Daily astrology: Jupiter enters Aquarius

Dear Friend and Reader:

AS WE DRAW closer to the Full Moon in Cancer on Saturday, Jan. 10, there is a sense of insecurity in the air. We’re still under the influence of this past New Moon in Capricorn, still trying to work out whether or not the world is going to be a different place when we wake up in the morning. The news has brought us images of the Israeli-Palestine conflict, which erupted into greater dimensions on Saturday as Israel invaded Gaza and brought with it artillery fire. The Cheney-Bush regime, meanwhile, is sending out its usual ambiguous murk about it all. Then there is the economy: a topic I am so sick of thinking about that even as I type this I feel like I should be trying to come up with some optimistic spin on it and failing miserably in the wake of so many people losing their jobs.

But amazingly, there is a silver-lining to the bulging storm-cloud. Planets are changing signs: the image of things passing into new realms surrounds us in our place of the Galaxy. Venus has changed signs, from Aquarius to Pisces. Mercury followed suit, entering Aquarius a few days ago, and now comes Jupiter, which reaches Aquarius today.

Before we get into just what this might mean for the world and for ourselves, let’s take a look at Jupiter itself. As a planet, it is the largest in our solar system. If you can imagine Jupiter as a hollow plastic ball and opened it up, it could hold every planet inside, times two-and-a-half. Jupiter, mainly composed of hydrogen and helium, is counted as a gas giant. It can be seen in the sky (as those of you who observed the Jupiter-Venus conjunction of Dec. 1, 2008 will recall). It’s big, bright and beautiful.

Astrology has assigned to Jupiter the beliefs and cultures of different places, higher thinking and of knowledge: a kind of cosmic library. The fact that the ancients didn’t know that Jupiter was as big as it was, or that it was composed mainly of gas, yet still understood that it as about belief systems and religious thought, is amazing. The fact that it’s made of helium and many people associate Jupitarian energy as “being full of hot air” is a testament to the wisdom of the joker.

Jupiter’s energy is usually friendly and optimistic, but it can be a touch arrogant at times, in that distinctly friendly way. It rules Sagittarius and Pisces, and is associated with Cancer. It occupies each sign for one year, thus it has a quality of indicating the cultural trends for the year. In our current era, it changes signs right around Jan. 1, though this gradually drifts as the decades and the centuries progress.

We have just come out Jupiter in Capricorn. Jupiter is in detriment in that sign. Detriment is the astrological way of saying “it doesn’t feel at home there,” and no wonder: Jupiter is expansive, Capricorn condenses. As an earth sign, Capricorn has associations with wealth (as we have been discussing in light of the economy and Pluto’s ingress into this sign). Simply put, Jupiter wants to spend lots of money for fun, and Capricorn doesn’t have the money for that sort of thing. Looking at the current situation, one can easily recognize the interplay between these energies.

Aquarius, however, has some different qualities to it that go along with the activity of our world at this time. It is considered the sign of the people as a whole, or the tribe. Aquarius is about the progress of the community at large. As Jupiter ingresses this sign, community outreach projects, or anything that has to do with sweeping social reform are the things to think about.

Of note as well is the first Mercury retrograde of the year, which starts Sunday. As mentioned before, retrograde action has a way of drawing out the effects of things, reversing their direction or revealing the flaws in the system. The next Mercury-Jupiter conjunction is on the 18th. As discussed in previous posts regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict, Mercury and Jupiter represent the people of those countries respectively. Simply put, the situation is not going to be resolved right away, but of course, that’s an extremely old story. Judging by the peculiar motion of the planets as Jupiter shifts signs and Mercury goes retrograde, things will take some interesting turns on Earth.

We have seen public outcry over the conflict in Gaza. People from all over the world are crying out to stop the violence. This is one image of Jupiter’s all-inclusive action coupled with the humanitarian ideals of Aquarius. And it’s not just on the broad scale. I myself have recently experienced a scenario in which differences were put aside for no other reason than to help.

I was on my way back from the grocery store Sunday morning, when I discovered by back tire was almost completely flat. I stopped at the only gas station that offers free air (what a concept!) and found a man wearing one of those neon orange ski caps already there in the spot, filling up the tires to his own salt and rust encrusted van. For some reason, I waved to him to be friendly. He nodded and went about his business. I listened to Pagan folk music and sipped my organic coffee as I waited. Then, the guy asked me which tire needed to be filled.

I don’t know his name. He didn’t ask for mine, and neither did his wife when she got out of the van. We talked about cars and about how great Volvos are in particular. The guy told me that it was important, especially nowadays, to keep the little things in good working order: make sure you have enough oil, make sure your tires are inflated; that sort of thing. It was a great moment. We were, all three of us, very different and we were getting along just fine. I thanked them and got back into my car, I noticed from his license plate that he was a veteran of the Korean War. I honked a final salutation. He and his wife waved.

I drove off with my inflated tires and a sense of gratitude that I cherish when it comes to kindness from strangers. Jupiter in Aquarius will give us the hope of getting along with our neighbors, but it will be up to us to make that real.

Genevieve Salerno