Blessings That Count – Jupiter Stations Direct

In spite of how things may appear now, you can go into this coming holiday weekend knowing that next week has the potential to begin on a promising note. That’s because Jupiter resumes direct motion in the first degree of Taurus shortly after 5 EST on Sunday evening. This optimistic anticipation is not an empty concession to a holiday season. It is based upon the the nature of Jupiter’s archetype, the implication of direct motion, the sign Jupiter is in and the aspects that Jupiter will make when it turns around. Most of all, it is a matter of timing, and timing will be your key to working with the positive side of the astrology to realize that the blessings you make are the blessings that count.

Regardless of what system of astrology you favor, Jupiter is known as a planet associated with good news. It is variously a teacher, lawgiver, source of abundance and the expansive, inclusive presence of divine authority to be found somewhere in us all. One of the planet’s alternative names, Jove, is the root of the adjective jovial, an attribute poignantly associated with this time of year. Every planet, however, has two sides, as retrograde periods most often reveal.

In reality, planets never reverse their course. Retrogrades are a product of our perspective from Earth and the sensory perception that we are residing on a fixed place of reference. Our planet passed between Jupiter and Sun earlier this year but that is not how we perceived it. Instead, we saw Jupiter’s apparent motion gradually slow down and go backwards, rising a little later from one night to the next. The whole process began soon after Jove entered Taurus on June 4, 2011. As result, much of what we have seen of Jupiter’s archetype over the last six months has been the pathological flip side of legal authority and a sense of our own physical resources in depletion. Starting next week we can apply what we have learned towards an opportunity to go back and try again through the symbolic auspices of a sign that supports Jupiter’s better expression.

Taurus is a fixed earth sign, ruled by Venus. In the astrological order of things, Taurus is where the flame of life animates matter, giving each of us something to be and things to do. Jupiter’s presence in Taurus encourages us to be and do for others as much as for ourselves. In your life, it is as simple as a hug. The energy of Venus as sign ruler is the attractive archetype that is receptive to affection. The expression of Jupiter is to open the arms wide and offer it. It must be noted, however, that not all hugs are equal, many are simply obligatory. Only the shared value of another’s physical presence makes an embrace authentic, and value is what only we can bring to ground the potential of this astrology in reality.

When Jupiter stations direct on Christmas night, some of that grounding will be provided by a trine to Sun in early Capricorn. As noted by Robert Hand, the authoritative character of Jupiter is “a function it shares with the Sun.” The flowing connection from one earth sign to another reinforces one of the most important lessons of Jupiter’s recent regression. It lets us know that the time has come for each of us to take on the responsibility of authority rather than give it away. Another aspect takes the concept even further.

As Jupiter resumes direct motion in Taurus, it will also be in a supportive sextile to Chiron and Vesta, conjoined in Pisces. Chiron represents an awareness of the whole through its parts and a consciousness of what each part contributes to wholeness. Pisces is where the whole zodiac comes together beyond a collection of parts to become the One from which each one of us derives the core of our being. Vesta, an asteroid possessed of a planet’s core, brightly reflects the truth that devotion to one is a service to each and all. The sextile aspect is a mutual endowment extending the earthy value of a hug to an opportunity for a healing through a well timed embrace with the divine.

It is, above all, the timing that delivers the import of Jupiter’s return to direct motion. Still recovering our bearings after a pair of eclipses saw our courses altered, we must now regain control of our helm. Even as we conclude the final leg of a Mercury retrograde in Sagittarius, our minds must catch up with its meaning. Having just entered a new season for Earth, we need also take heed of a new season for our kind. Fresh off a New Moon in Capricorn (this Saturday, Dec. 24), we will begin another cycle of manifestation. Taken together, that recent and rapid succession of auspicious events begs for a direction. That direction is forward, and it is for us to do.

For the six weeks following Christmas, every planet that rules every sign will be moving forward through the zodiac. Since it is Jupiter which completes that unanimity, we should look to the Jupiter within us to unify the process with our lives. We can begin easily enough by assuming the jovial, not as an affectation, but as a cause. We can proceed from there to the benefactor, the teacher, and finally embrace the role as co-creator of our reality, knowing, in the words of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, “that here on earth, God’s work must truly be our own.”

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