Suicide among “baby boomers” jumps by 50%

May 3, 2013 By 11 Comments


News outlets are reporting that suicide rates for individuals aged 40-59 jumped over the last decade. The most pronounced jump was in the age groups from 50-54 and from 55-59 years old but there was also a big jump in suicides for those aged 60-64. (Full report from the CDC here.)

Astrologically, this age group corresponds to the Pluto in Leo generation. Leo is the sign that needs to feel special, and no age group has been as determined to be special as the Pluto in Leo generation of which I am a member. Obsessed with youth and the need to stay relevant, we didn’t trust anyone over 30 when we were young, and refused to grow old (a determination which as I wrote a few years ago has resulted in a tremendous increase in disabilities among this age group.

The baby boomers also demonstrated an increased suicide rate in adolescence: “The baby boomers also experienced higher suicide rates during their adolescence and young adulthood, doubling the rate for those age groups at the time. Their suicide rate then declined slightly and stabilized, before beginning to increase again in midlife.”

The sign of Leo is all about learning to celebrate the Self and find authentic avenues of Self-expression.  Pluto in any sign tends to bring out the obsessive and self-destructive qualities of a sign and necessitates transformation in the areas that are governed by that sign.  Pluto in Leo tends to regard everything as a mirror – failure then has the potential to become a rejection of the Self and not just a momentary obstacle.

Without more data it’s difficult to generalize, but the fact that this age group has such a pronounced suicide rate at vulnerable times of life seems astrologically significant.

When your dreams are larger than your reality can hold, you are more prone to disappointment. The suicide rate is still relatively small, but the increase in this age group demonstrates the desperate need we have in our society today for a perspective that encompasses something greater than the worship of Self.

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College freshman feel super-special: the Pluto in Sag effect?

January 13, 2013 By

Pluto in SagittariusThis was interesting:

College students in the United States think they’re brilliant snowflakes now more than ever before, according to new research.

The findings come from an annual survey of thousands of college freshmen, conducted by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) of the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California-Los Angeles. Aside from asking what students think of their own abilities, the survey also measures students’ economic, ethnic and educational backgrounds along with other demographic data.

The survey asked students to rate how they measure up to their peers in a number of basic skills areas, the BBC reports. The number of students who describe themselves as exceptional has grown.

American students have increasingly given themselves “above average” ratings on several attributes but bragged most regarding their “drive to achieve.” Almost four-fifths of survey responders say they’re above average in this category.

(read more here.)  The current crop of college freshman is the first batch of students with Pluto in Sagittarius, the sign of self-confidence and optimism.  This group is going to be very different from the Pluto in Scorpio generation (1982-1995) which came to adulthood under the shadow of September 11th and a decade of war to begin the 21st century.

The concept of “ambition inflation” described in this article expanded the most in freshman from 1966 to 1985, primarily the Pluto in Leo generation that thought the world was all about US.

The United States has Sagittarius rising (in the commonly accepted Sibly chart which I use for analysis of national US astrology) and the idea of constant expansion is common to the American ideology.  But Scorpio is a sign of contraction – it is more concerned with the Truth of power than the aggrandizement of the Self.

The Pluto in Scorpio generation is popularly called the Millenial generation and they are a more serious bunch of young people than previously seen.  The new wave of college kids are going to change all that, and even though this article claims that the “ambition inflation” is stabilizing we will likely see that change as the Pluto in Sag kids continue to penetrate the halls of education.

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