Age Point, Low Point and Birthing the New Self

Right around our son’s second birthday, many more experienced parents seemed to delight in warning us about the “Terrible Twos.” Our usual response was to smile quietly and ask them not to make it a self-fulfilling prophecy by repeating the phrase within earshot of the boy. I felt rather self-righteous when we sailed through that year with few difficulties.

Then came three. Three and a half, to be precise.

We already knew the Dragon had a pretty sensitive temperament, but we thought we’d gotten through the worst of separation anxiety, emotional intensity and knee-jerk defiance (at least until adolescence). But three and a half brought new highs and lows to his personality that we had not seen before. I recalled several older moms of sensitive kids telling me that 3 1/2 to 4 years old was the most intense time for their children.

Astrologically, this now makes sense to me. Through years of research, Bruno and Louise Huber developed a mechanism called the Age Point that acts much like the hour hand of a clock: It starts at the horoscope chart’s Ascendant at the moment of birth, sweeping across the circle counterclockwise at a rate of one house every six years.* At three years and eight months old, everyone’s Age Point hits a place — also discovered through the Hubers’ detailed research — called the Low Point of the first house.

Unlike the house cusp, when we tend to be bursting out all over, the 12 Low Points of the chart are, at best, times of greater introspection and solitude in our lives. We can learn much about ourselves during these times by cloistering, meditating, journaling, doing therapy and taking part in any other kind of work that engages our interior lives with energy and grace. It is preparation for the next phase, gestation of the new self. At worst, Low Point periods are frustrating and isolating, bringing the sense that no one sees us or understands us, that none of our projects or ambitions are working out, that we are profoundly alone, separated from others.

Like much in astrology, the difference in experience of the Low Point derives from the person’s natural inclinations and his or her support (or lack thereof) from the environment. If you are naturally an introspective or solitude-seeking person, the Low Point might come as a bit of relief to you because the world will give you space to process, in solitude, the changes that the world now demands of you. But if you are normally more outgoing, ambitious and action-oriented, the Low Point will likely be a time of incredible frustration. Even those who feel treated more gently by the Low Point period, however, will still come up against walls that require great wisdom to scale.

I liken the Low Point to a fetus getting too big for the womb. He knows he must find a way out, must make the move to birth himself, but the familiar is so comforting that he resists. He resists and resists, curling tightly inside, not wanting to come out, enjoying the dark, damp, pink softness he’s come to know as home — as his house. The new world — the next house — is still unknown and therefore frightening. He doesn’t want to learn all he needs to know to get there, doesn’t want to do the work. But the time comes when he simply must. Through some mysterious alchemy, contractions begin and the work of transition is underway. This marks the mutable zone of the house, when new learning and movement and pushing begin to direct us toward a new phase of life.

The Low Point comes at the same ages for each person in life. How you experience yours will depend not only on your natural temperament and the environment you’re in but also on which zodiac sign the Age Point is in, whether it’s making any significant aspects to natal planets and other factors as well. Do you remember times of particular difficulty moving forward, or being heard, during these periods of your life?

• 3 1/2 to 4 years old
• 9 1/2 to 10 years old
• 15 1/2 to 16 years old
• 21 1/2 to 22 years old
• 27 1/2 to 28 years old
• 33 1/2 to 34 years old
• 39 1/2 to 40 years old
• 45 1/2 to 46 years old
• 51 1/2 to 52 years old
• 57 1/2 to 58 years old
• 63 1/2 to 64 years old
• 69 1/2 to 70 years old
• 75 1/2 to 76 years old

These will, of course, not be the only difficult times of life — difficulty is caused by things other than Low Point experiences. But it can be helpful to note whether hard times have coincided with any Low Point periods and to check your temperament and environment for support or further obstacles. It can also be helpful knowledge for negotiating relationships, whether you or the other is the one dealing with Low Point angst.

As a mom, I can only do my best to be aware, empathize, give our son language and awareness, and hope we’re providing the support and resources he needs to get through his first Low Point period (especially since his father and I are going through our Low Points during the same year!). And I’m looking forward to seeing what new self he is busy birthing for his next phase of life.

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* For the astrologers in the audience, we are talking Koch houses here.

Image: Or Hiltch