Midlife Transits: Neptune Opposition Pluto

Neptune opposition Pluto is a midlife transit that occurs when people are in their mid-50s, at least for this generation. Pluto's orbit is irregular so when Neptune will move into opposition with it varies from generation to generation. Right now, people born during the years 1951 to 1955 are affected. People born in 1956 through 1958 will be affected soon. So what does this transit bring?

A sticky situation. That's the most common manifestation I see of this particular transit. Some situation in a person's life just does not want to get resolved.  In the course of life, there are often things that take a long time to complete. If you want to sell your house and move to a new community when your kids leave home, it might take a year or two to make the necessary decisions and implement a plan.

But when Neptune opposes Pluto, the wait seems agonizingly long. The year and a half to two and a half years of the transit seem to last forever. The necessary information doesn’t seem to be available; decisions are hard to make, and nobody that you have to deal with seems to want to cooperate.

Interestingly, the situations that I see develop in real life for people when Neptune in Aquarius opposes natal Pluto in Leo are most often relationship oriented. I have quite a few cases in my files (way higher than chance) of people who became involved with someone during or before this transit whose marital status ended up being rather ambiguous.

Now, this is the Neptune in Libra generation, so there are quite a few people with ambiguous marital situations in this generation anyway. Although I'm a Neptune in Scorpio person myself, I have a number of friends with Neptune in Libra. And I have to say, I have seen some incredibly ingenious ways for these people's marital situations to become rather unclear.

I have one friend who dates regularly but has never divorced her husband and technically still lives with him. He is rarely home, though, because he is involved with another woman and spends a lot of time with her. Neither of them have actually told their son straight out exactly why they have such an unusual arrangement. This is just one example, but I know others who have not technically divorced spouses they no longer consider themselves involved with. And others who have divorced but remain in such close relationships that it's hard to tell. Others are married and still in loving relationships with their spouses, but the relationships have become platonic, and the parties have chosen to seek sexual liaisons elsewhere.

Since these people are my friends, I have come to just accept their situations without too much thought. Coming from a different Neptune generation, though, I have to admit that sometimes I end up really scratching my head when the people involved try to explain how their situations evolved and why they made the choices they did.

Maybe it's our Scorpio influence, but most members of my own generation seems to be a bit more brutal and yet more final about these things. When it's over, it's over. Divorce or indeed the ending of any relationship is most often a terrible and painful thing, but Scorpio is the sign of eliminating what does not work. So one grieves and goes on. Scorpio seems less inclined to hang on than Libra does.

Now, obviously, every person with Neptune in Libra is not part of an ambiguous marriage by their mid-50s. That's just not true. What often happens, though, during Neptune opposition Pluto is that the person with the transit becomes involved with someone in an ambiguous marriage. Sometimes these relationships are rather private; sometimes they are more public and visible. Sometimes the person experiencing the transit doesn’t so much get involved in a new relationship as somehow being drawn into their ex's new relationship. Health problems arise; financial situations occur; stuff happens. And somehow or another, the ex comes back into the picture. A triangle of some sort develops—even if no one was really intending that at the beginning of the transit.

I believe this is partly because this Neptune opposition Pluto transit so often occurs for this generation right at the same time that Neptune in Aquarius trines Neptune in Libra. I suppose this creates an urge to remain friends with an ex-spouse. The next round of folks to confront this transit may have a somewhat difference experience.

As far as I can tell, these relationships or inadvertent triangles serve important and valuable emotional purposes for the people in them. But oh my gosh, does that ambiguous marital status end up playing havoc with the emotions of the people involved! You can blame that part on Pluto.

During the Neptune opposition Pluto transit, someone (or occasionally an institution like a hospital, the government, or a financial institution) has to play the role of the obstacle. One member of the triangle seems to the person undergoing the transit like an immovable force who simply will not let things resolve themselves or progress. Most infuriatingly, it often seems incredibly difficult to get any information on why this is happening. The hospital won't tell you anything. The government rules make no sense. The mysterious ex or the person you're romantically involved with will not commit to a resolution date. People who are supposed to move out or move on—won't. People who promised to file the divorce papers or the property settlement—won't sign the paperwork.

Most often, these sticky situations don't seem to develop as a result of a lack of love or goodwill (at least not among my friends and clients!). And, sticky as they are, these situations do eventually resolve themselves. And like most transits that can be considered difficult or at the very least a trial of patience, they often bestow a parting gift as they end. I ought to know. My boyfriend met me on the last day of his Neptune opposition Pluto transit and we've been together ever since!

How about you? Have you ever been involved in a sticky situation like this? How did it work out? Or is it still going on? Did you learn anything as a result or receive any sort of spiritual, emotional, or romantic gift from the experience?