Probably the highlight of this month is Jupiter going into Sagittarius, for the first time in 12 years and staying there for the next 12 months. After a year in the deeper, darker waters of Scorpio, this transit is much more of an elevated journey.

It's not without its own shadow though, but all in all, it helps lift the tone of life's proceedings along the way. Most of us will be feeling the need of some lightening up after such a dense and chaotic year.

Each sign has a planet that is said to rule over its operations. The current transits of that planet directly influence how the sign is operating, as well as how things are going in the house(s) that the sign inhabits.

As the ruler of Sagittarius, Jupiter's energies are very closely aligned with the Centaur's in both their light and shadow versions. They can be wild and primitive, and exalted and grace-filled, depending on what level they are expressing within an individual or a culture.

On the plus side, Jupiter often delivers all the cliched key words associated with it - expansion, growth, benevolence, luck, prosperity, positive synchronicities and grace in all its forms. So we can generally expect good things to come our way in whatever house or houses Sagittarius occurs in our individual charts.

And it's not just a one way street - we often give out good energies when Jupiter is around, ones that benefits others while attracting good experiences from, and with, others.

The essence of Sagittarius is filled with joy and enthusiasm, optimism and encouragement, broad vision and inspired belief and great courage that stems from a deep faith in the essential goodness of life. However foolhardy it may appear to others, it always seems to land on its feet and even when it does crash badly, it gains great learning from the experience. And for Sag it's all about the gathering of experience and the learning that comes with it. The expansive energies of Jupiter have a field day here, and will do much to help the Sagittarian in us reclaim some of this essence, especially after a decade of the much heavier Pluto moving through the sign.

Both also have much to do with knowledge, belief, vision, and the more expanded aspects of the mind, in both mundane and spiritual terms. Both represent that very human need to make sense of things, to see the truth behind events and ultimately reach an understanding of life that honours interconnectedness of all things. For this reason, the Hindus call Jupiter "the guru planet" as well as giving many associations with Ganesha, the much loved elephant-headed god of grace, who removes obstacles to our development on all levels.

It would be a mistake, though, to see either energy, especially Jupiter, as being purely good and noble. You only have to look at his Greco-Roman mythology to see that this King of Olympus was also a very naughty boy, whose restlessness and lustfulness was legendary and who was extremely vengeful to anyone who crossed him. In a more contemporary setting, too much Jupiter is often too much of everything - ego, expectations, self-belief, greed, grandiosity, self justification, hubris, all of which can look good but crash spectacularly when not balanced by realism and sober analysis. For us mere mortals, this is a caution about excess, taking too much for granted and wasting energy and resources. Around belief systems, the essentially positive energy of both Jupiter and Sagittarius turns into arrogance, self delusion and fundamentalism.s

Similarly, Jupiter encourages us to enjoy the exuberant energy of Sagittarius, but it can take us closer to the wild, untamed aspects of the Centaur, which can manifest in some as the abusive, drunken, violent masculine. On this thread, Jupiter joins both the Sun and the centaur asteroid Pholus as he enters Sag and sextiles both Chiron and the darker centaur Nessus in Aquarius. This puts the masculine in direct, powerful focus on both light and dark aspects and while this opens the doors to the misuse of the energy, seen correctly, it energises the healing of the wounded male within and offers a chance to get in touch with the healthy, instinctual masculine. To get to the potency of this often necessitates a confrontation with the destructive male in our family systems as well as any alcohol abuse.

upiter essentially supports this work but will often intentionally exaggerate these tendencies, however subtle, so that we can no longer remain in ignorance or denial of them. This especially applies to individuals of both sexes from abusive backgrounds who have sublimated their masculine because of the fear of repeating the abusive tendencies and then lose the connection with the healthy red-blooded male within, with all his courage, drive and confidence.

It's not just the masculine that gets a boost here either, as the Lilith asteroid also emerges from Scorpio into Sagittarius along with Jupiter, each sextiling the Black Moon and Hygeia. This also represents bringing in more light, as well as expressiveness to these mysterious, often repressed parts of the feminine, with the combination offering great releases and great healing. In the Lilith journey, it suggests a transition point from the ostracised stage to that which allows her to release her rage and transmute its toxicity into true empowerment.

more online articles available

or pick up this month's copy of
NOVA Magazine
<< GRACE >>