Astrological Ages of Maturation with Chris van der Walt

How the Planets Ripen & Why You're Not Fully Mature Until 48

Hello Loves,

If this newsletter looks different, it’s because I’m slowly transitioning from Mailchimp to Substack. Other than cosmetic differences, this shouldn’t mean any changes for you.

With that out of the way, I’m going to skip the announcements and get straight to the good parts: the new podcast episode!

Last week I sat down with astrologer Chris van der Walt to discuss a Vedic technique called the Ages of Maturation. If you’re new to astrology, this is a tool you can hit the ground running with. And for advanced practitioners, it will add new layers of depth to your readings.

The concept is simple: every planet has a specific year in which it matures. Starting the year before that age, the planet begins to bloom, marking a period where its full expression comes into play.

For example, Venus matures at age 25. For someone with a prominent 10th-house Venus, we’d expect that energy to make itself heard in the public sector of their life between the ages of 24 and 25. Think: job promotions, career shifts, or significant changes in reputation.

Similarly, once a planet reaches maturation, we can expect full mastery over its themes. This is why we often say Saturn becomes easier after its maturation at age 36.

So elegant! So powerful!

During our conversation, Chris and I go over each of the planets, their themes, and their year of maturation, sharing stories from our own lives.

I’m sharing an excerpt from that conversation below, along with a list of ages, so you can walk through your own timeline and see how the planets show up for you.

If you’d like one-on-one guidance, I’m offering a limited number of specially priced readings where we can map out your planetary story together.

Are you in Los Angeles? Chris is my guest for the upcoming Los Angeles Astro Salon at the Philosophical Research Society on Tuesday, February 24th. We’ll be exploring the Years of Maturation along with a few other accessible techniques, then opening up the room for your stories.

Can’t make it in person? No problem! We’ll be recording the session.

The following excerpts have been edited and condensed from the original interview.

Jupiter at 16: The Heretic’s Award

Chris: Jupiter’s associated with reproduction — most people hit reproductive maturity around 16. It also rules philosophical understanding, higher wisdom, and your moral framework. I was brought up Catholic, going to a Jesuit college. Up until that point I’d been really wrestling with my faith. That year I decided I was an atheist. But at the end of the year, I was given the religious award for my class. I have Jupiter on my Aquarius ascendant — it’s my 11th Lord, and the 11th is the house of awards. I was quite embarrassed to get that award. Aquarius is associated with heretics and outsiders.

Sun at 21: The Father and the Self

Chris: The sun is the manifestation of how the divine wants to express itself in your life. It’s also the king of the chart — where we start to feel ambition for what we want to create, what legacy we want to leave. I have Ketu conjunct my sun in Cancer in the sixth house — the house of divorce. When I was 21, my parents were going through a divorce. My father actually came to me and asked whether he should leave my mother, because he said he had no friends to talk to. Part of my sun maturation was losing a lot of respect for my father. Your karma expresses itself through the personalities of your parents, and there’s not much you can do about that.

Moon at 24: Where You Feel at Home

Chris: Moon is how we create intimacy, how receptive we are to others, and how things grow in our life. It’s also very much about where we feel at home. I grew up in South Africa and left when I was five or six. At 24, I went back to Cape Town and was completely overwhelmed by this feeling of being home — realizing that part of me had been missing it the whole time, and I had just learned how to turn that off. That’s very much a Moon-Ketu experience, because moon is also where you feel at home.

Venus at 25: Worth and Disruption

Chris: Venus is how we value things — and ourselves. An afflicted Venus tends toward low self-worth, which is why people get into destructive relationships. I was living a very strict spiritual life and was celibate. I have Venus in the sixth house conjunct Ketu — the sixth is the house of celibacy, and Ketu takes things away. I was working in London at a meditation center, completely oblivious that someone there had developed a crush on me. My guru asked me to attend meditations in Oxford for a few months instead — so every Wednesday and Sunday I was spending three hours round-trip on a train. Venus is my ninth lord. It expressed all the weird things about my Venus.

Mars at 28: Swimming to France

Chris: Mars is the warrior — how we fight for things, protect what we have, develop skills. It’s also courage. I have Mars in Aries in the third house. That year I swam from England to France. It was the scariest thing I could think of doing. I trained for six months. The swim itself took 13 hours and 21 minutes. Most days in Dover I couldn’t even see France — just an endless ocean. When I achieved it, it radically changed the way I thought about my will and my ability to endure things. Before that I always thought I wasn’t very disciplined. Mars tells you what you need; the moon tells you what you need, and Mars goes out and gets it.

Mercury at 32: Peak Competence

Chris: Mercury is how we communicate, evaluate the pros and cons, and manage our time. You can think of it as a kind of executive function. The Mercury maturation is where you reach peak competence with Mercury. It tends to be subtle unless you have a very prominent placement. It’s sandwiched between two heavy events — the Saturn return and the Saturn maturation — and Mercury isn’t a loud planet. Most clients I’ve spoken to don’t have an amazing Mercury story. It’s more like a litmus test on your competence.

Saturn at 36: The Full Backpack

Chris: Saturn matures at 36, and it’s usually a non-trivial event. Until you turn 36, you haven’t had to pick up the full backpack of your heavy karma. Saturn gives by taking things away. That year I left my spiritual community after 13 or 14 years. My guru had passed, I’d ended up in a relationship, there was a pregnancy that miscarried, and then someone I’d confided in used that to have me exiled from the meditation center. Saturn is in my fifth house, aspecting the 11th — community — and my ascendant. I basically started my life over at 36. Jung said you’re not really an adult until 36, and when I first heard about this technique, I thought: that’s interesting that he tweaked to that.

Rahu at 42: Into the Jungle

Chris: Rahu represents unfulfilled desire, craving, the feeling of incompetence in a house we need to develop. Whatever security we’ve built around the Ketu placement can start to feel like a prison, or it can collapse — and we’re forced out into the jungle. My Rahu is in Capricorn. I had been living monastically for years, never thinking about money. Then suddenly I was married, running a tech company, thinking about having children. I had to step up my Capricorn game and start getting a grip on the material side of my life — starting way behind, because I’d spent decades prioritizing inner state over outer conditions. Rahu is an innovator. The key is accepting that you’re going to make mistakes in that house; that’s not failure, it’s the process.

Ketu at 48: The Conscious Return

Chris: Ketu is the subtlest maturation. It’s not characterized by outer events — it’s an inner realignment. As a child, you create a security paradigm unconsciously, trying to make yourself as small a target as possible. When you return to Ketu at 48, you’re doing it consciously. For me it was during COVID lockdown in Sydney. Every day I was walking on the beach, listening to mantra, and I just started feeling this incredible peace — an acceptance of everything. Part of that was accepting that having roots in a physical place maybe wasn’t on the cards for me. Home is internal. The Ketu maturation is about accepting your imperfections and recognizing that life is already perfect — just not in the way you expected.

Did you enjoy this conversation? Do you wanna talk talk talk about it with other astrologers?

Join me for Office Hours: an intimate, community-driven space to discuss the current sky, explore your questions, and share practices. These conversational gatherings are a direct way to connect with me and fellow curious minds as we build knowledge and community together.

Office Hours are held online twice a month and are exclusive to Club Astro members.

The next session is today, Thursday, February 26th, at 5pm PT.

How to join: A paid subscription to ART of the ZODIAC grants you full access to Club Astro and all its perks, including office hours, discounted readings, and secret invites.

About Chris

Chris Van de Walt is an LA-based Vedic astrologer and his approach focuses on understanding the unique karmas expressed in each client’s chart, how these patterns manifest in their lives and then collaborates with them to support their growth and fulfilment. He has studied with astrologers Ernst Wilhelm, Ryan Kurczak and Freedom Cole and has been longtime practitioner of meditation under the guidance of his Guru, Sri Chinmoy.

Visit his Website, Core Astrology.

About Vivi

Vivi Henriette is an LA-based astrologer and tarot reader whose practice centers on storytelling, mythology, and collaborative divination. She creates a space for clients to reclaim their personal narratives through the lens of ancient archetypes. Vivi produces⁠LA Astro Fest,⁠ hosts the Los Angeles Astro Salon, and creator of the podcast⁠TALK TALK TALK⁠. You can find her weekly writing on ritual and meaning at her Substack,⁠ART of the ZODIAC⁠.

Further Reading