Autumn’s Crossing: On Midlife, Sacred Initiations, and the Threshold Back to Yourself

We're a few days away from the Equinox. A week into the new lunar cycle. There's a different type of cosmic pull over the next 3 weeks. I'll explain.

But first, how are you holding up?

Most of my regular clients are expressing a feeling of pressure lately. As if they want to move forward with something, but can't.

Most of my clients are also in their 40s and 50s, which astrologically marks a time of thresholds in our lives.

Lately, I've been talking mostly to this midlife era. I do it because there's simply not enough talk about it. Midlife is so often made into something negative because aging itself is so disrespected in our society.

I'm here to say that midlife isn't a phase to be ashamed of or pretend isn't happening.

It's an era of sacred initiations.

It contains a multitude of thresholds waiting to be crossed. So that we can live true to who we are. So that we can live in alignment with our values. So that we can remember to exhale in spite of the chaos and devastation of our world. So that we can make a difference by first doing so in our own personal lives.

The astrology of midlife forces us to reclaim the parts of ourselves we long ago deemed “too much” or “not enough” just to stay safe and palatable for others.

With each midlife threshold, we become more whole, allowing what was once exiled to return.

Wholly yourself. Imperfectly you. Radically self-accepting.

But I would be lying if I said there wasn't pressure here.

It's a time that requires accompaniment and support, whether through community, care or guidance. But the thing is, this phase of life can also break down our connections to others, dissolving old friendships and relationships that no longer resonate.

In this way, the midlife era can be a lonely time. This, I would say, is one of the hardest parts of it.

As the Sun enters Libra on September 22 and marks the Autumn Equinox here in the Northern Hemisphere, the sky has some things to reflect back to us about all of this.

In the coming Autumn months, we're invited into a personal excavation of the layers within us. What we've buried. The hurt. The shame. The guilt. The fear.

This Autumn is a threshold inviting us to free what we hide.

No more masks. No more complacency. No more shame.

Autumn is a threshold back to yourself.

And as Venus and Mercury station retrograde in October, what we don't value—especially within ourselves—may begin coming to light. Both of these retrogrades speak personally to the Pluto in Libra and Pluto in Scorpio generations.

Without getting into too much detail for now, I'll just say that the astrology intensifies after the Full Moon in Aries on September 26 and continues building through the weeks that follow. Those with prominent placements in the Fixed Signs—Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius—may feel more of the agitation of this energy.

If you're already feeling the pull of these energies, or sensing the threshold of this Autumn season, I've created a private astrology container for those moving through the confusion, uncertainty or overwhelm of a threshold moment in their lives.

Over the Autumn months, you'll receive 1:1 astrology sessions, personalized Full Moon meditations, access to the Cosmic Guidance bi-weekly astrology guides and New and Full Moon messages, plus support between our sessions (through voice-note or email).

We have three months to stay with the questions as they change and the astrology as it unfolds.

If this resonates, I welcome you to join me in Crossing the Threshold.

Enrollment for the Autumn Cohort closes September 22.

With care,
Shadi