Jupiter waning sextile Uranus (March 28, 2008)
This is the first of three waning sextile aspects in 2008 between Jupiter and Uranus, which happens at 19/20 degrees Capricorn-Pisces. The second one is May 21 at 22/23 degrees Capricorn-Pisces with Jupiter retrograde, and the last aspect is November 12 at 18/19 degrees Capricorn-Pisces while Uranus is still retrograde.

This current Jupiter-Uranus synod first originated with their single conjunction on February 15, 1997 at 5/6 degrees Aquarius. It remains in effect until their next synod starts with three conjunctions in 2010-2011 from 28 degrees Pisces to 1 degree Aries. These two planets can be quite the powerhouse together in approximately 14 year cycles. Jupiter loves expansion and Uranus likes to shake things up. These actions can of course be utilized in positive or negative ways.

On the heels of the three Uranus-Neptune conjunctions (172-year synods) in 1993 between 18-20 degrees Capricorn, Jupiter helped Uranus explode the Internet revolution when they met in Aquarius. Technology has been king over the last decade, from medicine to TVs to space weaponry to astrological software, you name it. There are few areas of life that technological explosions haven't touched. Jupiter helped take the Uranus-Neptune information revolution worldwide.

Jupiter relates to intuition, and our personal beliefs and philosophical perspectives. It is how we apply a larger frame of reference to whatever we look at. It applies meaning behind phenomena. In Capricorn, Jupiter may question the extremes of material manifestations or want even more. With Jupiter and Uranus there is a give and take between technology and religion/spirituality. Unless technology is referenced to spiritual understandings, it can create Orwellian fears, some of which are quite real. Dolly the sheep, the first cloned animal, was announced to the world two weeks after the 1997 Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in Aquarius. We could easily see the first cloned human with the next Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in Pisces-Aries by 2010-2011. Jupiter + Uranus = playing god with technology.

Both technology and spirituality can be used or abused. These are the themes we will consider throughout the waning sextiles in 2008. Modern drugs can save us in a health crisis, yet they make poor substitutes for wellness foundations. Religious doctrines reject many of today's technological advances, yet the surprises keep coming. Belief systems themselves must evolve to keep current with the changing times. These Jupiter-Uranus waning sextiles relate to old beliefs, and old realities, that no longer work. Deeply questioning what is real leads to sparks of insight and new philosophical revolutions.

Uranus rules the individuated unconsciousness and its energy helps us to liberate and de-condition from current and past securities. Uranus is one of evolution's best friends. Together, Jupiter and Uranus insist we find a larger frame of reference to understand our world. In Pisces, Uranus can just check out if reality seems too shocking. Jupiter in Capricorn can help us accept new emerging realities.

As Jupiter and Uranus move through their waning sextiles over the next year, we can choose escapism into the material realm as defacto gods/goddesses. Or, we may question if the material world can really substitute for a rich inner life. Both waxing and waning sextiles bring opportunities that are easy to take or resist – we have choice with these aspects, and therefore need to choose carefully. When we can understand the deeper meanings to waning sextiles then we bring old cycles to completion and closure, rather than recycling things to do all over again. Does your material world support your spiritual beliefs, or is it a substitute?

This current Jupiter-Uranus synod has also represented the latest body-mind wave, or “consciousness creates matter” continuum. More and more, modern human consciousness is realizing that what we give our attention to – via beliefs, thoughts and emotions – manifests in our lives, both positive and negative. In 1997 very few evolved souls understood this. Today, it is the thesis for a variety of “new age” success tools. Yet science is also proving that wiring synapses together create reality – change your thoughts and the physical world eventually does the same.

The quantum physics understandings of how consciousness creates matter are a long cycle in current time. Next year (2009) Jupiter makes three conjunctions to Neptune in Aquarius (24-27 degrees). 2010-2011 finds two Jupiter-Uranus conjunctions in Pisces (27-29 degrees). Uranus is transiting Aquarius and Pisces from 1995-2010. Neptune transits Aquarius and Pisces from 1998-2025. There is another Jupiter-Neptune conjunction in 2022 at 23/24 degrees Pisces. It will be hard for the modern world to ignore “outer reflects inner” through the next few decades.

This expanding realization also brings freedom, a subject very dear to both Jupiter and Uranus. When we recognize we create our world through our beliefs, thoughts and emotions, we have the power within to change things. What a contrast to most current religious dogma that casts us as victims. Ponder these types of thoughts in 2008. How can Jupiter in Capricorn release old reality constrictions with Uranus in Pisces quantum physics? How can this type of thought process deepen our intuitive understandings of natural law? Universal Source itself? May you be most successful.

Pluto stationary retrograde (April 1, 2008)
Pluto turns stationary retrograde on April 1 at barely past 1 degree Capricorn. Pluto turns direct on September 8 at 28/29 degrees Sagittarius, and the highlight of its retrograde cycle is the opposition to the Sun on June 20 at 29/30 degrees Gemini-Sagittarius. April Fools jokes anyone? Be careful this year as the joke may backfire and be on your self.

This is the first of many (like 17) Pluto retrogrades in Capricorn over the next two decades. As we shift from retro cycles in fiery, expansive Sagittarius to earthy, practical Capricorn, this first cycle may be full of upsets. The last time we saw Pluto retrograde in Capricorn the colonies of North America were rebelling against England. Rebellions will most likely take place again before Pluto finishes up its retrograde cycles in Capricorn, stay tuned for where and when, and how.

In Evolutionary Astrology Pluto represents the soul, both individually and collectively. Pluto transiting through the signs of the zodiac represents the evolving nature of our souls, both individually and collectively. Pluto retrograde is a natural instigator for evolution, especially throwing off the past. Individual souls born during a time when Pluto is retrograde came here to spend a lifetime throwing off the past (lives). Pluto is retrograde five months of every year, so almost half the souls on the planet are attempting to release old soul patterns.

Pluto also represents the dual-desire nature of the soul – to separate from and to return to – That from which it came. Evolutionary Astrology calls these desires the separating desires and the returning desires of the soul. As all souls also desire to be secure we tend to project the past forward in order to keep re-creating security, and recycle old separating desires. Hence western tropical astrology, practiced via a geocentric (Earth) viewpoint, gives us planetary retrogrades as a mechanism to naturally create rebellion, or reviewing and throwing off the past. Through retrogrades, planets transit zodiacal degrees three times. This could be the origin of the cliché “the third times the charm.”

The unconscious planets – Uranus, Neptune and Pluto – can take conscious effort to grasp and understand. We tend to notice these planets more when they change direction, both backwards and forwards. These stationary time periods are opportunities to pay close attention to their themes in order to grasp the deep lessons involved.

Pluto in Capricorn will represent new realities that need to come forth on the planet. In its plutonian way, Pluto will first destroy old realities that have served their purpose. The current financial implosions of the sub-prime mortgage market come to mind. From Pluto in Sagittarius to Capricorn, the accounting dishonesties and over-expansions of the real estate world and investment banking houses are facing major reality checks.

As a sign of the element earth, Capricorn deals in the physical realm. It also relates to authority and control. Some of the biggest players in the real estate market and investment firms are – maybe – being saved (Sag) by even bigger (Cap) players. Stay tuned for the first Pluto retrograde cycle in Capricorn. It is time to put our feet on the ground and get ready for an interesting financial ride.

It is time to make sure your personal finances are realistic. Get your own financial house in order. Pluto stationary retrograde will expose your next areas of self-improvement. Every cycle brings the spectrum of experiences from good to bad. It is time to practice fiscal self-responsibility. There may also be opportunities for moving up the financial ladder, perhaps in the environmental or wellness markets. This cliché works with Pluto in Capricorn: “necessity is the mother of innovation.” If so, this retrograde cycle is the idea time period, or a testing ground, for new ideas with momentum picking up when Pluto turns stationary direct in early September.

Pluto's first retro in Capricorn is a time for addressing issues of self-responsibility and self-determination in all areas of life. As it goes back into Sagittarius one last time, add on self-honesty as deeply as possible. The universe is only too happy to expose it – natural law, Sag – it just takes effort to inwardly listen and not suppress things, Cap, that we would rather not see.

Nationalism will rise again through the Capricorn archetype, yet the global community is real. The nuclear ability to destroy the entire planet multiple times over is real. Pluto retro offers opportunities to practice community on the most minute levels in your own world, and then take it from there, expanding to include larger and larger circles. Capricorn and its polarity Cancer relate to gender roles, masculine and feminine. When we look back at long periods in history, we can observe their principles and distortions.

Masculine and feminine, active and passive, patriarchal and matriarchal – each brings balance to the extremes of their archetypes. The feminine principal instinctively wants to nurture and include. The masculine principal instinctively wants to aggress and exclude. Together there is balance, including and excluding however is necessary. Yet in history, patriarchal principles have been taken to extremes for thousands of years in all kinds of us versus them scenarios. Will it be taken to the extremes of self-destruction? Or, will we circle around again in larger and larger communities? Interesting times ahead.

Pluto retro throws it back to each of us as individual responsibility. Clean up your own nest, and “consciousness creates matter,” you will energize it back to you. Make your best efforts to heal your own families of origin (matriarchal), and honor healthy boundaries (patriarchal) when necessary, as in others who are unwilling to evolve. Then take this to the next level with friends, co-workers and your local community. Pluto in Capricorn's resolutions must come from the archetype of Cancer, polarities in balance.

Home and work will be major themes on deep soul levels over the next 15 years of Pluto in Capricorn. Emotional self-reliance creates emotional self-responsibility, Cancer to Capricorn, we grow up. Emotional infantilism will be exposed all over this first Pluto retrograde in Capricorn. How well can you nurture yourself, versus casting blame outside? This will be a deep lesson over the next five months. As we seek to throw off old separating desires with Pluto retro, throw off blaming your parents or the world or circumstances as the sources of your problems. You are both the source of your issues and the answer.

Ask inward questions again and again until answers pop into consciousness. How can I love my self better? How can I love others better, even it if is good-bye to be healthy? How can I take responsibility for my life, and my job, and my home, and my relationships, especially my relationship with Universal Source? Capricorn looks for outer control and power, and inner control offers the greatest power.

Pay attention to the wakeup calls from mid-March through mid-April. These are the deep soul lessons you are ready to address. Watch out for recycling old separating desires in order to feel secure. Reach for inner security over outer security. Make your best efforts to be a responsible soul creating community on the planet.

Mercury in Aries (April 2 – April 17, 2008)
Mercury initiates its new annual cycle of mental growth through the zodiac on April 2 with its entry into Aries. Talk about excitement. New ideas pop forth faster than we can speak them. We may start a sentence on one subject and cover two or three ideas by the time we take a breath. Mercury in Aries feels like they have something very, very special to share – if only everyone would listen to their point of view.

Mercury in Aries easily creates a need to speak yet not much effort is made to listen, until they are forced to. Voices get louder and louder, energy builds and anger becomes spontaneous. Luckily it can pass just as fast. Mercury in Aries can become quite forceful, and want instant action upon its ideas. Yet Mercury transiting through Aries brings this energy to everyone. Who will listen?

The transit through the zodiac allows Mercury to evolve our left-brain mental abilities in understanding and classifying the details of life. Information constantly comes at us in the modern world, and bubbles up into consciousness from the unconsciousness. We periodically go into overload and implode to sort through it and release excess mental fluff. This happens through the active/passive polarity of the signs through the zodiac, through Mercury retrograde and planetary aspects with Mercury.

While Mercury in Aries wants complete mental and verbal freedom, it also can create identity crises. We can overload on all the many possibilities we imagine ourselves to be. Mercury needs the Libran feedback for clarity to know who it is and what it really wants. It actually needs the give and take, speak and listen, to spark ever deeper knowledge of itself.

This year Mercury in Aries makes a waxing square to Pluto right after it turns retrograde, so short fuses may startle us in any areas where we feel threatened. We may lapse back into circular thinking in an attempt to be secure as our world is shaken up. Breathe, deep, deep breaths. Listen, inward and outward. Evolution will have the last word, and Pluto will force Mercury to listen and look at things in new ways.

Mercury also makes a waxing square to Jupiter and waning square to Mars while in Aries. Sun and Venus do the same in similar time periods. Anxiety may run much higher than normal with these repeating cardinal T-squares. Again, Mercury's best bet is learning how to listen, and be open to new possibilities.

When the repeating anxiety themes come up, go within. Ask for deeper understandings. Get in touch with the emotional body. The entire world is learning how to stabilize through the Pluto in Capricorn shakeups. Mercury has an edge if it is willing to entertain these new ideas, new mental thought patterns. Hope springs eternal with Aries. Its purpose is to bring forth the new, and Mercury can be the famous messenger for this purpose.

Right at the end of its Aries transit, Mercury overtakes the Sun again on April 16. This is the exterior, or superior, conjunction of Sun/Mercury. Ideas and creativity can really spring forth at this time. Pay attention to the new sparks. Something could take hold and grow, manifesting with the Sun/Mercury dance through the zodiac. Spring is making itself known in the Northern Hemisphere and Mercury can do the same. The mental sparks can take on form and shape our annual renewals.

Venus in Aries (April 5/6 – April 30, 2008)
Venus initiates a new cycle of self-reliance through the zodiac on April 5/6, and works it way closer and closer to the Sun. Its like an Aries race with the inner planets, no one wants to be left behind. Not to worry. Venus gets the same cardinal T-squares as both the Sun and Mercury this spring.

Venus has a dual archetype at this point in astrology with its rulership of both Taurus and Libra. Evolutionary Astrology observes this as the inner (Taurus) and outer (Libra) sides of Venus. We must learn how to have a relationship with our selves first, before learning how to relate to other souls outside of our selves. In fact, all our relationships with the world are a reflection of the inner relating we create with our selves.

We begin our love, or giving and receiving lessons, anew when Venus steps into Aries. We must learn to love our selves in order to really learn how to love others. Yet there is the famous balance of the polarities – to give and receive. Venus in Aries is famous for its selfishness and self-centeredness. It might help to see the natural rhythms of the circle here. Venus in Pisces was given the chance to learn deep, unconditional love, and sometimes it can give itself away completely. Aries follows to bring balance back to self.

Venus carries an instinctive survival archetype and it is strongly activated as it moves into Aries. Wait a minute, what about me?! Anxiety can ride high this spring through planets in cardinal signs. Energy bursts forth, then what? Where is stability? With Venus, it is inner security first. With Venus in Aries, this comes from reactions to the initiation of meeting our own needs. Yep, that feels good. Nope, not this way. Or, the upsets when others do not act as we want them to in our relationships. Venus inches forward, trying out new things and learning from the actions and reactions of others.

Our relationships of all kinds give the famous feedback. Venus in Aries wants the freedom to do what it wants, when it wants – don't fence me in! Yet we do not operate in vacuums. Everyone else also feels the energy to relate in new ways. Give and take must occur on all sides of relationship equations.

The degree of self-reliance we create shows up in evolving equilibrium between our selves and others. The more insecure we are, the more we may want to take charge and control things in relationships. The more self-reliance we strive towards, the more we allow life to unfold in an open way.

Desires ebb and flow. Pluto stationary retrograde brings a time to throw off the old desires we may stubbornly cling to for security reasons. Mercury and Venus move into Aries shortly after Pluto starts its retreating march. It has barely begun to move off its retrograde point by the time these two planets make a first quarter square with Pluto. This can be a powerful time as we find ourselves in the midst of deep soul eruptions. Pay close attention to the new sparks in your life through early April.

What new needs do you perceive in your life at this time? Does it create anxiety or excitement? The cardinal signs – Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn – can create the “two steps forward, one step backward” routine. We initiate into the new and then experience anxiety at separation from the known past (or the womb in the case of new birth, Cancer to Aries). This in turn can set up Libran neediness. Capricorn steps in to take control in order to feel secure again. Round and round it goes.

As Sun, Mercury and Venus in Aries make their waxing squares to Jupiter and Pluto in Capricorn, and waning square to Mars in Cancer, all this gets activated. We so want to move forward, yet fear the unknown and crave security. Venus in Aries must find comfort in the adventure, and openness, flexibility, to the unknown future. It must acknowledge others have needs and desires as well. We evolve through our relationships.

Venus in Aries will alternate between a passion for relationship intimacy, and a strong need to be free in order to explore something new. It can be very confusing, for all parties involved. It feels like a push-pull, or control game. Venus in Aries has maturation lessons from the squares to Cancer/Capricorn and the opposition from Libra. Aries is a necessary part of the circle, and yet it needs to recognize that the circle does not revolve around it.

Explore the new evolving needs within your soul through Venus in Aries. Be open to the fine-tuning process through feedback from others, and experience. Search for healthy relating perimeters that still allow for freedom to explore. Venus in Aries must realize it wants freedom and commitment, and it can have both. Recognize others have needs as well, and give as each person needs, versus giving what we want to give.

Mercury in Taurus (April 17 – May 2, 2008)

This year Mercury in Taurus is busy, as it aspects Mars through Pluto in two weeks. Better yet, Mercury makes harmonious trines and sextile aspects except for Neptune. It is time to ground all the new ideas that came through Mercury in Aries.

Taurus is passive, fixed earth, concerned with the physical world and achieving stability. The initiations of Aries must be focused with Taurus. Birth without survival doesn't get very far. Taurus concerns itself with physical survival – food, clothing and shelter. After that it goes for the finer, sensual pleasures it is traditionally known for such as art, cuisine, music and material goods.

Mercury in Taurus becomes concerned with these subjects, attempting to create security through consistency with its physical world. As Pluto retrograde in Capricorn brings reality re-alignments, we can mentally fixate on possessions or a job or something in the physical realm that represents security to us. Flexibility is not a Taurus strong point, yet the easier aspects with the outer planets can be very helpful for Mercury.

There are also Taurean lessons of inner security, or self-reliance that Mercury will address here. When Taurus gets fixated on anything, its Scorpio polarity will rip the rugs out from underneath to confront any limitations. Outer securities – job, possessions, relationships, home, etc – are removed to teach inner security. When we really get that “inner creates outer” than we go with the flow easier. We release the old to recreate even better yet. Or, we recognize that the material world is no substitute for inner wealth.

We may worry more than usual through this Mercury in Taurus. The physical world is heading for major re-alignments, and we might want to dig in our heels. Breathe and strive for flexibility. Mercury will actually be able to entertain more possibilities than usual through its aspects. There will be many choices available to us. Change starts as a whisper with its voice getting louder and louder when we refuse to listen. Whatever changes are necessary will be made known to us, especially if we are willing to be open.

Simplify the details in your life as much as possible. Set priorities. Find time for conversations with loved ones to figure out what is really important. Be responsible. All the earth archetypes – Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn – are emphasized. Saturn will be in Virgo for a few years and Pluto in Capricorn for the next 15 years. The inner planets through Taurus can realize some major ah ha's through the earth trine aspects.

Conversations will be to the point without much fluff. This is what is going on, and here is what needs to be done about it. Create some mental affirmations that reaffirm deeper and deeper inner security, through any and all changes.

Make peace with your physical world.