textbooks on the astrology of the new dwarf planets, based on the research at the Dwarf Planet University. Probably the most valuable section is the house interpretations, looking at how Makemake manifests in our daily lives with example case studies. There is also a workbook to locate and on-board this new energy in your chart. And a section introducing each of the dwarf planets to put Makemake in context.

Many astrologers believe that new planets are discovered when we are ready to incorporate the new consciousness represented by that planet into our existing consciousness. We've noticed this with the discovery of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto over the last two hundred years, and now with the discovery of ten more planets we're entering a period of rapid consciousness development.

When our consciousness is focussed on the inner planets, everything that is important is our feelings, our ideas and values, our agency and the luck and material rewards that these bring us. "You can't take it with you, right?" And at this level we tend not to be conscious of the action of the outer planets in our lives.

The inner planets represent aspects of personality, while the outer planets represent aspects of consciousness. As each new outer planet is discovered, it represents a new aspect of consciousness that is becoming available to us. The discovery of Uranus brought us intuitive consciousness, the discovery of Neptune, spiritual consciousness, and the discovery of Pluto, psychological consciousness.

So, the discovery of Makemake represents a new aspect of consciousness that we can now uncover in ourselves. Put simply, Makemake takes the intuitive understanding of Uranus and turns it into a rich contextual understanding, into a wisdom or a cosmic consciousness. However, this new consciousness doesn't kick in automatically, rather we must actively incorporate it into our lives.

And because these outer planets talk of consciousness, how they manifest in our lives depends on our current level of consciousness. Most people on the planet experience the outer planets as unconscious influences, where these esoteric new energies are only perceived when, like Pluto, they barge into our lives in a confrontational way, because we haven't been sensitive and adaptable in the lead up.

As we develop spiritually, however, and consciously on-board these new energies into our lives, they become like guides into new territory, offering us special skills or challenges, depending on the aspects in our chart. At this level, rather than unconscious influences, the outer planets become like a new super-consciousness.