Career Challenges for the Pluto-Uranus in Virgo Generation

©2008 by Donna Cunningham, MSW 

The group that dominates the work force now is the 40 somethings–the 1960s astrological generation with both Pluto and Uranus in Virgo.  The past several years, they’ve been going through their mid-life crisis–and I mean going through it!!  Let’s see what’s special about their mid-life era.  

 A story in USA Today on 1/9/08 detailed a recent study by two economists who analyzed data from over two million people in 80 countries on depression, anxiety, mental well-being, happiness and life satisfaction. People in their 40s were more likely to be depressed and weren’t as happy as other ages. For both sexes, the probability of depression was greatest around age 44. 

Midlife was such a low point for wellbeing that it fell at the bottom of a U-shaped curve that indicated greater happiness among the young and old. The study’s co-author, Andrew Oswald, concluded: 

  “It’s something deep, beyond all the controls in our equation. It’s a developing midlife low. It doesn’t just happen one year and go away another. My best conjecture is that people eventually learn to quell infeasible aspirations. They manage to get their expectations into line with what they can actually achieve.” 

  Their findings match astrological teachings about the midlife series of transits in which Uranus opposes natal Uranus, Pluto squares natal Pluto, Neptune squares natal Neptune, and Saturn opposes natal Saturn. In the years I’ve been practicing, I’ve witnessed midlife years of astrology clients born in the 1930s to 1960s, but by far the most difficult transition has been for the group born in the 1960s with Uranus and Pluto conjunct in Virgo as part of a complex pattern of aspects. The transiting Uranus-Saturn opposition from Virgo to Pices added new elements and stresses to the midlife mix that all generations have faced, making it a far more challenging passage. 

  You’d Be Depressed, Too!  What’s Troubling Them? 

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, people born during the tumultuous 1960s make up the largest percentage of the labor force (about 28%) and include an estimated 41 million workers between 40 and 49. 

The issue of Right Livelihood is an important dimension in the collective psychology of those with the Virgo conjunction prominent—that is, when it’s joined by additional Virgo planets, appears on the angles, or makes many aspects—and especially when it falls in the vocational houses. Their sense of purpose and self-worth, their hopes and expectations are shaped by it. When they aren’t fulfilled in work, their joy of living is greatly diminished. 

In its positive expressions, people with this remarkably gifted combination are well-suited to contribute solutions to today’s daunting social, medical, and economic problems. To understand why work is so important to them, let’s consider some qualities you might see if Pluto and Uranus were placed in the vocational houses and well-aspected.  

• Pluto:                                    Uranus:                                  Virgo:
• Insightful                              Socially-Conscious           Eager To Serve
• Analytical                            Visionary                               Practical
• Focused                                Innovative                            Attentive To Detail
• Deep, Probing                    Detached                               Sensible, Level Headed
• Passionate Concern         Idealistic                               Meticulous
• Persistent                             Independent                       Hard-Working
• Healer                                    Humanitarian                     Skilled And Capable
• Transformation                 Revolution                           Steady Improvement

 If your line of work is devoted to improving our world and making life better for those who are struggling, wouldn’t you want these sterling individuals working for you? Vast changes in the workplace in recent decades make career satisfaction a major challenge for this subgeneration. Especially during and immediately after the midlife cycle, many contend with disillusionment and despair. 

Virgo, on the whole, is a sign with integrity and a strong distaste for dirty tactics. Unfortunately, the corporate world is increasingly corrupt, and the bottom line, rather than service to consumers, determines most workplace policies and practices. Virgo has high standards, yet living up to them has become nearly impossible. Shoddy workmanship offends them, and with today’s heavy workloads, quality is sacrificed for profit. Many of this generation are stuck in jobs where they feel like cogs in a machine that has long since lost its humanity and honor. These trends became more and more prevalent during their thirties and forties, prime time in anyone’s career. 

Slash/Careers–A Subgeneration’s Solution? 

 What career path might work for members of this subgeneration who find the mainstream workplace distasteful and dehumanizing? There are people with the Pluto-Uranus conjunction who love their jobs and who awake each day eager to get to their desks, but many of these fortunate individuals are self-employed, not part of a corporate machine. 

Whether natally or by transit, iIndependent Uranus in the career houses–the 2nd, 6th, or 10th– often indicates self-employment in your own business or as a consultant of some kind, a growing segment of the labor force. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, workers age 45 and older represented 38% of the workforce in total in 2002, but they made up 54% of the self-employed (in unincorporated businesses only).  

People with strong Uranus aspects have the capacity to periodically reinvent themselves in ways that appeal to the collective. To survive in today’s fast-paced, ever-changing economy, the capacity to stay on top of new trends and develop leading-edge products and services is a distinct asset.  Another increasingly popular tactic to survive market fluctuations—and career stagnation—is to diversify by pursuing several vocational tracks at once. Since Virgo is both a mutable and an earth sign, Virgo placements often grant a plethora of practical skills and the capacity to transfer such assets from one type of enterprise to another. Always seeking to improve their performance, the best Virgoans constantly refine their skills and so have more and more to offer as they mature. 

Perhaps self-employment plus diversification is a solution for many in the 1960s group. An online columnist for the New York Times, Marci Alboher coined the term “slash careers” to describe this growing phenomenon. Herself an author/journalist/speaker/life coach author/journalist/speaker/life coach, she has developed strategies for making diverse career passions work together.  Her helpful book, One Person/Multiple Careers: a New Model for Work/Life Success, explains how to make the Slash Effect work.  For this subgeneration, Pluto’s capacity to rise from its own ashes and Uranus’s inventiveness can make the Slash Career approach a successful tactic for economic survival over the long haul. 

 Note: this is an excerpt from a longer article published in Memberletter, the journal of the National Council for GeoCosmic Research,  in June-July, 2008. Download the full text article—including  sources for the articles cited—here:  The Vocational Angst of the 1960s Generation 

NOTE: Scroll  down and read the comments on this one, folks!  We’ve had a lively and productive discussion in response to this post.   

More Posts about Vocational Astrology on this Blog:   

• Uranus In The Career Houses—“You’re Not The Boss Of Me!”
• Planets Squaring the Midheaven—How They Affect your Career
• Pluto in the Career Houses–The Power to Manifest or Fail for Spite
• Life Patterns of People Born with Uranus-Saturn Aspects
• Saturn Transits—What do They Mean to your Career?
• Transits to the Vocational Houses–Temp Job or Career Departure?

More Posts about Uranus on this Blog:  

• 10 Things You May not Know about Uranus 
• Uranus In The Career Houses—“You’re Not The Boss Of Me!”  
• Venus-Uranus Aspects among the Glitterati
• Venus-Uranus Aspects: Two-Minute Friends and other Modern Relationships
• The Mars-Uranus Conjunction in Pisces and Children Born with it
• Life Patterns of People Born with Uranus-Saturn Aspects
• Neptune & Uranus in Mutual Reception
• Uranian Ideas—Exceptional Thoughts about an Exceptional Planet 

More Posts about Pluto on this Blog:  

·         Pluto-Saturn Preparedness Kit #1—Houses & Areas of Life Affected  

·        6 Things You May Not Know about Pluto 

·        Pluto in the Career Houses–The Power to Manifest or Fail for Spite  

·         Pluto in Capricorn: A Laugh and a Half, by John Marchesella 

·        How the Pluto-Saturn Square may Affect People born with that Aspect 

·         The Steamy Side of Venus-Pluto Aspects—A Photo Gallery  

·         High Maintenance–a Venus-Pluto Vignette  

·        Mars-Pluto Aspects? Use your Manifestation Mojo!  

·        Healing Tools For Plutonians: Transforming The Self And Others 

·        Purge Yourself of Pluto’s Negativity—Get Free of Bitterness 

·        Pluto and the transiting Antiscia–not Over ’til It’s Over   

   

 

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Art Credits: Like most posts on this site, the art here came from Clipart.com.