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.

Hi All, I am posting here the natural mediation technique that JWG taught that mirrors Yogananda's Hong-Sau method. This comes from JWG's book Neptune: Whispers From Eternity.                                                         CHAPTER FIFTEEN           HOW YOU CAN NATURALLY KNOW GOD When the Creator Of All Things set in motion the Manifest Creation, included in that was for the consciousness to KNOW its origin, its MAKER. In essence, this is actually "˜hard wired' into the Soul by its Maker. This natural way is provable and requires no allegiance to any religion, group, or philosophy. It does require 100% DESIRE in any individualized Soul consciousness to KNOW its Maker, the Origin of itself. This natural way is rooted in the Natural Law of cause and effect. It is rooted in the Natural Law of the breath. The inhaling and exhaling breath is analogous to the law of cause and effect: inhale, exhale. Yet there is also a natural interval between the inhaling and exhaling breath. It is this natural interval that then correlates to a transcendence of the law of cause and effect: the interval correlating to infinity.     With the breath still, as Jesus and others said, one's whole being becomes full of Light: "When Thine Eye Is Single." And, indeed, it does. As the breath begins to shallow and suspend itself, the progressive perception of what has been called the 3rd eye begins. And that is perceived between the eyes, just above them in the forehead area. It is initially perceived as a circular outline that progresses into the perception of a circle. The outer circle is gold or yellow, the center of it is a deep blue, and in the middle there will be a five pointed White Star, or as the perception of a spinning galaxy of White, Blue and Gold that solidifies into a circle with the Gold on the outside of the circle, the blue in the middle, and then the White Star at its core. In time, the Soul will remember, by BIRTH RIGHT, how to merge with the 3rd eye, the White Star. As this begins, progressive perceptions of what can be called true cosmic consciousness begins that allows for a state of SUPER-CONSCIOUSNESS. The final progression of this leads to the perception of where the Manifest Creation meets the un-manifested Creation. In essence, perceiving the very nature of Creation itself: God/ess. This is provable and requires no belief at all. It only requires DESIRE TO KNOW THE MAKER OF ONE'S SOUL. To know this for yourself is very simple. First, it is important to sit in such a way that your spine is vertical from the pelvic area up. Then center your entire attention, focused, on the point just above your eyebrows within your consciousness, with your eyes closed. Then on your inhaling breath mentally affirm the number One. On your exhaling breath, mentally affirm the number Two. The key and secret here is one of CONCENTRATION. Keep concentrating on the One and Two linked with your inhale and exhale. Of course, in the beginning, the left side of your brain will go nuts with all kinds of thoughts that attempt to undermine this, to distract, to follow. This is why the concentration is the vital key upon the One and Two. Over time, and with sustained practice, the breath will progressively begin to shallow. As it does, so certain inner experiences will begin. For example, there will be an inner perception that the external world seems to be going into some kind of earthquake situation. Yet, if you open your eyes, then the Earth will in fact still be still. What this perception correlates to is a natural shifting in the CENTER OF GRAVITY FOR YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS. That shifting correlates with a shift from the egocentric center of your consciousness to your Soul itself. This also corresponds to a molecular shift in the density of your body cells. They become lighter, less dense. In time, this will progress to the initial perception of the 3rd eye which starts with a spinning galaxy that is blue, white, and yellow. In time, as the breath becomes ever more shallow, concentrating ever more on the One Two, this will consolidate into the 3rd eye wherein that circle of yellow, blue light is integrated around the white star. This is when the breath suspends itself because of the concentration upon the One and the Two. This is when the INTERVAL between breaths occurs. Again, the breath, inhale and exhale, correlates to the world of duality, of cause and effect, of thought/counter thought. When the breath becomes suspended, this natural interval between the inhaling and exhaling breaths is realized. The interval can be understood to be that which correlates with INFINITY: the natural interval between One and Two. The consciousness of the Soul is NOT DEPENDENT UPON THE PHYSICAL FORM THAT IT IS ENCASED WITHIN. THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR, EVEN THOUGH THE EGO OF THE SOUL CAN FEAR "˜LOSING CONTROL' AT THIS POINT. This is when your Soul will remember, by birthright, how to penetrate or merge with the White Star. Everything that follows from there correlates to progressive perceptions of the Manifest Creation that will lead to the NATURAL LIMIT of the Soul's consciousness that is encased in the human form. And that limit, again, is when the perception of the Manifested Creation interfaces with the UN-MANIFESTED CREATION. This perception is the perception of Creation itself: God/ess. As this takes place, the Soul is then in a state of RAPTURE, OF WONDERMENT. The various truths of the Natural Laws that are the very basis of the Manifest Creation will then be progressively realized and understood. It is a natural state of enlightenment. Yet, because the consciousness of the Soul is still living within the encasement of the human form, thus the time/space reality of duality, it is that which creates a RETURN to a "˜normal' state of consciousness. Rapture and wonderment are soon replaced with a sense of depression upon this return to normal consciousness. Yet, because of that which has been directly experienced through perception, leading to realization, the consciousness of the Soul has been evolved. And this evolution that has occurred because of these realized perceptions in a super-conscious state is APPLIED to not only the individualized consciousness of the Soul who has realized this, but also given, NATURALLY, to others in all kinds of ways depending on the specific nature, the individualized context, of each Soul. In the beginning of this practice, it is really important, in fact necessary, for you to allow at least forty-five minutes to an hour for it. And to do this consistently at least once a day. Your natural evolutionary capacity will then be the determinant at what pace you go. But, by birthright, if you practice faithfully, Neptune, for as long as it takes, this natural process of how to know your Origins, your Maker, God, will in fact take place. GOD BLESS AND GODSPEED

When we have the outer planets, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto squaring the transiting Lunar Nodes the correlates to COLLECTIVE events that affect and imprint upon each individuals reality. The very nature of such squaring planets correlates to creating skipped steps that are reflected in the actual reality that has been created by the majority of humans within that collective of all humans on the planet during these times. An example right now would be reflected in the issue of climate change on our planet, and the decisions that are being made by humans in which key decisions must be made at various points that would prevent the most drastic outcomes that could occur if the appropriate decisions are not made to prevent them. When a Soul chooses to be born into these collective events this symbolizes in such Souls their own evolutionary and karmic history in which they have also ‘skipped steps’ in some way that will be seen in their individual birth charts. The Soul’s intent of being born into these collective conditions is to TRIGGER the dynamics within them that correlate to their own skipped steps in such a way as to also trigger the Soul evolutionary needs and intent to resolve those skipped steps. This of course reflects the natural intersection of affects of the collective upon each individual, and, in turn,the affect of an individual upon the collective. An example of this would be, for example, in the 1960’s when Saturn was transiting in Pisces and squaring the Lunar Nodes in Gemini and Sagittarius: the S.Node being in Sagittarius, the N.Node in Gemini. At that point in time all over the planet there was a deep questioning about the nature of existing beliefs that served as determinants, Saturn, of how reality was understood by the majority of humans on the planet. The questioning was symbolized by the transiting N.Node in Gemini. It was this questioning that then had the affect shaking the very foundations, Saturn, of those existing beliefs held by the majority of humans at that time. This questioning was set in motion by a relative minority of humans, from the individuated evolutionary state through the spiritual evolutionary state, that had the intended affect of making those in the consensus evolutionary state question the very foundations of their beliefs. Of course the underlying evolutionary imperative was for humans in general to free themselves from any beliefs(s) that were in fact not NATURALLY TRUE: Sagittarius. The skipped steps occurred by way of all the humans who made choices to continue to believe in that which was, is not, naturally true. So for Souls that then chose to be born at that time that would be symbolized in their charts with this Saturn in Pisces squaring the Lunar Nodes in Sagittarius/ Gemini. So, again, being born into the collective time ignites, triggers, their own individual skipped steps that have occurred in their own past lives wherein the intent in so doing is to resolved those skipped steps. God Bless, Rad

Jul 20, 2022, 05:30 AM by Rad Hi All, A great friend of EA, Rose Marcus from Vancouver, Canada has written the below article of Pluto's transit through Aquarius. Thank you Rose. This was originally posted on the old message board and now being re-posted here. God Bless, Rad ************** Pluto in Aquarius (Part 1): 2023 – 2044 Author: Rose Marcus, Evolutionary Astrologer https://rosemarcus.com Pluto in Aquarius: 2023 – 2044 March 23 – June 11, 2023 January 20 - September 1, 2024 November 19, 2024 – March 8, 2043 August 31, 2043 – January 19, 2044 Pluto in Aquarius: 2023 – 2044 Pluto's 248-year journey around the sun defines the chapters of world history. Due to its elliptical orbit, the time spent in each of the 12 signs is not uniform, ranging from (approximately) 11 to 34 years. For example, Pluto's transit through the signs of Virgo to Capricorn spans 12 to 15 years, while Pluto's transit through the signs of Aquarius to Leo spans 21 to 33 years. Pluto's sign placement defines the path of evolution of an individual soul and the evolutionary priorities for each generation. Since 2008, Pluto's transit through Capricorn, a cardinal or activation archetype, has swung the wrecking ball on systems, structures, and consciousness that have outworn their utility. Capricorn correlates to time and time spans, the aging process, mortality, and to the limits of reality. In the works to 2024, Pluto in Capricorn accelerates the process of bringing a contemporary era to a close while simultaneously building a new framework. Pluto will soon begin a twenty-year journey through Aquarius, a fixed, yang, air archetype. This transit (2023 -2044) will accelerate the shedding, demolition, and restructuring process begun during the Pluto in Capricorn years. Some will meet the mandate with foresight, utilizing cooperative, inclusive, and visionary ways. Others will meet the inevitability of the changing times in varying degrees of resistance. At the end of the day, the struggle against the evolutionary imperative will prove futile. At an extreme, resistance to necessary change sets up the potential for the shock wave experience, for harsh repercussions, and the catastrophic. Aquarius awakens, liberates, accelerates, and revolutionizes. It is the archetype that shatters barriers and breaks records. The process is disruptive, destructive, and constructive, ending and birthing at the same time. Historically, Pluto's transit through Aquarius marks times of upheavals, revolutions and rebellions, significant social and political development, modernization, and ground-breaking inventions that influence and forever alter the quality of daily existence. During the previous Pluto in Aquarius cycle (1777 - 1798), the USA Declaration of Independence would give the world its first blueprint of modern democracy. "Liberté, égalité, fraternité, ou la mort!" became the battle cry for the 1789 French Revolution, a violent period that saw the overthrow of the French monarchy and the introduction of democratic ideals. At the same time, the first abolitionist movement began in England. These years also marked the height of the first industrial revolution. Global trade and exploration expanded greatly. Marking scientific ground-breaking, it was the first time a telescope was employed in the discovery a planet. William Herschel's discovery of Uranus in 1781 expanded the known boundaries of our solar system. During the preceding transit of Pluto through Aquarius, (1532 – 1553), Copernicus published his idea that the earth rotated around the sun. The previous Pluto in Aquarius transit was a time of explorers and of colonization of new lands. Today displaced people, such as refugees, detainees, and the impoverished, are so numerous they are creating instant new cities. Over 6.6 million people have fled Syria since 2011 (the turbulent Uranus square Pluto years). As of 2021, it is reported that 43,000 men, women and children live in inhumane and degrading conditions in Isis detention camps in Syria. The stateless Rohingya population is estimated at 750,000. In 2022, Russia launched an aggressive and shocking attack on Ukraine. Just five months into Russia's assault, 12 million Ukrainians had already fled their war-torn county. A new age of humanity is in its incubation phase. Spring-boarding off the preceding Pluto in Capricorn tear down transit, the Pluto in Aquarius years will engineer the building of a new global village prototype. It is in the face of threats to existence, that we will race to take more significant action regarding the long warranted and long overdue. It is in the moments when we draw precariously closer to the tipping point edge, that we come to recognize truth that can no longer be downplayed or avoided, that we are all equal (and equally deserving), and that no one is greater than or lesser than. This is a key lesson of Aquarius. The air we breathe, the water we drink, and the ground we stand on belongs to all. The ultimate path of service for the Aquarius archetype calls for each and all to participate in the well-being of the whole. To this purpose, every individual, every organism, every life, every life form has a vital contribution to make. The Aquarius archetype correlates to atmospheric conditions, weather extremes, and earthquakes. As such, the coming years are likely to produce more frequent large-scale occurrences. They may occur in more rapid succession also. Pluto's transit through Aquarius can literally shatter the ground we walk on. The consequences of climate change are the undeniable new reality. Atmospheric conditions also describe the social zeitgeist of the times. We see will the Aquarius signature reflected through political activism, social movements, lifestyles, cultural, art, literature, and music. The Pluto in Aquarius years will usher in sweeping and non-negotiable change beyond what is known to date. Pluto in Aquarius is set to radically alter everyday life at every level – ideological, social, political, economic, and survival based. What may be unthinkable, radical, outlandish, bizarre, or extraordinary today can become the norm of tomorrow's reality. Science and technology are marked for exponential growth. The growing threat to survival on the planet requires that we speed up the process of finding new ways, means, and solutions. The overhaul process is already well underway. It is readily observable through civil right protests and revolts against oppression, systemic racism, and sexual violations. It carries through to the progressive intensifying of weather triggered by climate change and Covid-19. Overpopulation, water, soil, and air contamination, and weather extremes pose a major threat to our food supply. The overhaul list also includes activism pertaining to protection, preservation, care-taking and legacy building in a new, more effective, inclusive, and relevant way. The priority grows more urgent regarding the honoring of our past, the safeguarding of our children and our elders, to the address of homelessness, starvation, poverty, and addictions, to the care of the infirmed, the marginalized, and the mentally disordered. We all want to belong, to be recognized, to be accepted and to be treated as equals. In recent years, issues such as systemic racism, gender prejudice, and gender disparity have gained momentum from activist groups. What is seeded during the Pluto in Capricorn years will feature more prominently and grow exponentially during the Pluto in Aquarius years. At the start, the Pluto in Aquarius years may further widen political divides, fracture societies, and isolate distinct groups of individuals. Freedoms and rights lost along the way will revitalize the courage, creativity, innovation, and initiative of individuals, groups, and collectives. Under this transit, everything in creation is slated for a more rapid and more industrious transformation cycle. From one to all, from singular to multiple to multi-dimensional, evolution is a continuous, simultaneous, and multi-dimensional process. Pluto in Aquarius will continue to chip away and strip away what no longer serves. History will mark the coming years as no ordinary passage of time. We must recognize the critical role we play regarding the shaping of the future, the responsibility we all share, and the ripple effect of every thought, every word, every action, every moment. Pluto correlates to our DNA and genetics. Scientific advances in this field, such as CRISPR, have already been able to reprogram human DNA. The controversy continues regarding the ethics of genetic manipulation and cloning. The Pluto in Aquarius years can coincide with significant changes to our traditional concepts of humans. In recent years, gender dysphoria has been on the rise. Many have come forward to shed their secret lives and to openly embrace their identity as transgender and non-binary. Progressively over the past century, we have been loosening social roles and stereotypes. The Pluto in Aquarius years can prompt wider social divisions or alternatively, see more inclusivity regarding individuality and uniqueness. Modernization during the last transit increased the population in urban centers as folks moved into cities for work and the promise of a better future. Pluto in Aquarius will continue the trend of population dispersal and communal living. As more green initiatives get underway, a new style of architecture will emerge, the incorporation of more roof top gardens is but one example. We will employ new energy sources to heat and light our homes, to cook our food, to keep us connected and entertained. The opportunity to work remotely, rather than in the office, is another major change of lifestyle that is in its inception phase. The Pluto in Aquarius years will spark many inventions, including the potential for new goods and services supply chains, and ways of growing, manufacturing, preserving, and distributing food. The Pluto in Aquarius years can produce shock waves and traumas of one kind or another. On the one hand, we will continue to be challenged by the devastation caused by natural disasters or by the power plays of despots and felons with no regard for nature or human suffering. On the uplifting end, Pluto in Aquarius could produce a sense of entering a new "golden age". Extraordinary individuals can step forward as influential catalysts, inspirational leaders, and role models. There can be a great awakening of consciousness led by forward-thinking visionaries, inventors, and philanthropists. Pluto in Aquarius has its gaze on several main themes. Survival, at all levels, tops the list. Paving new pathways comes next. The fields of communication technologies, trade and commerce, and transportation fall under the triplicity of air to which Aquarius belong. These years will accelerate the reinvention of everyday reality at every level of our existence, in ways far beyond what we can imagine. Brilliant minds will astound and amaze us with their creative genius. Think back to the time before Facebook and Zoom Meeting existed. Could you have imagined back then what is so commonplace now? We have not yet encountered the inventions, challenges, and acceleration track that will define the Pluto in Aquarius years, but we have already been exposed to many previews. Rapid advances in wireless and satellite technology will make today's most advanced products look archaic in a few short years. Laser technology will surely continue to create miraculous advances in the medical field. Science will continue to take us farther out into space and increase our knowledge of the infinite and living universe. Opportunity can reach exceptional heights for innovators and forward thinkers. We see numerous hints already. Social media continues to serve as an exceptionally lucrative platform for creators, fame seekers, and entrepreneurs. A young new breed of astrologers is revolutionizing the professional business model. Cryptocurrency, a relatively new monetary system still in its "wild west" phase, now works toward establishing an accepted place for itself. This new industry will continue to spawn new products and enterprises, to reinvent itself in leaps and bounds. (The transit of Uranus in Taurus, 2018 – 2026 coincides with the final years of Pluto in Capricorn and the start of Pluto in Aquarius). How we use it, produce it and value it, the coming Pluto in Aquarius years can see all facets of money, crypto currency included, shape-shift in radical, unexpected, exceptional, and perhaps even explosive ways. Innovation is not only limited to the Earth plane. Space travel and colonization is already in active development. On April 21, 2021, NASA's "Moxie" successfully converted Martian carbon monoxide to oxygen while on the surface of the planet. Previously the subject for science fiction writers, NASA is aiming for human missions to Mars in the 2030's. Elon Musk of SpaceX announced aim for missions to Mars coincide with start of Pluto in Aquarius (2024). Commercial space travel is now in active development. (SpaceX has plans for commercial trips to the moon.) Set to task in 2022, the James Webb space telescope succeeds Hubble as a next generation telescope to map new frontiers beyond our previous imagining. Blending science and sociopolitical reform, NASA's historic Artemis mission intends to land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon. China continues to work on building its own space station. Here on Earth, there are still new frontiers to discover, i.e., in the oceans, on the land, in the permafrost regions. Watch for the race for Arctic supremacy to intensify, chiefly among Russia, the USA, and Canada. The food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe, everything contributes to the health of the organism. The composition of our soil, water, air, and atmosphere has been vastly changed by the way we have used and abused our planet's precious resources. Falling under the jurisdiction of Aquarius, we can see more widespread health challenges regarding breathing and the respiratory system, thyroid issues, metabolic and hormone issues, radiation exposure, dehydration, and our ability to procreate. Sterility is an Aquarius archetype. The impact of today's communication technologies on our physical health will become apparent in the coming years. All living things adapt in relation to their environment. The human species is no different in this regard. At the same time survival on the planet is under threat, our average lifespan is increasing. Medical science will continue to make great strides. The fight against various cancers is but one example. Previously the fodder for science fiction writers, medical science has been progressively gaining ground to extend a lifespan and rebuild the human organism with the incorporation of machines, for example with total artificial heart implants. The end and beginning of life, death and rebirth fall under Pluto's domain. The coming years will see significant change in care for the dying, how we allow people to die and how we dispose of the dead. How we conceive and begin life, manage reproduction, reproductive health, and the birthing process itself are also slated for revolutionary advances, from both science and the ideological perspective. The anatomy of brain, its capacities and performance fall under the rulership of Aquarius. Like the evolution of computers, (another Aquarius ruled invention), our human ability to process complex information is also likely to quicken. With respect to the nervous system (the body's information internet), those born with Pluto in Aquarius can display heightened intelligence coupled with heightened sensitivity to energy fields, magnetic frequencies, and sound waves. Intellectual genius and other states of consciousness such as the Autism spectrum fall under the Aquarius archetype. Transits to the natal chart can awaken or increase one's natural intuitive capacity. On the other hand, Pluto in Aquarius is also a signature for the fractured mind. Expect to see a significant population growth of mental illness and PTSD sufferers, along with an increase of medical, social, and political efforts to heal, remedy, and eradicate these conditions. Modern science is already making great advances in the fields of neurological research to reconnect the brain and nervous system with damaged or amputated limbs. Stem cell researchers are working to recreate brain cell pathways to find cures for Alzheimer's and other brain malfunctions. The archetype of de-conditioning, liberation, awakening, and individuation, Pluto's transit through the sign of Aquarius serves to heighten awareness regarding thought patterns, and crystalized judgements, and the intellectual creative process behind the shaping of reality. Pluto's process is one of probing, uncovering, confronting, and eliminating that which inhibits and no longer serves evolution. In reference to the fixed nature of the archetype, Aquarius warehouses long term memory, what Carl Jung labeled as the individuated unconscious. Unique to each soul's imprint, the Pluto in Aquarius transit will serve to unlock and revive content, such as memories or talents, which have been etched into consciousness from past lives. Cellular memory exits as a resources rich warehouse. A natural affinity, familiarity, or talent for something brand new is a clue to what is stored within cellular memory. A time of reawakening is at hand for some. Typically, what surfaces into awareness happens in sudden and spontaneous realizations, as snapshots, fragments, or a sense of Deja-vu. Trauma consciousness is also warehoused within cellular memory. Trauma keeps consciousness in a frozen, static, or immobilized state. For evolution to proceed, it is necessary to unlock or unblock whatever inhibits growth. The transit position of Pluto in Aquarius serves this purpose. Pluto's process is metamorphic and alchemical. Pluto in Aquariusin transit through a natal house will describe the department of life that is slated for progress. This is where one will experience the most unblocking, awakening, and transformative growth. The transit promotes individuation, liberation, reinvention, and self-actualization. The transit could present the opportunity of a lifetime. Synchronicity, surprise, the instantaneous, sudden, unexpected, and high risk are typical elements of the Aquarius signature. Evolution occurs with or without one's conscious acceptance. Resistance to change and over-attachment to the status quo adds frictional force to the evolutionary impulse, thereby increasing the dynamic intensity of experience. That which is under pressure will eventually reach a breaking point. At a heightened or extreme level, Pluto in Aquarius can set the traumatic or cataclysmic into play. Individually and collectively, evolutionary growth manifests through repeating inner and outer messages that symbolize the future ahead. Messages that keep repeating over and over serve to alert and awaken us as to what action is necessary to undertake for evolution to proceed. In general, Pluto's contact with the natal chart by dynamic or hard aspect will describe the potential degree of resistance and intensity of the transit. Soft aspects (i.e., trines and sextiles) can facilitate evolution with greater ease. How one feels, responds, and experiences evolution depends on the chart as a whole. Pluto in Aquarius is a signature for the shattered, renegade, schizophrenic, or traumatized mind. Bipolar disorder was first officially recognized in 1980. In the 1990's, the increasing number of ADD and ADHD diagnoses were accompanied by various drug therapy treatments. In more recent years, the frequency of diagnosis of Autism spectrum disorder has climbed. Many disturbed minds have felt compelled to violent acts and domestic terrorism. Illicit drugs have also destroyed many minds and lives. Many of those coming to age during the Pluto in Aquarius years, namely the Pluto in Capricorn and Pluto in Sagittarius generations, are victims of war and climate catastrophes. These include children that have been interred in refugee camps or have been left homeless through earthquakes and other weather extremes, and have suffered through war, poverty, starvation, abuse, and sexual slavery. These hardships cannot help but leave a lasting effect on the minds of those who endured them. Pluto in Aquarius awakens this unresolved trauma. The COVID-19 pandemic years have also taken their toll on many individuals. Depression has become commonplace. The coming years of Pluto in Aquarius will put the issue of mental health to the forefront. The transit can set the unbalanced mind on the rampage. Watch these years for new prognoses regarding mental health along with revolutionary advances in treatment. While Uranus in Taurus (to 2026) accompanies Pluto's initial transit into Aquarius (starting in 2023), survival becomes even more of a predominant focus. Pandemics such as COVID-19 will continue to revolutionize how we live and how we survive. Survival for all the various species on the planet, including human, and what is required for these survival needs to be met, has been and will continue to be the all-consuming issue on our planet. We will come to view ownership over lands, governing bodies, intellectual properties, and over individual rights and freedoms in new ways. Travels of the mind and body, how we interface with each other and mobilize ourselves – all will be the focus when Pluto in Aquarius is accompanied by Uranus in Gemini (2025 – 2033). Languages may be adapted to such extremes they will sound like brand new languages. Computers will find new ways to communicate and transport information. Innovations in the field of robotics can be ground-breaking during the Pluto in Aquarius/Uranus in Gemini years. Expect to witness significant modernization and/or innovation in the fields of travel and transportation, network media, schooling and education, trade, and commerce. Watch for significant acceleration regarding the harnessing, development, and use of renewable energy sources. Space travel and space colonization projects will move to next levels. Marking a new chapter of collective attunement, the start of Uranus in Gemini coincides with the start of a new Saturn/Neptune synod in Aries. As Pluto transits Aquarius and Uranus transits Cancer (2032 – 2040) even more attention will be focused on matters pertaining to water and its preservation. The cleaning up oceans and the safeguarding of aquatic life grows more pressing, as will matters to do with agricultural growing seasons, farming, food sources, and the replenishment of soil nutrients. We may see widespread changes to diet and nutritional needs. Everything pertaining to safety, security (food included), caretaking (at all levels), comfort measures and levels will also feature with greater prominence and/or urgency. Will the targets for reducing fossil fuel production be reached, or prove to be enough regarding the battle against climate change? These Uranus in Cancer years put added attention onto home, homelands, domestic lifestyles, over population, national identities, real estate, ancestry and the past, family (personal and global), and humanitarian crises. In 2022, the U.N. World food program reported that 345 million people suffer from acute hunger. The last few years of Pluto in Aquarius (to 2044) is accompanied by Uranus in transit through Leo (starting in 2039, extending to 2046). Will we have successfully achieved creative gold in terms of revolutionizing life on the planet? At the apex of a T-square with Saturn in Scorpio and Neptune in Taurus, Uranus in Leo is positioned at the last quarter square of its 45-year transit with Saturn, while Saturn is at the opposition point of a 36-year transit with Neptune. This configuration suggests a critical moment in time. It puts great pressure on the creative actualization process, on the absolute need to face the reality as is and to navigate our way back from the brink with all the wisdom and strength we can muster. It is our birthright to live and thrive on this great and wonderful planet we call home. We must recognize and own up to the fact that we are the creators of our own destiny. Aside (and in brief): The Saturn/Uranus 45 years cycle mark social and political intensification turning points. The Saturn/Neptune 36-year cycles mark the restructuring of collective consciousness through mass loss, disillusionment, hopes, dreams, and beliefs, religious, spiritual, and creative movements. The Uranus/Neptune 171-year cycle correlates to historic eras reflected by the social, political, and collective ideals of the times. These three cycles are also contributors to Pluto's transit through Aquarius. Leaving no stone unturned, the transit of Pluto in Aquarius will revolutionize every level of existence. An exceptional chapter of our collective history will be written. We can only speculate what changes are ahead, what could inspire or threaten humanity, what could be invented, and how it will revolutionize our reality. A.I., climate change, science and technology, medical advances, politics and social revolutions, Pluto's transit through Aquarius accelerates a radically reinvented existence and serves as a preview of the dawning of a new age of civilization. The greatest resource we have is ourselves and each other. The most threatening prospect we face is the action or non-action of humankind. Uranus in Taurus: to July 5, 2025 November 8, 2025 – April 26, 2026 Uranus in Gemini: July 6 - November 7, 2025 April 25 – August 3, 2032 December 11, 2032 – May 22, 2033 Uranus in Cancer: August 4 – December 10, 2032 May 22, 2033 – August 6, 2039 February 24, 2040 – May 15, 2040 Uranus in Leo: Aug 7, 2039 – Feb 24, 2040 May 15, 2040 – Oct 5, 2045 February 8, 2046 – July 22, 2046

Hi All, On the original JWG message board a thread was started by Linda Jonson a few years ago now called Asteroid Goddesses. Linda had been a Soul who desired to promote EA as far and wide as she could before her physical passing a while back now. At the very end of her life she also put together a book called Natural Astrology which was published as part of the Jeffrey Wolf Green Evolutionary Astrology series which are all available on Amazon, can also be ordered from the main EA website: https://schoolofevolutionaryastrology.com/evolutionary-astrology-books/ . So I thought it to be just right to also continue with the asteroid goddesses that Linda started here on our new message board. Here we can still post charts, and anyone can ask questions or make comments on the individuals that we are posting. Additionally, for those interested here the link to the original thread that has every post that was ever made: https://forum.schoolofevolutionaryastrology.com/index.php/topic,309.0.html . We will be posting a new chart once a week which will typically be on a Friday or Saturday Goddess Bless, Rad

Hi All, Here is a lecture that JWG gave on Evolutionary Transitions many year ago. God Bless, Rad ************ Evolutionary Transitions Jeffrey Wolf Green Jeffrey: This morning the topic is evolutionary transitions. We're going to focus on a number of archetypes, primarily the Pluto transit and/or progressions to Pluto. We'll be talking about the transiting lunar axis, and most of you will be hearing an idea or two that you probably haven't heard before. To illustrate these particular points, we'll be using the famous Clinton-Lewinsky routine. From there we'll talk about other kinds of transitional symbols, such as the Saturn and Jupiter cycles. The first thing we want to talk about is the nature of evolution itself. Clearly evolution is a natural law; it is beyond debate, despite certain philosophical systems on our planet. There are really two kinds of evolution. There is the Darwinian system, called the theory of uniformity. This theory was developed by Darwin in the 1800s, when there was a series of super conjunctions in Pisces. Now think of the nature of these words: "a theory of uniformity." This theory followed the Napoleonic wars, when people were looking for simplicity as opposed to chaos. Here comes Darwin, and he creates this particular theory. What uniform evolution means is slow, progressive change. The other type of evolution is what we can call cataclysmic evolution. Obviously it implies major upheavals, as in volcanic eruptions. The sudden unexpected death of a loved one, or the lover coming home and making an announcement, "I have a new lover": these are cataclysmic events for most of us. Most people's lives are characterized by uniform evolution with a few cataclysmic events mixed in. That will be the norm. On the other hand, there are always exceptions to norms. Some folks' entire lives can be a series of cataclysmic events. Other people might have no cataclysmic events. It's clearly the symbolism and the extremity that are reflected in the I-Ching. The I-Ching is a reflection of natural law. So then we ask the question: what creates the evolutionary necessity for cataclysmic events? We will in fact find two causes for them. One cause is resisting, Pluto, necessary growth. When the needle reaches the red line on the tachometer, if you don't shift gears, you're going to blow the engine. When a fault line reaches a critical point of stress, it snaps; we have an earthquake. Similarly, some people will resist the need to grow. And it's the resistance itself that becomes the cause, the critical mass, that will suddenly generate what appears to be a cataclysmic event. Why would we resist growth? The answer is rooted in an emotional issue: our need for security. And security is a function of consistency with our past. For most people to feel secure, they need consistency. Consistency comes from an extension of our past. The only way we can surmise there is a future is because we've already had a past, and because the present moment was the future of that past. The past is real. The present is real. But the future is an abstract and unknown, because we haven't lived it yet. What most of us tend to do is to project our past not only into the present moment, but also into the future, in order to avoid feeling insecure about the unknown. Therefore we tend to recreate our past. How many of you in this room today could safely and freely embrace the feeling of absolute insecurity, and feel fine? (Jeffrey looks around the room.) No takers! (laughter) Because of our need to feel secure, we tend to resist the need to grow beyond where we are in the present. When the need to grow reaches something like a critical mass state, we create a cataclysmic event to enforce the evolutionary necessity of growth. Audience: Do you find that people with strong Scorpio or 8th house influences are able to roll with that better than, say, somebody with a strong Taurus or 2nd house influence? Jeffrey: No, because in either case you're dealing with Fixed archetypes. If you've got a heavy-duty 8th house or Scorpio or Taurus type of nature, imagine your partner's coming home and saying, "Hey, let's go to a party." The typical automatic fixed response is "no." The reason is that they have to get used to the idea. And when they get used to it, they might say yes. But in terms of the instinctual reaction, it's "no," because that's the nature of fixity. So we reach these critical mass moments, relative to the evolutionary need for the Soul's growth, when the growth will occur with or without the apparent cooperation of that Soul. How many of you have experienced this? All of a sudden this cataclysmic event appears. You weren't anticipating it. All of a sudden out of nowhere, like an earthquake. Audience: You're saying that the Soul can resist the evolutionary intent, but I thought that the Soul took part in forming the evolutionary intent? Jeffrey: The Soul does indeed create its evolutionary intent, from life to life. Even though within the Soul itself there can be an intent to do this or that for its ongoing evolutionary needs, it can, at the same time, resist that intent from within itself. This resistance, and the intent to evolve beyond that which is the cause of the resistance, can occur within the Soul. And this is then reflected through the ego that the Soul creates in whatever life. Most people do not have the consciousness's center of gravity located in the Soul. For most people, the center of gravity is in the ego. The ego then reflects this inner conflict and tension with the Soul. It is this very dynamic within the Soul that then is the causative factor in creating cataclysmic events so that the Soul's evolution can proceed. How many of you have enjoyed your cataclysmic events? (laughter) No masochists, huh? In any case, we have these two types of evolution. When you look at a birth chart, you can actually deduct the Soul's intention for any given life, relative to what types of evolution it will experience in that given life. For example, let's say that you have one chart with Pluto aspecting all the other planets. Then in another chart, you see Pluto making only one or two aspects. Could we make a deduction that the person with Pluto aspecting all the other planets is probably going to have a life much more defined by the cataclysmic type of evolution than the person whose Pluto only makes one or two aspects? Would that be an unrealistic deduction? We can also consider the nature of the aspects. When you find stressful aspects to Pluto or to the ruler of your 8th house, or planets in Scorpio making stressful aspects, this will tend to correlate with cataclysmic types of evolution. Most of us, when we go through a difficult life experience from a Plutonian point of view, want to know why in order to have some degree of perspective on the experience, and therefore some ability to resolve it. One problem with cataclysmic events is that rarely does the understanding of them come while the events are occurring. Sometimes, even long afterwards, we may not be able to understand why they occurred. How many of you have experienced this? And have you found it pleasant? Have you found it easy to move on from there? Some things in life are not resolvable. The sense of perspective won't come. Total understanding does not occur. What are you going to say to a client going through such events, or to yourself if you're going through them, when there's such an intense, driving need to resolve things, to bring them to closure, to gain perspective? The only thing you can say is, "Some things in our lives are not resolvable. That's just the way it is, and you have to carry on anyway. In some other life, understanding may occur." That's what you want to tell yourself or to tell such a client, so they stop looking for resolution, so they can carry on instead of being stuck in that place. These are typically Plutonian phenomena related to stressful transits or progressions involving Pluto. Believe it or not, sometimes "non-stressful aspects" can also produce cataclysmic events. But the difference is that with the less stressful aspect, the Soul tends to have much more ability to understand the event even while it's happening. The person may not like the event, but will understand it. Sometimes these non-stressful aspects bring to fruition what we could call a positive karma: certain opportunities for which that soul had been preparing. Audience: Do you refer to conjunctions as stressful or non-stressful? Jeffrey: Sometimes they can be extremely cataclysmic, and other times not. You have to understand the entire signature of that chart. When you have a balsamic type of conjunction, it will tend to generate cataclysmic events relative to an evolutionary need to culminate something, to bring it to closure. Another example is a new phase conjunction. This can also create cataclysm in certain cases, because the impulse is to generate brand new life experiences. There are four ways that Pluto, which is the Soul, manifests its evolutionary intent. Two of them are non-cataclysmic and two are cataclysmic. The most common way is to form a relationship to something or someone, or to a symbol that represents something the Soul feels it needs, and does not yet have. By forming that relationship, a Plutonian sort of osmosis takes place, in which the Soul becomes that to which it is relating. That osmosis triggers evolution. A simple example: at some point, all of you became interested in astrology and you formed a relationship to it. You studied it; you thought about it. And by a kind of "osmosing" it into yourself, you evolved. You became something more than you had been because of your relationship to astrology. The most common way we do this is through human relationships. Most people form relationships because each person represents something that the other person feels he or she needs or wants but does not yet have. In the course of the relationship, Plutonian osmosis occurs. You see? This is why so many relationships in patriarchal reality are based on use and need, and therefore we have manipulation, which then creates abandonment, betrayal and loss. Another way that Pluto brings about its evolutionary intent is through another typically Plutonian experience: stagnation. Stagnation can be cataclysmic too. All of a sudden someone senses she's stopped growing. She might feel that her life is meaningless. This does not imply an awareness of why she feels that way. The Soul will typically withdraw from external life in order to figure out why, and the worst form of this withdrawal can lead to catatonia. Audience: Is there actually evolution if there's not understanding? Jeffrey: Sure. Because the understanding will occur at some later point. Audience: So that's just a hang up, sort of, the need to understand? Jeffrey: It's not a hang up; it's a perfectly natural human emotion. It's also linked with the sense of security and stability. Another way that Pluto will manifest its evolutionary intent is when we become aware of a latent capacity or ability, take action upon it, and evolve. For most of us, this method will tend to be non-cataclysmic. For example, when Jimmy Carter decided to run for President, Pluto was transiting his Sun. "Oh, I could become President." It certainly generated evolution for him, did it not? The last way that Pluto will carry out its evolutionary intent is when someone becomes so overly identified with, or attached to, a certain situation or person or thing that the degree of attachment is preventing growth. We're trying to hang on to something. When evolution comes along and change is required, if we continue to hang on to that thing, it will be removed with or without our cooperation. For most of us, that will tend to create a cataclysmic event. So we have these four natural ways. These are just natural laws, and they're universal life experiences. They have nothing to do with belief systems; they have everything to do with our life experiences. We can also deal with the notion of fate here. A simple definition of fate is that when something is fated, no matter what you do, it will happen anyway. It's meant to happen. Fate clearly implies evolution. Now, a causative factor for "fated" cataclysmic events can also be karmic issues. Let's say I go out in the street and kill somebody for my own amusement. Either I myself could be killed in the very next moment, or the karmic consequence may show up in another life. We don't always have instant karma. If it shows up in another life, maybe I'm walking down the street and somebody blows my brains out. From that next life's point of view, I don't have any perspective on it at all, do I? Because I probably don't have any memory of that other life. Do you see what I'm getting at? So an event with karmic causes can clearly be cataclysmic, especially when we don't understand the causes in the context of this lifetime. Sometimes you can also see this process in operation through a Pluto transit. Sometimes what's being brought to a head during those transits is an element of our own karma, based on our previous actions. In a moment, we'll see how it all connects to Judge Starr, Monica Lewinsky, and Bill Clinton. This whole drama for Clinton has been connected to a Pluto transit on his natal South Node in the 3rd house - which is why we've had much more of a crisis in the media, versus a crisis in the actual Presidency. Clinton became a lightning rod that exposed the agendas and motives of the U.S. media. Of course the media won t give you that perspective! . Our next step to look at is the transiting lunar nodal axis. I will illustrate for you how it works. We have a transiting North Node in whatever Sign, and we have a collective application of it. But we also have a personal application. For example, right now the transiting Nodes are in Aquarius and Leo. So on the one hand we all have the transiting South Node in Aquarius. Look how that is reflected in the U.S. elections, by the way. Didn't Gingrich just resign? Hallelujah! Personally, we all have particular houses that the lunar Nodal axis is transiting. Let's say it's the 4th and the 10th houses. Now, this is going to correlate with what I call the apparent issue. If we locate the planetary rulers of these transiting Nodes, in this case, natal Uranus because the transiting South Node is in Aquarius, then wherever the natal Uranus is, that's going to be the actual issue. So, the transiting Nodes show the apparent issue, while the positions of the planetary rulers of those transiting Nodes in the natal chart show the actual issue. Do you understand the difference between apparent and actual here? Let's say I had the transiting South Node in my 6th house, and the planetary ruler of that transiting South Node is in my natal 2nd house. On the one hand, we have an apparent issue, the South Node transiting the 6th, but the actual issue is shown by the natal House location of the transiting Node's planetary ruler, which in this illustration lies in the 2nd house. So if we make a simple deduction, what would be an apparent issue that we could identity with the transiting South Node in the Sixth? Audience: Work or health. Jeffrey: Work or health. And what would be the actual issue, if the ruler of the transiting Node was in the natal 2nd house? Audience: Meaning. Audience: Security. Audience: A lack of self-worth, because of the limits of the Sixth? Jeffrey: Maybe we should back up for a moment, because we always have to understand everything in context. Let's apply the archetypes involved here to an actual individual context. Let's say this person has the transiting South Node in Aries in the 6th house, and the Node's ruler, Mars, is the natal 2nd house. And let's say that this person has been working for twenty years, and has been supporting the entire family for all that time. That's the actual context. What would the South Node, relative to its ruler, natal Mars in the 2nd, mean now? Audience: She's tired. Jeffrey: It would mean that this person is now becoming tired and angry about sacrificing himself or herself for twenty years: South Node transiting the 6th house, yes? And she's getting angry about it, relative to what? To Mars in the 2nd house. See what I'm getting at? And now the actual issue is what? Getting something for herself! Because we have to remember that Taurus or the 2nd house is a Venus-ruled archetype. So what does the actual issue become? This person wants to start receiving something, not just to be sacrificing and giving all the time. In this scenario, the transiting North Node would be in Libra in the 12th house, confirming everything we're seeing here. Do you see what I'm getting at? Suddenly she's reached a point where she's become so angry at this twenty years of sacrifice that now it's coming to a head, relative to that transiting South Node. She could make up all these apparent issues: make a lot of statements about being tired of working. If you actually saw that client, that's what you would probably hear. But if you can identity the actual issue, you can help that client own it. Then she could speak much more directly about it to her family members. You can't predict the choices of the other family members, but you can at least validate that client to herself. Audience: How would that change if the Nodes were reversed, the North Node becoming 6th house Aries? Jeffrey: First of all, we have to understand the difference between the transiting North and South Nodes. The South Node is bringing something in our past to a head. Audience: So this dynamic of the actual and apparent issues only applies to the transiting South Node? Jeffrey: In terms of bringing something from our past to a head, yes. The North Node demonstrates what the future can be, if the person allows the past to come to a head. In my example, with the transiting North Node in Libra, what is the underlying issue again? To receive. Understanding this issue can help this client make a brand new orientation to her life. That's the whole point. Audience: If she's more conscious about it, then she could choose to leave and do something for herself, but if she was unconscious, might she get fired or something? Jeffrey: If it was unconscious, there'd be a period of time in that scenario in which she would be having sudden outbursts of anger, complaining about everything and finding fault in everything. That'd be nice to live with, huh? (laughter) Audience: If the transiting Nodes or their rulers are making major aspects to the birth chart, then all those aspects are ignited? Jeffrey: Yes. Audience: Relative to the House and Sign of the Aquarius/Leo axis in someone's chart, for the current transiting Nodes? Jeffrey: That's right. I'll just use my own chart to illustrate it for a moment. The transiting South Node is in Aquarius in my 4th house. The transiting North Node is in Leo in my 10th. I've just made a decision, yesterday in the airplane, to stop traveling so much. To totally change my orientation to my career, take total charge of it and focus primarily on writing. Do you see this sudden shift and/or liberation: South Node in Aquarius, liberation from something that's already been in place for a long time? It refers back to my natal Uranus in Gemini in the Eighth. The actual issue is that I want to write about the Soul. The transiting North Node is in Leo opposing my Fourth. The Sun rules Leo. I want more control over my career, and I'm tired of traveling, (laughter) Audience: Well, just stay here, man. (laughter) Jeffrey: And it's great. I feel liberated making that decision. I've been traveling and lecturing once a month for twenty years. I'm just simply tired of it. Look where I made the decision: in the airplane. In the atmosphere, right? Aquarius. What we're looking at in the North Node are circumstances that reflect where we're trying to go in evolutionary terms. If we make choices that reflect the statement or archetype symbolized in that transiting North Node by House and Sign, referring back to its planetary ruler, then we're growing. Do you see? (agreement) The transiting Nodal axis's House, Sign and aspects tend to correlate with creating dynamics that reflect our past. We are then given a choice: do we continue to make choices that reflect our old choices, because old dynamics have been triggered, or can we make new choices in the face of those dynamics? Audience: Are you saying that the transiting South Node brings up the past? Jeffrey: Sure. Audience: What if the transiting South Node is conjunct your North Node? Jeffrey: That's virtually the same thing. You are creating circumstances reflecting past conditions, and you are given the choice either to make new choices in the face of those past issues, or the same old choices. And if you make the old choices, guess what? There's no growth. When you have the transiting Nodes squaring the natal Nodal axis, these are what I call crossroads. The crossroads can correlate with a crisis in action, or with a crisis in belief. This whole thing with Clinton came to a head with the transiting Nodal axis in Virgo/Pisces. His Nodal axis is Sagittarius/Gemini. There's the square aspect. He certainly was looking at a crossroads, was he not? Kenneth Starr has a natal Mars/Venus conjunction in Virgo in his 8th house. This situation came to a head with the transiting North Node in Virgo, right there. Now is that "coincidence" or something to do with synchronicity? You understand what I'm saying? (agreement) Why do the Nodes return to their natal position at age eighteen? If you study history, you will find that this was when, at least in patriarchal societies, a man was meant to have his own kind of life direction. You see what I'm getting at? All these configurations I am talking about today are called evolutionary transitions, and they are very important events. The choices we make shape our life direction. They are the ones we really want to look at. Of course all kinds of other astrological phenomena can also correlate with evolutionary transitions. A classic one is the Saturn cycle. Around seven years of age, transiting Saturn first squares its natal position. For most of us when we're seven or eight years old, we suddenly become aware of our mortality, Saturn: that we have a certain time frame or life span, Saturn, to live. This realization begins the emotional maturation process. It also sets in motion the primary conditioning of consciousness relative to the culture. This is when you start becoming aware that you're an American or a Tibetan or a Canadian. This is when the imprinting of culture begins shaping our sense of identity through the current cultural conditioning. Is this not a transitional state for all of us? Saturn opposes itself at age fourteen. At the same time, we're having a Mars return at age twelve; we're having a Jupiter return at age twelve. Most of us remember those years between twelve and fourteen, don't we? Suddenly we have to oppose outside authority, whether it's high school, whether it's parents, whether it's society. There's a necessary rebellion. Why? The Soul is trying to discover its own authority. It's an acceleration of the emotional maturing process. Is this not a transitional moment? How many of you have children? (Many hands are raised) You've probably all heard the phrase "the terrible twos"? This connects to the first Mars return. Mars has a two year cycle. What's the baby trying to do? Assert its own individuality. Because of this need to assert, the baby is not taking kindly to the limits that the parents want to impose. That's why we call it "the terrible twos." But this is a necessary transition for the baby. If you just watch babies in this way, they have these two year cycles. And when you're a parent, you're always trying to catch up with where the baby's going. You get used to where they are and then . . . oops, they've moved on. It's really interesting. Since I've raised nine kids, this has been a fascinating thing for me. Let's illustrate with Clinton a little bit. He's got his natal South Node in Sagittarius, and a Mars/Neptune conjunction in Libra. When this whole thing came apart, the transiting Nodes were in Virgo/Pisces, as we've seen. Let's bring in this distinction between the apparent issue and the actual issue. Right away, what did we see? We saw Judge Starr and the Republicans doing a lot of persecution of this man. Lots of criticism. So, with the transiting South Node in Clinton's 6th house, we would look for an apparent issue there. Can we not agree this was a 6th house phenomenon that Clinton was experiencing in his workplace? Audience: Yes. Jeffrey: Now, what planet rules that transiting Pisces South Node? Neptune! And so the actual underlying issue we can see here is that Mars/Neptune conjunction in the 1st house, a house whose natural ruler is Aries. What was the root issue, according to the critics? Was it not a sexual issue? What is the underlying issue for Clinton himself? What does this planetary configuration tell you if you see it in anybody's chart, not just Clinton's, in terms of where the individual might be coming from sexually? We're talking about a natal Mars/Neptune conjunction in Libra in the 1st house. Audience: Intense sexual needs. Jeffrey: Well, there is an intense sexual need that would also clearly be demonstrated by this man's Taurus Moon in the 8th squaring Pluto. Audience: Confusion? Jeffrey: What we may have here is a Soul who has given itself the personal right, over many lifetimes, to have the sexual experiences that it's wanted. Without any sense of limitation. We have Mars with Neptune in an Aries-associated house, the 1st. Aries wants no restrictions. It has desires and gives itself the right to fulfill those desires. Also, the whole sexual dimension for him has been linked to Neptune. Is this not a potential signature, in a man's case, for the attraction to "pretty skirts"? Libra. What's that cliché, "to be a fool for a pretty face"? Because of Neptune, he can have a lot of sexual fantasy here, in which the pretty skirt or the pretty face triggers the fantasy. But it's also going to be an attraction to people like Monica Lewinsky. Look at the statement here with Mars. This is a Venus-ruled Mars, and she herself made the statement that even before she went to Washington, she wanted to go there, in her own words, "with Presidential kneepads." Yes or no? Audience: Yes. (laughter) Jeffrey: I think I'll leave now. (laughter) I mean, she was, to use a little bit of vernacular here, a "ballsy" woman. Mars, yes? He's going to have an attraction to that kind of woman, is he not? Not just the passive ones. And when you put this in the context of the Moon in the 8th house, when you have a sexuality conditioned by a lunar archetype, there's often a linkage to oral sex. And Pluto squares that Moon. For him, if you followed the story, it was "safe" to be involved with a woman just for oral sex. The Moon squaring Pluto means there's some element of attraction to what's taboo, as well. So I hope you can see what my point is about the actual issue and the apparent issue. The whole morality play, remember? The whole trip around "family values." And yet at the same, all this other stuff coming to a head: the Pluto aspect. The transiting North Node was in Virgo. So what does this symbolism suggest? It suggests to me that this man had to be used in his own way as a martyr: remember, that North Node was transiting through his 12th house. But what would be the intent of being used as a martyr? One intent could be to show the actual crisis, which is a crisis in the media, as if they're somehow disconnected from the rest of us, and are essentially trying to sell us: Sagittarius, what to believe. Remember, Mercury rules that transiting North Node: Mercury, the media. With Neptune and Uranus transiting through Aquarius, the majority of the population was rebelling against the media. Because the people in general understood the actual truth, Sagittarius, of what was actually happening here. The man had an affair. It was two consenting adults. Look what happened to the media. Has it not gone through its own Soul searching? They had to really look at themselves to figure out, Virgo, that they themselves were in a position of bias. What's been exposed is that the majority of the media were biased against Clinton. For example, there is a non-partisan organization in Washington D.C. that has been monitoring the evening news since the 1950s to determine how the Presidency is reported upon. Since that time, all the reports on whatever president have basically been fifty-fifty, until Clinton was President. When he became President, the ratio became seventy percent of all the evening news reports about him were negative, and thirty percent were positive. This fact, Virgo, is not reported by the U.S. media at all. Why? Because that would mean exposure: Pluto. Audience: Jeff, what were the issues though before he even did this? Jeffrey: What were Clinton's own issues? Audience: Yes. Jeffrey: In my opinion it was emotional dishonesty. In this particular context, it had to do with his 8th house Moon squaring Pluto. Audience: The whole thing was to be emotionally honest with himself before this event even occurred, then? About what was going on in his life? Jeffrey: That's right, and to do that he had to attract the apparent issue of public humiliation, 6th house. In order to crack the fixity and intensity of his 8th house Moon squaring Pluto. So before we march along here, do you have questions about what has been presented up to this point? Audience: Was it the square to Pluto that indicated emotional dishonesty to you? Jeffrey: Yes. In this case, in this context we're examining today. Remember that astrology operates according to observed context, and that this case doesn't mean that everyone with the Moon in the 8th house squaring Pluto is emotionally dishonest. Look how this particular case reflects what we said in the beginning, about a potential cataclysm via stressful aspects to Pluto. That connects, in this context, to sexual issues and emotional dishonesty. Audience: But if the square to Pluto wasn't there, then it wouldn't necessarily have that intention? Jeffrey: That's right. What's phenomenal is that both Lewinsky and Starr also have Taurus Moons, conjuncting Clinton's Moon in his 8th house. Starr's Mars and Venus in Virgo square Clinton's Nodal axis. And Starr's Mars and Venus in Virgo fall in Clinton's 12th house. You see how the synastry is starting to unfold here? When you deal with natural law, natural law shows up everywhere. As an example, let's go back to our last possible Presidential impeachment case, which was Richard Nixon. Nixon had a 10th house Pluto opposed to a 4th house Mars. His South Node was in Libra in the 1st house, and that South Node was ruled by Venus in Pisces in the Sixth. When Watergate came to a head, Pluto was transiting over his South Node in Libra in the 1st house, and that referred back to his South Node ruler, Venus in Pisces in the 6th. Did he not go through public humiliation? And how does this connect with the transiting South Node in the 6th house for Clinton? See the correlations? In Nixon's case, the whole thing was reflected in his 10th house Pluto. Remember his statement, "I am the President": meaning, "my sense of personal identity is totally bound up with my social position." His entire sense of unconscious security, Pluto, was defined by the need for 10th house social position. His evolutionary intent is reflected in the 4th house polarity point of that Pluto. What we have here is an individual who, in an evolutionary sense, needed to find a new sense of personal identity, independent of his social position. When he was informed about Watergate through his chief lieutenants: all of his "yes men," who were like his alter egos reflected in his South Node in Libra: what was the choice he made? Pluto is choice making. What if he had made the choice to go forward, instead of trying to defend himself? That was a Pluto in the 10th house natural defensive response, like pioneers getting their wagon train in a circle. And because he wanted to circle up his wagons, so to speak, it caused his downfall. But what if he had made a different choice? Do you see what I'm getting at? Nixon's impeachment crisis enforced a 4th house lesson, which is finding a sense of personal identity devoid of social position. When he went to rent an apartment after Watergate, the people in the apartment complex had the right to vote on who would live there. They would not let Nixon live there! That was more public humiliation. Do you see how that could encourage someone to find a private and personal identity apart from his public position? Evolutionary necessity: relative to his 4th house polarity point of Pluto. What is the parallel to Clinton in terms of humiliation? Sometimes there has to be a severe event in these cases to unlock or change a rigid, fixed pattern, with the degree of the person's resistance determining the degree of severity of the event. Audience: There's not necessarily going to be a cataclysmic event just because the South Node's in the Sixth, but in this case, because Pluto was going to transit Clinton's natal South Node, it blew things way out of proportion because of his limelight in the media? Jeffrey: In his particular case, it also created a cataclysmic event that might get him to change his ways. Audience: On a personal level. Jeffrey: On a personal level. He finally said the words, "I cannot": this is that 8th house Moon speaking. "I cannot defend the indefensible." Can not defend the indefensible. When he finally drew this psychological conclusion, he had changed. Yet it only came to pass through massive public exposure and humiliation. If you looked at his face through these events, did you not see a real change in it? A real change in his energy and where he was coming from? Didn't you see him suddenly age what seemed like ten years in three months? That's heavy duty change. Here's something else you can see in the symbolism. Most of us have become aware of Clinton's mastery of the use of words: South Node in the Third and Uranus in Gemini. Not only is there mastery in and of itself, but he's so adept with the language that people think they're hearing one thing when he means something else. All of a sudden he's being evasive in terms of his language and his answers, diffuse and confusing. Here's what might be a useful exercise for all of us at the moment. The transiting South Node has just come out of Pisces. First, reflect on where you've been in the last eighteen months in the house or houses where Pisces falls in your chart. That was the apparent issue. More particularly, connect it to your natal Neptune in terms of the actual issue. Just take a moment to reflect on the last eighteen months of your life, with those two symbols in mind. See if you can make the connections to your own lives, (pause) Is everybody making connections? Do you see it in your life experience? (agreement) Did that require any belief? Or was it simply a matter of validating actual experience? For those of you who are going to do astrological counseling, the transiting Nodes provide some of the deeper insights you can bring to a client, because most people get defined by the apparent issue and think that's the totality of the situation. If you can show your clients the actual issue, it's like turning on a light bulb for them. In terms of evolutionary transitions, there are lots of other symbols to consider. One of the more esoteric topics in astrology or at least a topic that not too many astrologers have developed, is the issue of all the planetary nodes. Not just the North and South Nodes of the Moon. All planets have their own nodes. Why should we limit ourselves to the Moon? If the Moon has its own past history, wouldn't it make sense that every other planet has its own archetypal correlations, and its own past? A past that brings you into each moment that you live, that leads you into your next step. My view is that we need to use all the planetary nodes. The planetary nodes also transit through the chart. Look how dramatic this can be. If you know the history of a person's Mars, or the history of their Venus, or their Mercury, etc., can you see what dimensions you could add to your understanding of that client? And if you know where the planetary nodes are transiting, can you see what the implications to the natal planets might be? You can bring in a dimension of interpretation that most astrologers simply do not employ. . The Greeks did a lot of astrology. They were also deeply into the symbolism of mathematics and numbers. The highest mathematical power they assigned to any astrological symbol was to the Nodes. They assigned them the number seven, which in their cosmology was the highest number of all. Audience: Is that for all the planetary nodes or just the Moon's Nodes? Jeffrey: The Moon's Nodes. But I think we should extend that to the planetary nodes as well. It relates to what I said last night. If I'm reading a book, to make sense of the current chapter, I probably should have read the chapters that preceded it. By understanding all the prior context, I will better understand the chapters to come. In a very similar way each planetary archetype has its own chapters in its own story, and those chapters are shown by the planetary nodes. Audience: So you're saying you're supposed to look at the transits of the planetary nodes? To get more information about timing, is that right? In terms of what might be happening? Jeffrey To see the whole picture. Because, again, astrology operates relative to the person's actual context. Here's a simple example: during most of the 1920s, Uranus transited through Pisces In the context of this country (USA), it correlated to what we call the Roaring Twenties. In the context of Germany, it correlated to the most massive economic depression they've ever had. They needed huge amounts of money just to buy a loaf of bread. That's context! This is why one size does not fit all. We have to understand the pre-existing context. That is the essence of astrology: correlation and observation. Audience: I have a specific question about the planetary nodes. I'm discovering the power of these things through Jeff. I never paid much attention to them until I began to work with him. I noticed that the planetary nodes are not always opposite each other, correct? Jeffrey: Correct. Audience: So you're using the true nodes? Jeffrey: Right. I always use the true nodes. Audience: With the Nodes of the Moon, I thought your practice was to use the mean Nodes, where they're precisely opposite. Do you use the true Nodes there as well? I know with the Moon it's generally just a tiny difference. Jeffrey: Right. That's because, as you know, the motion of the other planets is not regular, the way it is with the Moon. As you know, the Node is when a planet is crossing north or south relative to the ecliptic. And therefore relative to planetary motion, which isn't regular, the planetary nodes are not always opposite one another. I do use the true Nodes for the Moon's Nodes, too. Check this out. We have just had the shift of the transiting South Node of the Moon into Aquarius and the transiting North Node into Leo. And we have a collective application of that transit, but we also have a personal application. Let's try to focus on one of the dimensions of Aquarius, which is the need for liberation from pre-existing conditions in order to grow. Let's work with just this one dimension of Aquarius, although it has many others, and let's think about where this transiting South Node is occurring in our own charts. What pre-existing conditions in your life are symbolized by the house that it's transiting? Are you trying to liberate yourself from them or rebel against them? Are you suddenly feeling psychologically detached from them? In order to take charge of your own destiny in some way, in order to create meaningful creative changes: North Node in Leo? The transiting North Node in Leo demands that you take control of your life, sort of like when an artist first puts a paintbrush on the canvas. Wherever the transiting North Node in Leo falls in your chart, that's where you need to begin to recreate your own picture, and liberate yourself from some pre-existing condition. Take a moment to reflect on where these transiting Nodes are in your chart at present. For those of you who feel brave, locate the planetary rulers of the transiting Nodes. Your natal Uranus is also connected to something in the past coming to a head, from which you're trying to liberate yourself. Think of your natal Sun, ruling that transiting North Node. What house is it in, and what Sign? What aspects is it making? This will give you a core snapshot, a bottom line, to understand the emotional context of your life right now. Audience: If you have the Sun conjunct Uranus, there's a connection where the past and the future are ... Jeffrey: They become the same thing. The real issue there is about choice. You make choices that reflect the past, or you make choices that reflect the future. There are other dimensions to Aquarius. All of a sudden, insights come into your consciousness that connect to your past. But insights are also coming in, all of a sudden and out of nowhere, that reflect where you're trying to go. These will operate in a typically Uranian way: they simply appear in your brain. For the next eighteen months, all of us will be going through this process. All of us will begin to experience, because of the Moon's South Node transiting through Aquarius, a sense of increasing emotional and psychological detachment from the circumstances of our lives. In that sense, we will all begin to experience our lives somewhat like a movie. You have a sense of distance between what's happening on the screen and where you're sitting in the audience. What might be the evolutionary intent of our experiencing our lives in this detached sort of way for the next eighteen months? Audience: It gives you perspective, doesn't it? Jeffrey: Yes. Perspective comes from objectification, Aquarius. And we can only arrive at objectification through detachment. That is the intent, exactly. If we understand this process it's easier to deal with it, because feeling detached can be very confusing for some people. "I was totally engaged in my life, but, suddenly I'm feeling really detached from it all. Why?" Confused people may start drawing conclusions or taking actions that don't reflect the intent of this transit. If you're a counseling astrologer and you know these underlying transiting Nodal archetypes, when clients come to you with these feelings, you can help them. You can give them a clear perspective on why this particular transit is happening. As we all become more objective about our lives, because of the detachment that's stimulated by the transit of the Moon's South Node through Aquarius, we'll be able to survey our circumstances with a better and clearer perspective. That clearer perspective will help us understand what we need to change in order to take charge of ourselves, in order to grow, in order to create the life that we need. Do you see what I'm getting at? That's not necessarily a pleasant process for anyone, because the transiting lunar Nodes mean that we're dealing with the nature of the Moon, i.e., what has meant security for us. How many of us really want to embrace insecurity? When we're dealing with the nature of the Moon, we're dealing with our own self-image, and how to integrate it into our lives on a daily basis. We're dealing with our emotional reality. And all of these things are now coming under the influence of the Aquarian archetype via the Moon's South Node transiting through that Sign. How many of you like feeling totally detached from your lives? (laughter) Audience: I've been feeling like this and wondering if I was losing my mind, recently. But it's just the detachment. Jeffrey: Yes! If you just understand the intent behind the transit, then you can sustain that perspective, and you won't overreact. Audience: It's like a light bulb went on. It makes sense. Jeffrey: There you are. It becomes particularly problematic now that Pluto's in Sagittarius, because one of the dimensions of Sagittarius, Jupiter, and the 9th house is how we interpret and understand life. And most people understand life in the context of their existing beliefs, which of course are rooted in the past. Here's an example. Keep in mind that Sagittarius primarily has a correlation to the right brain, the non-linear, intuitive brain. The left brain is the linear brain and is connected to short term memory. Since Pluto went into Sagittarius, more and more people have become, in quotes, "absent-minded." Let's say you're on the phone and you have trouble remembering what you said three sentences back. That's because the center of gravity in our collective consciousness is shifting to the right brain, to the non-linear. This is particularly interesting because, given our culture's fear of Alzheimer's disease, many people start jumping to conclusions: "I must be getting Alzheimer's." But all that this apparent absent-mindedness reflects is our progressive evolutionary need to shift our center of consciousness from our left brain to our right brain. Aquarius and Uranus connect to the entire brain and the dendrites. When we make new dendrites, the brain is evolving. Every time we have an "ah ha" experience, this is a new dendrite being made. Shifting the gravity of collective consciousness to the right brain, the non-linear brain, reflects our need to accelerate the evolution of our brains. Audience: Relative to the transiting Nodes in Aquarius/Leo, you said that through the transiting Aquarian South Node, you detach and gain perspective. Is the transiting Leo North Node the principle of new creative actualization in the house where the Leo North Node falls? Jeffrey Yes. Remember my illustration of my own case, where I made decisions on an airplane about a radical shift in the orientation and direction of my own work? There's the North Node connection. . . , . . We still have some other evolutionary transition symbols to consider. When you put your natal planetary nodes in your birth chart, you will find dimensions that you did not see before. Then when you start looking at the transits of the planetary nodes they will bring in still more dimensions that you would not otherwise see. For example, what happens if the transiting nodal axis of Mars is beginning to square the natal Mars? Most astrologers wouldn't look at this sort of symbol. But you can look at it, and you can understand what that symbolism might mean. Audience- With the nodal axis of Mars squaring natal Mars, are you concentrating on the South Node, the North Node, or either one? Since the transiting Nodes aren't opposite, which one is more critical? Jeffrey: To me it would always be the South Node. Because most of us are always being defined by our past. Audience: I don't understand why you say they're not opposite. Aren't they opposite? Jeffrey: No, not the true nodes. Audience: The true nodes are not opposite each other? Jeffrey: No, because the motions of the planets are not regular. Audience: But it's on an axis. So shouldn't you have one hundred and eighty degrees? Jeffrey: The axis is determined by when the planet actually crosses north or south of the ecliptic, not by the plane of the planet's orbit. That's why we have to take the planetary motion into account. Planetary motion is not regular the way the Moon's motion is regular, so we get planetary nodes that are far from being opposite one another. Still looking at evolutionary transitions, now we can get into some much more basic astrology. We have the classic Saturn cycle, which is dramatic. This is where we live. Saturn connects to our life experience on Earth. We have our feet literally grounded on the surface of this planet. Saturn has everything to do with how your natural consciousness becomes conditioned, conditioned initially by the nature of your early parental environment. Capricorn, which is ruled by Saturn, is in opposition to Cancer, and your original imprinting or conditioning comes through your parents. It also comes through the nature of your unconscious memories, via your prior lifetimes. As we start to get older, i.e. at the first Saturn square to its natal placement at around age seven, that conditioning process is accelerated by our awareness of culture and mortality. All of you in this room can say, "I am an American." What does that imply? It's very different than saying, "I'm an Aborigine," or "I'm a Navajo," or "I'm a Tibetan." These are Saturn statements, and they condition your sense of reality: Saturn. Do you think the "reality," in quotes, of a typical American is the same reality as that of a typical Tibetan? It's simply in the nature of this sort of conditioning that it defines, Saturn, our sense of personal and social reality. That sense of reality then goes through its own evolutionary transitions via Saturn's transits, especially Saturn's squares to its natal position, its opposition to its natal position, and its return to its natal position. These transiting aspects occur at approximately ages seven, fourteen, twenty-one, twenty-eight: you have to check them out specifically for each person's actual timing. These transiting aspects represent archetypal transitional events or moments in the development of human consciousness, independent of the particular conditioning of that consciousness: in other words, independent of whether that person is American or Tibetan. This is how natural consciousness works. So we have the Saturn cycle. For roughly their first twenty-one to twenty-eight years of age, most people will more or less define their lives not only in relation to their current social and parental conditioning, but also in relation to their unconscious memories from other lifetimes. Therefore, most people have not truly prepared for the purposes of their current lives. This is why the first Saturn return is truly difficult for so many people, because they've already made life choices that have created a certain kind of Saturnian reality that is in place around them. They have a sense of duty and obligation to that reality and those choices; they are defined by them. Then they have this first Saturn return, and if they haven't prepared for their current life's purpose, they feel stuck: Saturn. They might start getting into a cycle of depression and futility. Most people don't have the courage, at twenty-eight or twenty-nine years of age, to make a decision that reflects the real purpose of their lives. A little before the first Saturn return, the progressed Moon is returning to its natal position for the first time. So it can be tough on an emotional level too. Conversely, for those who have made preparations and are going in the direction they need to go, typically the first Saturn return brings into fruition or reality what they've prepared for, and it can be experienced in an incredibly positive way. For an example, I'll use my own case again. I was informed I had to be an astrologer at age twenty-four, at my second Jupiter return. Believe me, it would not have been my conscious choice to be an astrologer in this lifetime! But I have a 12th house Jupiter, so when I was informed I said, "Fine," because my trip is around God. But I also said, "Lord, if you want me to be an astrologer, then you teach me astrology": Jupiter again. For the following six years, I had nothing but dreams in astrology. This is how I learned it. Wherever I was living in the world, I'd put up a sign saying "Free Charts," and I would empirically validate what I was seeing in my dreams. I started this preparation at age twenty-four. And on the day of my first Saturn return, which happened on a Sunday in Seattle, where I'd just moved, I was walking down the street and there was this little tiny brand new astrology bookstore. They'd just started up. No one was supposed to be there, since it was Sunday. But I looked through the window and there was the owner of the store. She waved me in, and there you have it. I got my first gig as a professional astrologer on that day. The very day of my first Saturn return! That's an example of what can happen if somebody makes preparations. We have a Jupiter cycle to deal with, too, a natural twelve year cycle. We are starting to see cycles within cycles, yes? Again, these are natural laws that operate independent of any social conditioning. Let's try to remove one of the illusions of Jupiter, by the way, because most of you who have been dependent on books have learned that Jupiter connects to pure opportunity, and that some magical growth thing is going to happen for you. But this is not the case. Jupiter really connects to the Vedantic god called Ganesh. Before you have an opportunity, Jupiter will typically tend to remove something from your life. And through its removal, you are given an opportunity to grow. Jupiter generally does connect to the idea of growth, and therefore we have the issue of evolution implied. But to grow, again, typically something has to be removed first. How many of you remember some Jupiter transits in which something had to be removed first, before you actually had an opportunity? Another amazing evolutionary cycle that people really underestimate in Western astrology is the Mars cycle. Remember that Mars is a lower octave of Pluto. All a "lower octave" means is a denser vibration of something. Mars is linked, via Pluto, to Pluto's connection to your Soul and the entire intent of your life. Mars, then, is a like a denser vibration of the evolutionary impulse of the human Soul: a lower octave, subjective awareness of the Soul. Mars is in a continuous state of acting out, on a minute to minute, day to day, life to life basis, the desires manifesting from Pluto. Most of us are unconscious of our Souls. We're only really aware of them through the effects that they produce. Desires manifest in consciousness through your egocentric personality, through your Mars. These desires typically manifest as an instinct or an impulse to do something new. This is why you read in the traditional books that Aries, the 1st house and Mars all require freedom, because Aries and Mars need freedom to act upon the desires manifesting from the Soul. A continuous process of becoming: that's your Mars experience. You become aware of your impulse to act: that's your Mars too. It has a two-year cycle. It begins, culminates two years later and then starts all over again. The Mars cycle should be seen in the context of the Jupiter cycle, the Saturn cycle, and all the other planetary cycles. A lot of our clients really want to know the future. "Tell me about my future." Are you beginning to see that if you really embrace that dimension of cycles in astrology, then the ways you have to look at "the future" are infinitely more complex than what you've read in books? You can't just focus on "transiting Saturn is in your 6th house." That's like looking at the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Audience: Going back to the Mars cycle, I'm going through a Mars return at the moment, among several others. Are you saying that because Mars is this impulse to act, that every two years you have this new impulse to act? But it's always coming back to the same Sign. I don't understand how it works. Jeffrey: Because there's evolution within the symbol. It's not a static symbol. Nothing's static. You have an original impulse wherever your natal Mars is. That's a life impulse, and it refers to the natal Pluto. That's a life statement. But you also have a whole potential in that symbol, Mars, or in any other symbol. The development of that entire potential occurs over time. The Mars cycle gradually unlocks the deeper dimensions of the whole potential of your natal Mars. Every two years we're given this opportunity to develop it further. Audience: Would you repeat that, please? I'm sorry; I'm not quite getting it. Jeffrey: Imagine I have a whole book in front of me. There's a whole story in this book. That's your natal Mars. Now imagine the first Mars return at age two. I've just read a few pages in that book. Throughout our lives, every two years we uncover a few more pages until we get through the whole book. Do you get that now? You do? Good. Okay, before we wrap it up, are there any questions or comments on the first part? Audience: You mentioned that Mars is the desires of the Soul. Could you contrast that with what Venus is? Jeffrey: Mars acts out or acts upon the desires of the Soul. Venus correlates with the essential needs within the person's life that facilitate that Soul's evolutionary intent. How many of you have learned, for example, that Venus connects to your inner relationship with yourself? Most of you have learned in traditional books that Venus is your external relationships. But it also connects to your inner relationship to yourself. From an evolutionary point of view, why would we have Venus in this Sign, and not that Sign? For example, say you come into this life with Venus in Virgo, which would define your inner relationship to yourself. From an evolutionary point of view, why would you have this kind of inner relationship to yourself in this life? How does it link to your overall evolutionary intent? That's how we want to approach these things. And if we approach them from an evolutionary point of view, we suspend judgments that are linked with our own belief systems. Because now we just see things for what they are. Wouldn't you rather see a counselor who's approaching you in this way, just seeing you for who you are, validating what you are, versus somebody projecting his or her own belief system onto you? I'll give you kind of a dramatic example. Some of you have heard this example before. It involves a client of mine who was going through, if I remember right. Mars transiting in opposition to her Pluto. She happened to have a Mars/Pluto opposition natally, therefore she was also having a Mars return. The astrologer she saw told her, "You need to stay in your house for the next six months. If you leave your house, you'll be raped." Imagine you'd been told something like that! Try to see how the astrological energies in a chart fit into that client's evolutionary intent, versus projecting your own belief system about Mars/Pluto or whatever onto that client. The Venus function connects, ultimately, to why we have this sort of inner relationship to ourselves in this lifetime, and to how that inner relationship is changing in response to the transits. That's the evolutionary intent. Any other questions or comments? Audience: It seems as if the Sun will be really important for the next eighteen months because it rules Leo, the Sign that the North Node will be passing through. Can you talk about that a little bit? The Sun being the integration of the chart, right? And how with this Nodal transit through Leo, we're all going to have a lot of emphasis on our Suns? Jeffrey: And on our natal Uranus, through the South Node rulership. Audience: Right. Jeffrey: Again, to understand why something is emphasized is to understand its context: meaning, in this case about the Sun, we've really got to begin with the transiting lunar South Node in Aquarius. This goes back to our need to stand back a bit from our existing life circumstances in order to become more objective about them. Through this process of objectification, we can then see what we need to change in order to grow. Once we have that knowledge, we access the Sun. Now we have to take charge of those insights and actually apply them in order to integrate the change: those are Sun actions. That'll be all of our jobs for the next eighteen months. Audience: When you have clients coming in, that's going to be the big piece. Jeffrey: Yes. Look at exactly where these signatures occur in your clients' charts. Understand the general archetype, then make it specific to each person. Audience: Where can we look up the nodes of the other planets? Jeffrey: There are only a couple of sources. One is the Solar Fire astrology program that lists the planetary geocentric nodes. I hear that Alphee Lavoie's going to put them in his AIR Software programs. I want to say something more about the Mars transit. I said earlier that most people really underestimate the function and effect of Mars in their lives. If you observe its transits, you will see just how dramatic they are, because in many ways Mars connects to our experience of the continuous state of becoming. In effect, transiting Mars is the leading edge of your evolutionary change in each moment, both as it refers to the natal Mars, and as the natal Mars itself refers to the natal Pluto. The Mars transit always refers back to natal Mars, to the actual house and sign it was in at birth, and how they reflect the evolutionary desires of the Soul as symbolized even more clearly in the natal Pluto. Here again I'll use my own life as an illustration. One day, transiting Mars was in direct opposition to my natal Pluto. And my natal Pluto is in the 9th house and Mars was transiting the 3rd. I lived in Maui for two years. If you've lived in Hawaii, you know you can't drive in that place. You just get island-bound. Right after we moved to Boulder, I had to do a lecture down in Phoenix, and being a Sagittarian man I said, "Yeah! I finally get to drive someplace!" So I got in my Bronco and drove to Phoenix. On the way back, at the minute of the exact opposition of transiting Mars to my natal Pluto, this woman tried to pass me on the shoulder of the road at seventy miles an hour. Think of transiting Mars in Aquarius in the 3rd, opposing my 9th house Pluto! She hit the right rear quarter panel of the Bronco, and they're like tanks, those Broncos. My Bronco went spinning; it rolled five times across the Interstate. They thought my neck was broken. They pumped me full of some sort of drug, and I was airlifted out of there in a helicopter. Imagine what that was like for me, because I had been in Vietnam and Vietnam was full of helicopters, and I'd also been captured there. They pumped this drug into me and I flashed out on being back in Vietnam. I wasn't in a helicopter in 1996 or whenever the car crash happened. And because of being flashed out on Vietnam, I was going crazy. Because when they think your neck's broken, you're all contained and strapped in. Look at this kind of intense, cataclysmic type of evolutionary event being triggered by a Mars transit! So don't underestimate them. Try to observe them in your own life. Any other questions or comments? Have you found something you could use, take out and apply with your own clients? Good! Thank you.

Hi All, This transcript is from a lecture that JWG did years ago that details his method of analyzing chart from the unique way he developed and called A Planetary Method Of Chart Analysis. If you have any questions after reading it please ask. God Bless, Rad