Jupiter in Gemini

Since the sign where Jupiter is the sole symbol of expression is Sagittarius, that means the sign in opposition to Sagittarius would be Jupiter in a sign of “Fall.”

(Don’t blame me for the term. It’s ancient…I just put up with it and kick it around from time to time.)

What does ‘Fall’ mean in regular people-talk? That part’s not hard. Planets are associated as ‘rulers’ with signs where the symbolism of the planet is in harmonious sync with the sign. Jupiter is about having learned (that’s past tense, folks – learned). Sagittarius is about knowing and putting what we know to work in applied form, seeing if it works in reality the way we think ought to.

You know, in theory.

Gemini is that sign on the opposite side of the zodiac from Sagittarius. So if in Sagittarius we know and work on application, in Gemini we learn…including choosing what to learn.

With me so far?

Jupiter’s orbit around the Sun takes 11.86 years. The math here isn’t hard: Jupiter spends just shy of one year in every sign. And as of 5:33 in the afternoon on June 11th, it’s Jupiter in Gemini time (again).

So if Jupiter is in its sign of Fall while transiting Gemini, is there any good use for Jupiter in Gemini? As someone born with Jupiter in Gemini I’ll say ‘yes.’ Although I’ll admit – there are a few drawbacks. In the communicative sign of Gemini, Jupiter’s expansive ‘more is always better!’ can go overboard. It’s like Gemini’s airiness channels Jupiter’s expansive spirit, but doesn’t necessarily have enough guidance or sense of boundaries. That thing which so many Sun sign Geminis get into that...I’m a Gemini – I'm always doing a dozen thing. I get bored. I…

You know, that thing - the Gemini challenge. All signs have challenges and probably the biggest one with Gemini is simply that – making a choice, sticking with it, and seeing it through. To choose, to be organized, to priorities, to have a plan and follow that plan from A to B …all the way through to X, Y and Z - that's the Gemini challenge.

(Hint: all sign challenges come from an element associated with the polarity sign.)

So here we have Jupiter entering Gemini: the ruler of Gemini's polarity entering Gemini the sign. For some, this is akin to adopting the enemy. But for those with a more forward-thinking perspective, this is exactly the chance we've been looking for. Yes, this could turn into a year of mega-frittering and scattering of mental assets. But it doesn't have to be. Jupiter in Gemini (or Jupiter transiting Gemini) can be a time of ENORMOUS accomplishment simply because it's as much about focusing on our mentality as using it...as much about learning about ourselves as taking ourselves out into the world.

But this is Gemini we're talking about. So first up is probably the communication thing. Jupiter in Gemini can be much communication or communication on a plethora of subjects. It can be you being bombarded with information or you broadcasting information to others, far and wide.

A brief story from someone with a natal Gemini Jupiter (me): when texting came in a year or two passed (I’m never hasty about technology – let others suffer the outrageous chinks and electronics errors, I say!)…at some point I said to one of my girlfriends, ‘I’ve never used text.’

Her reply: text isn’t for you. You shouldn’t text.

I was both puzzled and yes, a trifle indignant! Why shouldn’t I text?

She heaved a great sigh. Because text is meant for SHORT messages. You’ve never sent a short message in your LIFE.

Well, she had a point there. Yet despite her objections, I got a text phone. And I’m sure you’ll all be happy to know I don’t actually use the texting feature that much. (Email is a whole other thing. I’m very into email!)

But all of that basically describes the challenges involved with Jupiter’s transit of Gemini: choice, priority, organization, having a plan (and following it) and making sure not to ‘overstep’ your bounds.

Conciseness counts.

But so does getting the information across. After all, Jupiter is still Jupiter – it seeks to inform, whether the one being informed is you or someone else.

 A postcard of a woman using the phone (they were called "candlestick phones")

back around the year 1910. Can you imagine someone making a postcard 

 of someone using a phone nowadays? Most likely it would be a picture of

 someone taking a picture of themselves using their own cellphone!
,

Allowing for the obvious (that means if you’re going to talk, knowing what you’re going to say before opening zee mouth is eine good idea!), the associated thought is how Jupiter in Gemini tends towards haste and sloppiness where crafting what you say, who you say it to and how you say it may well be the difference between success and someone staring at you with that glazed-and-dazed expression which you just know isn’t in your favor.

To say nothing of (speaking of texting, as we were) the dangers of distraction. And careless spewing of information. Jupiter will be in Gemini until late June, 2013. During that time, it’s a bet that not only with many a mouth runneth over, but also that the web will be alive (…ALIVE! IT’S ALIVE!!...) with hackers and spammers and all that nastiness. Counterfeiting, piracy, even plain old regular run-of-the-mill honesty is likely to not just come to the fore, but be the cause of many a slip-up.

Oh, how many of us will say ‘but I thought they were just…’ when something bad happens because no one was paying attention?

For those of you who are would-be Mayanists, though it seems to now be getting around that December 2013 is not the end of the Maya calendar but rather one of the sub-cycles of the Maya calendar (aka the Long Count, which ends in the year 4772)…there is a point of interest to be noodled over – namely that come December 20th, the end of this current Maya cycle, Jupiter will be conjunct Aldebaran: star of integrity.

Yet Jupiter will be retrograde. That makes it about us, not someone ‘out there’ or in regards to what ‘they’ do.

More in present-tense terms, as Jupiter enters Gemini it will of course immediately conjunct the position of the May 20th Solar Eclipse (0 Gemini). A lot of us are going through changes and contemplating changes we yet need to make. All of that is emblematic of a solar eclipse, and if you know where Gemini is in your chart you probably know how that pertains to changes you’re in the process of contemplating…or maybe already making.

With regards to that subject, Jupiter’s conjuncting the eclipse position is either very positive or negative, hardly anything between. Facing what needs to be done in order to move ahead would seem to be the order of this moment. And considering Jupiter’s native association with Sagittarius (and that Jupiter is Jupiter no matter what sign it’s transiting), education, foreign(er) affairs, legalities, news, religion or the necessity to know more before you precede may be the order of these days.

And lest you not get it, woe be to anyone who gets told you really need to know about this…who blows the effort off.

With Neptune having just gone retrograde and this Gemini ingress being in square to that position, the challenge is sort of ‘aimed’ at our natural ego needs. The object is to serve the drive without thinking in terms of your ego.

Like, huh?

Yes, I know…very odd. And particularly so in this instance because when it comes to Pisces, we’re talking another of those signs which is generally considered to have two rulers.

No, not if you’re a “strict traditionalist” who doesn’t even use Neptune in your astrology work, and not if you’re a total “modernist” who poo-poo’s the idea of Jupiter having any connection to Pisces. But for the rest of us, absolutely.

With every sign which has two rulers (currently there being three of them, but I suspect more to come) …the idea is that the ‘first ruler’ is the symbol of the process by which we approach or get into the “sign’s subject matter.” In Scorpio, that’s emotional investment (or investment which has the potentials of provoking our emotions)….in Aquarius that has to do with knowing how to operate in the social-public-group-societal-work environment so as to be accepted and achieve your aims…and in Pisces, the question is how well you know (Jupiter = knowledge) yourself emotionally, and whether there is any problems with your emotional makeup being part of the greater human emotional quotient.

In all three of these signs (Scorpio, Aquarius and Pisces), the secondary ruler either governs…

1. …the ‘outcome’ you will get from planets transiting that sign, the “natural house” associated with that sign (Scorpio = 8th house, Aquarius = 11th house, Pisces = 12th house) in your natal chart…and wherever that sign falls in your chart, should it not fall on its ‘natural’ house in your natal chart.

2. …the lesson you will learn if you aren’t well enough informed (Pisces) or make a bad-or-overly-risky choice (Scorpio) or aren’t up to par, speed or snuff (Aquarius) when you take on issues associated with that sign (planetary ruler or house).

3. …the nature of the ‘short cut’ you will attempt to employ in any situation which involves the sign, native house or sign placement in your natal chart.

With Neptune being the ‘outcome’ ruler of Pisces, the ‘short cut’ is generally one of a couple of things. People with Neptune (and Pisces) issues are notorious for a.) evading, avoiding and vanishing b.) citing some “unassailable” truth, belief or obscure fact you can’t possibly call them out on in the moment, and c.) playing the victim card.

When the subject is Piscean (or 12th house), any or all of these methods will like as not be used…and the really hard thing is that sometimes it’s valid. Sometimes they say their peace and have nothing more to say, so they seem to vanish, but in reality all you have to do is take up the conversation. Sometimes they truly hold some belief which is unassailable or inconvenient. But is it applicable? Often not.

As for playing the victim card, this can be the really hard call as Pisces is a sign all about not just feeling our feelings but feeling what we feel about our feelings. In other words, you may get angry as all tarnation at someone, but if you would stop to think about it you’d feel ashamed that you were being so petty, cruel, self-indulgent or even unprofessional.

So sometimes the victim card being played on you may be correct. But since no one likes looking in the mirror and saying ‘don’t I look cute in tyrant mode?’ the victim card thing is generally pretty hard to sort out.

(Insert: heavy sigh…been there, haven’t liked that.)

Anyway…because this is Jupiter entering Gemini just after Neptune goes retrograde, this is a fine time to get some perspective on ourselves, since hardly anyone is floating around in this world with an absolutely perfectly clean mental drain system. No, we all have some grunge in our emotional brain pipes, and this would be a likely time to encounter the clog.

Or maybe you already know what the clog is (or has been). If so, the ongoing Venus retrograde may well be nature’s way of giving you time to realize how and why you do such things – with a chaser of opportunity hereabouts when you can straighten things out (in your own head and with others).

It all depends on perspective. Together, Jupiter and Neptune (and the process of feeling our own feelings) gives us perspective on life. From that, we have an opportunity to learn more about ourselves and decide to be ‘better’ – more of what we want to be – not for others, but so we get a little closer to some semblance of peace in our own mind, heart and soul.

Peace is the ultimately Piscean (and Neptunian) aim. We sometimes (Neptune) kid ourselves that this or that short cut or belief or evasion of the ‘ikky’ stuff will get us there, and sometimes that works for a little while.

But in the long run?

In the long run peace depends on knowing who we are and being okay with that. Peace is not security – security is tangible (and Taurean) where peace is emotional and Piscean.

 A detail from the painting 'The Arts of Industry as

Applied to Peace' by Frederic Leighton (1870-1872)

Jupiter entering Gemini is an opportunity to build or build anew through making choices (some of them hard choices) and building – or rebuilding – for a future we would like to create. More or less, these opportunities are always with us. But with Jupiter’s entrance into Gemini, we now know this is a time ‘designed’ for such a process.

And when life has gotten complicated enough or boggled enough or clogged enough that we really do need to break through or break out of our self-designed limitations. Some will be Piscean and emotional, some not. But the metaphysics of this moment, and in all the days which follow until Jupiter moves into Cancer on June 26, 2013, every challenge, ever situation, every puzzle, every choice is an opportunity to learn both about the issue at hand and the person make the choice: you.

 Providing we don’t go too fast or build less than carefully, Jupiter in Gemini can be our key to achieving personal peace. We just have to keep ourselves on track – and take it from someone with a Gemini Jupiter…that much is very much possible!