Alchemical NIGREDO

The shadow can become a focus during Saturn Return, the first and the second if the work remains undone first time around at 28-ish.

Here's a chapter I wrote for THE MODERN ALCHEMIST on it
http://themodernalchemist.chaosmagic.com/whats_new.html

Iona
http://ionatopia.50megs.com


Chapter II: Shadow

THE NIGREDO


The nigredo, or blackening phase of the alchemical process, implies a gloomy time of depression. This time of life feels inauspicious. You feel unlucky, caught in a black mood whose origin may seem difficult to pinpoint. This is because your current ego attitudes are outdated and due to lack of adaptability you feel stuck. These feelings may come into your life due to an overload of stress in daily life. As these feelings become more intolerable the notion that life is meaningless comes to the fore. It is simply that life as your ego has known it in the past is outmoded. The subconscious begins to revolt, seeking a psychological revolution in attitudes. If you listen to the voice within your depression, you come to realize that you must willingly subject yourself to change.

This decision to subject yourself to change may be considered a spiritual awakening. You realize your essential being is the material to be transformed via the alchemical process. The black substance you need to understand to proceed further is your own Shadow archetype, or the repressed contents of your personal unconscious. Until you are willing to look at your unlived potential for evil and good you may be stuck in a state of melancholy, sleeplessness, or senseless hyperactivity. You realize that “something is wrong,” but can't quite identify what it might be.

Many individuals experience a period of depression or melancholia between the ages of 28 to 30 (and again at 55 to 60). Astrologically, this age group experiences Saturn return, the return of the planet to its original position in the natal chart. Classically, it is a time of disappointment, divorce, soul-searching and reassessment of values and orientation in life. The planet Saturn puts the accent on responsibility, in this case responsibility to yourself for fulfilling your potential. Finally, you are truly grown up and your destiny begins to take form. You may be pressured into it, even if you resist it, and this is that black mood's positive intent.

more at URL http://themodernalchemist.chaosmagic.com/whats_new.html