Jupiter in Aries

We know there’s always more to understand about Aries.

How would ‘WE’ we know that?

We know that because Aries is the sign of the Self -  and there’s always more to know about ourselves, right? I mean, do YOU know what’s going to happen when you wake up tomorrow and walk out of your front door? Do you know what you will encounter? Perhaps be challenged by? Do you know what you will learn – or what was fine yesterday but totally irritating today and why that change has come to be?

Obviously none of us can know that - which is why it's perhaps useful that once every 11.86 years or so, Jupiter rolls into Aries so as to remind us of that truth.

With Jupiter moving into Aries, realizing that fact may well be part of our fare. Jupiter in Aries is a time to learn (or be reminded of) many such lessons which go with getting more into present tense. Hopefully we not only learn such lessons but also carry them with us once Jupiter leaves Aries...that being part of a life which builds on itself.

What we don’t learn or maybe even refuse to learn becomes something we either still need to learn or which becomes one of the ‘chinks’ in our life structure which weakens and sometimes even guides the whole of life down a path we could have avoided, but didn’t.

So that’s one part of Jupiter in Aries. Another way to think of this combination is in terms of what the word ‘growth’ which is so associated with Jupiter can mean when applied to the Aries physicality and essence of/essential Self. We could gain weight. We could get taller. We could learn how to present ourselves better in any of a number of ways. We could grow our knowledge base and learn a few new things. We could adopt a bigger, broader outlook – whether that’s tolerant or not.

We can also become more 'self' conscious. Or selfish. It's a long sliding scale between lack of self worth, proper self worth, egotistical, grandiose and out-and-out narcissistic...and Jupiter in Aries will not only call attention to wherever along this line we fall, but virtually guarantee we'll hear people's 'issues' with self worth more loudly than ever.

Please note – there’s no ‘good or bad’ here, though while Jupiter passes through Aries the ‘inflation’ of self worth or the 'know-it-all’ factor is likely to be annoying. (I say ask people if how irritating they’re being is among the things they know so much about.)

Being more ‘open to the world’ would be another Jupiter in Aries theme. So might you travel? Perhaps you’ll recognize that you need to change up everything about your life. After all, if not now, when?

This last idea goes back to a greater contemplation… namely that Jupiter is in Aries and within a month and a half, Uranus will join the Aries parade. Meanwhile, Saturn is in Libra – the oppositional sign to Aries. And Saturn is about to go retrograde.

This is a picture of ‘is life working for me?’ with the answer coming not from the “them” of life, but from you. From each of us.

Back in late 2008 when Pluto committed to its transit of Capricorn, in changing zodiac hemispheres, it signaled that life would be changing too. Figuring that Pluto has a 248-year orbit, that tells us that about every 124 years the world (the whole world and nothing but the world) changes ‘mode.’

Well…except for the fact that Pluto has one of the great and wonky egg shaped orbits of all celestial time. What this means is that one half of Pluto’s romp through the zodiac (would you prefer ‘share,’ ‘rattle’ or ‘roll’ to romp?)…one half of this is quick, one half is rather sloooooow.

Pluto's orbit is not only egg-shaped, but very

off the plane of our celestial ecliptic - the prime

"horizontal" of our solar system

But the effect is more than stark: during one period we’re delving into the new. During the next, we’re building and capitalizing on what we’ve found and figured out. Obviously life isn’t a light switch operation, but going back half a zodiac cycle back from Pluto entering Capricorn in 2008 takes us back to Pluto entering Cancer in 1912, though it took a few years for it to fully commit to said sign. But this was, without down, the beginning of capitalization on industrialization: the dawn of “modern times.”

Go back another half cycle and you land in the 1760’s, time of exploration and empire building, the discovering of resources which led into the industrial/mechanical age and thus all that happened in the 1900’s. That was the last round of Pluto moving into an traversing the proactive side of the zodiac.

Now I could sprinkle a bunch of glitzy theory in about how the last round was more physical, and this round of Pluto will be less tangible (more theoretical), but we won’t go there. Except for one thing: the great global economic crinkling we all went through as Pluto crunched its way into Capricorn? That was a pretty darn sure sign that What Was isn’t going to Be going forward.

We have to reinvent a whole lot of things. Going on with the old way, the old plan, the old concept is only going to be building atop a foundation which itself is up for renovation.

So…will you rely on what has been and set yourself (and your life and loved ones) up to weather a lot of upheaval, or will you seize the opportunity (not to mention the day) and carpe diem yourself into a new format which will safely weather turbulent weather.

It’s all up to you. But plainly, Jupiter entering Aries is either your cue to think about it, your moment to get ready for it or the time to get out on your brand new path.

Moreover, you don’t all that much time to do whatever you’re going to do….which yes, means that if you are choosing to ignore this whole celestial offering means you don’t have to spend that long with your head (or associated parts) buried in the sand. Jupiter enters Aries on January 22 at 5:12pm (UT/+0) and it will exit Aries On June 4 at 1:57pm (UT/+0). Since we had a little nibble of Jupiter in Aries last summer, once it enters Aries this year, there’s no retrograding back. This is it. Last summer we sort of got the idea of making a change, but then most of us slumped (to some extent) back into what was comfy and not so incredibly, personally taxing.

That’s the point. It’s the ‘us’ here which needs expanding, changing, challenging. And if you’re someone whose ‘new-adverse,’ you’re likely to hate how over the next few months everything and everyone seems to tell you that you must, must, must change. If you’re a run-around person, you may have to learn to stand still (or heaven forbid, sit down!) If you’re a safe at home person, you may well have to get out there and show your pretty face in this world.

And yes, we are all pretty. We’re just pretty in our own way when we’re being pretty – which means being about life and not just about what we can get from life or how we can escape from life.

There are a couple of major ‘transit moments’ which will happen during these next few months. The first happens on February 25. The exact time is 8:29pm UT/+0, but plan on February 24, 25, 26 carrying this vibe – a global transit astrologically known as Jupiter square Pluto. The two sides of this are what can you take on against do you know your own limits? 

The next transit buoy is Jupiter opposition Saturn, a more personal challenge about our ability to deliver most of all on our own desires. “They” may be our audience, but the real issue is whether we are on track with our own efforts to grow here. The big enemy of the moment is simply the ‘expectation’ which you set your heart on. Suggestion: don’t ‘expect,’ experience. If you use the days around March 28th for efforts which amount to personal development, testing and where necessary, reconnoitering, recalibrating and reworking your plan, progress can be/become more effective.

A lot of people are going to be in ‘no’ mode – don’t give up. Consider lacks of receptivity your challenge and the process you’re involved in a game, the skills of which have only to be mastered.

Before all this, with Sun and Mars in Aquarius as Jupiter enters Aries, things are already all 'a-buzz.' A lot is going on, coming down, going through and being impeded! Jupiter's entrance into Aries offers the 'electrical' qualities of the Aquarian Sun/Mars an opportunity to be 'enacted' - how well we deal with same is really all about us.

Think of this as a 'vent' or 'ignition' sort of point...and that there well may be tendencies towards irritations, frustrations, 'erratic energies' of the physical, mental and/or psychic (auric) type - and the occasional explosion, hopefully of the productive time.

Or useful to someone, if not everyone...sigh....

Oh yes - and we shouldn't expect this to be limited to those 'human factors.' Machinery and 'transmissions,' especially those machines which transmit information (from computers to cables to traffic lights, cell phones, cars, etc.) are likely arenas for problems and discoveries...particularly if you're good humored enough to get that you can't make something right without first recognizing it's been wrong.

Or at least problematic...!

This Aries Jupiter/Sun-Mars in Aquarius thing (which begins to dissipate as the Sun moves into Pisces come mid-late February) is particularly likely to affect areas which concern or are powered by electricity...and be prepared: many a schedule is likely to need tweaking!

So with that said about how this all starts in, as Mars joins Sun and Jupiter in Aries come April, energy against runs high. This heightens the chance of 'overdoing' and  overextending ourselves. Yet for those who know what they are doing, this is a truly productive time. Headway can be made, though with Saturn in retrograde, it's not likely that 'new ground' is actually being broken in the karmic or developmental sense.

Yes, real things can get accomplished. New doors well may open. But the determination to open those doors will be made prior to Saturn going retrograde on January 25th or 26th.

And if you thought early April was an energy slalom, set your alarm clock for and of April/early May, a period which is seriously high voltage. This is where real ability shines, and where those who don’t have said ability will like as not bluster, bluff and threaten in order to get their way. (Sad isn’t it…how grown adults resort to the tyrannical antics of toddlers?)

May is some heavy slogging – mostly in the heads and hearts of those who are trying to make changes, which is somewhat different than its effect on those sticking to the old and familiar, who are going to be having Trials More Tangible.

As Jupiter presses to the end of Aries in the first couple of days of June 2011, Saturn will just be beginning to slow down to take its station and go direct again. This is really where the stickers/stuck types and (ad)venturing types part. Those who haven’t used Jupiter in Aries to renew and be new will be gathering and gaining traction and a real understanding of how things can work. That’s the payoff for six long months of personal effort invested in Self. Meanwhile, those who have procrastinated or deferred will be receiving the karmic bill.

Jupiter’s cycle is 11.86 years long. So we’re not going to sing this song again until….what, 2022?

It’s just a mathematical surety. It’s celestial clockwork. So have a think or two: do you really want to wait that long to get where you actually want to go?