“Don’t call me a Baby Boomer”

11597687_sThe majority of people don’t know it, but the division of people into generations is really based on astrology.  The Baby Boomers, for instance, are loosely tied  to the post-war period between 1946 and 1964.  However, as I wrote a few years ago, there is a huge difference between the early boomers, with Pluto in Leo, and the late b[l]oomers, who were born after 1956 with Pluto in Virgo.

A recent New York Times article pleads “Don’t call me a Baby Boomer“:

This year the youngest of the baby boomers — the youngest, mind you — turn 50. I hit that milestone a few months back. But we aren’t what people usually have in mind when they talk about boomers. They mean the earlyboomers, the postwar cohort, most of them now in their 60s —not us later boomers, labeled “Generation Jones” by the writer Jonathan Pontell.

The boom generation really has two distinct halves, which in my mind I call Boomer Classic and Boomer Reboot. (Take this quiz to see where you stand.) The differences between them have to do, not surprisingly, with sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll — and economics and war. For a wide-ranging set of attitudes and cultural references, it matters whether you were a child in the 1940s and ‘50s, or in the 1960s and ‘70s. And it probably matters even more whether you reached adulthood before or after the early ‘70s, a time of head-spinning changes with long-term consequences for families, careers and even survival.

Perhaps valid correlations can be made with the cultural references with which you grew up, but these differences identified by the author as the dividing line between early and late boomers can be traced right back to the difference between Leo and Virgo.  Leo is all about development and celebration of the self – pleasure and creative self-expression.  Each sign reacts to the one immediately before it, so when Pluto moved into Virgo there was a reaction against the self-involvement of the Leo generation and a move towards service and self-sacrifice.  Where Pluto in Leo is idealistic (Leo) and ready to destroy (Pluto) for those ideals, Virgo tends to lack passion and be more pragmatic.  As this author writes, ” I remember, as a teenager, seeing old footage of the riots outside the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, and thinking, “People my age don’t feel that strongly about anything.”  Virgo doesn’t believe; instead it is pragmatic and deals with life as it comes, seeking safety and security rather than the big dramatic views that Leo inspires.

Economics are another big disparity between the two generations.  The Leo generation grew up in post-war prosperity, often discarding it with great glee to live in communal situations or other alternative communities.  The Pluto in Virgo generation grew up in Jimmy Carter’s malaise – a period where there was little inspiration and a great deal of worry, a quality strongly associated with Virgo.  If I can quote myself from the article cited above:

These Boomers are those born with Pluto in Virgo (after October of 1956), and their generation has been marked by a strong resentment to those who came directly before them. This is no surprise, because Virgo doesn’t like Leo much. Where Leo seeks the spotlight and takes center stage, demanding attention and adoration, Virgo is selfless and service-oriented and seeks only to serve others and live a life that is safe and orderly. The sign that Pluto falls in typically doesn’t express our individual personality but it does reflect who we are as a generation.

The Leo nature doesn’t have much thought for the future – it is anchored in the present and a need for pleasure and fun. Virgo, on the other hand, has a tendency to worry about the adequacy of available funds and planning for the future. Where Virgo is willing to work long hours toward a goal, Leo is more concerned with doing work that will allow the fullest expression of oneself. Where Leo seeks to express the Ego in the most perfect way, Virgo has an intense dislike of Ego expression, and herein lies the deepest difficulty between the two generations.

Understanding the astrology behind the cycles of life adds a dimension of understanding that is not otherwise possible.


Tags: , ,

No Responses to ““Don’t call me a Baby Boomer””

  1. BethJanuary 7, 2014 at 5:00 pm #

    Very interesting! Makes me understand why I have long felt like my younger brothers and sister are a whole other generation from me.

    Lately I have also wondered to what extent the Pluto in Leo generation has a fundamental expectation of some kind of end times. With the planet of annihilation in the heart of sunny, playful, and creative Leo, is it any wonder that we have spent an inordinate amount of time believing that the world is going to end any moment? From childhoods shaped by the Cuban missile crisis and Cold War, to the hysteria over Y2K, to biblical, ecological, and pop culture memes telling us that life as we know it is about to go, I wonder if other age groups are quite so focused on this scenario?

    • Lynn HayesJanuary 9, 2014 at 6:34 am #

      That’s an interesting question, Beth. Perhaps it’s that sense which drives our generation to pursue self-satisfaction at all costs.

  2. LesJanuary 7, 2014 at 7:13 pm #

    So true. I was born in 1958 and have Pluto in Virgo whereas many of my friends and my boyfriend, who was born in 1946, are the real boomers. My boyfriend is always talking about how they walked out on jobs to go have fun (could always find another job, another cheap apartment), months or years here and there where he just hung out with friends not working. I had none of that, had to work every summer in college, had to get a job immediately out of college, rents skyrocketed the year before I graduated, the housing market got expensive when I was finally able to buy, etc. I do have my Moon in Leo so I connect with my boomer friends well emotionally, but I do feel like I’ve had an uphill battle all my life whereas they’ve just lucked into so much.

  3. KathleenFebruary 4, 2014 at 11:15 am #

    Interesting article. I am a Sun in Leo, Scorpio moon, Libra rising with a Pluto/Mercury conjunction in Virgo. I have to vent for a moment, so bear with me: Pluto in Leo people get on my nerves. Not to mention that both my parents’ Pluto’s are conjunct my sun and square my moon. Maybe that’s why. Plus my Neptune is square to my Sun, so perhaps I just find the Pluto in Leo generation abrasive to my sensibilities and my sensitivities. I find them to be selfish, overbearing, and narcissistic. I come from a family of performers and artists, and I am one myself–but much of my life I have had to make many sacrifices to be an artist. I find myself cleaning and organizing other artists houses, (Merc/Pluto in Virgo), and being of service to others, instead of everything just being about Me Me Me. I have also had to pay other artists to interact with me, as I cannot find anyone who will do this with me just to do it. Although I have very good taste in artistic people–and the really good ones don’t come for free. Plus I believe people should be paid for their work. I digress. But most of my life, I have had to work menial jobs to fund my artistic projects–although I am also a practicing professional astrologer. I have always had to pay to do what I love– it has been hard to be paid for it, or do it with others without paying them. I get so sick and tired of all the Pluto in Leo people in my life who are successful at their art, but everything is all about them–meanwhile they have children who are drug addicts. They have failed marriages because of impulsive decisions made in their personal lives when they had their heads in the stars in the 60s. Anyway–I just had to get that out. But seriously, as a healer type and someone who helps others with their lives–I believe that we are dealing with a hell of a lot of fallout and the consequences of a selfish and narcissistic generation. Yes, it is true that we had to break free somehow from the oppression of the 50s. But it really annoys me when my Pluto in Leo friend says something like, “I believe Hendrix was murdered like Kennedy. They assassinated him because he was such a powerful prophet.” Please. Seriously? Yes, he was a great musician, but lets face it–too much self-indulgence is what led to his death. Give me a break. Then there are the people who say, “I believe we are evolving past monogamy”, because they see all these marriages that do not work. Uh, people–we haven’t even learned HOW to be monogamous yet! How could we be evolving past it?! So this is what all that “free love” did. That and create stds. People need to get out of themselves and learn how to work at things. That’s what makes partnerships successful. Not just expecting the “person of your dreams” to make your life perfect and then go have an affair when they don’t. One more thing, the Pluto in Leo generation also has Neptune in Libra–not very realistic– what the hell were they thinking when they picked their mates? See, my generation thinks totally differently. I have Pluto in Virgo and Neptune in Scorpio. We have had to pay bigtime for the mistakes our parents made. I am beginning to think that a lot of their generation is just plain clueless and doesn’t want to face important issues because they “want everything to be beautiful”. A lot of denial and co-dependence came out of that generation. I have worked hard not make the same mistakes my parents did–although I wouldn’t even be here if they hadn’t made the mistake of me–ahh, the irony..but what pisses me off the most is that I don’t feel like my hard work has paid off at all–I am still alone, still struggling, still have not achieved any of my dreams in life. I have always wanted a family and to be a mother, but I wasn’t going to do it if it was in an abusive relationship or otherwise unhealthy situation. I feel I have made intelligent choices but not gotten the support I should have had along the way. The only reward I have gotten is in the knowing that I have done the best I could and that I didn’t settle for something that would not have been good for me or my future family. Now I just feel exhausted and am probably too old to have children. Maybe life is not about achieving ones dreams, anyway. Maybe that is a delusion, brought on by and influenced by the people who came before me in this society–the Pluto in Leo, Neptune in Libra generation. Sorry if I offended anyone with this comment, I am sure not all of that generation thinks in the way that I just presented. But truly, as a whole, my generation does not think the way they do–at all! I believe it is crucial to our survival not to. Also sorry if I seem whiney–I am normally a very optimistic person. I just have a bone to pick with the generation who came before me.