mid sixties, Uranus squares its natal position again — a closing Uranus square. The freedom story comes full circle.
It’s often a time when uniqueness becomes a strength rather than a risk. Retirement or life restructuring can amplify this feeling: life is yours to design.
Age 66–67: Opening Saturn Square
Saturn squares again, repeating the theme of responsibility and boundaries — but with the wisdom of decades behind you. The question becomes: How do I live well, simply, and with integrity?
Your Seventies
Age 72–74: Nodal Return + Jupiter Return + Saturn Opposition
In early seventies, multiple cycles stack: nodal return, Jupiter return, and Saturn opposition. These years can feel like life coming full circle — integrating old chapters, becoming a living library of wisdom, and offering guidance or care in meaningful ways.
Your Eighties
Age 82–83: Neptune Opposition
Neptune does not return in a human lifetime, but in the early eighties it reaches the opposite point from where it began. This can bring deep contemplation: spirituality, meaning, imagination, forgiveness, acceptance, and peace.
It can also support a softer relationship with time — and a more spacious relationship with life itself.
Age 84: Uranus Return
If you reach your mid-eighties, you experience the Uranus return — a rare full-circle moment of liberation. Many elders report feeling less stressed and less concerned with superficial definitions of success.
It’s a stage of authenticity, present-moment living, and emotional freedom — the culmination of Uranus’ lifelong lesson: be yourself, fully.
The Medicine of Reflecting on These Cycles
These are the major life thresholds many of us move through. If someone lives far beyond these ages, they’ll mostly experience repeats — but with deeper integration each time.
No matter where you are in the story, reflecting on planetary cycles is grounding. It offers context. It reveals that you’re not alone — and that your “hard years” and “breakthrough years” are part of a larger rhythm shared by many.
Astrology doesn’t erase difficulty.But it can give your experience meaning — and help you move through it with more awareness.
Astrological Timing Quick List (Ages + Major Cycles)
7–8: Opening Saturn square
9: Nodal opposition
12: Jupiter return
14: Saturn opposition
18–19: Nodal return
21–22: Closing Saturn square + Opening Uranus square
24: Jupiter return
27: Nodal opposition
28–30: Saturn return
35–37: Jupiter return + Nodal return + Opening Saturn square
36–42: Pluto square
39–40: Neptune square
42: Uranus opposition
44–45: Saturn opposition + Nodal opposition
47–48: Jupiter return
49–50: Chiron return + Closing Saturn square
54: Nodal return
58–60: Jupiter return + Saturn return
63–64: Closing Uranus square + Nodal opposition
65–66: Opening Saturn square
72–74: Nodal return + Jupiter return + Saturn opposition
79–80: Closing Saturn square
81–83: Nodal opposition + Neptune opposition
83–84: Jupiter return + Uranus return
88–90: Saturn return + Nodal return
96–97: Closing Saturn square + Jupiter return
99: Nodal opposition
If this article met you at the right time, consider it a small reminder: you’re not behind — you’re in a cycle.
If you’d like a steadier compass for the months ahead, you might explore:
Breaking Through: From Stuck to Unstoppable — for perspective and momentum
The 2026 Moon Cycles Guide — for rhythm, timing, and reflection
The Manifestation Planner — for consistency and follow-through
The Soul Reset Bundle — for clearing, recalibration, and return to center
Begin wherever you feel the most relief.
This was very informative. I never realized these cycles. Just learned a lot more about astrology and how interesting this subject truly is.