MANY PEPOPLE know what's important to them, but do little about it. We tend to have every reason for this situation: life is difficult, we have many competing responsibilities, there is only so much time and energy to go around, and so on. Working three jobs for not such great money doesn't help. Getting paid a lot for a job you don't like doesn't help either.

Yet the main reason is that we were taught to compromise on our values early in life, and pressured to do so throughout life. We may not notice; we may not understand how we wound up at 47 years old in such a weird place; but it happens, as many have documented. Here is the good news: You have reached the end of this particular story, in whatever form it may have shown up in your life, and the beginning.

With Saturn, the planet of necessity, now going through your 2nd solar house (values, personal resources) and Chiron, the planet of focus, healing and awareness, now transiting your 8th solar house (shared values and finances), there is a story about resources developing, and where you share who you are, and what you have, with others.

It appears that, if you work for it, you are going to go up a few levels, and from the look of things, it seems that you're poised to do so fairly soon. On one level, a 2nd house Saturn transit is about cultivating self-sufficiency. But because the 8th house and Aquarius are involved, the subject matter of personal and group economics, business plans, and sharing a vision with others all come up as a primary agenda of your life, and potentially as sources of great mutual benefit.

Whether you are in business or not; whether you are "good at it" or not; whether you are interested or not; I can tell you that this is a big part of the subject matter of your life at the moment.

Not Just Valuables: Values

Though it will invariably involve finances and resources, what surfaces as part of the 2nd/8th house dynamic can also be intimately personal. This is because resources includes how we feel about ourselves, how we engage with the people we love, and our willingness to surrender in relationships.

Any subject where sharing anything is involved may be covered, in any direction the sharing may go. For you this may involve sexual matters, negotiations of the terms of intimacy, marital arrangements, and the agreements you have with groups and organizations. Though you may exert quite a bit of energy on these areas of life this year and next, you are working toward a breakthrough. It may involve getting into a partnership; depending on your circumstances, you may negotiate your way out of one.

The common thread is seeking and finding clarity with others, which comes in the forms of clear agreements, contracts, and understandings about ideas, what is important, and the value that each person brings to a partnership.

There has been plenty of activity on this axis the past few years, but it has not exactly been focused. Indeed, it may have seemed possible to do anything except make lasting arrangements in certain areas of your life. I hope that in this time you've found some points of contact and satisfaction, even if only as a hint of what is possible in the future.

But if it has seemed particularly difficult to solidify relationship arrangements in some aspect of your life, I trust you've at least reached some clarity about what you need, and that something tangible will be the end result of your consciousness-raising activity. Because the next four of five seasons are definitely a time of putting plans into action.

If it has seemed that anything was missing, it turns out that you were a big part of that piece. There was a distinct phase of your life (involving Saturn through Gemini, around 2001-2002) where a retreat was entirely necessary, which may have been a time of significant isolation and inner reorientation. Then, Saturn through Cancer (2003-2005) was a time of gradually emerging and coming to terms with yourself, a process that was a little like building calluses when learning to play guitar. Saturn through Leo (2005-2007) is a phase of putting your newfound strength to work, first for yourself, and in your relationships -- in that order, please.

And I know this has been a priority for you. But with the kinds of astrology you've been experiencing, the necessity to raise the level of the discussion to ever more practical levels, and to elevate the ground floor of your life above the flood line, remains clear and present. Old methods, values, habits and "typical" situations are just not going to keep you dry. Gaining a new kind of maturity and confidence, often under challenge from others, or in situations that seemed to call for ever-greater commitment from you, has kept you on your toes. In essence, you're being pushed out your crab shell and into direct encounters and confrontations that get you to experience yourself vividly enough to grow.

A Spiritual Presence

Yet if you look carefully, there's been more than mere challenge, and there is more today. Notice that there are some in your life whose presence has been nothing but spiritual, seemingly the result of divine intervention and angelic presence. Though the edge has often seemed near, there has been a presence guiding you along that delicate space, looking out for you and telling you when to look out for yourself.

And if sacrifices have been demanded of you, there are others who have shown up -- not necessarily promising to do so, or even planning to do so -- who have given you everything they can. Though lawyers may not have approved the deal (they would not have made much money), there was, and still is, a certain quality of unspoken understanding that has kept the relationship in the flow of life.

What you will find is that as the next two years progress there is an increasing acceptance of your values as you become more sincere and dedicated to your ideals. This is likely to involve ever-wider groups of people. As you focus yourself, the corresponding energy that you need to implement your ideas or shared visions will come back to you. But as time presses on, the necessity for cooperation and mutual maintenance of integrity increases. And if you respond, the rewards will increase as well. So, it's true that you cannot care too much about your own integrity. Because it counts for a lot now. Past errors will be forgiven; avoid making new ones as a top priority.

Events fairly early in the year -- particularly in late March -- suggest that you are being summoned from on high to serve the world in a new and significant way. You are getting a promotion, as it were. It is time to begin filling that role now, and seeing yourself in a larger context. Whatever you may be doing, your efforts have an effect on people and this will be increasingly true. The potential for increased contact with the public, or with those already in leadership roles, is indicated strongly.

Negotiate, but Don't Compromise Your Values

You may have a strong tendency to want to stay on the good side of those with power and influence, and may have a tendency to yield to pressure; or alternately, you may feel an urge to blow external approval to the wind. You need to reach a point of balance. What is really important to you can never be thrown to the wind; but what others want only has so much value.

Maintain communication and practice the art of negotiation and dialog so that you don't wind up making the very kinds of compromises that you are officially done making. In other words, at all times, remain true to your own conscience, no matter how influential or powerful anyone is, or no matter how dearly you want to move up or succeed. This is a time when reputation counts for a lot; in some respects, for everything. So make your choices well; make sure that you are quick to apologize when you've made an error; and pay attention to whether people feel treated fairly.

More than likely, the feeling will be mutual. It will be difficult for anyone who is looking to miss the quality and level of work you are offering, and the way in which your presence provides an outstanding example to those around you. You don't need to be better; you don't need to do anything perfectly. You do need to be really human.

Yet you seem to have an overwhelming necessity to break free; to do something more imaginative; to go further afield (in terms of subject matter, geography, or feeling); and to experiment with what you think matters most.

You can actually afford to do this, and in reality you can't afford not to. You've come a long way in establishing patterns of productivity. Now you need to get just as serious at allowing yourself space to be creative, and I mean a lot of space, and I mean applying this quality to everything you do; not, for example, when you break out the paints on a Sunday afternoon.

Creative Process as Religion

In reality, the creative process is your religion. Does there need to be any other? Do we need rules of right and wrong to govern whether we feel guilty about small matters, when we can spend time creating in the spirit of love and healing?

Well, that's a silly question, but it does present challenges for many people, particularly when they get trapped in the game of doing what everyone else does, doing what they feel compelled to do by agreements that don't exist, or by the need to conform.

One of the great themes of Chiron going through your 8th house of partnerships and shared values is that you get to be yourself. Part of being yourself is that you have a need to co-exist on more or less equal terms with several different people. Through the practice of being yourself, you will find that the power relationships even out, for one thing, and generally that means you becoming more confident in your faith that people will come through for you, and fully aware that you will come through for them.

People who keep fears on these issues basically are the ones who either get short-changed or who wind up counting themselves out of the game of life that, at long last, at which you have the ability to do so well. The kind of faith you can muster, both in yourself and in others, will put you in the position of leadership.

I'm not referring to executive leadership but rather to the kind of guidance that an intelligent person offers to a committee that respects his or her views. If you look around, and monitor the new situations you encounter, you will notice that you are not alone; not only do you have company and associates, you have people who do share your values, whose primary agenda involves putting spiritual awareness to work for the community, and finally, who want to create something built to last.

We live in a time of enormous change, to the point where it's difficult to overstate. Much of this involves the way that people interact with groups, communities and -- though I have not mentioned this -- technology. At this point in your life, you find yourself at a genuinely interesting meeting place with the larger society and its changes.

Please take that seriously. Remember that life is made of people, and you are definitely one of those. And when you have an idea, need help or have assistance to offer, remember, we are not alone. Have faith in that -- and only good will come of it.