Relationships can be particularly, shall we say, ‘fertile’ mirrors of our experiences. In astrology, external relationships tend to be represented by oppositions, and there’s one opposition in particular that has been in force this week: Jupiter in Cancer opposite Pluto in Capricorn.
Jupiter-Pluto was exact at 7:46 pm EDT Tuesday, but is still very much in effect.
It’s also possible that it made Tuesday’s New Moon feel more like a Full Moon, if you’re noticing that any of the ‘deep internal stuff’ that surfaced for you then seems to be having some rather external expressions in your life.
There are a couple different ways to take Jupiter opposite Pluto.
On the one hand, it could feel like a series of restless mood swings between feeling optimistic and confident one moment, and then weighed by self-doubt. With Capricorn and Cancer involved, it might seem like your very foundation is being overhauled and you might be feeling very emotional about that.
Another possible interpretation appears more like a standoff in the realm of applied spirituality. In one corner: our loftiest, perhaps even flowery, ideas about what it means to be ‘spiritual’. In the other corner: the practical reality of what we actually have to get done.
Also in the configuration is the asteroid Pallas in Cancer, to which Jupiter is making a conjunction. What Pallas is saying about this spiritual standoff is: use a method; plot a course for how you can apply your highest ideals to your on-the-ground, sometimes emotionally messy, real life.
As suggested, the tension of this opposition is something we witness in relationships (the tension is still within you, but it gets mirrored between you and another) — and working something out in a relationship often takes negotiation. Sometimes a lot of it. That’s how you want to work an opposition in astrology: negotiate with one side, then the other, and repeat.
That’s one reason to listen to Pallas about that method or plan: it gives you a clear starting point, a process and a goal. The actual journey may take you elsewhere, but at least with a map, you can carry some intention (and hopefully some flexibility; this is negotiation we’re talking about).
Even with a plan, however, sometimes the tension of an opposition is easier to work with if there’s a ‘release valve’ of sorts in the setup; a place where tension can vent. With the grand trine between the water signs still in effect, one outlet could be Pisces — but both planets in early Pisces are retrograde. Inward or backwards are not the best options for this task.
So we can look to Saturn in Scorpio, and vent in that direction instead. Saturn does not represent easy relief. It is, however, about results. Saturn in Scorpio says: do the deep work, and persist while you wait for the weather to clear. No, this is not a moment where skating by posting affirmations to Facebook is enough (though it can’t hurt). It’s time to fill the air tanks on your scuba gear and bring your underwater tools along.
Well..fine pickle we are in, i cant seem to find my glasses!
She knows not the wiles of man…
Peace and love,
Patricia
Amanda,
Thank you, as you say it’s all connected. After all, as the story goes our relationships are mirrors reflected in/of our relationship to self.
Astrology is such sincronicity, so amazing to me! I just now looked up and added Eros, 433 to locate him in my natal chart. And see he is currently transiting there directly on my MC, at 4.41 Cancer degree. I guess he literally wanted to reach out to me…
At 5 Rhythms dance tonight I felt like I was unzipping my skin so I could step out of it, and I didn’t know or care who I would be when I emerged. Then Jupiter and Pluto started tugging. Jupiter said LIVE! and Pluto said DIE! and they meant the same thing.
This is so spot on it’s delightful! Thank you for showing us the “release valve”, and I particularly loved the reference to skating by with affirmative posts on Facebook. I am so guilty of that. 😉 I’m grateful for the insights you wrote about!
Clearly…
Ive lost my mind! Has someone stolen it? Is there
A way to retrieve it…its infected my daughters as well! David! Clearly I am being myself.
Peace and love
Thank you! Len Wallick, you are a brilliant man. This article was truly an inspiration to me. And I am filled with gratitude that I am lucky enough to live in a world with people who are as gifted as you. Bless you sir. 🙂
Any group of humans that tries to form in this crumbling phase of the current empire comes up against all the trauma we carry from our families of origin. Then the pressures of living in a world that’s so heavy with mental information and high speed travel can act like an acid on human relationships. Some groups are actively fucked with by other groups with enough money to pay saboteurs. With corporations acting like jealous gods and most of the population acting like hungry ghosts It’s a wonder anyone maintains relationships at all in this world let alone start a new group that gets past the first few humps in creating new systems.
diva carla — i have to credit eric for reminding me about saturn. i was trying to figure out where the “release valve” might be, and i’m glad i asked him.
good luck to you — and everyone!
carrie — sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do, i suppose. the dissolution of groups is frustrating; maybe the timing just hasn’t been right in the past? …or maybe the *process* of starting the groups, rather than permanence, has been the important thing?
Thank you Chief Niwots Son! 🙂
Thank you Amanda. My life is offering me delusions of grandeur and illusions of insignificance. Is that the shadow of Neptune holding down one corner of the triangle? No wait. Jupiter and Pluto facing off give more useful information: Jupiter is calling for expansion and Pluto is being literal: when something expands and grows, something else must die or be cast away. It doesn’t fit anymore.
I can stay stuck here, and indulge my delusions, afraid to make a decision. But Saturn will have none of that. Thanks for bringing in Saturn, Amanda. He’ll save the day. Moving on down the road now.
“No, this is not a moment where skating by posting affirmations to Facebook is enough (though it can’t hurt). It’s time to fill the oxygen tanks on your scuba gear and bring your underwater tools along.”
Thank you Amanda for offering us mature perspective, affirmations entertain the thinking mind (aka. the devious phenomenon), but do not support the kind of embodied change we truly seek. The image of diving deep into Scorpionic seas is the reality of our spiritual work.
Daniel- Jupiter passed over my midheaven in late Gemini earlier this Spring, such a blessing to have the abundant grace of Jove as the highest energy in your personal sky. Use the time well my friend.
and smailing — i’ll change “oxygen tanks” to “air tanks” right now. thanks 😉 can you tell i’ve never tried scuba diving? but oh, how i would love to!
well, p.sophia, i think both inner and outward are happening at the same time — they just seem to be represented (i think) by different aspects; whereas the new moon and its vesta conjunction/psyche square looked more inwardly directed, this opposition seems to be playing out in relationships — yet it’s all connected, all part of the whole picture.
Just also wanted to add, Jupiter is currently sitting on my midheaven. I don’t really know what that means but I somehow think it might be a good thing. Whatever is happening in my life, I trust it.
Thank you for your insights Amanda, I particularly like your writing about relationships. Very cool.
Not inner, or backwards? Humm… So sounds like the release and growth is taking new shape. A moving ‘out-of’ then.
“The outer shell is hard, and the chrysalis moves if you touch it.”
With Saturn, is also Psyche housed and North Node is placed close as well. There will be a series of tasks, testing of faith, of endurance, belief, darkness… In preparation–hold on!
Help will be given in her opposition, the balance, Amor, ‘the applied spirituality’, is of Soul. The result, true happiness. Pleasure .
Sabian Symbol Degree:
16º Scorpio: A girl’s face breaking into a smile.
Fervent outreaching of self in moments of the purest beauty. Leaping to meet the potentialities of life. Blossoming forth.
The beautiful, full story here: http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/psyche.html
thank you for offering this picture, holding this mirror, amanda. it is exactly what i was dealing with for a while now without any plan or map or understanding.
but we better not take pure oxygen with us for our (emotional or real) scuba diving – under high pressure it becomes toxic. breathing simple (compressed) air will serve us a lot better 🙂
Oh Amanda,
This:
“On the one hand, it could feel like a series of restless mood swings between feeling optimistic and confident one moment, and then weighed by self-doubt. With Capricorn and Cancer involved, it might seem like your very foundation is being overhauled and you might be feeling very emotional about that.
Another possible interpretation appears more like a standoff in the realm of applied spirituality. In one corner: our loftiest, perhaps even flowery, ideas about what it means to be ‘spiritual’. In the other corner: the practical reality of what we actually have to get done.”
is EXACTLY how it feels. You are so adept and eloquent at saying what I felt yesterday and then today. Yesterday I felt that deep and emotional connection and began writing about a time in my life that most people find amazing.
I also felt called to service; a service I was not used to being called for. It was a spiritual, Goddess feeling calling. In my everyday responsibilities, I have pushed back any spirituality because it isn’t “convenient;’ well yesterday it was made apparent to me in a visceral way that I cannot keep doing that.
So today I began sending out feelers for creating a circle and starting teaching what I know and have experienced about that same spirituality I am feeling. Then; as I talked to local people in that very field, I began having those doubts you talked about. Then my family vehemently said I should not “waste my time” because every time I try to start a group thing of any kind (I tried starting a homeschool group twice and both times nothing came of it) here it dissolves like sand in the wind.
Tonight I don’t know what to do anymore. So I have to do that deep work you are talking about. Thank you so much for saying what I need to hear and providing a bit of direction for me at this time.