The Month It Got Bigger

8.12.13


The collective turbulence and instability wrought by this persisting square between Uranus and Pluto is hardly new news. Though its first exact hit was in June 2012, we've been within orb of its subversive influence for about four years now.

What is a more recent development, however, is Jupiter's arrival to Cancer little more than a month ago… and, now, to a place from which he's in a head-on rumble with the Uranus-Pluto square. We all know how a third party's entrance to the scene often unlocks whatever tense dynamics had previously been gathering between the first two.

Above all else, Jupiter's core archetypal principle is to make things bigger. We see this most obviously mirrored by his astronomical character: As the 'gas giant', Jupiter holds more mass than all the other planets in our solar system combined. Astrologically speaking, he's considered to be the benevolent king, bestowing advantages and opportunities which inspire us to reach beyond our prior experiences and understandings, ever expanding our life-perspective by exposing us to new territory we otherwise never would've had such easy access to, if not for Jupiter's supportive influence.

Because Jupiter eases our way into expansive happenings, he has long been bearer of the esteemed astrological title greater benefic. In the simplest terms, this makes him the 'good luck' planet... which also, of course, provides many astro-followers a justification for wishfully overstating his positive promise, as if his mere presence will miraculously save the day every time. We think of Jupiter's knack for 'making things bigger' as lucky, for instance, because when he helps expand our bank account or our worldly reputation or our circle-of-friends, we usually consider this a fortunate thing. However, he can just as easily expand our waistline or our sloth-like tendencies—any habit or developing situation, really, which existed in a far more modest state before Jupiter showed up.

In the present case of Jupiter's position in Cancer, his knack for aiding expansion is operating at prime capacity. Cancer is the sign of Jupiter's exaltation, which means he behaves like an honorable dignitary while moving through the crab-zone. When Jupiter expresses itself through the emotional intuitiveness and orientation-toward-caring that Cancer highlights, he can more easily lead us to whatever unfamiliar ground will ultimately prove most auspicious, by stirring our gut-instinct to report—in the non-verbal, logic-free language of feelings, of course—what is right for us.

Put a different way, Jupiter in Cancer inspires us to venture beyond the confines of a comfort-zone because we just know the direction we're heading will bring us further toward self-nurture. Thanks to Jupiter in Cancer, we're better able to believe in the promise of these ventures because, though we might not now see how they'll ultimately play out, we sense they will somehow nourish our soul. And that's an appealing draw.

These nurture-based terms I've used to describe Jupiter in Cancer, alas, would ordinarily have little direct relation to Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn, two rough-and-tumble agents of revolutionary upset and cathartic transformation intent on doing their jobs regardless of any emotional distress they stir in the process. As such, Jupiter's current arrival to the Uranus-Pluto brouhaha does interject a third voice with benevolent potential, encouraging us to consider our heart's tender care alongside questions of radical self-liberation and institutional overhaul. Without such considerations, it's too tempting to push ahead with harsh rebellious force and/or power-driven reassertion of the status-quo—and wholly overlook the more lasting human consequences to these actions. Perhaps Jupiter holds the potential to soften such moments when, in the midst of this ongoing turmoil, we lapse into unfeeling behavior.

Yet, as I said earlier, Jupiter's main role is simply to make things bigger. Therefore, it's likely that whatever frictions, face-offs, or pressures-to-reinvent that have been pushing themselves into consciousness during this Uranus-Pluto square could heighten to a bubbling-over point sometime during August, as Jupiter completes his first round of aspects that form the T-square. First, Jupiter opposed Pluto (exact on Aug 7), magnifying our response to the relational consequences of any potentially uncomfortable power-struggle issues that have lately arisen in trying to balance long-term goals with 'how things feel now'. Then, Jupiter will square Uranus (Aug 21), inflaming our urge to take some impulsive or dramatic action to vent our agitation, in hopes of assuaging our unsettled emotions… though acting too rashly could end up causing us more emotional upset in the long run.

This whole month of August, then, feels like it brings us to a distinct crossroads in the near-decade-long unfolding of our Uranus-Pluto story… though, to be clear, this is but an initial intensification in the tale, rather than a tidying-up of loose narrative threads in preparation for some polished fairy-tale ending. (After all, Jupiter will both oppose Pluto and square Uranus twice more: in January/February and April of next year.) Coming on the heels of last month's grand water trine, Jupiter's activation of the Uranus-Pluto strain is obviously driven, first and foremost, by a palpable rise in the 'water-level'—that is, of soul-rousing emotion—such that existing levees are no longer able to contain it. Feelings, as we can tell, are now spilling over.

So, what must we do to save ourselves from inundation? to rescue that which we love from irreparable water-damage? Urgent compensatory actions may be necessary.

And what then occurs, as a result, could well change everything forever after. But is there any other choice?