Jupiter is exalted in Cancer and is in the midst of making a harmonious grand water trine (lots of flow) with two other major planets. That sounds like it should be smooth sailing, but there’s some important background energy that could be manifesting as an increase in reactionary tendencies, both on the personal level and on the world stage. Plus, Jupiter is conjunct a hypothetical point that may be stirring things up.
Currently, the Cancer Sun is in the midst of the Uranus-Pluto square, opposite Pluto and nearly square Uranus. We keep calling Uranus-Pluto ‘revolutionary’ and ‘evolutionary’.
But as Eric quipped yesterday, lately they seem more ‘reactionary’ than ‘revolutionary’: more emotional, sometimes lacking awareness or forethought, and often carrying a sense of fighting battles that seemed won long ago.
No one ever said evolution was easy, or that true revolution would be embraced by most people. If you’re feeling a little frustrated by the sense of ‘two steps forward, one step back’ these days, you’re not alone. The trick is managing to stay more focused on those two steps in the right direction without being complacent about the step backwards.
Take, for example, a recent email campaign from the Natural Resources Defense Council alerting supporters that Iceland has decided to resume hunting endangered fin whales after a two-year hiatus. The Obama administration had previously imposed diplomatic sanctions on Iceland; now NRDC is saying that Iceland is essentially flipping off the U.S. and that only economic sanctions will get their attention.
In the midst of this political and economic game of chicken, the real losers are the whales — and the oceans’ ecosystems. We’re being called to react; a response is necessary for the sake of trying to restore some balance to life on Earth. But it can be exhausting to keep revisiting the same issues over and over.
It’s the same with our own inner shadow material: it will keep coming back until we’ve figured out how to heal it and grow to a new understanding; ultimatums from others and superficial patch jobs won’t work.
So what is Jupiter amplifying there in Cancer? For one, a hypothetical planet called Hades (one of the eight extra planets from Uranian astrology) is taking a conjunction from Jupiter. This could be magnifying some ‘dark spots’ — the kinds that are pretty deep down in the psyche. In particular, you may be getting a look at past emotional conditions or influences, which are asking you to address them now. Mercury retrograde in Cancer is emphasizing the point of addressing past influences.
Jupiter is also within a degree or so of conjoining Black Moon Lilith in Cancer. BML represents an aspect of the shadow feminine that would rather choose exile than accept ‘inferior’ status in ‘paradise’/society. As such, Black Moon Lilith can represent a form of integrity.
But in a situation where emotions are heightened — especially darker ones — it can take real effort not to get caught up in the whirlpool of a grand water trine and throw the baby out with the bathwater, leaving yourself two steps backwards instead of just one. Right now the Moon is offering some grounding and retrograde Mercury is urging introspection. Use them.
— additional writing: Eric Francis
BML is conjunct my Sun. Throw that in with a first house Uranus and no wonder I’ve come to the point where I’d rather sleep in a tent and work on my craft than work a job that drains me and worry about rent while my craft sits in the closet. I tried to ape the act of my parents for many years and it never worked. No wonder.
oh, and trayvon martin–if what happened to that poor child doesn’t represent “revisiting the same issues over and over,” i don’t know what does.
been interested in hades for a while, because it moves terribly slowly and has been crawling across and resonating with that troublesome degree of 27 gemini (ascendant) for most of my life. wonder if hades has something to do with the wider-world stirring around that degree as well? (of course i would make it about me, in true lilith fashion. 😉 horribly frustrating reality recently, it’s true. thank you for fine column.
thank you all —
very gratifying to know these thoughts are resonating with others! it’s so easy sometimes to forget the idea of growth/evolution being a spiral, and that life on this planet is a web of interconnectedness, and that we’re all just trying to figure this stuff out — yet we all can offer so much to each other as we remember and learn and grow, and have real impact in the world.
Amanda, you are on a roll today. Between this Hades/Jupiter connection, and the emotional paralysis you talk about while introducing Genevieve’s Moonshine horoscopes, you’ve delineated something incredibly powerful for me.
Following Hades has brought me face-to-face with Eurydike (natally conjunct today’s Hades/Jupiter, and in progression making a perfect T-square to my Chiron & Uranus). Martha Lang-Wescott says Eurydike is about the “balance of power in relationships where one person relies too heavily on another.” I can begin to see it as the way I consistently see my weaknesses, rather than my strengths, and as a result, never feel like a true partner in relationship (and inadvertently create a reality to support that vision).
In your intro to Genevieve, you ask: Does fearing your power really get you anywhere? To which I have to admit, Yes: it keeps me small, it keeps me off-balance, it keeps me from showing up fully, it keeps me from having to take responsibility for the content and context of my life. But the biggest thing the fear does for me is it keeps me from being alone. Because, as long as I pretend to be a helpless little chick, there will be people to around to help me. But if this little chick grows up and no longer needs people in order to survive, the fear that makes my blood run cold is that all those people will disappear. I don’t yet know why. That fear is deeper than deep.
But under the current astrology, the depths are getting easier to see, and the fear easier to release.
Bless you.
My husband and I are both feeling like we are taking a step backwards. We thought we were moving toward our destination, slowly but surely. Now it seems like we have stepped backward in time and it is Groundhog Day, again. Sonny and Cher on the radio. “I got you, Babe.” Maybe evolving is not quite so linear as we thought. Maybe more like a spiral. Maybe this is a chance to rethink it and get it right by doing it all over again? Maybe like Bill Murray, we missed something really important the first time around?
Thank you Amanda! The two steps forward and one step back is really what I’m experiencing. So thank you for the precious advise. 😉
Amanda, this post shed more light on my year with Lilith. It’s in it’s 12 month, aka 12 house now, and suddenly I see my reactionary self-exile. And I am so done with that. Let’ integrate. 2 steps forward.
Iceland killing the fin whales? no!!!!
Thanks Amanda for sharing this blog post. As we deal with our personal shadow, we also help heal our collective shadow and now more than ever is a time to do so. Especially, since we are getting so much help from inner and outer influences. I recently wrote a small e-book entitled “Afraid of Our Own Shadow” and it was a surprise to hear Eric say once in one of his planet waves editions that we are essentially afraid of our own shadows. Hopefully, with this benefic grand trine and your gently reminder, we will all make the best use of it. Thanks again for sharing.
Thank you for these beautiful words, Len: “To deny one’s own shadow is to deny one’s self. There is no separation, or segregation except as to perpetrate an insidious and pernicious illusion that we urgently need to outgrow. It is to be one with, within and without, if we want to continue being at all.”
Lolly, I so relate to this, just wonderful, “Let go of the resentment from 60 years of being the older sibling who was always responsible … and keep on being responsible because it’s who I am.”
Absolutely right on, Amanda. We are not separate from the Earth or its other beings. To injure the Earth and its other beings is undeniably and unavoidably to injure ourselves. To deny one’s own shadow is to deny one’s self. There is no separation, or segregation except as to perpetrate an insidious and pernicious illusion that we urgently need to outgrow. It is to be one with, within and without, if we want to continue being at all.
Have you ever hit this one square on the head!! Shadow material from more than 50 years ago just keeps begging for attention. Old “memories”, hidden away with hypnosis 30 years ago, are peeking around the corner and giggling. It’s been a few years since I slept with someone who voted against my best interests and it’s getting to be pretty lonesome around here. (Saturn in sign, third house)
So far I’ve been able to breathe deeply and exhale. Let go of the resentment from 60 years of being the older sibling who was always responsible … and keep on being responsible because it’s who I am.
Hades! A light went on when I read that, Amanda! I can’t thank you enough for this wonderful blog and fantastic advice. It’s true, so much shadow stuff is coming up right now, and Saturn in Scorpio for me takes no prisoners. At the same time – there is a sense of this beautiful energy coming from the water trine, as if there’s a cushion to help deal with present woes.
Talking of Iceland, I worked for Greenpeace many years ago, and I remember working on campaigns against Iceland and Japan’s whale hunting, they’ve been playing this game for ever, of bowing to pressure for a whle, only to resume their activity again when people’s backs are turned.