Cosmic Milestones That Shape Your Life
Astrological cycles offer profound insight into the human journey. These cosmic check-ins express themselves collectively and personally. At certain ages, the planets form alignments that echo and activate the positions they held at the moment of our birth. While the timing is universal, the way each transit shows up—through the signs, houses, and your unique level of awareness—makes the experiences deeply personal.
Below are the most pivotal astrological life events you can expect, with an emphasis placed on the ones that play out in adulthood.
Jupiter Return: Oh, the places we’ll go.
When:
Age of the Jupiter Return: ~12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, 96.
Themes: Growth, abundance, learning as a tool for expansion.
Every 12 years, Jupiter returns to the same sign and degree it occupied at your birth, ushering in a fresh cycle of growth, opportunity, and knowledge. These are often times of renewed optimism and expansion, especially in the specific house that Jupiter is transiting. I’ve personally found that we what we get from a Jupiter transit is a reflection of what we put into it. Because it is an archetype of luck and good times, it can certainly facilitate ease and convenience along the way. It can also cause us to assume things will simply work out, and we can feel tempted to stop butting in effort. A balanced Jupiter transit still encourages us to move in the direction of the manifestations we seek. It’s hard to win the lottery if you don’t buy the ticket — that sort of thing.
Nodal Return & Nodal Opposition in Astrology
When:
Age of Nodal Return: ~18.6, 37, 55, 74, 93.
Age of Nodal Opposition: ~9.3, 27, 46, 65
Themes: Cosmic re-routes, ensuring your life is on-track and aligning to the soul’s bigger intention.
The Lunar Nodes (also known as the North and South Nodes) represent your karmic past and soul’s growth trajectory. A Nodal Return realigns you with your soul’s purpose, often triggering life direction shifts, spiritual awakenings, or major realignments.
During a Nodal Opposition, you may feel caught between past patterns and future potential. It’s a powerful crossroads moment—especially around ages 27 and 46.
Saturn Return: Responsibility, Timing, Transformation
When:
Age of Saturn Return: 29, 58, 87
Themes: Responsibility, maturity, and understanding limits.
The Saturn Return is one of the most well-known astrology transits, and for good reason. It marks the end of one chapter and the beginning of a more grown-up, grounded one. Saturn asks us to be realistic about what’s needed and feasible. And more often than not, stepping up and growing a backbone is required. This is a time when people make serious decisions rooted in commitment—marriage, becoming parents, career pivots, divorce, kids leaving the house, retiring, health changes.
Pluto Square Pluto: Power, Shadow Work & Soul Transformation
When:
Age of Pluto square: ~36-39
Themes: Understanding one’s power, releasing the need for control, overcoming fear.
In your late 30s, transiting Pluto squares your natal Pluto, igniting an intense period of psychological growth and deep inner transformation. Control issues, power dynamics, or buried emotions may rise to the surface. At its core, this transit is prompting us to face our fears; in this, we also reconcile something important about our relationship to our own power and perseverance. We’re stronger than we think. But the only way to know that is to be a bit freaked out and realize we’re still standing. It’s a time to shed old skin and face what we’ve been avoiding, but through important new ways.
Neptune Square Neptune: The Start of a new dream. but first, Spiritual Fog
When:
Age of Neptune square: ~40-42.
Themes: Dissolution, confusion, spiritual awakening.
Around early 40s, transiting Neptune forms a square to your natal Neptune, creating a period of emotional fog, confusion, or questioning. This can become a source of creativity and inspiration, but some part of our reality feels disconnected and disillusioned at the same time. Ultimately, the Neptune square sets the foundation for a handful of important transits that happen in our 40s (see below), which all lead to us building a life that deeply reflects who we are currently. In the Neptune square, what once felt clear might now feel uncertain. You're dissolving outdated ideals to reconnect with your deeper truth. Space and stillness are required to access the creative potential of this transit.
Uranus Opposition: the Midlife Awakening
When:
Age of Uranus opposition: ~42-44.
Themes: Liberation, radical change, and personal revolution and rebellion.
The Uranus opposition is often associated with a midlife awakening (or a midlife crisis, depending on how you’re experiencing it). When Uranus opposes its natal position, it disrupts anything that’s keeping you stuck. There is a sense of urgency to this transit; life might realistically be more than half over. Is this the one we want? What are we waiting for if it’s not? Expect change. This transit is a radical reprioritization, and it often looks like people throwing up their arms and saying, “Enough.”
Chiron Return: Healing the Core Wound
When:
Age of Chiron Return: ~49-51.
Themes: Deep healing, wisdom integration, and soul alchemy.
Chiron, the “Wounded Healer,” returns to its natal placement around age 50. This can stir up old emotional pain, but it’s also a chance to heal what’s been lingering—sometimes for decades. Chiron symbolizes pain and rejection wounds that we come in with, those tender points that don’t quite ever heal over entirely. I personally believe that Chiron is often experienced as wounding until most of us go through the Chiron return, at which point we dip into the “healer” side of the archetype. Wounding becomes wisdom, and thus, medicine. Perspective is everything, isn’t it?
Astrological Transits Aren’t Random—They’re Sacred
Each one of these life events in astrology is a portal and checkpoint. Are you in the middle of one now? I’d love to hear more about it in the comments below.
And if you find this type of insight exciting, insightful, and helpful, consider the Soul Support Membership, where we fuse astrology and coaching to help you move through your days empowered and aligned.
