Jupiter in Aries (too!): All This, All at Once

6.6.10


Before the proverbial ink is even dry on my last article about Uranus entering Aries, Jupiter's right behind him…

… also heading into Aries, the zodiac's fresh-breath, new-cycle, first-spark sign, today (Sun Jun 6), to form an exact Jupiter-Uranus conjunction on Tue Jun 8.

Just as I can hardly keep up with documenting all these amazing astro-events, the experience of Jupiter and Uranus's conjoining in Aries creates an overdose of insanely rapid advance, upgrade and unraveling. 'Too much, too soon!' would seem to be the sentiment many of us might blurt out, in between our hurried gasps for breath.

Only, if we are to take the planets' present positions as our clock-like indication that it's now the proper time for all this, all at once—and astrology is nothing else if not a giant multi-handed watch in the sky, telling us which archetypal hour approaches—we must accept, on faith, our ability to respond on the spot by upping our game. We actually can handle it all, if we stretch.

But except for those few who thrive on making everything up as they go along, adjusting ourselves to this forceful impetus toward instant action and sudden decision is terribly uncomfortable. Many of us find we must now swim without our typical flotation-devices like careful planning (though plans almost always change), checking in with others (perhaps to an excessive degree), following the crowd (sometimes blindly), or resisting self-determined motion altogether ('too scared to do anything!).

At this heightened moment of crisis, catharsis, climax and/or conquest, however, our more measured responses have grown increasingly useless. If you don't grab the wheel and turn it your direction, someone else will surely jump in through the unlocked door, yank you out, and hijack the vehicle to their destination.

Aries, by nature, is fairly simple to understand: I am me. I do it my way. Try to stop me, and I'll keep moving through until one of us (i.e., me!) emerges victorious. Jupiter's entry into Aries simply expands the prevalence of this energy… goading all of us to behave more 'spur-of-the-moment', with daring and dauntlessness, trusting our intrinsic self-survival instincts will always kick in when we need 'em, and get out of my frigging way! Key concept: Life's too short to dick around.

Jupiter in Aries, therefore, definitely heightens the potential of individuals to come off as exceedingly self-centered, self-serving, selfish or whatever other 'self'-oriented descriptor you want to use. And particularly in conjunction with Uranus, this increases the likelihood of almost anyone embarking on some crazy, unexpected, out there, totally-discontinuous-from-everything-that's-come-before departure that suits his/her own drives and desires—to the possible detriment of those whose toes get inadvertently stomped over in the process.

To those who consider ourselves interpersonally considerate and conscientious, aware (sometimes to a fault) of how our actions will affect others, such a heightened Jupiter-and-Uranus-in-Aries focus on self may offend our accommodating sensibilities. 'How dare they do all that without consulting me first? Don't they care about me?' Perhaps we needn't take it all so personally. Aries is more accidentally thoughtless than purposely greedy. We might also want to remember it's often the 'disruptive' spirit of certain spunky, unafraid rabble-rousers—who don't typically ask permission before forging a new path or flipping traditional methods on their ear—that prove to catapult us all toward the next evolutionary step, sometimes with the rest of us kicking and screaming all the way there.

This friction between (1) spontaneous self-driven advancement and (2) interactive consideration of others' outlooks and intentions is perfectly represented by Jupiter's current opposition to Saturn. While Saturn has slipped back into Virgo for a few months (Apr 7-Jul 21), he soon returns to Libra for a good couple years. Saturn in Libra is an apt symbol for the sustained effort, concern and careful conduct that goes into whatever agreements or arrangements we must craft, to ensure all parties are satisfied with the end result. This strong Saturn, exalted in Libra, is very good at mentally weighing the different factors, diplomatically conveying the difficult trade-offs required to attain the compromise, and building it into a social contract. But Saturn in Libra also carries its strict lesson in moderating our moderateness: Too much diplomacy, and you never get to the meat of the matter. Too much compromise, and you sell yourself out.

Despite Saturn's exaltation strength, Jupiter in Aries has the upper hand in this standoff… if for no other reason than his conjunction with Uranus in Aries essentially creates a massive 'two against one' situation, leaving Saturn at a disadvantage. While it's obviously still important to respect our most mutually rewarding relationships by being mindful of our impact on others, at this pivotal juncture in history, we simply mustn't do so if those relationships hold us back in any important way, at the expense of being our most genuine self.

Jupiter changes signs about once a year, and was last in Aries back in 1999-2000. Just like Uranus, Jupiter will retrograde back into Pisces (from Sep 8 to Jan 22 2011), before returning to Aries to stay through June 2011.

Jupiter and Uranus conjoin every 13 years or so, the most recent being in Feb 1997 in Aquarius. Following this week's Jupiter-Uranus conjunction, there will be two more exact peaks of this event—on Sep 18 and Jan 4 2011—but in both those cases, the conjunction occurs in Pisces.

Jupiter first exactly opposed Saturn on May 22, and will remain in opposition (within a 5-degree orb) into early 2012. Jupiter is also newly within orb of squaring Pluto, an aspect which continues through March 2011.

Remember: This is generation-defining astrology, with several simultaneous big aspects between Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Pluto all interconnected… bigger news than any one article can contain. Read more here and here and elsewhere on the Web…