2007 is a watershed year in a challenging cycle, when relative peace and prosperity are likely. There are difficult planetary interfaces coming between 2008 and 2012, so a checkpoint is imminent and complacency unwise. With a dominance of 'mutable' energy this year, we each have an opportunity to reconsider basic lifestyle choices, to nurture relationships and enthusiasms, to find new inspiration.

Since 2007 is a dominantly mutable year, things will be mutating and defying easy comprehension. Beliefs, feelings and social structures shift in response to changing conditions as mutable Sagittarius, Pisces and Virgo become the prime stage for action. Everyday life, aspects of service, attitudes to ecology and the use of earth’s resources, also attitudes to spiritual growth - all will be in flux. Reforms and adjustments to existing social structures, particularly those concerning health care and education, may become the norm. This year giant Jupiter joins Pluto in Sagittarius, amplifying the more humane, socially progressive concerns. Piscean intuitions awaken in March with a lunar and solar eclipse. And when Uranus aligns with the Moon’s North Node in April unsettling experiences demand imagination and compassion. Adaptability is the chief characteristic required now.

A Mutable World with Fixed Challenges

When Sun transits Air sign Gemini in June, it completes the mutable set. June is an important turning point when sudden adjustments are called for. Late June is also the climax of a long opposition between Saturn and Neptune, which could unveil some disappointing news about the state of our world. Their cycle began in 1989 and reaches its climax and turning point mid year, in the fixed signs of Leo and Aquarius. The recent Jupiter in Scorpio cycle featured a mining boom and an expansion of international investment in resource rich countries, like Australia. Now Jupiter in Sagittarius features travel and the expansion of global alliances as the next step. In 2007 multi-national agreements and big business deals take shape as the year begins and again in August – times when Saturn’s fixed agenda harmonises with power broker Pluto. Late August’s Full Moon and eclipse is an exclamation point of excess, when global factions and contracts could arouse great enthusiasm, which will rapidly meet a reality check.

From September the year belongs to Virgo as Saturn enters that mutable Earth sign, aligning with the Sun and the destiny axis of the Nodes. September 11’s solar eclipse opposes Uranus, kick-starting a wildly erratic period. Receiving news that feels fated is the stamp of the Saros cycle to which this eclipse belongs.(1) In mid October Venus joins Saturn and discontents rise to the surface. The Full Moon in Gemini in late November could synchronise with the formation of a new international movement, driven by the internet and characterised by grass roots activity, whose purpose is addressing the human damage to planet earth.

FIRE

Fires of Fanaticism

In 2007 there is a renewed fascination with the mystery of the cosmos. Fiery Sagittarius is essentially a seeker of truth and Jupiter its ruling planet and guiding light, is now back after a twelve year absence. The much slower, far distant Pluto has been there since 1995 but 2007 is special. Pluto aligns with exact galactic centre this year: 26 degrees Sagittarius, and it is joined by Jupiter. This fiery duo keeps things hot - Pluto represents the power urge and the force for transformation, while Jupiter expands the search for knowledge and adventure. Since this happens in Sagittarius, faith, philosophy and travel are in the melting pot. Pluto has been orchestrating a plunge, an encounter with the hidden side and with dark motives. Indeed, the violent depths of fanaticism and greed are causing death and destruction in many parts of the planet. Under Pluto, religions are being forced to confront their roots; travel is being irrevocably transformed.

Jupiter’s transit through Sagittarius is a hopeful one since it is ‘dignified’ there. When Jupiter harmonises with Saturn in March, April and May it has more power to exercise a benign tolerant influence over the changes that occur. The challenges between Jupiter and change agent Uranus occur in late February, early May and early October 2007. These could stir rebellion, could alert us to social justice issues or give shape to an unexpected political party. They could also be peaks of global fanaticism. After this Jupiter still has its best party trick when it aligns exactly with Pluto in November, again near that enigmatic Galactic Centre.

Oz Aligned

The chart for Federation on January 1, 1901 is most commonly used as the birth of modern Australia and it shows us as a Capricorn nation with five planets in sport and travel loving Sagittarius. All five have Jupiter transits this year and the genial, adventurous and sometimes over-confident Sagittarian identity will be broadcast to the world via public figures. Three of these planets – Jupiter, Mercury and Chiron are also having long extended Pluto transits in 2007, so hidden things, which contradict previous assumptions and beliefs keep emerging all year. Perceptions of reality in everyday life are forced to deepen in 2007 as serious issues show their darker side.

Prime Minister, John Howard was born with Pluto exactly conjoined his Leo Sun, an ‘aspect’ linked to the subtle mechanisms of gaining and manipulating power and also to arrogance. Through its representatives, the nation as a whole could over-estimate its powers and act with arrogance on the world stage, under a triple Pluto transit.

Mercury and Jupiter in the Australian birth chart indicate advantages of many kinds and great mineral wealth is one of those. A mining boom has been underway as coal exports have risen, this largest export earner bringing in 22 billion dollars in 2005 alone. A Pluto transit is increasing the significance of this bounty.

Since the Oz chart also has Chiron – the Wounded Healer, being crossed by Pluto this year, some of Australia’s bounty may have a wounding potential. Coal is dirty and Australia holds the world’s largest reserves of high grade uranium. As this goes to press in May 2006 the PM has flown to the US and stated the express purpose of making Australia a key figure in the global nuclear club – one of Washington’s plans is to “lease” nuclear fuel and take back spent nuclear fuel from user nations. (2) It sounds a lot like a vast nuclear dump in the making.

A Paradigm Shift

When a whole way of approaching knowledge changes, a paradigm shift occurs and it must, by its nature, happen in stages. The work of Albert Einstein began a paradigm shift in science, whose implications are still unfolding. This enabled the splitting of the atom and the beginning of ‘the Nuclear Age’ with the first controlled nuclear reaction December 2, 1942. Under an optimistic Sun, Mercury and Venus in Sagittarius nuclear was birthed.

Sagittarius is most concerned with principles, beliefs and freedom of expression, With Jupiter now back in this ‘high hopes’ sign, it reaches out in a fiery harmony to Saturn from mid February to May 2007. Material progress and conservation may begin a new dialogue. This sign of the traveller draws on many cultures for examples and clean air and green credentials will increasingly add up to tourist dollars. Science has embraced many shifts but economics has embraced very few. It still maintains the right to be amoral and to give no weighting of ‘cost’ to the effects of a given product on the environment and on human agonies. This is the paradigm shift waiting to happen. When Saturn transits Virgo, the sheer inconsistency between the agony factor and the economic verbage of ‘profits’ and ‘losses’ will be analysed, debated and legislated. Carbon points and class action suits are a forerunner. December 2007 when Jupiter meets Pluto will give critical assistance to this development.

AIR

Air Heads Rule

With visionary idealist Neptune in fixed Air sign Aquarius, since 1998, intellectualised, rationalised, socially analysed visions are the dream of the first decade of 21st Century. The dream of globalisation is Aquarius personified – global means one big group and Aquarius is the sign of community, the champion of democracy. Tastes and fashions express Aquarius themes, like the information super highway and the world wide web of shared ideas. Aquarius the thinker, the one who pours the waters of life, ever watchful, is also fixed upon goals that elevate group needs above individual concerns.

Stay Alert in February and June

Saturn in Leo will again oppose Neptune, continuing its 2006 shock tactics in late February and again in late June 2007. Leo elevates individual urges, leaders, while Aquarius is community, the masses. Leaders will be making choices that constrict and disillusion the masses. Reactions will occur, fear levels may increase. Since Saturn opposite Neptune implies uncertainty and even deception, don’t expect to be getting particularly accurate messages from leaders at these times. On both institutional and structural levels of society, decay will reveal itself. Circumstances in the form of public emergencies are likely to require compassion and help. Those who take the path of compassion and seek to find a still centre will benefit most from this rare alignment of planets. This is also the best way to stay clear amidst the misinformation flying around, since this Neptune influence indicates a broad divide between the appearance of things and the truth.

Euro Polarities

The European Union is a powerful example of a global community, with its yoking together of diverse and economically divergent nations under one banner. It is already suffering a crisis as national interests interface with the reality of a single currency and no trade barriers. As the German Ifo Institute stated starkly, in April 2006, the integration of China and Eastern Europe into the world economy put intense downward pressure on the wages of unskilled workers on the continent.(3) Riots in France and Italy have recently attested to the numbers of unemployed, discontented citizens.

Antipodean Realities

The ‘birth’ of modern New Zealand via the signing of the Waitangi Treaty on February 6 1840, makes New Zealand an Aquarian country, a rebel with a cause so to speak. The cause in this case is the “clean green” national identity, which led to a national ban on nuclear power in all its forms in 1987. The Waitangi chart has Moon conjoined Uranus in Pisces and now Uranus is back in the same position, after 84 years. New Zealand is experiencing its second Uranus Return, so is likely to form an unexpected new alliance or end an old one. The early March Full Moon and eclipse is the most sensitive time for the country and late August a decisive point.

China Comes Closer

In June1989 a large pro-democracy rally of students and workers flooded Tiananmen Square and the Chinese army opened fire on them. This occurred when Saturn conjoined Neptune, a combination that can lead to false confidence, deception and danger. In February and June 2007 the opposition of Saturn and Neptune brings many old issues from ‘89 to a head.

In January 2006 at the Asia-Pacific climate summit in Sydney, while Jupiter ‘squared’ Neptune, an aspect linked with doubtful ventures and delusion, the US backed Australia’s plan to sell uranium to China. Under the same aspect the Australian and Chinese governments met to discuss safeguards, aimed to ensure the uranium would not end up as nuclear weapons. Under a repeat of the same Jupiter/Neptune link in March 2006 President Bush signed a nuclear pact with India to sell billions of dollars of weapons and give India access to US nuclear technology. Late February and June 2007 are likely to be pivotal points for these alliances and any agreements made in these months will hold dangerous surprises and be cloaked in secrecy.

EARTH

Earth Suffers

When Neptune was in the earthy sign of Capricorn, an explosion at the nuclear power station in Chernobyl in 1986 exposed an estimated 8.4 million people to radiation, only seven years after the Three Mile Island meltdown in Pensylvannia. This seemed a clear message about the hazardous nature of nuclear power. Yet an almost seamless shift has gone from nuclear bombs to nuclear tests to non-proliferation and disarmament talks to the actual proliferation of nuclear power stations around the globe – 450 stations in 60 countries as of 2006. Meanwhile clean alternative technologies like wind power were literally sidelined at the Sydney ‘Climate Summit’ to be “observers only”, unlike the coal and other mineral-based companies who were participants.

Now Neptune is in another sign ruled by Saturn – Aquarius and the Aquarian ideals of community are due to be stripped bare, by Saturn in February and June 2007. Then in September Saturn enters Virgo, and an earthy era with a utilitarian focus begins. As the sign of the harvest and the fertile earth, Virgo focuses on making things grow and serving human needs.

From Frying Pan to Fiery Nuclear

The history of oil use has a strong Virgo theme. The first oil strike in 1859 happened under Virgo Sun and Moon. Then OPEC, (the Organization of Petrol Exporting Countries) came into being in Baghdad in 1960 with Sun joining Pluto in Virgo. It’s principle goal, to regulate the supply of oil, has had a slippery path.
Since that 1960 agreement, we have seen Saddam Hussein trained and empowered by the USA to protect oil access, Saddam on trial for his atrocities and the Tigris-Euphrates Valley (Iraq), once the “cradle of civilisation”. has become a toxic, irradiated place of human misery. The coming Virgo cycle promises more turbulence for Iraq, probably linked to Iran and its bid for nuclear power.

The nuclear debate is again heating up in Australia as the continued use of fossil fuels heats up the globe. Australia is riding a new coal boom as China rides a manufacturing boom and burns our coal. Coal of coarse is a villain in the global warming stakes but several countries are seriously investing in developing underground storage of CO2, which of course has its own hazards. This has been estimated as about a decade away. If a global carbon points system were to be adopted, the real price of coal burning would factor in environmental effects, and the price escalate dramatically. R&D would escalate too. In the meantime nuclear is being hailed as ‘a cleaner alternative’. Yet if even one earthquake or human error creates another Chernobyl, the nuclear option will completely blow away an environmental points system.

Nuclear Catch Cries

The great unsolved dilemma – how to safely dispose of spent uranium, with its unimaginably long toxic half-life, has been side-stepped and ever increasing stock-piles wait for a final resting place. No-one wants radioactive material that never breaks down. With 450 nuclear power stations already in 60 countries worldwide, the catch cry is that nuclear is the ‘clean’ alternative to fossil fuels. Yet for every ton of enriched uranium produced there are seven tons of depleted uranium left. The same depleted uranium that has been used by the US military in weapons in Iraq since 1991; weapons that are sold to 28 other countries and perhaps tested in Australia. When depleted uranium explodes it creates vapourised radioactive gas, a toxic chemical element that stays in the body and alters DNA. The hidden passenger soldiers take home with them, referred to euphemistically as ‘Gulf War syndrome’. Then there is the distances and places radioactive nanoparticles travel on the winds. It is equally lethal if it makes it into the waterways. (4)

Australia’s Hot Spots

It is tempting to think depleted uranium (DU) is ‘elsewhere’ but a 20 year agreement was signed between the US and Australian governments in 2005 to allow the testing of the latest US weapons in Australia. Legislation was passed to remove the need for any environmental impact study and the then foreign minister refused to count out DU in weapons. Despite the growing menace of depleted uranium, the ‘safe’ nuclear power position is likely to gain extra political clout in 2007 when Saturn and Pluto hold a supportive Fire sign link that starts in November 2006, peaking through late July and early August 2007. Whatever the catch cry, whether economic rationalism, the ’must have’ energy boom or the ‘better than global warming’ rationale, human suffering is not counted as a cost by these profit driven ventures.

Pluto/Saturn Deals

Australia has been nominated as an ‘ideal’ location for an international nuclear waste dump. Previous attempts to interest South Australia in housing the nuclear dump fell on stony ground, yet SA’s State premier had “advanced talks” with Chinese investors seeking to buy uranium and to invest heavily in Australian exploration companies. This occurred in January 2006, under a deceptive Neptune ‘Tsquare’ and further deals are most likely to be brokered in January, July and August 2007 When Saturn links to Pluto. The turning point of June could slip into public complacency in August, supported by a desire to avoid confronting future problems. An awakening process after August’s high enthusiasm, is perhaps the one challenge to this trend, which asks for sobering reality checks during mid 2008 when Pluto will be in the big business sign of Capricorn. The big business of housing nuclear waste might return in a more attractive and compulsory package.

Transitions Virgo Style

In September earthy Saturn enters Earth sign Virgo and this is an altogether better place for Saturn. It has been in the two signs of its ‘debility’ for the last five years. This means a wiser more humble and more practical way of building life’s goals takes hold. Yet when Saturn lines up with the Moon’s South Node in October there are warnings about unwise management of planet Earth and destructive technologies are highlighted. So what is new? Virgo is new and is the sign most likely to do something practical about it, to deal with national and social karma by taking personal action, by starting small. Saturn’s ‘last hurrah’ in Leo in August might produce scary prospects but now Saturn is in Virgo, ready to take productive change to grass roots level for two plus years.

When Saturn opposes change agent Uranus in late 2008, the harsh consequences of unwise decisions made in 2007, will emerge. In earth terms, Pisces is the vast network of oceans and Virgo is the human impulse to manage and utilise the earth’s resources. Wise management of resources and modest goals are the Saturn in Virgo protection.

China’s Saturn Return

Saturn’s return to Virgo in September 2007 is a Saturn Return for China’s modern birth chart. This is set for Mao’s proclamation of the People’s Republic in 1949, made when Moon, Sun and Saturn were in Virgo. (5) China’s first Saturn Return in 1978/79 coincided with “the Four Modernisations” – market oriented economic reform. From December 2007 to late 2008 China has its second Saturn Return, which is a checkpoint for the phenomenal growth of the last 29 years and a new beginning. Since Saturn brings hard realities home, this might be the point where market forces persuade China to become a more responsible global citizen in terms of pollution controls and human rights. Of course its products would become more expensive and less competitive.

WATER

Water Worries

The eccentric maverick energy of Uranus is cruising the Water sign of Pisces with its natural inclination to feel and imagine. It is also adjusting our view of water - water is a truly loaded issue now as global warming picks up its pace. The prospect of rising sea levels coexists with drought and dams drying up in Australia, Africa and other parts of the globe. The potential for political turmoil between countries that share a limited and over-used water source, is high. To name just a few, Israel and Palestine share the River Jordan, Turkey and Syria narrowly averted a war in 1998 over the Euphrates River and the Brahmaputra River has already caused tension between India and China. Meanwhile melting glaciers and consequent floods are daily driving thousands of Bangladeshis to illegally migrate into India. At the same time the Greenland Ice Sheet, the Arctic and the Antarctic Peninsular are showing rapid recession. Flooding, water shortages and agricultural land turning to desert are all likely to increase dramatically between now and 2010 while Uranus remains in Pisces. Water is a survival issue and evokes strong feelings for individuals or political entities.

Wake Up Calls

A total lunar eclipse occurs March 4 when a Pisces Sun opposes a Virgo Full Moon. Pisces New Moon on March 19 is a solar eclipse and confirms the message – there is a general tension between serving the things of the world and serving the needs of the soul. This is perhaps nothing new but it cannot be ignored in 2007. The soul’s needs have their own wisdom. The past karma point in Virgo, says beware old notions of practicality, methods of accounting, analysing and managing. Change is close to the surface.

In April 2007 the Moon’s North Node meets up with awakener Uranus, an event that can only happen every 16 years. Emotionally driven energy bursts out. Sudden but short-lived friendships between nations, hazardous contacts and social disruption are some possible wake up calls. March, April and May 2007 have huge potential for evoking brilliant schemes and inspired scientific solutions, charged by some of the shocks of March and April.

August 28’s Full Moon in Pisces livens up issues that have been simmering since March. Another total lunar eclipse, it features hard angles between the four mutable signs and provides an entry point into a chaotic September. These months provide another series of reminders and spawn high level community action, the networking of diverse ecological groups to centralise a political voice and a rush of alternative lifestyle, energy self sufficiency projects that may focus within rather than outside the city centres. This takes a more formal shape in October and through until March 2008 as Mars harmonises with Saturn.

Awareness is the Answer

Pisces rules the vast oceans, the limitless horizons of the unconscious, the waters within and the quest to return to source. Pisces’ job as the twelfth sign is to embrace the infinite. Uranus’ job is to stir things up, to wake us up to the voice of intuition - literally, to inner teaching. As the higher octave of Mercury, Uranus rules higher mental function and spontaneous insight. Its symbol is the flash of awakening. At this point in the 21st Century Uranus is uniquely placed to prompt a shift of consciousness because it is ‘mutually receptive’ to Neptune, while they are in each other’s signs. This general opening of awareness flares up each time other transits provide extra fuel. One result of this could easily be an intuitive spike in scientific research that sees individual scientists developing new approaches to energy needs.

Magical Mysteries

Intuition is perception beyond the five physical senses and is most commonly identified by sudden hunches. A deep knowing readily emerges when we are sufficiently still and receptive but daily distractions and attachments get in the way. Because scientific instruments are modelled on the five senses, intuition cannot be scientifically proven but personal experience is another matter. Intuition serves inspiration, creativity, soul level links with other people and the experience of non-ordinary reality. The mysterious enters ordinary daily life with ease, when Pisces is stirred awake.

While Uranus has cruised Pisces, groundbreaking photographic experiments by Japanese scientist Dr Emoto, have delivered extra-ordinary results. With high-speed photos of frozen water amazing crystalline forms result. These crystal images change according to vibrations projected as words, music, thoughts, even pictures. Beautiful symmetrical water crystals appear when the projections are positive like words of love and praise, the opposite with negative inputs. (6) Since the human body is largely composed of this most intangible yet super sensitive element of water, what does this imply about the effect of human consciousness on the body? What does it imply about the effect of environmental stimuli: TV, PC screens, loud traffic and so on? Fortunately the problems and the solution come together. Consciousness is the solution, a consciousness of unity. Perhaps the numerous traditions, which teach ways of achieving a state of inner peace and awareness, actually offer the most powerful medicine for our time.

Copyright Christine Broadbent 2007

1) Bernadette Brady, Predictive Astrology:The Eagle and The Lark, Samuel Weiser Inc, p.320-21
2) Steve Lewis, Geoff Elliot, PM wants in on N-pact, The Weekend Australian, May13-14, 2006
3) The New Zealand Herald, April 13, 2006
4) Alok O’Brien, Depleted uranium and the poisoning of humanity, Living Now Publishing Pty Ltd, May 2006.
5) Modern China was born via the proclamation of the Peoples’ Republic on September 21, 1949.The Book of World Horoscopes, Nicholas Campion, The Wessex Astrologer Ltd, 2004
6) Dr. Masaru Emoto, The Hidden Messages in Water, Beyond Words publishing, 2004