I’m looking over a four-leaf clover that I overlooked before.
— Mort Dixon
Jupiter’s Gemini course reverses at 9:18 am EDT Thursday, initiating a layered lesson in discernment. Jupiter never actually moves backwards; that’s the first layer. In reality, Earth is catching up to pass between the Sun and Jupiter. It is only our perspective between the two largest objects in the solar system that is making Jupiter appear to slow down and turn around. Layered perception also plays a part in the anticipatory interpretation of a retrograde.
Explication begins with the nature of the object about to recede, then incorporates aspects to its stationary position just before regression begins. Jupiter, in the words of Robert Hand, “is a planet of growth and enlargement.” In our material world, the expansive Jovian paradigm is nearly always affirmative. Hence, Jupiter’s consistent contribution to astrology is to bring out the best of its placement or aspects, even in retrograde.
Retrogrades have a bad reputation they do not deserve; that’s the next layer. Giving credence to undeserved reputations is prejudice. Prejudice, as we all know, is based on what we don’t know. The first step in working with any retrograde planet is therefore to divest yourself of ignorance and work with what you do know.
You can work with retrograde planets and get good results. That is especially true of Jupiter. Addressing the case of Jupiter specifically, Lynn Koiner famously wrote, “Some retrogrades are not bad at all, and this is one of them.” In other words, the nature of Jupiter does not change with its apparent direction. What does change is the direction of Jupiter’s nature, leading to a subsequent level of discernment.