In the popular imagination, Midlife Crises are something that happen to men as they enter their forties. “My husband just went out and blew £200k of our savings on a Ferrari – he’s never done anything like this before. Why now? Why?”
But the reality is that everyone goes through a midlife crisis. It’s a pattern that plays out in various ways between the ages of 38-45, during a “Uranus Half Return”.
A Uranus What?
A Uranus Half Return. Let’s go into this a bit more.
The planet Uranus requires about 84 years to circle a person’s astrological natal chart. At around age 42, Uranus will be half-way around the chart and getting ready to return to its starting point. Symbolically and from a psycho-spiritual perspective this is very important. Uranus – like us – is at its furthest point from where it started. We are at our furthest away from home – the Divine. We are completely enmeshed in the material world. However long over the next 42 years we have left to live, Uranus wants to bring us back to the Divine.
Uranus is the planet of rebellion and revolution (fittingly it was discovered in 1781, during the American War of Independence). It’s characterised by sudden activity, rapid changes and instability. It’s not going to wait passively for us to wake up. It’s going to challenge us with sudden breakthroughs and setbacks to help us become a more authentic version of ourselves. And we particularly feel the Uranus effect during the Uranus Half Return (the age range for a Uranus Half Return is actually 38-45 years, depending on different generations – because Uranus has an elliptical orbit).
There’s a psychological component to a Uranus Half Return. It’s common for people entering their forties to start experiencing disappointment and / or frustration with their lives, their achievements, the responsibilities they are shouldering. Even people who have manifested all their dreams and ambitions start to feel a nagging sense of “is this it? there’s got to be more to life than this.” They realise that now that they have satisfied their basic material needs, everything above this which they are striving for somehow kinda misses the point. The key phrase here is nagging dissatisfaction.
But Uranus also manifests externally – or put another way, signals what we are unconsciously manifesting in the material world. It’s not unusual during a Uranus Half Return for very disruptive events to suddenly happen. A person in this period suddenly loses their job, wants a divorce, has a health scare, bumps into an old lover, unexpectedly comes into money, gets offered a job opportunity on the other side of the world – something, or a cluster of somethings, happen and they can’t ignore it. They are forced to take stock and consider seriously what’s truly important to them. The more they try and repress these energies of change, the more likely the universe is going to give them a bigger knock on the head next to get them to listen.
What Uranus is trying to get each of us to do is go against our instincts for security and routine and go off in a radically different direction. This doesn’t mean that setting off haphazardly or impulsively is the right response to this energy. The person who enters midlife and suddenly quits their job or blows £200k on a Ferrari is acting out their Uranus energy – but not necessarily wisely. To ride the energy wisely, there has to be a plan. There has to be some sort of vision for the new person we have to be. But critically we have to act on the plan and vision – because staying with the status quo will become psychologically and even materially very uncomfortable – perhaps even untenable. And this is why so many people start to change their priorities in their forties.
What Area Of My Life Will Be Affected?
The area of your life where Uranus will most impact you depends on which House it is travelling through in your chart when you reach your Half Return. Uranus has been in Taurus the last 3 years. So if Taurus is your 10th House of Career, Uranus will have been throwing career curveballs at you for this period. Perhaps an unexpected job opportunity came along, or the door to an anticipated promotion got slammed in your face. “No”, Uranus is saying, “despite what you think, this isn’t the route we want you going down.”
If Uranus is in your 1st House the way you have been perceived – or wanted to have been seen – by others has changed dramatically over the last 3 years. Your physical appearance (haircut, plastic surgery etc) or style of dress will have altered. Shy people with Uranus in their 1st House discover a new confidence. Many people with Uranus here become openly restless and impatient.
Uranus in the 4th House of the Home might feel impelled to completely renovate their house or rent it out. Some might lose their home or move somewhere completely new. Uranus in the 5th House of Creativity unleashes a new zest in people for artistic and creative pursuits. People with Uranus here become very passionate about their creativity and look to see how they can monetise it or maximise the time they are doing it. People with Uranus in their 9th House find that they learn new skills or topics at double the speed their thought they could.
So, a Uranus Half Return is a very critical period for all of us. At times it can be a wild ride – alternatively exciting, frustrating and very out of our comfort zone. But remember: something inside us wants us to grow into a better, more balanced, version of ourselves. Uranus is striving to free us up to become this new vision of ourselves. So if you are going through a Uranus Half Return, or about to experience one, allow yourself to step back and see the bigger picture!
