Jupiter - the gas giant of our solar system! In Astrology, Jupiter rules the sign of Sagittarius and is associated with the Greek God Zeus. Jupiter rules over expansiveness, growth, knowledge, wisdom, morality, law, hope, honor, and justice. As this planet moves through the zodiac signs, he brings his expansive nature to different aspects of life, shining a bright light and lifting concepts high into our collective awareness. It takes about 11 years for Jupiter to transit through all 12 zodiac signs.
TW: discussion of sex, sexual assault
Scorpio is the sign of the secrets and mysteries of life - such as death, sex, occultism, taboo subjects, and the deepest darkest desires of mankind. Scorpio is the Underworld; ruled by Pluto (Hades - the God of Death & The Underworld), and Mars (Ares - the God of War).
I've been watching Jupiter's transit through Scorpio this past year with great interest. Jupiter entered the sign of Scorpio on October 10, 2017. I was wondering to myself, "Hmmm, what is Zeus gonna do in the underworld? What taboo things or secrets are the King of the Gods going to pull out of the darkness for us to explore?" On October 15th, #metoo started trending on social media after actress Alyssa Milano and other celebrities posted on Twitter, "If all the women who have been sexually assaulted wrote "Me Too" as their status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem". The movement went viral within days and really set the tone for the transit of Jupiter in Scorpio. When I witnessed the #metoo trend alongside the Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby cases I couldn't help but think about Zeus tearing it up in the underworld, so to speak. It's like the God of knowledge and expansion shows up in the closet where we've stuffed all the secrets we just don't want to talk about. He said "how can you expect to fix this if no one will even look at it?" and he brought all that musty, dusty crap to the top of a mountain and turned a big bright spotlight on it.
As Jupiter progressed through Scorpio the topic of sexual abuse became a regular theme on the news and through social media. We collectively reached a breaking point and said, "yeah this is a sickness in our society and we need to talk about it NOW." Thank you, Jupiter. Things got even more refined when Jupiter went retrograde in the spring and early summer of 2018. Retrograde planets take whatever lesson they are teaching you and refine it. The lesson gets internalized and more subtle, or sometimes turned upside down and inside out for full examination. During this period we shifted the conversation. No, it's not just women who are victims of sexual abuse. All Genders. And sometimes women are the perpetrators. (Remember Katy Perry kissing that guy on live tv without his consent? That was early in the Jupiter retrograde period) We also did a lot of work collectively on what type of language is acceptable to use when talking about these intensely emotional topics, and the importance of Trigger Warnings. Many spoke up about how the whole subject was just emotionally exhausting and some people were reliving trauma every time they logged on to Facebook or Twitter. We learned a lot together. . . mostly that we still have a lot of work to do.
Jupiter ended his retrograde in the summer, just before the madness of the eclipses and most of the other planets all retrograding together. The theme continued and progressed in different ways, but here as Jupiter enters the final month of its time in Scorpio it has intensified with the #whyididntreport trend and the Brett Kavanaugh hearings. This coincided with Venus entering Scorpio around the full moon; so now Aphrodite (Goddess of Love) is kicking around in the underworld with Zeus - he's hovering near the back door eyeing the exit while she's making her glamorous entrance through the front. Normally I would say that Venus in Scorpio is here for a good time (The sign of magnetism, intensity and sex gets a visit from the planet of attraction? Que the 70's love ballads and leave your keys in the bowl by the door . . .) However Jupiter has really stirred things up here in Scorpio, all our deepest secrets and fears have been prodded and poked a bit so we're a bit tender. Venus' arrival here could be a bit emotional as she jumps in on the #metoo movement just as she turns retrograde! See, Venus sauntered in that front door ready for fanfare and a kickin' party, but instead found this clusterf*ck of a mess Jupiter stirred up. Wait, what is going on here? Time to backtrack a bit, Venus retrogrades back into Libra, maybe there's something there in the sign of balanced partnerships we need to review with Venus before we come back to this!
Needless to say, we live in Interesting Times.
Jupiter exits Scorpio and enters his home sign of Sagittarius on November 10, 2018. Will that be the end of these movements? I doubt it. Jupiter is concerned with Justice, after all. Sagittarius is the sign of the Teacher, The Archer, The Philosopher and the Truth Seeker. Jupiter will be operating at his highest ability while he travels through the sign of his rulership, and he won't quickly forget about what he found when he visited the underworld. This is Zeus returning to his throne on Mount Olympus to reign as the wise king. However, it is up to us what happens next.
Clearly we have A LOT of collective trauma to work on. Certain unspoken values in our society (ahem...Patriarchy and toxic masculinity...) have contributed to this generational trauma and obviously it can't be fixed overnight. As much as we might want an easy fix, The Archer knows that it takes time, patience, and persistence before you hit the target effectively and consistently. Things will get frustrating and there may appear to be a "one step forward, two steps back" dynamic happening at times. It may at times seem futile and it is then we need to remember to step back and look at the big picture. Take that view from Zeus' throne on the mountaintop. Look, we are changing the world. Do you see it?