By Len Wallick
Mars will sextile Jupiter on Thursday. This is a significant event. As distinguished astrologer Robert Hand succinctly puts it ,”Mars is an energy planet.” Because that energy is often premature in its manifestation, and because Jupiter is moving very slowly, it is appropriate to look at this aspect now. While we cannot indulge specific predictions, the archetypes involved — their placement and relationships — indicate an extroverted, physical, persistent and productive potential. The question is: how do you distinguish a genuinely positive opportunity during a time when deception and exploitation are the rule? The answer is to make it so.
Mars entered the sign Cancer just over two weeks ago. Subsequent events have developed a trend. The initiative inherent in the sign’s cardinal quality has clearly been energized. This is witnessed by world events, as personal passion continues to flood into the political arena. There can be no doubt that challenging aspects to Uranus and Pluto contributed to that pattern. Last weekend’s Full Moon further encouraged proclivities to act on and act out. What we have not seen a lot of so far is the tempered restraint that we would expect after fiery Martian drive incorporates the water element in Cancer’s makeup. That’s where Jupiter comes in.
Among all the planets, Jupiter is best suited to mediate between fire and water. That capacity is derived from its traditional rulership of both Sagittarius and Pisces, where flame and fluid respectively find their most evolved expression in the zodiac. It’s no accident that the image most commonly used to describe Jovian energy – expansion, is also the distinguishing characteristic of steam. One of the notable things about 2011 so far is the unusual amount of time it has taken for Jupiter’s own head of steam to build up.
When Jupiter entered Taurus the first week of June, we knew on principle that it had to be a big deal. Its annual sign change is by default a milestone by which a year can often be defined. That appellation was delayed, however, by one of the few events that can literally overshadow a major planet in a new suit – an eclipse. Not just one eclipse either, three of them, chambered and delivered one after another over an entire month of compression. This week is one of the few unimpeded opportunities we have had to avail ourselves of Jovian grace in the Taurean raiment of animated matter. Such is the promise of this specific sextile.