The Evolutionary Meaning Of Planetary Retrogrades

Hi All,

With the Mercury transit going retrograde I thought I would post the below lectures that JWG did a long time ago somewhere in the world.

God Bless, Rad

THE EVOLUTIONARY MEANING OF RETROGRADE PLANETS

Today we will talking about the nature of retrograde planets, and what they mean from the evolutionary point of view of the Soul. Please keep in mind that the phenomena of a planet appearing retrograde is an apparent motion. That simply means their motion appears retrograde is relative to the Earth: it is not actually happening from the point of view of the Sun. So this is an apparent motion. Nonetheless, since it is applicable to the Earth, what we see from the surface of the Earth, there have been observed dynamics in human consciousness, and events on the Earth, that are specific to that apparent retrograde motion.

There are key archetypes that retrograde motion correlates to that are specific to retrograde archetypes. The first thing to understand is that the retrograde planet accelerates the evolutionary momentum of the Soul. The reason is that the retrograde is meant to retreat, reject or rebel against the status quo expectations of how that planet, it’s archetypal behavior, is expected to manifest and, thus, it accelerates the process of individuation. The retrograde function must, as an archetype, define for itself how that behavior, how that psychology, and how the circumstances which reflect that will be defined. In addition, the retrograde archetype is non-static: it rarely reaches a point in time where it goes, "Aha, that's it, no more." It emphasizes the need to continuously grow, and to continuously challenge existing limitations that promote the sense of stagnation, or non-growth. Thus, this creates a cyclic or perpetual need to redefine, retrograde, internal or external circumstances as necessary.

Again, it accelerates or emphasizes the individuation process. As a result, the function that is retrograde will place a premium on individuality, but, in so doing, it is also going to induce the sense of being different: different as measured against the status quo. For example, if we have Venus retrograde, this is going to demonstrate archetypically an individual who needs to uniquely define its own personal and social values which will then allow it to relate to itself, Venus, in a way that is reflective of its own individuality. As a result Venus retrograde will orient to relationships in such a way as to reject, rebel, retreat from the status quo expectation of how relationships, and how the roles within relationships, are meant to be played out from a societal, status quo, point of view. Thus, the person will feel different. If we apply this archetypes to say a teenager in a middle class high school in middle America, and there all kinds of teenage peer group social norms which equal expected ways to be in relationships, and how the genders are meant to treat each other, how would this teenager going to being able to relate to his or her peer group ? Is the retrograde Venus teenager going to feel different than this? As a result, is it possible that it is going to feel itself to be a social loner? Could this not set up all kinds of cruel accusations from its existing peer group? This is exactly where the issue of emotional, psychological compensation can exist. It is not uncommon for the retrograde archetype to compensate by giving the appearance of normalcy relative to whatever function is retrograde in order to feel socially, and thus individually, secure. Yet, in so doing, it is in violation of its own natural law: how the Soul is desiring to evolve.

There are such things as retrograde personality types. This is commonly linked to birth patterns in which you find four or more retrograde planets. Typically these people, unless they are psychologically compensating, are highly introverted: retrograde. They are extremely sensitive, shy, timid, and socially unsure. Now keep in mind this issue of compensation. Some can play a good game, and create the appearance which belies reality.

(Q) When does it become a game, and when does it become a balancing act? If we believe in the transmigration of Souls, there has been a certain point in the evolution when the planet has been direct and another time when the planet is going to be retrograde. Yet, one can go beyond that to a certain extent and balance the archetype which does have an inner and outer function.

Jeffrey: The balance that you are alluding to is for the Soul to create or design it’s circumstantial life to reflect it’s own inner essence: it’s intrinsic individuality. If that is done there can be a natural balance. If not, anything other than that is going to be an act of compensation in which balance can never be achieved. It is a very fine line.

Compensation is about protection. My point is that once the individual manifests the courage to define these archetypes which are retrograde to reflect its actual essence, that courage to do so will create an inner security that will withstand any sense of social insecurity that is based on not conforming to the status quo. The evolved retrograde attitude would be like the bumper sticker, "Take it or leave it".

(Q) What I think becomes important is that it is a highly individuating function, and if the function becomes paramount, and the person does this from an individual perspective rather than being forced into it collectively, then he or she can develop in a very unique way.

Jeffrey: Absolutely. And that is the key: to have it reflect their own individual law or nature. It does not mean forming group bonds with similarly alienated Souls, and adopting those alienated value systems. This is another possibility. But it would then become just another compensation relative to the consensus: the consensus now being a group of alienated people.

(Q) My son is 19 months old and .has five planets retrograde including Pluto. I didn't understand the group thing.

Jeffrey: I said that some retrograde people opt for relationships with alienated Souls, Souls who are also feeling that they are not fitting into the status quo, and then adopt the consensus of the alienated peer group versus doing what retrograde demands which is to uniquely define whatever is retrograde to reflect the actual individuality or reality of the person themselves. The only way the group thing could work would be being within a group whose primary attitude is "define yourself to reflect yourself".

(Q) That's how I feel our whole family is.

Jeffrey: That is the whole point. Once the environment is created which reflects the individual, then the introversion doesn't exist because there is environmental permission to be who you are. The introversions of timidity and shyness are only in environments of a consensus in which the environmental message is not to be who you are. A parent who is able to give this permission to be who you are is clearly the combination that allows this safe to be opened.

(Q) When you speak of this individuating function, I find Saturn to be particularly important because that is, of course, the social collective and if the person can't overcome that, then the person can't individuate.

Jeffrey: Yes. That is difficult. Saturn retrograde is not an uncommon symbol: Venus is the rarest to be retrograde, every 542 days out of every cycle. That is a long time: it is almost a year and three quarters. The smallest number of people with a planet retrograde are Venus retrograde people. The most common is Pluto. It is retrograde half the year every year.

(Q) There are going to be cycles too like right now where the planets are bunched through Scorpio, Sagittarius and Capricorn where anyone born in opposition to that is going to have all of those retrograde.

Jeffrey: Yes. Going back to Saturn retrograde is going to be difficult but we always have to come back to this basic issue of evaluating the condition of the Soul. If we are observing a Soul which has already evolved to an individuated state, Saturn retrograde will not be problematic. That is only twenty percent of the population. Seventy percent of the Saturn retrogrades will be in the consensus state, and that is where the problems can exist. That is where these issues of compensation will be most observable. So this is a key point: observe the evolutionary state of the Soul. This cannot be overemphasized.

(Q) I have always felt (I have Venus retrograde) ostracized by the peer group, growing up and through the teen years and I never really felt like I was part of the classroom on the social scene. I always had to stand off most of the time. I could see what you would mean about a growth in the individuated: trying to find your own values. But with the retrograde it seems like it takes such a long time to find out what your values really are.

Jeffrey: Again, it is non-static. It is analogous to peeling the layers off an onion to arrive at the core: how quickly can that really be done ? Especially when you have tears in the eyes, and you want to throw the onion away. But it again depends upon evolutionary station. I have Venus retrograde, and it is in Scorpio in the first house. I could care less if I fit into whatever group, even astrology groups. I am a group of one, Aries, and I am quite happy.

(Q) What is an average number of planets retrograde? One or two? Is it rare for someone to have no retrogrades?

Jeffrey: No, it is not rare. Both of my children have no planets retrograde including the nodes.

(Q) I read in a book that three was normal.

Jeffrey: Based on my own experience through counseling I would say the average is two or three. Let’s take a random sample in this room of how many of you have Venus retrograde given that it’s the rarest of all retrogrades (the room that Jeffrey is in has about twenty five students). Four hands in the air. That’s unusual, but not in a group like this, eh ? And that’s because groups like this, an astrology group, are NOT PART OF THE CONSENSUS IN THIS SOCIETY.

(Q) What about Venus in Aquarius retrograde?

Jeffrey: I can only give you the archetype: the need to define your own unique values, individually, socially, to define uniquely how you need to be in a relationship, what you will and won't accept, what the partner should and shouldn't be. And then manifesting the courage to express that. If it doesn't look like anybody else's relationship with respect to the social milieu, so be it There is simply a need to rebel, Aquarius, against the status quo expectations. From a karmic point of view, which is the next layer of retrograde, there can be some karmic implications with respect to many past lives in which you confused the issue of friendship and intimacy, and trying to turn a valued friend into an intimate other. This then created all kinds of problems in so doing. So then the retrograde means what?

The archetypal intent of the retrograde also applies to relearn, redo, repeat, and rethink. So, from an evolutionary and karmic point of view the retrograde can re-experience, relive dynamics, circumstances, people, events that are symbolic and reflective of other lifetimes because the lessons were not learned.

(Q) Do you think that would cause a person to have a lot of feelings or energies from past lives?

Jeffrey: Are you talking about images that occur into the consciousness?

Audience: Yes.

Jeffrey: Retrograde planets of themselves attempt to break down the barrier between conscious and unconscious and, specifically, the individuated unconscious. The retrograde archetype tries to actually access the Uranian archetype which is held in the individuated unconscious. So, of course such images can come forth as well as actually having the experience of reliving things from other times.

(Q) With Pluto Rx, you said that all intimate people that you have in your life, you have been with before.

Jeffrey: No. That is not in the Pluto book. I wrote it, I should know.

(Q) I thought you made that statement about the eighth house Pluto .

Jeffrey: Yes, that is about the eight house Pluto, not Pluto retrograde in general.

(Q) How do those people come together?

Jeffrey: That choice, and that karmic requirement, if you look at it from this life's point of view, is established in other times. It comes under the category of fate or destiny. Generally, twenty percent any of our lives is fated, and eighty percent is free choice. When there is a karmic/evolutionary requirement to repeat or relive certain relationships with individuals in which something was not done right, finished, or completed, or even in certain cases where there is a condition of fruition, then those karmic and evolutionary requirements correlate to ‘fate‘. In this context fate then directs the show beyond the current personality. Circumstances have actually been created by the Soul, unbeknownst to the conscious personality, that lead people back together.

(Q) Can it be a archetype of something that needs to be repeated rather than something which is with an actual Soul that you have been with before?

Jeffrey: From an eighth house Pluto point of view? Yes, that ‘something’ can be inner dynamics that have created circumstances that need to repeated. If that also turns out to be the need to repeat specific relationships with others then you want to look at Venus, and the ruler of the eighth house because that is essentially what is going on: what the dynamics have been. Look at the aspects that both are making in order to understand the total ’picture’ of what has gone on and why. Within that to then understand what the resolutions are of these dynamics that are being repeated so that the Soul does not have to repeat them again.

(Q) This is true all during one's lifetime, and never stops? And does it continue into future lives?

Jeffrey: It totally depends on what choices are being made during this lifetime.

Classic example. A person we knew had a deep vision to be an alternative teacher. She had a natal eighth house retrograde Pluto, and a stacked ninth house. The vision that the person had was a wonderful vision, magnificent vision, which required her to have a teaching partner. She had done this before, in another lifetime, and had others that she had partnered with for this vision to become reality. And, yet, in that former life one of those partners, a business partner, eight house Pluto retrograde, was utterly jealous of this person. She wanted to be this person herself. Thus, she was dishonest, and completely manipulative in terms of presenting her own motivations to this person: the reasons that she wanted to help her actualize this vision. Her inner motives in that life were to help this person actualize her vision, and then to sabotage her so that she could then take over the alternative school that this person had designed.

In that life when this began to occur the eight house Pluto person refused to understand, grasp, and accept who that person really was, what their intentions and motives were. She just wanted to forgive that person, and made up all kids of excuses manifesting as reasons as to why that person did what they did. Thus, because of this, the eight house Pluto retrograde person created karmic and evolutionary conditions in which they would have to repeat these dynamics again so as to relearn the truth of what actually happened, and why. This was necessary of course so that the eight house Pluto person would not do this again, so they could then evolve. And, of course, it was necessary to experience this person in this life so that the eight house Pluto retrograde person could finally call a spade a spade to this person’s face.

So as she began to implement her vision she drew to herself a person who wanted to help her actualize this vision. Everyone else around her was telling her not to get involved with that person. And, of course, that person was that same person from the former life.

So even though everyone else around her was telling her not to get involved with this person she did so anyway: it was fated. So she went ahead a made the choice to go ahead with this person. Yet, because of that person not being honest, etc, events transpired that lead them to become arch enemies. This time she did not make excuses for her, and saw everything about her with crystal clarity. And that, indeed, was the resolution relative to the karmic and evolutionary need to repeat this relationship. The lesson for this eight house Pluto retrograde person, relative to a stacked ninth house, was to trust her intuition, and to see this particular person clearly.

(Q) What would be different with a second house Pluto retrograde, versus the eight house Pluto retrograde ?

Jeffrey: Because the issues and dynamics of the eighth house is diametrically different than the second: making choices equaling union, partnership, and marriage with another. Typically, the eighth house is involved with manipulation. And, typically, eighth house Pluto people deny rabidly that there is any manipulation taking place. The most common pattern with eighth house Pluto people is that they form relationships with people, or people form relationships with them, relative to need and once the need is satisfied there is no more use for the relationship. Thus, use and manipulation. So, unless is it openly stated in the beginning of the relationship that I will be here this amount of time, and when it is over I will be gone. That will then preclude any sort of karma at that level.

(Q) Would you say that there is more of a fated quality to retrogrades? The more retrogrades the more fated the life?

Jeffrey: Yes. That can be. Especially when the issue of relive and repeat is on the line. In my own case, I have a balsamic Mars/Venus: the culmination of a cycle relative to relationships: And my Venus, again, is retrograde in Scorpio in the first house, and square Pluto and Saturn which are also retrograde. It is also inconjunct Uranus in Gemini in the eight house. So, how do you think I am culminating many relationships from many lifetimes? In the kind of work I am doing.

(Q) Through vicarious association?

Jeffrey: No. By doing it impersonally, so I don't have to get closely involved. The impersonal aspect of it is the Venus retrograde inconjuncting the Uranus retrograde in the eight house Gemini. And this takes place in the contest of my work or career: the square from the Venus retrograde to Saturn retrograde. So it becomes like a revolving door, and becomes the quickest way to do it. .And, sure, all the time there is that kind of recognition factor.

We must also understand that there is a collective issue with respect to retrogrades. If Mercury goes retrograde we all have to deal with the principles of redoing, redefining, and rethinking pertaining to Mercury. How many of you have experienced communications from .people that you have known in this life that you have lost communication with for a period of time, and suddenly you have a re-communication? How many of you have experienced this when Mercury is retrograde? It is a common phenomena. So what is being redone? What is being reestablished? What is the purpose?

It is a classic Mercury retrograde example you have put together certain things in a Mercury kind of way, and strategies to accomplish them. What happens when Mercury goes retrograde you have to rethink the whole thing. Suddenly, you are not quite so certain. What happens if you start making major decisions when Mercury is retrograde ? Typically information win come to light after it goes direct that has bearing on the decision that was made when it was retrograde. So don't make major decisions when Mercury is retrograde. Always wait for it to go direct so as to become aware of that last vital piece of information to make a more logical decision. Mercury is retrograde about three weeks about three times a year.

(Q) Is it good to wait for it to get back to the degree where it went retrograde?

Jeffrey: Yes. That's a very good piece of advice.

(Q) People who have Mercury retrograde would naturally look at all angles because this for them is a deeper intensification of their mind.

Jeffrey: Actually, for people who have Mercury retrograde natally, it tends to promote a special clarity when it goes retrograde. So they get to sit back and get a great laugh while everyone else struggles, and sees what they go through throughout life!

(Q) Would that also be true for someone who has progressed Mercury retrograde?

Jeffrey: Yes. But not as strong as when it is a natal issue. But don't you see this Mercury retrograde issue right now with all these politicians questioning the nuclear arms treaty? Rethinking, redoing. Don't you see that certain of these politicians running for president are having to retract certain statements that they have made: for example Pat Robertson's ludicrous claim of missiles suddenly back in Cuba!

(Audience) He has it on good authority!

Jeffrey: So, there are these collective implications.

(Q) What about stationary retrograde or direct ?

Jeffrey: The stationary retrograde, or stationary direct, is a very interesting symbol because it right away is going to magnify itself: it concentrates. A student noticed that when Pluto would go retrograde, ,and then go stationary direct, major events would occur and yet at the point of the stationary direct it was not aspecting any other natal planets. His question was what does it mean. What it means, from Pluto's point of view, when it goes retrograde it sets in motion a gestational process, the gestation emanating from the Soul, in which the Soul is beginning to redefine certain aspects of its reality. So, by the time it goes stationary direct, it concentrates itself to induce inner or outer events which reflect what the gestation was all about. So, what the stationary does, then, is to bring into reality what the retrograde issue was trying to gestate: to rethink, redo, redefine, etc.

(Q) So, if you were born with a stationary direct, it would be an evolutionary thing, you have been in a retrograde before and are now moving direct.

Jeffrey: Yes. If you see it stationary, then this is the first life where that is taking place after that gestational process. This implies that there has been a series of prior lives in which it had been retrograde and relative to the natural evolutionary cycle, suddenly there is a life for the first time after a while in which it is now retrograde. It will move from birth through transits and progression and express itself, manifest itself, quite instinctually. Even though it will be instinctual the Soul will know how to do it, whatever it is.

Also, when you find planets, that are retrograde which form aspects to planets that are not retrograde, this is called an "oblique retrograde". You can have an oblique retrograde Moon. If you have Uranus retrograde forming a square to the Moon, for example. You see ? So, what would an oblique retrograde Moon actually mean?

(Q) .Stabilizing and internalizing.

Jeffrey: Internalizing is the key in order to establish a state of inner emotional security. The whole intent of the retrograde is to introspect, and to internalize in order to individuate. So, relative to the Moon, the individual has decided to learn how to nurture itself, and to create a state of inner security. It infers that the person is learning to break free, to liberate, Uranus, from all external dependencies. It infers that there is a discrepancy between the parents' realities, and the child's realities. This is because the Moon is aspecting a retrograde planet.

A person could have a whole chart that is retrograde by aspect. The same applies to the Sun. If anyone has an oblique retrograde to the Sun, it means that the person cyclically or perpetually throughout life will redefine its whole sense of purpose, and how it creatively actualizes that purpose. And, within this, how it is interpreting and giving meaning to its experience relative to that.

For example, a person with a Sagittarius Sun. And let’s say that person goes through some major traumatic event. The way that the person integrates itself and gives purpose to it’s life is uniquely Sagittarius. That is different than integrating oneself relative to Libra. If I go through a major hardship and I am integrating by way of a Sagittarius Sun, am I not going to tend to philosophize that trauma? I .will be integrating it into my existing belief patterns, and using them as a basis of making a philosophical understanding of that trauma. Is that not going to be different from Sun in Taurus, or Libra or, Cancer?

(Q) What happens if a retrograde planet is aspecting another retrograde planet? Does that undo it or intensify it?

Jeffrey: It intensifies it.

(Q) With an oblique retrograde to the Moon, do you find that when the Moon moves slower, the speed of the Moon slowing down, that this relates to a retrograde function as opposed to a quick Moon?

Jeffrey: No. It does tend to make a person much more emotional than in the .faster Moons. The average motion of the Moon is 12.5 degrees per day. It can move as quickly as fifteen degrees a day, or as slow as ten degrees in a day.

(Q) When a retrograde, planet goes direct by progression, how would that effect it?

Jeffrey: That's a good question. It means that at that point in time, that which has been gestated, rethought, redone, redefined to reflect individuality tends to begin to stabilize. The person begins to put things together and tends to establish a foundation that reflects all that questioning that can be sustained for a great length of time. But, again, the natal impulse is always retrograde. It is always trying to refine, retrograde, that new structure. Just think of all those kinds of words that start .with: relive, rebel, rethink, refine, redefine, etc.

(Q) Retread.

Jeffrey: If it is not retrograde at birth, and it goes retrograde progression, then the retrograde archetype begins to operate. Now that directness is challenged, and that person begins to feel unstable relative to the function that is going retrograde.

(Q) How many days a year is Venus retrograde?

Jeffrey: It retrogrades every five hundred and forty two days, and stays retrograde two to three weeks. That is a large cycle of un-stabilization relative to relationships. That means that a bunch of people on the planet get to redo, rethink, reflect on their relationships which includes their own relationship to them self.

So what let’s go ahead and now talk about each planet when it is retrograde.

                                                  MERCURY RETROGRADE

People who have Mercury retrograde are people who, evolutionarily over many lives, have, prior to Mercury going Retrograde, indiscriminately collected information from a diversity of sources in the efforts to create logical structures which will allow them to intellectually explain the nature of their existence. Because the information has been indiscriminately collected their Souls have become a library of random information that has caused intellectual confusion because of all the different forms of information that has been collected conflicts within itself. Thus, the evolutionary intention of the Mercury retrograde is to rebel, reject, to throw out all unnecessary information. The intent within this is for the Soul to orient to information that is specific and particular to its own reason for being, and thus to intellectually simplify. It means to rebel or retreat from externally gained or accepted information systems. It means to internalize in such a way that the person can develop their own voice: to arrive at their own views relative to the nature of things. It means to personalize such information.

(Q) Personal truth as opposed to social truth?

Jeffrey: Yes. As a result we have a natural antithetical archetype.

That nature of Mercury is to externalize, yet the nature of retrograde is internalize. As a result, people with Mercury retrograde, when they are exposed to knowledge which does not reflect their personal purpose, information which is not needed, then there is an automatic stiff-arm, so to speak, in the Soul which does not allow them to take in unnecessary information. This can create problems in cultures like this in which the premium, relative to educational models when we are children, is to memorize and parrot, not to conceptualize. This creates problems with the majority retrograde Mercury students. Some of these people are classically labeled slow learners. We have advocated for many years that there should be special schools taught by Mercury retrograde teachers to Mercury retrograde students. It would work: the Soul vibrations would be in harmony.

In addition, the Mercury retrograde is pointing from the left brain to the right brain. The left brain is linear, and the right brain is not. The left brain is fact-based. The right brain is intuitive. Mercury retrograde people, evolutionarily speaking, are beginning the process of relearning to rely upon and trusting their intuition as a source of information and knowledge that they are seeking. They may seek out external information sources but those sources of information would only be relative to the Mercury retrograde Souls own specific purposes and needs. When Mercury retrograde focuses on such information it can then have a photographic type memory in which that information is never forgotten. Mercury retrograde, when operating in harmony with its archetype, only speaks when there is a reason to speak. Mercury retrograde, when it is not in harmony with its archetype, gossips like crazy, and can talk non-stop. Going from one thing to the next thing, over an over.

Audience: I know this quite intimately relative to a plan ride I just took .with respect to a fellow passenger.

Jeffrey: When Mercury goes retrograde collectively then, we all come under this impulse. When it goes retrograde through progression, this is what happens. Mercury retrograde points towards Jupiter.

                                                   VENUS RETROGRADE

Venus is the rarest archetype to have retrograde and the need is to, archetypically, utterly and uniquely define ones values on a personal and social level which will then allow the person to harmoniously relate to itself. As a result of this the person can then relate to others from the point of view of being centered within itself. It places a premium on the lesson of Venus from a Taurus point of view called self-reliance. Retrograde Venus people, from a spiritual point of view, are learning that the ultimate relationship is with non human being. It is with the inner Godhead. Commonly, people in monastic environments have Venus retrograde. Commonly, the artist has Venus retrograde. Commonly, the musician has Venus retrograde. The person forms a relationship with that which constitutes its work where that work is a reflection of the Souls inner relationship to itself.

Retrograde Venus people commonly feel a high degree of social alienation through the un-relatedness, Venus, of the values systems that are shared, Venus, amongst the consensus relative to Souls own unique and individual own values. This conflict is values, of what is meaningful, of how we relate to others and why, creates a feeling of being very different with respect to the social milieu. The famous "wallflower".

(Audience) I don't have retrograde planets, but I can really relate to that.

Jeffrey: If you have evolved beyond consensus state and you have planets in the social houses or the relationships houses, it can induce this effect. Anytime you have evolved out of the consensus, you are beginning to access the archetype of Uranus. Once you .access the Uranus archetype consciously, that is the effect in general.

Commonly, retrograde Venus people, when they do participate in relationships, either draw individuals who are themselves rugged individualists, or they draw relationships in which they play the role of helper or counselor. The reason is that Venus correlates with the phenomena called magnetism. If you are around a person with Venus retrograde who has done the necessary inner work on themselves, then the nature of their magnetism is quite different than those who have not.

(Q) Sounds like a guru - to bring the divinity through a human being - one is able to see God through a human being - and therefore there is a relationship with a human being, not as themselves, but as bringing God through them.

Jeffrey: That can exist, but it is relative to the evolutionary state. The reason here is that people will commonly perceive in the Venus retrograde person that they truly have something to offer that is not consciously defined, and they are magnetically drawn to the person for counsel or advice. Typically happens.

The Venus retrograde principle point towards Uranus. Any retrograde archetype will point towards Uranus. It reflects the archetype of individuation, Uranus; of withdrawing from conditioning patterns outright. Venus retrograde also points to and emphasizes the Taurus side of Venus, not the Libra side. The Taurus side is all about one’s inner relationship to oneself. It is also about the learning to be self reliant, and learning to identify one’s own inner resources in order to sustain oneself. Within this the Taurus archetype is all about what constitutes meaning in one’s life, and thus what one values. So with Venus retrograde these Souls are emphasizing this archetype within themselves.

(Q) So Aquarius in the second house could have a similar effect to Venus retrograde?

Jeffrey: It depends on the condition of Uranus, and the evolutionary condition of the Soul. If it is strong in the chart, and the evolutionary condition of the Soul is individuated and beyond, then, yes, it can operate that way. Conversely, many within the Aquarian archetype simply bond with their peer group which is the majority outright.

From the Soul's point of view, Venus is mercifully retrograde the least of all. From a personal point of view, it can be an incredibly long winter. Even in the context of the best of relationships, such people still feel entirely alone. They may enjoy being alone yet the nature of human beings is that they are social animals. So this inner feeling of always being alone, even in the context of an intimate other, can be quite difficult at times to live with because of this feeling of inner isolation from everything.

But, it is also true that, by way of compensation, many Venus retrograde people go through a diversity of partners thinking that they can find someone who can relate to them. Rarely, does a Venus retrograde person find the life partner in the first partner, because evolutionarily and karmically, there is also a need to repeat or relive relationships with Soul's with which there have been these prior linkages in which something was not finished or resolved. Thus, the need to repeat or relive such relationships in order for a resolution, or completion, to occur. When Venus goes retrograde by transit this can correlate to a time in which any of us can attract to ourselves others whom we have known in the past that suddenly resurface into our lives for this reason.

When Venus goes retrograde through progression this can then correlate to a time, which can be the remainder of one’s life in certain cases, in which the Soul progressively withdraws from the way it has been living it’s life. The Soul then goes deep within itself as it attempts, desires, to recreate to core sense of meaning for it’s life. In turn this creates a time in which the Soul will question the very meaning of life itself, and then to create a new sense of meaning for itself.

Thus, the very nature of what it values, it’s value systems, can change, and, as a result of how the Soul then relates to others, and how others relate to the Soul. The core intention of the Venus retrograde natally, through progression, or through transit is all about the Soul’s inner relationship to itself, how it relates to itself, and that which constitutes to the very meaning of life in general, and, thus, what will constitute personal meaning for the Soul itself.

                                                    MARS RETROGRADE

The very nature of Mars is yang, the male principle, to project outwards. And here, again, we have a retrograde principle that wants to introvert, and to internalize. Mars, of itself, wants no limitations. It is an utterly instinctual process which reflects the actual desires emanating from the Soul. These desires, in themselves, reflect .the evolutionary journey of the Soul and, thus, the instinctual need to assert or act upon any experience deemed necessary with a minimum of restriction in order to discover the reactions to the experience. It is the reactions to the initiated experience that produces knowledge. There is no forethought within Mars, of itself, no conscious intent. It is an utterly instinctual process that reflects the desires from the Soul.

The linkage of Mars and Pluto, by the way, is the archetype behind the Indian idea of maya: the illusion of separateness, the subjective ego of the Soul that is only identified with itself at a personality level, and thus the illusion of separateness. Mars also embodies the sexual instinct. So, if you turn this impulse retrograde, it can induce frustration because you certainly have a consciousness that is monitoring the nature of desires, and the intent behind any given action, or the desire behind any given experience. It is interrupting the natural instinctual flow. This can create problems.

Evolutionarily speaking, the intent is to only manifest experiences which are essential to the evolutionary purpose of the Soul, and thus not to waste time. Mars is analogous to the pinball machine: you pull the lever, the thing flies around, and it takes a while for the thing to find the final slot. Action-reaction. Action-reaction. Mars retrograde, however, only wants to initiate experiences that are essential. So, if you put such an archetype in a culture which is now putting a premium on freedom, and the person witnesses all around people who are operating antithetical to itself, what happens by way of comparison ? What happens to the sexualized external instinct ? What happens to sexual rhythm relative to this instinct ? Is it constant, or does it fluctuate ? What happens to the consciously acknowledged desire behind any given sexual attraction? It creates an automatic check or filter that allows for a conscious awareness of an archetype that is not normally conscious. That can be highly frustrating to the Mars.

(Q) Does it create sexual dysfunction or just reflection?

Jeffrey: In certain cases, it can lead into sexual dysfunction, in other cases, by way of compensation it can lead to the rabbit syndrome.

(Q) It sounds like these people have something on an instinctual level or process, and are working with it consciously which is implying responsibility in this case: a lot of responsibility. Would you say that Mars direct normally doesn't have that kind of responsibility?

Jeffrey: In and of itself, yes. Of course this can be conditioned by way of connections to other planets and/ or signs. For example Mars in aspect to Saturn can create that.

(Q) So, a more individual sense of right and wrong, rather than cultural, but the right and wrong of the Soul is the point.

Jeffrey: Right. That is the point. It is also obviously going to place a premium on the right to be an individual. It is going to place a premium on the need for freedom. From a spiritual point of view, it attempts to align the personal will at an egocentric level. Mars, with a higher will.

(Q) Even more so if it is in aspect to Pluto.

Jeffrey: Yes. It can lead to potential collisions, now emphasized, between its will and the will of other people that can make the person highly susceptible to the impact of other peoples will. Mars rules the naval chakra with Pluto. This is where all of us take in the will, through the environment, of others. So, with Mars retrograde, i.e. its natural action of Mars is to project outward, and therefore we have a natural repelling force that can thwart other people's wills. So when Mars is retrograde the person is now taking it right back into itself. This can perpetually or cyclically weaken the constitution. It can lead to digestion problems because of the linkage with the chakra that is now emanating the nerves leading to digestion: the stomach, pancreas, duodenum, liver, etc.

(Q) Would that be accentuated if the Mars is retrograde in the first or sixth house?

Jeffrey: That would be accentuated with Mars retrograde in the fourth or eight houses, or in Scorpio or Cancer.

(Q) What if the Mars is in a mental sign in a mental house?

Jeffrey: There would be all kinds of verbal arguments relative to the collision of wills.

(Q) Like Mars in Gemini in the seventh house?

Jeffrey: Yes.

So the key in understanding Mars retrograde is that inverts the consciousness of the Soul so that it can determine the cause, the why, of any given desire that the Soul has. As a result, the Soul, when Mars is retrograde, is desiring to eliminate all unnecessary desires that have nothing to do with what the Soul needs by way of it’s ongoing evolutionary journey. And this includes inverting the natural sexual energy of the Soul: to determine the reason, or the why, of any given sexual desire that is perceived as a need. When Mars goes retrograde by way of a transit or progression this same need to determine these the reasons, the why, of any given desire that has lead to the creation of it’s life to date, including sexual desires, occurs. As a result, the Soul will desire to eliminate or change anything in it’s life that no longer has anything to do with what the Soul actually needs to continue on it’s evolutionary journey. In the process of eliminating anything that has lead to the Soul’s current state of reality the Soul will reflect on exactly what it does need, what it does desire, to move forwards on that journey. Thus, this can be a time of creating new and intensified desires to that end. And the Soul, via it’s will, Mars, will demand the freedom to so actualize those desires. In many, many ways when Mars goes retrograde through transit or progression it correlates to a time of Soul renewal because of this. When Mars is retrograde it points back to the Soul itself: Pluto.

                                                   JUPITER RETROGRADE

Jupiter is interesting to have retrograde. From an evolutionary point of view, the individual must eliminate all belief structures that it has accumulated over a period of many lifetimes in order to arrive at an individualized belief system, philosophical principals, abstracts, or cosmological views which are wholly arrived at, and defined, by itself.

This then places a premium on the intuitive development of the Souls nature. This is Jupiter retrograde. It creates a focus upon the right brain. As a result, these people's belief structures tend to be redefined or adjusted throughout their lives with respect to learning strategies, to which Jupiter correlates, which have to be highly tailored to reflect the individual reality of the Soul.

As in Mercury retrograde if this is not done, the person has a very hard time assimilating, accepting, or taking in new abstract principles. Sometimes, with Jupiter retrograde, depending on the evolutionary condition of the Soul, some individuals can find it extremely difficult to find linear words, logical sentence structure, to express what they are conceptualizing or intuiting. They can commonly have a psychology of inferiority relative to communication skills with respect to what they know.

(Q) It would be more prevalent in a left brain society such as ours.

Jeffrey: Exactly.

As a result, some of these people won't communicate even at times that they ought to communicate because of the imposed or learned inferiority. Linked with anatomy, some of these people have thyroid and pituitary issues. The thyroid is ruled by Jupiter, and the pituitary is co-ruled by Jupiter and Saturn. The pituitary is linked with the growth and decay of the entire organism: the master gland. The thyroid correlates to what you can assimilate on a nutritional level. .It is not uncommon for these people to have an assimilation problem relative to the thyroid, and can have some degree of difficulty or disruption relative to the pituitary in terms of the ability to regulate the growth and decay of the organism. For example, commonly, people with Jupiter retrograde have a lack of iodine in their system which is critical to the thyroid and it’s ability to assimilate the nutrients that are put in the body. This can then lead to people who are very thin, and/or the opposite: very, very fat.

When Jupiter goes retrograde through transit for all of us then all of these processes are afoot. For example, when Jupiter goes retrograde through transit in the natal chart that is an area where you can be taking a new look at: a new view. One of the correlative functions of Jupiter is to interpret phenomenal reality, and thus by way of interpretation, generate meaning. But the interpretation is based on the totality of your subjective reality which, itself, is a composite of exiting beliefs which then determines how you interpret phenomenal reality in general, and your own life, reality, specifically.

So let’s say this occurs in your sixth house. This is the area that you will then be taking a new look at. And that can include your body, your physical health. This will then create a focus within your consciousness that creates an awareness of your body that leads to what needs to be adjusted in order to sustain physical well being. If the body is physically suffering in some way at that time it then leads to the awareness of what you need to change, of what to do, in order for it to be healthy again.

This transit will create an awareness within your consciousness of anything that needs to be adjusted, of that which leads to self improvement, relative to how you have been responding to the various elements in your overall reality including work, strategies of personal improvement which are based on the need to redefine, to interpret differently. It will make you look at the issues pertaining to the sixth house differently. And this will be true of the Jupiter retrograde transit in any house or sign that it is in. As a result, you have of expansion of your consciousness through redefinition.

(Q) Is the main difference between Jupiter retrograde, and Mercury retrograde the intuitive emphasis?

Jeffrey: Yes. Mercury is specific to how you logically order your reality in a very linear way: a, b, c, d. Jupiter is how you are putting together your reality abstractly, conceptually, based on principles which become the basis of the specific words that you use to describe your reality.

(Q) What is the difference in learning difficulty?

Jeffrey: Mercury is concerned with collecting information and logically connecting that information in order to build a whole out of it. That does not mean, of itself, understanding the meaning of it, the conceptual basis of it, the beliefs that have led to the logical ordering of the information itself. The information that Mercury is orienting to is specific to its personal needs which excludes any other level of information when it is retrograde. Jupiter retrograde desires to understand, needs to understand, the conceptual, abstract, basis of anything. It needs to understand the nature of beliefs themselves as beliefs lead to how phenomenal reality is then logically ordered because of the nature of whatever beliefs. If the Jupiter retrograde person can not understand, or accept, the abstract or conceptual basis of the information that it is subjected to then a disconnect happens in its right brain. And that disconnect then tunes out the information that is coming into it.

(Q) So, if you have both Rx?

Jeffrey: You have both processes working. And from an evolutionary point of view it then becomes essential to understand why the Soul has those archetypes both retrograde. It becomes essential to understanding such a Soul so that any projections upon it in terms of how that Soul goes about learning what it needs to learn for it’s own evolutionary purposes. If the Soul is aligned with the information that it is taking in, and the conceptual basis for it, then such a Soul can be one of the best learners of all. They can take in vast amounts of information very rapidly, assimilate it, and continue to move on at rates that others simply can not do. There would be the very essence of a photographic memory then. All is remembered. Almost nothing is ever forgotten. Conversely, if the Soul is not aligned with the information that it is being subjected too, does not understand the conceptual basis for that information, then it can certainly create the appearance of learning almost nothing. Such a Soul will be tuned into itself, allowing for imagination, daydreams, random ponderings about whatever, simply starring into the sky, or the wave, or the moon, etc to induce what it feels it needs to know.

(Q) I have Jupiter Rx ruling Sagittarius rising. Does that accentuate the whole redefinition thing more?

Jeffrey: Yes. Because your planetary ruler is retrograde. So, that colors the entire chart, conditions the entire chart. Everything in the chart comes through the ascendant, so if the ruler of that ascendant is retrograde that is why throughout your life nothing will ever seem quite right, or completely right. There is a relationship between the ninth house and the first house in terms of how you are trying to understand your specific sense of identity, your individuality. It is going to have to have these cosmological wrappings which sets in motion the existential search for truth which is perpetually being refined and/or redefined. Perpetually.

What happens with Jupiter retrograde at an oblique level like this, meaning because Jupiter retrograde is the ruler of your ascendant it is making your entire chart retrograde because the entire chart is coming through your ascendant, is that is creates an evolution wherein you will develop a healthy respect for individual differences, cultural differences, belief pattern differences versus doing a Billy Graham thing: the need to convince and convert. And that is because there is such a emphasis on developing your own individuality.

(Q) With Jupiter retrograde in the first house, and Sagittarius on the third house, would that also emphasize that?

Jeffrey: Yes. It would typically represent a tremendous degree of switching from the left to the right brains or visa versa. The third house correlates to the left brain, and Sagittarius and Jupiter to the house the right brain. It could be integrated to a total degree, but that integration is based on where the person finally decides to place the emphasis in their thinking processes. Are they going to allow the intellect to lead the intuition, or are they going to allow the intuition to lead the intellect? The answer with Jupiter retrograde in the first house, with Sagittarius on the third house cusp, is to let the intuition to lead the intellect, not the other way around.

When Jupiter is retrograde at birth many of these Souls will feel as if they are always lacking something because of how they take in information. Sadly, many will then compensate for this lack. Compensation in astrology correlates to Jupiter, Sagittarius, and the ninth house. Thus, many will compensate for their perceived sense of lack by attempting to be like everyone else. They can attempt to latch onto the prevailing beliefs of the society of birth in order to feel like they fit so that they can be like everyone else. They can attempt to buy into the latest fad, of the most groovy thing to do as defined by most others around it. When this happens such Souls then create a living lie because they are not any of that. As evolutionary astrologers, when you see this in one of your clients, it is imperative that you help them try to see this act of compensation leading to the living lie. And, within that, to help them come back to their own natures, of that which they are that requires an independent examination of themselves. In turn, this can then lead to developing a life that honors their own specific individuality no matter if it does not look like anyone elses reality. As a result, they will be living their own truth.

                                                   SATURN RETROGRADE

Here we are going to have an individual, evolutionarily and karmically speaking, who needs to define their own sense of personal authority, structural reality, and ways of integrating into their culture as determined, Saturn, by them. Saturn correlates with consensus norms, customs, taboos, social regulations, and laws equaling consensus of any given society. In turn this then generates pressure from the consensus to any individual to conform so that the consensus can feel continuously secure within itself.

Saturn retrograde says "no, I am not going to do this", "I will do it in my own way, thank you. In other words, Saturn retrograde people must define, Saturn, their own laws, regulations, customs, taboos, and how they go about integrating themselves into the society of birth that honors who they are as individuals. The foundations of their circumstantial and inner reality cyclically or perpetually will change depending on the house, i.e. mutable, fixed, cardinal, or the sign that the Saturn is in and the aspects that it is making.

When Saturn retrograde people are born through parents who encourage individuality they will have no problem with those type of parents. In fact, they will have a healthy respect for such parents even if their own individual reality is diametrically opposed the reality of the parents. Conversely, if they come through parents in which one or both of the parents are authoritarian types, then there is going to be a problem. This is going to be a clash of authority. Of course, from an evolutionary and karmic point of view, it is essential of course to determine why any of us are born through the types of families that we are. And, at the same time, when we become parents it is essential that we understand the karmic and evolutionary reasons that we have the types of children that we have.

Saturn retrograde people will be very introspective type Souls. They are highly reflective. The very nature of this reflection is to examine the nature of their reality at any point in time. The intent in such examination is to determine, Saturn, what needs to be changed in their reality so that growth can occur, what existing dynamics may be in place that are causing some kind of problem or difficulty in their life, to become aware of the need to change something in their life that is preventing growth and/or new impulses that will allow them to grow or change. In turn this then causes them to become aware of what needs to change in their existing reality so that that growth can be accommodated.

Saturn retrograde Souls naturally brood. Brooding is very different than depression. This occurs because Saturn retrograde because simply can not buy into what the mainstream of a society is calling ‘reality’. These people need to define a structural reality that is unique to them As a result, these people tend to question the consensus in terms of what constitutes real meaning in their lives, what is actually important, and which in not important. This then creates a gulf between them and consensus society in which most people live. The brooding and withdrawal is then necessary for them to do because it can lead to an inner awareness of what they can do for themselves that will create that sense of meaning, of what does feel important for them to do as individuals.

So , if the Saturn retrograde person is living with a certain kind of partner who interprets this withdrawal as threatening to the relationship it will cause that partner to issue all kinds of judgments and conclusions about the Saturn retrograde person. And, of course, those judgments and conclusions will all be wrong because they are all based on a reality within the partner that is being projected onto the Saturn retrograde person. These kinds of assertive and projected judgments will only have the effect of driving the Saturn retrograde person more deeply into themselves, of deepening the introspection and withdrawal itself. If this kind of pattern goes on long enough in such a relationship the Saturn retrograde person will then simply feel like they are going through the motions of the relationship versus being in that relationship.

The bottom line is that Saturn retrograde simply can not buy into what the mainstream is calling reality. They need to define a structural reality that is unique to them. In certain kinds of evolutionary conditions it can create a type of psychology in which they never feel like they fit into anything, that they never belong, even when they have a functional life in place that includes work, relationships, friends all of which has some meaning for them. They just don’t feel like they belong to any of this. And this then creates the inner sense of just going through the motions of life itself without making any kind of total connection to it. This then creates this inner haunting feeling of social aloneness. It adds to the cyclic of perpetual brooding and reflection. It creates a strange feeling of ‘mourning’ for life itself. I remember reading a play by Anton Checkov called The Seagull. In this book there was a women who was always dressed in black. One day a person came up to this women and asked why she always wore black. And her answer, a perfect Saturn retrograde answer, was "I am in mourning for my life".

Audience: There seems to be an alienation either internally or externally. People are doing socially approved things but they just don't feel that they fit. in. They have no meaning. Or they are doing what has meaning in their life and other people are thinking that they are absolutely crazy.

Audience: I have experienced that but a little different. .You can play the game that the traditional society is involved in, like being involved in a group and going along with it, but at the same time there is this feeling of not really being accepted by the group even though you haven't really done anything to offset it. You know that you have a feeling of not really belonging, but you also have that feeling that the others aren't really accepting you.

Jeffrey: What that is based on is the natural instinctual vibration of your Soul Keep in

mind that your Soul intends for you to make these redefinitions, of a necessary withdrawal from the consensus, in order to individuate yourself. This then create your own unique vibration that emanates from your Soul. You are not really aware of it but the vibration creates the effect in order to induce the intent. That is what Saturn retrograde people fail to realize. Then they feel that they are feeling ostracized or falsely judged behind their backs. This is a common experience for Saturn retrograde Souls.

(Audience) That's really true until you realize what is going on. But when you also realize that when you define your reality in such a way as to make a career that is reflective of you, and to structure yourself into society in such a way that it is reflective of you, then you will attract people that reflect that and then you feel complete acceptance.

Audience: That's true. Sometimes you can't change the whole structure so you find something different.

Audience: Saturn, as the most structured and crystallized of all the planets, is the most difficult, to change with respect to its reality. I .think that the most common results would be to either feel spiritually bankrupt, and to go along with society, because it needs Uranus and Mars to work with it: to really break out of it because it is so structured.

Jeffrey: Again, it depends on the condition of the Soul. If it is in a consensus state, and the Saturn is retrograde, it is going to have a problem and it will typically compensate by creating the appearance of normalcy. If it is in the individuated state, and firmly into it, then it actually gets off at thumbing its nose at the system. So, it depends on the evolutionary state. Also, when you find Saturn retrograde in charts, from a family lineage point of view (that is one of the linkages of Saturn - family lineage), it is most common that the Saturn retrograde offspring will be more evolved than the parents.

(Q) If somebody was in a consensus mode and they were compensating, it would lead to sickness would it not over a period of time?

Jeffrey: Yes. Because of repressing the evolutionary intent. It .will initially manifest as structural problems in the skeleton. One of the common symptoms is arthritis. That can degenerate into immune system problems relative to B and T cells being given false instructions by way of the thymus gland. Then it gets more severe. For example, once you have that, it can lead into leukemia for example, or a change-in the red/white blood cell counts.

(Q) Could that also be someone who has Saturn/Uranus conjunct?

Jeffrey: That would emphasize it. The Saturn retrograde is virtually pointing to Uranus, the door is open to Uranus. From the point of view of consciousness Saturn correlates to the parameters of what you are consciously aware: the threshold of the unconscious. So the immediate sphere of the unconscious is the individuated unconscious, and Saturn is pointing to that: Uranus.

Uranus, of course, relative to the individuated unconscious, contains three specific forms of information. That which you suppress by way of Saturn: what you don't want to deal with or refuse to deal with. It correlates, in total detail, to memories of this and all prior lives. This is why Uranus correlates with long term memory whereas Mercury is our short term memory. And it correlates to abstract information which pertains to your larger, freer future. So, this is why Saturn and Uranus are inherently antithetical to each other. The bottom line is that Uranus is forever trying to revolutionize the crystallized structures of the Saturnian reality. Uranus, of itself, places a premium on individuality, a de-conditioned Soul that is only defined by it’s own unique nature. In Buddhist terms what is called the ‘diamond nature’.

So, when you have Saturn pointing to Uranus, well, guess what? This natural threshold or barrier of the consciousness defined by Saturn retrograde is not very strong. This means that unconscious content is either perpetually or cyclically penetrating the consciousness of the Saturn retrograde Soul.

(Audience) If the repression in a family exists and causes emotional troubles, the Saturn would not want to be part of it. I have Saturn retrograde and I had to go back to live with my parents for awhile. I had to give up everything I had studied and knew in order to relate to them, but it imprisoned me for several months. Of course, I have Saturn in the twelfth, so I really felt like I was in prison. So it is interesting to hear anybody else's comments if they went through anything sort of similar to that. It almost caused a .nervous or emotional breakdown. It almost got there but I got out of there in time to offset that. So now, it is nice to have freedom! I can think the way I want and have no problems, no repression.

(Q) Can you say anything about repeating with the same parents, repeating or reliving with those same people ?

Jeffrey: Yes, with Saturn retrograde it typically correlates with the need to repeat or relive other lifetimes with one or both parents in which something was not finished or resolved. And, of course, that is the intent in order to resolve that which was not resolved before.

(Q) Is anything excluded from the collective unconscious that is in the individuated unconscious?

Jeffrey: Yes. Everything is interlinked, obviously, but the individuated unconscious is its own dynamic. It is content that is unique to you as an entity.. The collective unconscious is content that is unique to the entire species: Neptune.

                                                     URANUS RETROGRADE

      .

So, Saturn retrograde points towards Uranus which really means an emphasis on freedom, and individually to define your own structural reality circumstantially, and internally, that reflects your individuality. When you have it pointing towards Uranus it point towards archetypical rebellion. Rebellion towards what? Anybody telling you what to do or how to do it. It places an emphasis on the need to experiment with reality structures, different forms of, in order to determine through experimentation that which is most reflective of you. Or to at least to inwardly contemplate different possibilities to reflect upon them, to brood if necessary.

When Uranus is retrograde, this is now pointing toward Neptune, isn't it? So, Uranus retrograde emphasizes the Uranian archetype with respect to the emphasis upon individualization or individuation. Individuation correlates with the archetype of Uranus. There is a prevailing European esoteric thought form which states that you are not an individual until you do liberate from the consensus. Until then you are simply called a ‘person’.

(Q) In some cultures, you take the name of the father until you mature and then you take your own name.

Jeffrey: That's why last names are commonly linked with social function. That is the actual origin of family names. You have to keep in mind that throughout most of human history one social function is passed on from one family member to the next. It was inherited, Saturn, thus family names have their origin in a social function.

(Q) Unless someone is born with Saturn retrograde.

Jeffrey: So, the retrograde emphasizes that side of Uranus because Uranus is that part in all human beings that makes us feel different than the next person. Every human being on Earth has a feeling of being a little bit different than the next one. The clearest demonstration of that is your physical appearance that equals your self-image. But, the feeling of being different can be emphasized: how different do you feel?

The most common denominator in all charts is to have Aquarius somewhere, Uranus somewhere, and a sign on your eleventh house cusp. That occurs in all charts. Thus in every human being there is this archetypical linkage to feeling different. But how much is it emphasized, how many planets do you have in Aquarius, how much is in the eleventh house, how many aspects to Uranus. This determines emphasis. So, relative to compensation, Uranus retrograde people may feel socially insecure relative to feeling different from everybody. This can lead into conforming or bonding with a segment of your overall peer group in order to feel socially accepted and secure: thus individually secure. Uranus retrograde people, as a result, tend to have to be a group of one. When responded to archetypically, these people are not group joiners. If they join at all, it will be a bunch of other mavericks who are honoring individuality, not dogma. Uranus does correlate to how of how whole groupings of people put themselves together in the context of the whole of a society. You can have a conservative grouping, or a progressive grouping, or a status-quo grouping of peoples. Within these groupings individuals make friends with others of like mind: Uranus. We tend to bond with others of like mind in order to feel secure not only within ourselves, but of course within the overall context of the society of birth so that we don’t feel completely alone. When Uranus is retrograde at birth this will correlate to a Soul who intends to repeat or relive certain friendships from other lifetimes in which something was not resolved or finished. Within that intent lies the fact that such Souls also desire to reconnect, retrograde, to certain Souls that they have been traveling with for many, many lifetimes in which the intent is to simply carry on with one another.

Uranus retrograde emphasizes and creates all kinds of mental thought forms that occur in the consciousness of their own volition; thought forms that implicate and symbolize a larger and freer future. And that is because Uranus correlates to the Soul’s inner blueprint for it’s evolutionary future and needs. Thus, these types of thoughts that symbolize the future percolate up from the individuated unconscious through the door of Saturn where Saturn correlates to the structural boundary of what we are consciously aware of at any point in time. It is the natural boundary between our subjective consciousness in any given life, and our individuated unconscious that correlates by way of long term memory to all of our prior life memories, and contains the blueprint from within the Soul that correlates to our evolutionary future.

Typically, relative to most people, seventy percent, these ideas go un-acted upon. They are left as mental considerations only, and thus generate frustration because the person can glimpse different possibilities and yet, relative to the fear and insecurity linked with aloneness, they go un-acted upon. The message in the Uranus retrograde is to act, to act upon such messages. But the key is to only act on the ones that are repeating themselves: the one‘s that won‘t go away. The ones that appear one or two times are typically ahead of their time which is one of the problems with Uranus. The thoughts keep reappearing over and over are the ones to take action upon. They will typically symbolize the next five to seven years of the Souls life to come if acted upon. These thoughts are only a problem when they are not acted upon. So, as a result of Uranus being retrograde, it is either cyclically or perpetually releasing into your consciousness the unconscious content that is unique to yourself.

That content will contain three dimensions. One is what we are discussing now: the thoughts that correlate to the Soul’s larger, freer, future that reflects the evolutionary intentions within the Soul. It also contains the content of that which we repress by way of the Saturn archetype. That which we repress can be all kinds of things. It can be anything that makes us feel insecure about ourselves, things that make us feel uncomfortable about ourselves for whatever reasons, parts of our individual history that we want to run from and/ or do not want anyone else to ever know about us, and memories of a traumatic nature that are repressed in order to create a sense of psychological stability because the nature of the trauma, or traumas, are so severe that it would lead to that instability until they are addressed: healed in some way. Uranus also contains the content, again, of all our memories from this and other lifetimes: the long term memory. This also correlates to the memories from this life that have been consciously forgotten. How many can remember in total detail, for example, what one did on a certain date ten years ago ? Not to many can consciously recall such a thing and yet that memory is within us: Uranus.

When Uranus is retrograde in the natal chart this will correlate with a Soul in which all the dimensions of the individuate unconscious will surface into the individual’s conscious awareness on a perpetual or cyclic basis throughout their life. The intent in this is for the Soul to review, retrograde, such content in order to learn from it over and over so as to be able to apply it to the ongoing reality, Saturn, of itself. And the intent in such application is to accelerate the evolutionary process of individuation. The intent is to learn from the past as such memories surface into their conscious awareness over and over, and then to not duplicate the past where that past is understood to be slowing down the evolutionary development of the Soul into its future. As the ideas surface into the Soul’s conscious awareness by way of Saturn that correlate to its larger, freer, future that become repetitive, retrograde, the Uranus retrograde Soul will naturally desire to take action upon them. And, in so doing, they will then accelerate their own evolutionary development.

One of the most difficult correlations of Uranus, Aquarius, and the eleventh house is that of trauma. When Uranus is retrograde at birth this will typically correlate to a Soul who has experienced various kinds of traumas that remain unresolved within the Soul. When a trauma that has been experienced by the Soul remains unresolved this then correlates in varying degrees of intensity to the phenomena of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. As a result of this every aspect of the Souls life will be affected by this unresolved trauma, or traumas. When this is the case then any manner of circumstances that the Soul creates for itself can trigger this PTSD. When this occurs the behavioral response is very disproportionate to the actual circumstance at hand that has triggered the PTSD. The core affect of PTSD is a fundamental disconnect manifesting as detachment from almost all of life conditions, or situations.

When Uranus is retrograde at birth the Soul intends to resolve this ongoing affect of the PTSD that has been carried forwards into the current life from the life in which the trauma, or traumas, took place. Because of this intent the Soul will perpetually or cyclically release fragments of the memories associated with the trauma or traumas into the conscious awareness of the individual so as to relive, retrograde, the trauma or traumas in the current life: reliving in the sense of remembering them. In some cases this intent to relive in order to heal and move on from the trauma, or traumas, actually manifests in the Soul as recreating in some form the original trauma that took place in the context of the current life. When this is the case the intent, the reason why, is the same: to heal them so that the Soul can move forwards in its evolution. Until that is done one of the affects, evolutionarily speaking, is keep the Soul ‘marking time’: frozen in such a way that the Soul can not move forwards. If you are counseling such Souls, or if this is your own situation, it is important to understand that the only real healing that can take place is when the Soul is able to determine the reasons, or the why, of the need of creating such a trauma, or traumas, to itself in the first place. This of course correlates with the Saturn lesson of learning how to accept the responsibility in our own actions, versus feeling like a victim to them. One of the great things about Evolutionary Astrology is that is allows for an awareness of the actual reasons or causes of anything, including why any of us need to create various kinds of traumas.

When Uranus goes retrograde through transit and/or progression then this will correlate with a time in which that content held in the individuated unconscious percolates into the awareness of the individual. And, at those times, it becomes an evolutionary imperative to act upon that information in order for real evolutionary growth to occur. As a result of this imperative the individual will suddenly begin to feel a detachment from their existing reality in every way. This detachment is necessary for it then allows for an objectification of their life conditions to take place. The detachment is essential for this to occur because it removes the Soul from the emotional dynamics that keep it bound to those conditions. Thus, by detaching from the emotional binds that keep it attached the Soul is then allowed to objectify its reality in every way which, in turn, allows for an awareness to take place that shows the Soul how to make the necessary changes in it’s life for real growth, evolution to occur.

Going back to where we started when Uranus is retrograde at birth it is pointing towards Neptune. In combination this creates a core alienation from the reality of Earth itself, of societies in general, from any sense of meaning for life that is defined by the majority of people on Earth, and thus gives rise to the inner questioning within the Soul of that which does constitute meaning: lasting meaning for life. Neptune correlates with the ultimate meaning about what life is, and is not. This is why it correlates, among other correlations, to Spirit, and the search for our Creator: God/ess.

Uranus retrograde natally correlates with Souls that are fundamentally detached from life itself, detached even from themselves: it is as if the Soul is constantly observing itself, and not being truly engaged in anyway from within itself, or life itself. The actual intent in this is for the Soul to view itself, and everything else, without any emotional linkages so that it can objectify itself. The intent is such objectification is SELF-KNOWLEDGE, and knowledge about everything else that is not colored or conditioned by emotional attachment. As a result of this kind of evolutionary process the Soul then can become aware of exactly what it needs to do in order for its own evolution to proceed, and what any life condition needs in order for those conditions themselves to change so that growth can occur.

                                           NEPTUNE RETROGRADE

Neptune correlates to the very nature and origins of consciousness. As a result, it correlates to what we want to call God, or the Goddess. Within this Neptune correlates to that which constitutes the ultimate meaning of life itself. Of itself consciousness is very analogous to water. Water, of itself, in formless. Yet we can put water into any form or container and the water, consciousness, thus assumes the function of that form. It is then defined by the nature and function of form. Consciousness in human form thus correlates to the nature of consciousness in that form: the human form. When Neptune is retrograde at birth it correlates to a consciousness, the Soul, who will progressively reject or rebel against that which constitutes the real meaning for life as defined by temporal values emanating from whatever society or culture of birth. The underlying desire in Neptune retrograde is to discover, to realize, what the ultimate meaning for life is. And that ultimate meaning will be linked with timeless values, not temporal, where timeless values correlates the cause of life itself: the cause of the manifested Creation. Because of this underlying desire the Neptune retrograde Soul can inwardly experience, cyclically or perpetually, a deep inner existential void in which nothing in life means anything to it. This will be true until the Soul has makes choice to commit to that which will provide for that ultimate sense of meaning: to a spiritual life in which the desire to know God/ess within. Even when this is occurs to the Neptune retrograde Soul there can still be cycles or bouts of this existential aloneness because of the nature of the world in which the Neptune retrograde lives: how most are living their life. This juxtaposition of what the Neptune retrograde Soul is living by way of a life committed to God/ess and the vast majority of others who are not thus creates this feeling of existential aloneness.

Within the evolutionary process of rebelling against temporal values associated with what life means many of the Souls with Neptune retrograde will manifest a diversity of thoughts of what does correlate with ultimate meaning. Thus, they can create any manner of desires in which the initial reaction to those desires is to feel that whatever the desire is will connect them to this sense for ultimate meaning. And this can be literally anything that the Soul can imagine that is then infused with the projected ultimate meaning by the Neptune retrograde Soul. And, of course, it may be entirely possible for the Neptune retrograde Soul to actualize whatever the desire is that in now infused with the projected ultimate meaning. And, for a time, this can create a real sense of that ultimate meaning, a real sense of satisfaction in which the Soul feels that it has found or discovered that ultimate meaning for itself.

Yet, in time, this feeling will give way, and revert back to, the inner sense of meaningless: the inner existential void. This occurs of course because of the real intent of the Neptune retrograde Soul: to commit to a spiritual life in which the real ultimate meaning is realized. So, from an evolutionary point of view, the Neptune retrograde will necessarily experience these cycles of disillusionment that are caused by the projected ultimate meaning into some desire that is not linked with what the core intent of Neptune retrograde requires: a life committed to God/ess. These cycles of disillusionment will continue as long as the Soul tries to chase down any desire that is infused with the ultimate meaning in which that ultimate meaning can not be realized.

Neptune also correlates with the nature of the collective consciousness, and the collective unconscious. The collective consciousness means the totality of what all humans on Earth of inwardly feeling, of what they are thinking, of how they are reacting to the events on Earth at any point in time. The collective unconscious correlates to the memories that are held within the human species in terms of it’s past. Within this there are other forms of the collective consciousness/ unconscious. For example, there can be a racial collective consciousness/ unconscious: the Jewish race, the gypsies who have their own unique genetic codes, the North and South American Indians, the Eskimos, and so on. And, within this, there can be areas on the planet that can be termed regional collective consciousness/ unconscious. For example, the South part of the U.S.A., the Bavarian region of Germany, the tremendous cross currents within consciousness in the Jerusalem because of the history/ unconscious in that area between the Jewish peoples and the Muslin peoples. And so on. As humans of course we are all part of this collective consciousness/ and unconsciousness. When Neptune is retrograde the Soul is much more inwardly sensitized to the impact of both the collective consciousness, and the unconsciousness. And this increased in sensitivity can then deeply affect the psychological state of the consciousness of the Neptune retrograde Soul.

Neptune correlates to the awareness within the human species that all of Creation, all forms of life, all forms of humans no matter what their race, religion, societies of birth, etc are INTERRELATED. It is this interrelatedness of the human species, of all of Creation, that the Neptune retrograde Soul is attuned too. Thus the impact of the collective conscious/ unconscious upon their psychological state of consciousness can be so deeply affected.

Relative to Uranus, and it’s correlation to traumas, Neptune correlates to hysteria as a function of certain types of traumas can occur in any given life, and the hysterical reaction that occurs due to the nature of certain types of traumas. When those traumas remain unresolved, with the attendant hysteria, they will keep moving forwards with the Soul in each life that takes place after the life in which the traumas took place. This is called hysteria dysphasia. In some Neptune retrograde Souls this unresolved trauma, and the hysteria associated with it, will be present from birth. When this is the case the chemical composition of the brain itself will be in a state of imbalance. A variety of psychological affects will then be present within the consciousness of the Neptune retrograde Soul.

These will include ‘irrational’ behavior linked with specific kinds of stimulus where the behavior being triggered is utterly disproportionate to the nature of the stimulus itself. Whatever the stimulus is has the affect of igniting the original reaction that took place when the original trauma occurred. It can include disassociative behavior which can also manifest of split or multi-personalities. It can include creating an imaginary reality that is considered to be the actual reality of the Neptune retrograde Soul. It can include all manner of eating disorders, phobias, and neuroses of all kinds. It can include an absolute inability to take responsibility in any way for life itself leading to a psychological state of being a perpetual victim who blames anything or anyone for that which it is responsible for. It can lead to various types of autism due to the intense sensitivity within the Soul that causes the Soul to want to hide. In certain of these cases it can also cause the phenomena of being a ‘savant’ who has capacities and abilities that are typically labeled as being a genius. When this is the case it this will occur as a direct reaction to the deep inner compression within the Neptune retrogrades consciousness where that compression is in direct proportion to the withdrawal from the circumstantial life around it. That compression thus ignites the Neptune retrograde desire to connect with its core intention: to seek ultimate meaning. Thus, this compression creates an inner doorway to the source of Creation itself. When that doorway is then opened in this way this then causes the Soul to have these savant like qualities because they are coming from much larger forces that the Soul itself: the affect of the doorway leading to the Creator Itself.

Neptune also correlates with the phenomena of sleep, and the dreams that can take place while we are asleep. The primary intent of dreams within consciousness in human form is to purge the Soul of all kinds of data and information that it takes in during it’s waking life. As a result it keeps the Soul stable by way of this purging. This is why the majority of peoples dreams are what can be called ‘junk dreams’ that mean absolutely nothing. We can also have highly symbolic dreams in which the nature of the symbols in those types of dreams are signaling to the Soul that it is processing, needing to look at, various areas within its life that correlate to the major evolutionary intentions for the current life being lived. When those intentions, and the life circumstances that symbolize those intentions, are being carried forwards from other lifetimes into the present, this can then also manifest as past life dreams. We can also have what can be called ‘super-conscious dreams’ in which the Soul can leave it’s physical body during the sleep state. The Soul will then ‘dream’ that it in some place from on high, the astral plane for example, in which is it is then having some kind of instruction or teaching from an entity that is not on this Earth. This is also associated with what is called ‘astral traveling’.

When Neptune is retrograde the Soul will typically have dreams in which the nature of the dreams is to review, retrograde, the nature of it’s current life in a variety of ways. This can include having past life dreams in which something in whatever life was not resolved. For some this will also manifest as a penchant for the super-conscious types dreams. When Neptune is retrograde at birth this can also correlate to Souls that have trouble sleeping because there is such a high degree of energy within their consciousness that is continually processing, reviewing, it’s life. For some others however when Neptune is retrograde it can correlate with the feeling of needing to sleep all the time. When that is the case this is typically a reaction to two dynamics. One is a Soul whose recent prior lifetimes have been so traumatic, or so full due to the nature of the life itself, that the Soul comes into life in a state of exhaustion. Thus, this feeling of needing to sleep all the time. The other dynamic correlates to Souls who simply do not want to engage their life because life seems to heavy. Thus, the reaction is to remain as unengaged as possible, leading to this feeling of wanting to sleep all the time. A variation of this with some Neptune retrograde Souls is to want to avoid or escape life in the form of drugs, alcohol, of any manner of activities that have the affect of avoiding any real engagement in their lives.

 PLUTO RETROGRADE

Now we come to the apparent phenomena of Pluto retrograde. We will consider Pluto retrograde from a purely evolutionary perspective. Pluto is retrograde roughly six out of every twelve months. Approximately half of the population will have a retrograde Pluto in their birth charts. What does it mean?

Relative to the four natural evolutionary conditions, Pluto retrograde means that half the people are not accepting the status quo, and will question the status quo in such a way as to reflect their own natural evolutionary condition and state. This process allows collective evolution at all four evolutionary levels or conditions. Pluto retrograde, then, allows for collective evolution to occur because half the people at any one time are questioning the status quo in some ways. This is utterly necessary from evolutionary point of view because it allows for growth of the entire human species. It prohibits stagnation, non-growth and crystallization.

From the above it may be understood that the retrograde Pluto tends to place the emphasis on the desire to return the Source of the Soul, Soul, or to evolve in a more accelerated fashion. Because of the individualizing effect of Pluto retrograde, the person must do which they must do in their own way. At the deepest possible level, the Soul, Pluto retrograde promotes an internalization process, a relative need to withdraw from external activity. Because Pluto correlates relates to the deepest reaches of our unconscious, this impulse may not be actively implemented given other factors in an individuals total makeup. The need to withdraw may simply be sensed as a wistful desire that remains unfulfilled. Even if it is not acted upon, the individual will still feel a sense of distance from within itself, and others in a fundamental way.

Because the retrograde Pluto tends to emphasize the desire to return to the Source, or the need to accelerate the elimination of separating type desires, the sense of cyclic or perpetual dissatisfaction is deeper in these individuals than in those who do not have Pluto retrograde. Keep in mind that all of us, with or without Pluto retrograde, will have this experience to one degree or another Dissatisfaction is directly linked to the interaction of the co-existinq desires in the Soul. Until all separating desires are totally eliminated this sense of dissatisfaction is the psychological symptom or effect that originates in the desire to return to the Source. Dissatisfaction allows for the progressive realization of "not this, not that" Through this process we will someday realize what it is that creates ultimate satisfaction. The point is that those with Pluto retrograde will experience this sense of dissatisfaction more deeply and consistently that those who have Pluto direct. Pluto retrograde accelerates, in its own way the evolutionary process: individually and, therefore, collectively.

Thank you all for coming today.