by Lara Owen, January 4 2012

It’s good to take time out and reassess one’s life. We all do it one way or another, some of us more than others. Illness is often a way of going into retreat, of backing away from the world. It’s possible that if we take retreat on consciously, we avoid having to somatise our need for downtime. We can tumble into retreat out of medical or psychological necessity, and we can also retreat willingly when we get signals from our inner knowing that we need to go within.

The natal chart gives some indicators about the level of one’s need for retreat. Earth types have the least need for time out, and are often good at incorporating mini-breaks into their schedule through physical activity and dining out. Air types need retreat if they over-think and stress their nervous systems, but if they have a very outer-oriented chart can sustain constant interaction quite well. Fiery types can burn out and crash into retreat by necessity. The people who most need retreat are often the watery ones–individuals with planets in the water houses (4, 8 and 12) and with water signs dominant often need a quiet lifestyle and/or to take serious time out every now and then.

People with more planets below the horizon tend to be inwardly focused, especially when the south-east quadrant is emphasized (bottom left hand area). When the outer planets are strong in the chart the lifetime can be quite intense and so retreat is necessary to integrate experience and come back to center.

For everyone, transits from the outer planets (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) can demand a shift in identity that pushes one into a retreat in order to reassess and integrate the changes. Uranus can bring accidents that take one out of circulation for a while. Neptune can deplete physical energy and provoke a retreat through exhaustion or the need for spiritual communion. Pluto’s transits can take away the known to such an extent that retreat is necessary in order to regroup and begin again. Transits from Saturn are restrictive and can coincide with times in which not much is going on in our relationship with the outer world, so retreat happens by default.

Like many who are primarily motivated by a creative and spiritual process, periodically I drop out almost completely. During these phases I communicate very little, abandon all ambition and notions of identity, and then in time, reenter the stream of visible activity and social contribution with a renewed sense of purpose. Looking back, it’s clear to see that periods of retreat have been mainly tied in to Saturn and Pluto. During my first Saturn return in my late twenties, as befits that stage in life I was working very hard in a period of career expansion. At the same time I became quite depressed, and this malaise propelled me into serious spiritual and psychological exploration, into taking myself and my life seriously, which Saturn seems to want us to do. For the first time in my life I began to spend a lot of time alone, and the retreat in that case was from my previous abundant socializing.

In my early 30′s, all my personal planets began to progress over natal Pluto, and over a five year period I underwent a profound transformation of identity that had me change country, name and profession. In the midst of this phase Saturn transited natal Pluto at the same time as Pluto transited natal Saturn, and I had a major illness that put me in bed for four months, a complete retreat. It was a tough phase, but I doubt I would have become a writer without it. When I had left my medical practice and moved to the States, Saturn had been on my descendant, and fifteen years later when I moved back to Europe it was on my ascendant. Both of these periods involved a quiet phase as I settled into a new life that took time to develop an active shape.

This past fall was another retreat time for me. The main astrological significators were again, Saturn and Pluto, with Saturn squaring my Sun and opposing my Moon while Pluto opposed Venus. Saturn demands reality and maturity and so pricks the balloon of dreams, and Pluto demands that we inhabit our power, so can push us into uncomfortable situations in which others appear more powerful than us. The last time Saturn influenced my natal Sun/Moon square, I lost my home and had to put my possessions in storage and stay with a series of generous friends, and this fall I found myself going through a similar process, although in an easier fashion. As for Pluto opposing Venus, yes, as you’d expect, my relationship life has gone through a significant change. I found also that a whole panoply of beliefs came under deep review (Venus rules values). I never know quite how a Pluto transit is going to play out ahead of time, but one thing we do know is that Pluto brings change of a deep nature, involving death and rebirth. The death can be literal (when Pluto was on my natal North Node three significant people in my life died) but it can also be the death of an identity, a perception, a way of being, a belief system we may not even know we had. Fundamental perceptions are shaken and stirred.

The strategies that help when the unknown looms are to maintain a calm and open frame of mind, to look after what needs to be done today, to listen carefully to information from dreams and received in meditations, and to take pleasure in what is right in front of you. And if in a time of turmoil you have the opportunity to restore your being through rest and retreat, take it. Don’t fill your time with the unnecessary and don’t fake busy-work in order to feel important. Self-importance is the enemy of inner peace and outer effectiveness. Retreat is an essential phase in the long-term rhythm of life, and is profoundly useful and transformative.