This opposition makes 2017 a year of surprises and unexpected twists and turns, ego battles, spiritual stand-offs and defining moments in the unfurling of this evolutionary time. Just when we think we’ve got it sussed we may find everything turned on its head and the rug pulled from beneath our feet. Just as we feel we’ve found our way a new possibility rears its intriguing head and we are once again in a maelstrom of change. A year of both unsettling uncertainty and unbridled possibility, it is up to us what we ultimately create from the surprises in store.

Relationships are a key factor this year, well deserving of our time and attention. Jupiter in Libra speaks of the joys of intimacy, while Uranus in Aries favours ‘no-strings attached’ self-determination and independence. Our task is to combine these two ways of being into fertile ground for a new way of living: independent and interdependent in equal measure. All assumptions we make about how other people ‘should’ treat us and what we do and don’t owe each other has faced a further radical challenge from Eris, who refuses to play the game of collusion and co-dependency. If our key relationships have been on rocky ground we have a unique opportunity to rebuild them from scratch if we truly want to sustain them long term. It won’t be easy and it takes two to tango, but courageous and radical efforts to break free from past conditioning, old wounds and unhealthy patterns which keep us and those we love in stifling boxes of cosy despair, will be met this year with powerful support from prevalent energies and inspiration the likes of which is rare.

The first few months of 2017 saw Uranus and Eris busy rocking the personal and collective boat until their final conjunction (exact mid-March 2017) was done and dusted. This opposition from Jupiter further reminds us that faith in the process of change, even when it looks alarmingly like unbridled chaos, can be the secret ingredient which unlocks the alchemical force of life’s desire for its own fulfilment. This year we’ll discover just how much courage is required to live an awakened life, for conscious living is not unending bliss amidst pink clouds but a visceral, face to face encounter with life in the raw, both bloody and beautiful in equal measure. Without the courage to face it head on we will never discover how unmitigated and raw potential really looks! This opposition puts us all on notice: we’ve had our chance to play small within the safety of our tiny lives. Now get ready to break loose from unnecessary bonds and discover with full force the mighty grace of our next step!eraoflight.com

While Jupiter opposes these two celestial giants we must stand tall and strong for what matters whilst embracing all that seems ‘wrong’ about this world, recognising that anything else creates yet greater division. This is not a passive rolling over to allow our planet to be plundered and the corrupt to claim power, but instead a demonstration of great bravery which honours the Unified Heart and recognises each and every power struggle as a desperate demand for love. It is time to decide, once and for all, whether to be part of the problem or part of the solution, for only a fool still believes we can sit this one out.

We now face important decisions about who we align ourselves with and why, how we honour others as well as ourselves, and how we express uniqueness in a world dependent upon unity for survival. Other people may surprise us this year, especially those we think we know well. Take nothing and no one for granted, for anything is possible! It’s time for us all to climb out of our boxes, stretch our cramped and twisted limbs and taste the breath of freedom. It’s sweet upon the tongue and exhilarating, but as it enters our lungs it may turn to fear as its profound implications crystallise before our eyes. As much as we rail against the limitations that life places upon us, in truth we use them to feel safe, a habit that will no longer be tolerated by this world which teeters between heightened potency and its own self-inflicted demise.

Watch out, also, for projections. We must listen to our complaints about others. What do they do that really gets on our nerves? Where are their manners, their consideration, their sense of responsibility?! Then ask ourselves ‘where are mine?’. What hooks us in another may reflect something disowned and unaccepted within ourselves. And even if we’re clear this is definitely all them, we must be willing to explore that very notion of ‘them, not me’. For ultimately it is all illusion, and the preparedness to see beyond polarisation into the shared human heart of both struggle and triumph may just be enough to unplug us from the stress, allowing a more creative perspective to arise.

We may find it necessary this year to liberate ourselves from circumstances with which we have struggled endlessly but in vain. Our decision to do so may, in the end, be lightening quick, with bridges burned and a vow never to look back. If so, remember the importance of wisdom amidst the commitment to a new way. Be sure to end the right thing, which may not be as obvious as first appears. A relationship may feel suffocating when in fact it’s our fear of commitment that we really need to let go! A job may feel interminably dull when in fact we’ve allowed ourselves to fall into ruts we could desert in a day. When frustrated by externals we must turn our attention within, for we may throw the baby out with the bath water if we don’t pay equal attention to our inner world as our outer one right now.

There’s no doubt this year will call for courage. Demanding an emboldened heart it reminds us that no matter the risk, embracing truth and authenticity will enhance rather than diminish our life. But we need to understand what an enhanced life looks like! Yes, it is more vibrant and alive; more exciting, more immediate, more able to contain and express love. But it is also rawer, scarier, more visceral and all those things we instinctively avoid, for we cannot open the heart without opening it to everything and inviting all to rest there. It is time to become the spiritual warriors life calls us to be. Whether we strive to protect the land or water, people or animals, ourselves, each other or everything, the ‘fight’ must come from the heart and take the form of expansion into love not fractured contraction into opposing sides forever set apart. The nature of love, our ideas about it, expectations of it and problems with it will be illuminated as the year progresses, demanding a rethink of much that we assumed to be true. Prepare to be surprised, shocked, delighted and scared in equal measure, for this is fierce love born of awe-full grace.

Many people these days are simply hoping things will finally ‘calm down’. But ‘things’ don’t do that. We do. And only we can ultimately ensure that peace in all its forms takes a hold on this planet. 2017 marks a defining passage in this process, and the shape of its unfolding is within our hands. This year the heavens have issued a clarion call to the wise, the courageous, the faithful, to take a stand, protect what’s precious, share what matters and never ever forget that only by fully living life do we inherit the power to change its very core.