Hi Folks,
Any thoughts on where you would find indications of retirement in a chart? I have read somewhere that the 11th house was old age and retirement. Perhaps because it follow the 10th house of career. What do you think?
thanks,
jana
Hi, Jana. This is a great question but I don't think it has a good answer. Someone else might have a good answer and it's interesting to think, if things might have been different in a different era???
The way I see it now, people retire at all different ages for all kinds of different reasons. There is forced retirement, retirement to have a family, people who retire to care for parents, people who retire... to start a business.
There is also retirement due to disability or injury... there are many transits which can see a person retire.
Example, I "retired" from Frito Lay with Pluto in my 10th house. It was a true "retirement". I get retirement benefits from this, today.
I have not see much of a pattern in real life (consulting) but the most common thing I do see is transiting Saturn, nearing the 4th house.
Hello Hello -- RE: I have not see much of a pattern in real life (consulting) but the most common thing I do see is transiting Saturn, nearing the 4th house.
This actually makes a ton of sense. It starts to dawn on people that they now have the time to make their house as shiny and polished as their professional life. And so many downsize living quarters, peeps who live in cold climes, they retire, pull up stakes and find a new place to live in the sunbelt. They have just shifted their energy to the personal life. It is almost amazing what the energy of Saturn can push people to do.
@sun-mar ? I would look for how many “careers” are indicated for this person, what their needs for money and socialisation are, then I suppose, what they like doing. If you like what you do, you can do it a long long time, job or not. If you hate what you do, you won’t stay a second longer than necessary.
I read somewhere that the youth of today will have as many as 6 careers. ?
I have worked in IT sales, broadcast journalism, took to writing a blog that racked up a couple of million views before life imposed its agenda on me. I don’t count the last to be a career.
I have been in my current career incarnation in a paid capacity for about 7 years now. I was doing it in some form, much much less than now, unpaid, for more than 10 years. My hours increased in the last 4 years and have really ramped up (goodbye weekends, goodbye after-hours fun) in the last 2.
As a point of reference, my 10th is ruled by the Sun, the strongest planet in my chart. Jupiter is conjunct. My chart ruler Pluto in Libra makes a square to it. Venus and Saturn is conjunct in my chart. Depending on who you ask, I work for myself. ?
@elsa Good points as always. I have Saturn transiting the 4th. Been so busy with work that retirement is this wonderful mirage I think about when brushing my teeth in the morning. ?
Yes I guess "retirement" can me hard to nail down. I'm talking about traditional permanent retirement from paid employment by a company or your own business. I will have transiting Saturn in the fourth when it enters Pisces and that year my solar return will have a stellium including Sun in the fourth house. Thanks for the input 
Hello Hello -- Hi Jana
I have also read and heard about old age retirement being represented by the 11th house. This is a very old concept. While it may have been applicable many years back, as we have all experienced over the last two years, life is not static. Various cultures, standard of living and mind set have to be taken into account for major life changes such as retirement. As Elsa stated, there are a number of reasons a person retires and in what fashion. We cannot forget something else that has become a trend in the states -- “baby boomers” retire from jobs they have held for years, maybe they take a year or so and play a lot of golf, next thing you know, they are back doing highly paid contract work, they have gone through retraining or refresher training for a whole new career. They also start their own businesses, and a number of them sign up to mentor newbie entrepreneurs through SCORE. It is seldom about the money. They just have a passion for work. And as long as they have the passion for what they do and the energy to continue, they will work. And thousands of American workers have been forced into retirement by company downsizing. These folks receive hefty buyout packages. I have seen so many (my other half being one) within three months they are right back at their old desk, stupid insane money being thrown at them. It is long term contract work. When I retired, it was for one reason and one reason only. I hated the company I worked for. I liked my job, I just hated what the company had become. As soon as I had my medical benefits covered, I was gone.
Most often what I see when people retire, are forced out, accept a buyout package, just finally tell a boss to take a job and shove it………………..there is a major KA-BOOM hit to the MC. Neptune hits the MC, company is bought out, moved out of the country, merged into a larger company, files for bankruptcy…….whatever………….it is just gone. Somebody is at retirement age, just how motivated do you think they are to go out and find another job. Pluto hitting the MC, now that is a doozy. Same with Uranus -- only then, and I do mean seldom, do you have any warning or see the changes coming. Neptune dissolves. Pluto rips apart. Uranus pulls a fast one. And our good buddy Saturn -- when he hits the MC, you either have a ton more responsibility or you just lose your job (and normally that is through your own fault). So many of us have worked for these big companies. We draw pensions and have 401(k)’s. And nine times out of ten, when I look at the chart I will see a major blow to the MC or other planets located in the 10th house.
For Americans, retirement is one of those major milestones. Many times, those milestones can be addressed by activity hitting one or more of the four major axis
@sun-mar I agree. Pluto/MC did me in. Total toppling - wiped out the entire life stucture.
@sun-mar I agree with transits to the 10th. I have had Uranus go over my IC and the exit was quick. Sometime ago I had Saturn on my IC and it just made me work harder. I have a stellium in my 10th. Even my SR had L1 and L7 conjunct on IC opposite Saturn!
It wasn’t really a choice. But it’s ok. I’m still another couple of decades away from regular retirement.
I guess your age at the time of the fourth house transit is the deciding factor. thanks
@jana Yes. I have Uranus on the AC, which rules my IC. I was only 23 when Tr Uranus crossed my IC. ?
Thanks sun-mar for your thought provoking analysis of the topic:) I don't have any 10th house action for quite awhile, but the fourth house will be transited by Saturn and be featured in a solar return.