Jupiter in Sagittarius Transit: November 8, 2018 to December 2, 2019
Spending one year transiting each sign, Jupiter takes 12 years to make one full rotation through the zodiac. Physically it is the most massive planet in our solar system. Astrologically speaking, Jupiter’s bounty provides easy access to opportunity. Once every twelve years, Jupiter will bring increase to a specific area of your natal chart. Known as the Greater Benefic for its propensity to bring something good our way, Jupiter’s influence can be gift bearing. Sometimes, we call it luck.
Jupiter’s transit through Sagittarius, the sign it rules, doubly emphasizes matters regarding beliefs, philosophies, speculative prospects, the law, publishing, broadcasting, media, education, teachings, religion, spirituality, and travel. Also as the root of the word ‘jovial’, Jupiter is connected with pleasure, play, sports, and adventure. During Jupiter’s time in Sagittarius we will see increased focus in all these areas and thereby a growing intuitive awareness that there is more beyond what we presently see, know, and have experienced. Via Sagittarius we seek to understand the broader view of life and living.
Sagittarius correlates to the archetype of natural law, the principles of which are evident in nature: for every action there is a reaction; life breeds life; and evolution is a given. The cyclical nature of life and the creative process is a naturally occurring phenomena.
Hope and optimism can flourish easily under a Jupiter transit, but increase and abundance are not always happy prospects. Circumstances can grow beyond our capacity to contain, control, or cope. When it is time to make room for more, Jupiter will facilitate an opening or a void. Before we meet with gain, something or someone may vacate our life in order to create room for the fresh and new to arrive.
Jupiter’s mandate aims to engage and to convert the greater portion of our attention to forward thinking, rather than to past recreating, to bring the future, rather than the past, forward. Instead of remaining stuck in old patterns, it is time to answer to a new call.
Jupiter in Sagittarius puts the future into play in some enlarged scope or way. The current transit has even greater impact considering what the future might hold when viewed from our current standpoint. As a transit on its own, Jupiter increases intuitive signals. A growing restlessness serves as a catalyst for action.
Jupiter Balsamic Phase to Saturn and Pluto:
Considered by planetary phases, Jupiter, in balsamic position to the transits of Saturn (reality, authority, structure of consciousness/judgement, the past) and Pluto (the evolutionary mandate), undertakes the task of shepherding us toward the momentous 2020 alignment in Capricorn. That well publicized configuration is comprised of heavyweights Pluto, Saturn, and Ceres, the faster moving South Node in Capricorn, and the personal planets Venus, Mars and Mercury. The current transit of Jupiter bridges two vistas, that which we are in the process of leaving and that which we are in the process of moving toward. It blends a completion phase and a preliminary induction phase, as indicated by Jupiter’s balsamic relationship to Saturn and Pluto and last quarter phase to Neptune.
The Lunar Nodes in Cancer-Capricorn:
The transit of the lunar nodes in Capricorn/Cancer, which lasts throughout the entire Jupiter in Sagittarius transit, marks a revisit of the past as a priority to the present. There is a necessity to rework something unfinished and karmic, to repackage the loose ends, and/or to revive and reclaim that which was seeded some time ago (the recent or karmic past) and that is now finally ready to materialize.
For most of the year ahead, Jupiter in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces are engaged in a last quarter square aspect relationship. Both are visiting their home signs which suggests both planets can flex a full range of motion. Also, their transiting positions mirror their natural square position to each other on the zodiacal wheel. This ninety-degree angle, the square aspect, is a frictional energy that perpetually generates and replenishes. Dane Rudhyar coined the phrase “crisis in consciousness” to describe the last quarter square aspect. Translated from the Latin “krisis” or “decisive moment”, when a planet reaches three quarters around the zodiacal wheel, it is reaching the end of a chapter of manifesting and is at the inception of the next phase, the balsamic.
Jupiter-Neptune Square:
Jupiter’s square to Neptune sparks a natural and continuous creative process that exposes limitless possibility and potential. The mutable qualities of yang Sagittarius and yin Pisces activate a process that constantly responds to stimulus. It simultaneously absorbs, blends, adapts and creates, from a dual experiential track, i.e. intake and outlet, ebb and flow.
In its natural relationship to Neptune, Jupiter is oriented to growth beyond, to seek in uncharted realms. The influence of Neptune in Pisces here correlates to the totality of creation (the unified whole, the source of all things) which is perpetually responding and synchronizing to the ever-shifting vibrations of our beating hearts and souls.
Jupiter is the planet of hope and truth. Neptune is the planet of faith and inspiration. In their search for the ideal and the ultimate, they will scan the catalogue of yet untapped potentials. The creative process remains in an active design state. Each moment, each choice, each action contributes to another, just as each inward breath in leads to the next breath out. What surfaces will gain dimension and momentum but will not be fully exposed or fully formed until the transit is complete.
Jupiter’s knowledge base operates at two distinct levels. One orientation is primal/animal, instinctual, and intuitive. The other orientation is educated, trained, learned, or refined. As Jupiter explores via Neptune, the distinction between these two tracks dissolves. Ultimately, the blending allows for both ends of the spectrum to mutually inform, support, and advance the creative process.
Jupiter and Neptune will form an exact square aspect three times in 2019: January 13 (both direct), June 16 (Jupiter retrograde) and September 21 (Neptune retrograde). Each one of these exact alignments represent a pivotal next stage, a conflict between what is already built, based on the results of past choices and experiences, and what is gathering momentum. For those working through a significant loss or transition, know it will take this whole transit to fully disengage, relinquish, surrender, and transcend what was, and to fully engage in the process of moving beyond.
Jupiter in aspect to Neptune acts as a tuning fork. Which note is heard depends on the seeker. When the spirit is free to roam, inspiration, hopefulness, desire for adventure, imagination, aspirations, and dreams lead into the creative realms of the potential. When clouded with the debris of fear, anxiety, attachment, pain, loss, tragedy, self-aggrandizement, or selfish motivations, we find ourselves lost or travelling through a minefield.
Jupiter’s inner restlessness is a clue to a desire that is gaining momentum and to a need for fresh stimuli. That coupled with a growing insecurity that questions the validity or purpose of our commitments can initially lead to inner confusion, chaffing, suppression, avoidance, and denial. This in turn necessitates listening to inner prompts, facing truth, or acknowledging signals and messages that are progressively gaining a strong voice within the subconscious. If we avoid this, we are prone to perpetuate the existing reality in order to hide from the truth. Disillusionment is never fun, but it is a pathway to growth. Jupiter in Sagittarius will shoot an arrow through Neptune’s veil when it serves the evolutionary process. One way or another, Jupiter keeps us future bound.
The frictional nature of the Jupiter/Neptune square serves to increase awareness of an outgrown reality and the belief system that has kept it glued together. That reality could be a relationship, goals, ideals, a sense of purpose or duty, sacrifices, rescue missions, or living for tomorrow’s reward. When Jupiter pierces Neptune’s balloon, it can show us how far off the mark we are from realizing our ultimate ideals, from creating the life of joy and prosperity that we purport to seek. Our everyday reality, for instance random acts of violence, war, racism, ethnic cleansing, corruption, and addiction, easily demonstrate the results of our social, cultural, political, and religious governance. Where is peace? Where is love? Where is the reverence for all living things?
Global Perspective:
On the bigger picture scale, the momentous 2020 Capricorn alignment of the major players Pluto (the collective soul), Saturn (consensus reality), Jupiter (belief systems/schools of thought), Ceres (the Mother Matrix) over the planetary south nodes (the collective imprints of ancient history) of Pluto and Saturn are a statement for the ending of an era of modern living (248 year Pluto cycle) and another milestone marker for the ending of an Age, the 2500 year Age of Pisces Cycle.
In ancient Roman mythology, Jupiter, the god of sky and thunder and the king of the gods, ruled as the chief deity of ancient Roman state religion until Christianity became the dominant religion of the Empire. Mythologically speaking, his sovereignty established Jupiter as the source of justice. Likewise, there is no higher supremacy than the natural world and natural law. The fallout effects of global warming will continue to demonstrate its rule on everyday living. Also, consider the symbolism as the transit of Jupiter engages in the last quarter phase relationship to Neptune, the signature archetype for Christianity and the Age of Pisces. Coinciding with the ending of a World Age, the exposure of rampant sexual violation in the Catholic Church now places the Christian faith at an ultimate crisis point in its evolution.
Jupiter searches Neptune to find what is of ultimate truth, value, meaning, and purpose. For the year ahead, Jupiter is not only seeking more, but also questioning more. Jupiter’s quest is fuelled by a growing intuition that now sends the message “There must be more than this”.
As a dissolving or disintegrating influence, Jupiter/Neptune take us through a process of exploring that which we may not have questioned previously, or something we assumed would always be in ample supply, or that we assumed was the truth or pathway that we cherished above all. Progressively the transit will continue to expose and reveal, to release unconscious content that is seeking attention, to open the intuitive and creative channels so that we may find what we truly seek, whether we like it, love it, or not. It reverberates throughout the collective sphere and through personal consciousness too. An intuitive message, growing movement, or future course will now progressively reveal its potential and pick up greater and faster momentum.
What the mind’s eye can conceive can be. Jupiter/Neptune warehouses a limitless abundance of imagination and possibility. The year ahead will see flourishing in many areas of life and at many levels. Jupiter/Neptune can produce holy wars and invasions (literal, figurative) by land, sea, sky, and philosophy.
What grows or flourishes during Jupiter in Sagittarius is not new, but a next step or phase in a larger process triggered by the outer planets’ transits through Sagittarius (Pluto, Uranus, Neptune) and the more recent Jupiter transit through Scorpio. Jupiter in Sagittarius will see us travel more, by mind, by body, and by space. We are not alone in the universe. Considering the increase in UFO sightings, perhaps we will host more visitors too. After all, Sagittarius is the archetype of the long-distance traveller, the voyager, the immigrant, and the alien. Space travel, the entertainment industry, sports, media, religion, spirituality, migration of peoples and cultures, changes to society via gender, race, and technology, overpopulation, precious resources lost and found, rewriting history, Jupiter in Sagittarius has a busy year ahead!
The best solution, or the future itself, can be difficult to discern while Jupiter/Neptune are in action. Clarity can be elusive. Loss, confusion, and uncertainty can be overwhelming. On the other hand, inspiration, creativity and a heart opening can be a wellspring. On the plus side, Jupiter/Neptune can raise awareness, diffuse tunnel vision, and expose/reveal more creative potential than we previously imagined. It is a transit that allows for greater speculation, greater creative design. Jupiter/Neptune invites us to immerse ourselves in the process of feeling our way along, to place faith and trust in a higher purpose beyond what we can see. The future is not written in stone. It still offers plenty of possibility. A door may be closing, but a window is opening.
Jupiter square Neptune increases the call to service on behalf of the whole. Increasingly we are meant to recognize that our ultimate reason for being is to resource as much of our personal potential as is humanly possible and to recognize this mandate encompasses not only the serving of our own individual journey but our ultimate spiritual purpose and contribution too. A life well lived that demonstrates reverence for all living things as much as is humanly possible is the highest spiritual attainment we can achieve in a single lifetime. It is no small feat.
The start of Jupiter’s transit through Sagittarius has coincided with Nasa’s spacecraft “Insight” landing on Mars. The Insight probe is a small part of the bigger plan. Nasa has stated that it is aiming to start colonization of the red planet by the mid 2030’s! It is a big goal and only a short time away.
Using the Mars mission as metaphor for the Jupiter transit, we can do no better than to be forward-thinking, to go explore the foreign land and to consider the future as a place where we can prosper.