Venus conjuncts Pluto the first day of December, conjuring Love in the Shadows, which means that all of us who are feeling jack-hammered by the Gods, are being thrust into deep layers of ourselves, where love has yet to take root. When Love enters Hell, it's easy to forget the Big Picture, and get caught in distortions of self-confusion, feeling blamed and manipulated by Dark Forces, feeling hopeless and beyond aid.

The Soul Level Astrology view, however, indicates we're undergoing a species-wide initiation to prepare us for the summer of 2012, when we enter the Age of Aquarius. Since the 1960s we've been lingering on the Cusp of Aquarius, which is like a vestibule or hallway. Now we're six months away from exiting the hallway and entering this new two thousand-year period for real.

The Aquarian Age is the time slated for mass consciousness to awaken to the truth of who we are and why we're here. In order to cross into this new evolution of human nature, everything in the way of it first has to come up to be cleared.

There's a personal and transpersonal side to this rite of passage. Transpersonally, our culture is undergoing the most severe growing pains we've had since the 1960s, when we first touched in to the revolutionary precincts of this new age. Personally, we're each being introduced, over and over, (some of us more than others) to our own inner programmings and unconscious stories, that keep us circulating through limitation over and over, producing dysfunctional patterns without really wanting to.

Though this initiation can feel punishing, its purpose is to teach us who we are and what we're made of, down deep, at the very roots of our being - where no one can ever again take it away from us; where no one can ever sell us a false world, because our insides won't go for it. And so the false world of the past, that world of false power, false values, false loves, is crumbling around us, and old unconscious stories of lack and limitation are rumbling and dying inside us.

In recent years (and centuries) our culture has abysmally failed to teach us who we are and what we're made of. The worldwide change gripping the planet has a vast spiritual conspiracy behind it: all the greater guiding spiritual beings have teamed up to push humanity through its hurdles into the next stage of evolution. Falsehood and limitation are being exposed for what they are, as the light inside the species rises to the wake-up call whose time has finally come.

You can't get to the bright future by wishing the darkness away, but by becoming so aware of your own twists and distortions, that you release the need to project your disowned shadow on anyone - you own it. You face yourself in the heaviest, darkest Pools of Pluto, where Venus bestows the gift of a self-acceptance so potent that it's been called The Pearl of Great Price - the experience of merging with your soul, fusing with your core nature, becoming a unified being, who has much less need to trap him or herself in dysfunctional patterns, and can begin the work of building a new life from the ground up.

The Great Reckoning has begun, in which we come to see ourselves for who we've been, who we are, and who we're becoming. No one is exempt from this potent initiation to release the light in the darkness. Whatever is most difficult and challenging that comes up in your life between now and June of 2012 can be seen as an initiation to spring your love in the shadows.

Who Are You Really? What Are You Here for?

How Much Longer Are You Going to Wait?

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Have questions? Want a mini-reading? Register for the Winter Solstice Cornerstone teleconference on December 21 at 6 pm Pacific/9 pm Eastern. www.markborax.com

Author's Bio: 

Under the redwoods of northern California in the 1990s, Mark Borax and an extraordinary spiritual teacher, Ellias Lonsdale, created a mystery school that birthed a new astrology. Called Star Genesis, this multi-dimensional astrology practice lets people see their purpose and transform their lives. Mark’s book 2012: Crossing the Bridge to the Future—co-published in 2008 by Frog Books and Random House—describes the author's seven-year apprenticeship to Lonsdale and the capacity it gave him to weave planetary narratives that bring clarity and direction to the lives of thousands.
Borax, who trained at the Berkeley Psychic Institute, has given these dynamic readings in person and over the phone since 1987. His strength lies in translating highly evolved spiritual ideas into everyday language that pierces convention and complacency, uniting couples with relationship readings that spur creative transformation, and inspiring parents with his unique insight into nurturing the budding spirits of children. He has given readings internationally, and continues to teach by himself and with Lonsdale.
Mark lives with his wife Marcella and young sons Sky and Hart in Putney, Vermont. Soul Level Astrology (www.markborax.com) is the practice that grew out of his days under the redwoods, and since the publication of 2012, he’s been booked months in advance with clients from all walks of life.