By Stella Woods

Mars Retrograde - The Slow Burn

Mars is a dual god with two sides - civilised and primitive. The Roman god Mars represents the civilised side of Mars – the desire to be powerful and the ability to take risks and set and achieve goals. By contrast, the Greek god Ares (cf Aries) represents the more primitive side of Mars - a fierce warrior driven by passion, rage and lust and the primary force behind accidents, arguments, injury and violence. This primitive side of Mars comes to the fore during the Mars retrograde period, which occurs for 2-3 months approximately every two years. This year, Mars turns retrograde on January 24th and will travel backwards through earth sign Virgo until April 14th.

Mars in the birth chart is CEO to the Sun, externalising the ego's desire for accomplishment and helping us express our individuality. Mars themes include: will, desire, libido, courage, passion, energy, spirit and anger. When the Sun and Mars work well together, we are able to achieve our goals in a constructive fashion. Not so when Mars moves to oppose the Sun during the Mars retrograde cycle.....the wilful CEO goes his own way instead of following orders from the Board! The symbolic purpose of the Mars retrograde cycle is to force us to align our actions and goals (Mars) with our true nature (the Sun).

We'll discuss the likely impact of the Mars retrograde transit in next month's Stellar Stuff columns, but the advice for now is to watch out for any underlying anger, grievances or frustration coming to the surface. Spend time working out exactly why you're feeling the way you do and consider what alternative courses of action are available to you. The challenge is to become more 'real'.

2012 Predictions - Practical Solutions for Challenging Times
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find, ten years have got behind you,
No-one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.
Pink Floyd - 1973

Challenging times bring out the best in us and make us realise what is really important. For most of us this is the love of friends and family; good health; financial stability and a meaningful existence. Think of 2012 as a year to get rid of old habits, revolutionise your life and embrace the future with confidence! And while governments, banks and economies may be crumbling, there a definite rise in the number of people seeking to balance the mental and material with a more heart-centred, environmental and spiritual approach. Planet Earth is still a beautiful place to be.

HEADLINE ASTROLOGICAL TRANSITS FOR 2012

• The volatile Uranus-Pluto cardinal square (which makes no less than seven hits between 2012 and 2015 mirroring the social, political and artistic revolutions of the late 1960s)
• The continued impact of revolutionary Uranus in fiery and impatient Aries (harbinger of the Arab Spring, UK riots and Occupy Wall St protests PLUS the exponential and mind-blowing developments in science and information technology)
• The endless creative possibilities of soul-centred Neptune in creative and visionary Pisces (growth in spiritual consciousness, explosion of creativity and virtual reality)
• The upheaval of transformational Pluto in business-minded Capricorn (global financial/economic crisis, eurozone freefall, housing and stock market fluctuations, challenges to government authority)
• The Mars retrograde transit through health-conscious earth sign Virgo (focus on health and environmental issues)

Let's take a look at how these planetary transits could play out this year.

Spirituality & Healing

Neptune's move into feminine water sign Pisces is creating a mass spiritual awakening. Sound healing, colour healing, ritual, dreamwork, meditation, yoga, altered states of consciousness and the sacred feminine are all becoming more and more mainstream, just as Neptune's transit of air sign Aquarius (1998-2011) made technology fashionable and widely accessible. This is clearly good news for alternative health practitioners and their customers. We could even see increased government funding and support for these modalities.

Environment

Australia is one of the most beautiful, unspoiled countries in the world and yet our land is constantly under threat from greedy and unsustainable development. With Pluto in earth sign Capricorn, it's time to get real about looking after our planet, instead of viewing environmental activism as some kind of left wing, green pastime. More and more communities are embracing this concept, setting up communal gardens and caring for local parks and waterways. And after a thirty year battle, industry and environmental groups are finally working together to protect and preserve Tasmania's old growth forests. We can expect other issues such as carbon tax, protection of marine parks; coal seam gas mining and live export of cattle to remain on the national environmental agenda.

Given the unpredictability of Uranus and the fiery nature of Aries, we should prepare for an increase in heat waves, droughts, floods, earthquakes, cyclones and other 'Acts of God'.

by Stella Woods

2012 Predictions – Anarchy, Armistice or Armageddon?

There's no doubt that there's a real buzz about 2012. We all like a bit of drama - remember Y2K? And let's face it, the lead up to the Year of the Dragon has been a roller coaster ride on many fronts - floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, popular uprisings, financial crashes, bankrupt economies.... Ask any astrologer what's happening in 2012 and they'll babble excitedly about the Mayan Calendar; the Uranus-Pluto cardinal square; the revolutionary impact of Uranus in Aries; the endless creative possibilities of Neptune in Pisces, not to mention the continuing drama of Pluto in Capricorn and its effect on global financial markets. But what does it all mean?

Astrology works with cycles, viewing every event as a point on a spiral with precedents in earlier turns of the spiral. It's actually very easy to see what lies ahead. Instead of looking to politicians, economic forecasters or indeed astrologers, we simply need to look at what is already happening at a grass roots level and project these events to their logical conclusion. Because it is on the ground that the changes bringing about 'the end of the world as we know it' are taking place, not on the front benches of our parliaments or in the boardrooms of our corporations and central banks. There will be a collapse of the system, because enough people now want it to collapse. Riots in the UK; tent cities in the US; revolutions in the Arab world – we definitely won't be going back to the old days or the old ways.

I remember learning at school about the 'Storming of the Bastille', precursor to the French Revolution that destroyed the all-powerful French monarchy and eventually led to the rise of a republican state. I wondered why it had taken the French peasants and middle class so long to overthrow what was clearly an unfair system when there were so many of them...

And as a child in the 1960s, I have vague memories of women in the newspapers wearing mini skirts, burning bras, protesting about wars in distant countries and refusing to conform. And I wondered why it had taken these women so long to stand up against what was clearly an unfair system when there were so many of them...

Now I understand why it took so long. There may have been lots of unhappy peasants and lots of oppressed women but they had no way of banding together, sharing information and taking concerted action to change their situation. Once those platforms became available, revolution was swift.

By Stella Woods

Featured Sign - Sagittarius

From 23rd November to 22nd December, the sun travels through Sagittarius, an intuitive fire sign noted for its vision, adventurous nature and love of philosophy. Sagittarius is the ninth sign of the zodiac with keywords "I seek" and "I expand". Those born under the sign of the Archer often struggle to integrate their animal nature with their more lofty human side. Sagittarians seek expansion on all levels, mental, physical, emotional and spiritual, and can usually be found travelling, studying and exploring life's big issues. They love to share their wisdom and are often talented writers or teachers. At best they are intelligent, honest, generous and inspirational. Negatively, they can be tactless, self indulgent, coarse and hypocritical. Some Sagittarians are drifters, constantly in search of new horizons and ever more exciting adventures. Most Archers eventually realise that true freedom comes from commitment and dedication to a personal vision, rather than from the outer world. In medical astrology, Sagittarius rules the liver, hips and thighs and sacral regions of the spine. When Sagittarians are out of balance they can suffer from sciatica, hip diseases, rheumatism and weight gain. The Sagittarian colours are purple and deep blue. Sagittarius's greatest lessons are commitment, moderation, tact and learning to deliver what they promise.

December Lunar Eclipse

Eclipses move in cycles and so far we've had three eclipses in the Gemini-Sagittarius polarity, the first on 21st December last year and the second and third on 2nd and 16th June this year. The first and third were the most powerful and required substantial adjustments.