I’ve always wished I could have been there when Rosa Parks, in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955 during Jim Crow laws, refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger.

We all have times in our lives when we forget about our fears, accept the ramifications of our actions and just say, “No.”

What does it take to make that happen?

Parks was 42 when she stubbornly refused to budge. As with others that age, she had both a Saturn and Uranus opposition to their natal positions. In this country, the mid-40s is known as the time of the “mid-life crisis.”

Traditionally a mid-life crisis is seen as the last attempt to capture hopes and dreams that are unfulfilled or break out of a stale pattern.

From an astrological perspective, Uranus relates to sudden awakening and sudden events. Saturn relates to the structure of life and society including laws, codes and authority.

How did Parks feel on that day in 1955?

Wikipedia provides a quote from Parks’ autobiography, My Story:

“People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”

Parks was tired of giving in.

I believe it’s the Saturn opposition that makes us challenge authority, if we feel the need. Uranus comes into play by having us take sudden action or bringing the realization that something just isn’t right.

We could be challenging our own limiting beliefs or the beliefs of our society. That’s when we leave our family, flee to Tahiti and paint natives for the rest of our lives, which French painter Paul Gauguin did at the age of 43.

Saturn has a 29-year cycle. It returns to its natal position around the age of 28-29. Halfway around the circular horoscope, it is opposed to our natal Saturn. So the first opposition occurs around the age of 14-15 and the second around the age of 42-43 and the third, and probably final around the age of 72-73. The next would be around 101-102.

Sound familiar?

As a teenager you are challenging authority, your parents. At age 42-43, you can take on yourself or society.

Parks was a sun in Aquarius and moon in Capricorn. My vote for most stubborn sign of the zodiac is Aquarius and Parks proves why stubbornness is needed in this complex universe. She needed the force of stubbornness to say “no” and stick with it.

Capricorn, where Parks’ moon and Mars were placed, was also thought of by late astrologer Linda Goodman to be the sign most likely to say “no.”

Incidentally, Capricorn represents authority. That people perceived her as older than her actual age attests to a maturity of personality that Capricorn brings.

Parks was simply one tough cookie. When the time was right, she took on a very big authority – the United States.

We tend to challenge authority most when our Saturn opposes is natal position – in our teens, in our 40s and in our 70s.