the final stage of a 30 year Saturn cycle, Jupiter is focused on your home and family sector, making this a year for putting down roots, starting a family, putting time and effort into your home or property, or in general ensuring that you’re living in the right environment, making your life as user friendly as possible, but for what?

Normally when you go through this period of cosmic nesting, it’s in order to work on creating the most authentic lifestyle possible, so that you are supported, nurtured and thriving, in the right environment. It’s then, as the cosmic clock moves on, that this becomes the stable foundation, that the following years rest on. This is like calling time out, so you can sort things out and have them working well for you, on a personal level.

That this is happening when Saturn is winding down, brings a real need to step off the rat race and really consider your options. This is a real year for pondering, pondering your options, personally, professionally and in every aspect of your life.

I purposely use the word ponder, rather than the word dwell, for this is a year where you could easily find yourself dwelling on things, which wouldn’t be productive. This is about slowing down enough so that you’re able to question the direction you’re going, the speed you’re travelling at and if you’re on the right road. This is going to lead to letting some things go, as you establish what’s relevant now and what you need to let go of.

It’s very rare that the stars combine like this, to give you the space and time to focus on your own needs. Rather than loose your edge if you take a detour off the fast track, you’ll come back stronger, more focused and more determined, in 2009, gaining considerably from the attention you give to yourself and your own personal agenda, during 2008.

All this is in preparation for the start of a brand new Saturn cycle in 2009, which coincides with a particularly happy year, with lots to celebrate and lots of new beginnings. This is the year when you’re preparing for what’s to come, from 2009 and beyond.

That doesn’t mean sitting back and letting life pass you by, with lots of developments throughout the year.

Romance is an important theme this year. If single, this is a year for finding love, falling in love or becoming even more romantically inclined than you already are. As a Venus ruled sign, love is something that you see as a stable requirement, not one of life’s luxuries. And it seems fate agrees with you, with a series of eclipses bringing unexpected romantic surprises, the first one as early as February, when a total solar eclipse on the 7th February, combines an element of fate and destiny. Other key dates are the 17th August and the whole period from mid January to the end of February.

There are opportunities to travel or study in the first few months of the year, which if adopted could remain in motion throughout the year, with career choices or a change in direction between March and May.