Is it Uranus...or Menopause?

April 24, 2026

Hi, I'm Sarah Brynteson — mom, astrologer, and intuitive psychic guide, and the voice behind Written in the Stars. I help individuals understand their own energy through their birth chart, and I have a special love for helping parents understand their children's energy, too. I'm a graduate of the Debra Silverman School of Astrology, a former middle school teacher, and someone who believes, deeply, that dreams become reality when we choose to make it so. Today I'm sharing something a little more personal — a question I've been sitting with for a while now.

Today is the last day that Uranus will be in Taurus for 84 years. For some, that is an entire lifetime.

Uranus in astrology is known as:

• The "Great Awakener" — because he can "wake up" someone with a jolt of new possibilities.

• A "Generational Planet" — as he takes 7–8 years to move through a sign, an entire generation will have it there.

• A planet that likes to change things up and break stagnation.

• The "higher octave of Mercury" — the ideas born as he travels through the different signs tend to go for the collective (Uranus) vs. the personal (Mercury), and are ideas just the same.

• The "Rebel" who insists on the freedom to do everything his own way.

• A source of out-of-the-box thinking and the innovations that come from it.

Uranus doesn't ask for permission for these changes to happen. Uranus just does it and knows we will clean up after ourselves in the wake.

To put it another way, I look at Uranus a bit like a teenager — having raised two to adulthood and having been a former middle school teacher, the analogy feels right. If you tell a teenager to do something, sometimes the answer will be "no" just because they can, or they'll do the opposite. Growing up, it was often said: if you don't like who your child is dating, don't tell them — they may just marry that person. That kind of idea.

For all of us, over the last seven or so years, Uranus has been moving through the sign of Taurus. Taurus is one of the fixed signs in astrology, along with Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius. One of the characteristics of this archetype is that it typically does not like to change. Uranus is all about change. It likes to break through things that are stagnant and shake things up — whether or not you are ready for them to be shaken.

For me, Taurus is the 1st house of my chart and my rising sign. Themes in astrology attributed to the first house are your body, health, appearance, personality, beginnings, life force, temperament, and self-expression. Uranus first entered Taurus in May 2018 — the same year the tree photo was taken — briefly moving back into Aries at the end of the year before settling into Taurus for good in March 2019.

It is fair to say that since this time, everyone has likely changed in some way, and yet some things have stayed the same.

Uranus doesn't ask for permission for these changes to happen. They just do.

Just like I didn't ask our photographer, Liz Alcorn-Allen of LA Seniors, or permission to climb that tree — I just did. And my Richard helped me get up there and back down again.

I did it because it seemed fun.

So why do I ask the question: Is it Uranus or is it Menopause?

Simple.

Sometime between 40 and 44, a switch seemed to turn on — or off, depending on how you look at it — around people-pleasing. People-pleasing was very much a part of my life growing up. If I could be pleasant, there would be no fights. If I agreed with everything, I couldn't get hurt.

I started to take stock in my life about what mattered and who mattered. What values were worth keeping, and what needed to be reevaluated.

What I didn't know at the time that picture of me in the tree was taken was that I was going through what we call in astrology the "Uranus Opposition." This typically happens between the ages of 38 and 46 and peaks around 40–42.

Right when the "switch turned."

It marks the time when Uranus in the sky is exactly opposite — 180° — from where Uranus was at the day and time of your birth. It is the "midlife crisis" point, or, using the "Great Awakener" terminology, the "Midlife Awakening." It's a time when you can feel the urge to be liberated and to think more authentically about your life. Careers can shift, along with relationships or even one's lifestyle. Depending on where this opposition falls in your chart, additional themes may come into play:

These theme to blend are:

So how does this relate to Menopause?

I can only speak to my own lived experience of menopause — I am not a medical professional.

Around the same time as my Uranus Opposition, I started perimenopause. The difference between perimenopause and menopause, as I understand it, is whether or not you still menstruate. I had all the lovely signs: mood swings, hot flashes, difficulty sleeping, weight gain that was stubbornly hard to lose, and brain fog. I had a hot flash so bad one time while we were in a clothing store that I had to buy a new outfit to walk out in, because mine was soaked.

Now at 50, I am inching ever closer to the finish line. To help me get there, I started Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) — progesterone and estrogen patches. This helped me sleep through the night, and as a result, the brain fog began to clear. With the help of my nurse practitioner, Rachel, I also lost weight with tirzepatide.

This changed my body. My health. My well-being. My confidence. In a word, it feels "free." A word that Uranus also loves.

Was that because of the energy Uranus was bringing to me? Or was it because I am going through "the change"? It is likely a little bit of both.

What does this mean for Uranus in Gemini for everyone?

The last time Uranus was in Gemini was 1941–1949. It was the era of World War II, the beginning of the Cold War, the formation of the United Nations, and the dawn of the nuclear age. It was also the time of the birth of computers, the expansion of television to mass markets, and a journalism landscape that looked very different from what had come before.

In 2025, when Uranus dipped his toe into Gemini, we saw ChatGPT begin its rise. News in real time can now be found wherever social media lives, without waiting for the 5 o'clock news. Communities are coming together to help build a better life for all.

Uranus invites progress. After all, Uranus doesn't ask for permission for these changes to happen. Uranus just does it and knows we will clean up after ourselves in the wake.

The key thing to remember while Uranus moves through Gemini — the sign that represents communication, thinking, and short-term travel — is discernment.

Why discernment? We live in a society now with artificial intelligence. We live in a society where information flies at us at breakneck speeds, and as a result, we may need to fact-check from time to time. Why? To know what is true and what is not.

I feel it is important to use this discernment and align it with whatever a person's core values are — to understand what is the higher purpose that Uranus in Gemini is making available to all of us.

This isn't rose-colored glasses. This is wanting to make the best of the world around us so that future generations can look back 84 years from now and say, "Oh, this is what it was like then — how can we make it better, or do it differently now?"

Different is another word Uranus loves, after all.

Will we have another World War? I hope not.

Will we see innovations in technology? Yes — I believe that is possible.

Is it something to be worried or scared about? No.

That is where discernment comes in. It doesn't mean burying your head in the sand and tuning out the world. It just means that if things get too overwhelming, maybe take some time away from what is worrying you. Go outside. Touch the earth or a tree (or even climb one). Come back to your body. To what is real to you. Find little glimmers of joy in your day to day. Continue to be present and part of the conversation, so you can also be part of the change that Uranus is wanting to bring into our lives.

So was it Uranus that caused the desire to stop people-pleasing?

Was it menopause and shifting hormones that caused that?

Maybe it was a little bit of both.

Either way, we are going to see what new roads are being paved as Uranus moves through Gemini. What pathways will open. What consciousness will be shared.

One thing I know to be true, though: we are in this together. You are not alone.

With love and stardust,

Sarah