Be The Cause. Inspiration From Spinoza.

The philosopher Baruch Spinoza saw nature to be synonymous with God.  He saw all living creatures as a part of this whole.  The thing that tied everything together was affectivity; the capacity to affect and be affected. 

He saw everything to be relative to something else in a web-like structure.  Consciousness sits in the middle of cause and effect, attempting to better perceive this ‘web’. 

If the web of cause and effect can be somewhat perceived, something very special can happen. We can become the cause and will the effect.

If we notice that the sun makes plants grow, we can plant seeds in the right spot. If bears notice that salmon swim upstream at a certain time of year they can position themselves to capitalize on this event and fill up their bellies.

 But animals don’t focus themselves into an idea of a future that suits them on a highly individual level. They go with nature’s flow. They are nature, as we are, but with them there is no confusion. There is also no freedom to create a unique future to answer an inner calling.

 Camus said, ‘with rebellion, awareness is born.” Human awareness is free of time’s constraints. Reflective thought allows us to get outside of time’s bondage and then return to it with better ideas of navigation. The only way to navigate time is to embrace its forward push. There is no backwards time navigation and no time machines. To navigate time well is to embrace the forward push within your own chemistry.

 The web of cause and effect becomes very personal. It is now quite evident to strive to clearly see what causes your effects. Maybe the problem that you continue to face is less about circumstance and more about a mindset, and maybe not. Seeing it clearly reveals true strategies to get back to ‘forward’.

 And what about the effects that are not negative? Are you paying attention to those? This would include effects such as delight, peacefulness, enjoyment. Maybe you think that a certain tv show gives you delight but in examining the true cause it becomes clear that the delight lies in getting a taste of a certain kind of life. Maybe it’s a life of more adventure and maybe it’s a life of better simplicity. To go on enjoying the show without ever examining its true cause of delight might keep you from taking a certain action towards something wonderful for your flourishing.

 The point is that the cause and effect pattern of the wide world we live in is like an elaborate web. Scientists see much further into the web than the bear awaiting salmon. They have found ways to determine the solid causes and effects of invisible forces. They can calculate measurements that serve as learning tools for future human minds to discover even more, as they build on this knowledge. The web emerges, in plain sight for those that learn these things.

 But the web is not just for scientists, it is also for artists, psychologists, engineers, teachers, farmers, chefs, parents and athletes. Anyone can use the knowledge of this ever-growing web to their advantage. Anyone can become the cause that they want to become, in search of desired effects.

 The web is vast and worldly, but also quite intimate and immediately present should one decide to become aware of it. If we can learn what the toroscope teaches us about the ego then we can witness a very personal web that is in the constant act of being spun. The Moon, our egos, are in a continuous state of change. Constantly “arising with a tinge of the past on the fringe of the future” as the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead described. He said we inherit the past, thus we are bound to it, but we are free to create. Each moment truly is the potential to a new dawn. You can wake up to the web you are spinning, or you can stay asleep to your momentum and spin in a mechanical spidery way.

 In the zodiac, Saturn represents ’cause’. These causes make up all of science and describe the laws of our natural world.

Saturn upside down is Jupiter. The toroscopes alerts us to the reality of inward and outward connections. If Saturn is the flipside of Jupiter, they are in a sense the same thing. If Saturn is the cause then Jupiter is also a kind of cause, just consisting of fire stuff instead of earth, or willing instead of law.

What kind of cause is this? It’s a cause that stands outside of time, in fire’s eternity.

The cause is quite simply your potential to be the cause, and create an effect. Embracing this ‘reality’ within is called confidence. It is as natural to embrace this cause as it is to embrace the cause of rain falling from the sky, in fact it is more natural.

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A Bigness: Jupiter moves direct today with Mercury

More than twice as massive as all the other planets combined, Jupiter can be felt as a bigness.  After 4 months of retrograde, the bigness moves forward today in Aquarius, the sign of future.  Also moving forward today is Mercury, the planet of mind, in the open air of Libra.  Will you open your mind to find a bigness worth getting excited about pertaining to your future?  Your future could be an evening plan or a distant dream- just so long as it is ahead. If you can make this dream/plan big, you will be in swift step with the gods! 

I would love to hear what big dreams or plans you are thinking! Write yours in the comments!

#jupiterdirect #mercurydirect #bigness #existentialastrology #metaphorcast

The Planets Align, But How Are They Mine? Quadruple Formation in Aquarius.

Have you ever experienced the sublime satisfaction of tidying up a room? Have you ever been near-mystified by the way things just “worked out?”, or how things just, “fell into place?”

This Wednesday evening, the sky display a pretty pattern of order and meaning. Three planets will line up perfectly in an ascending diagonal line, with the Crescent Moon nearby.

The faintest light on the bottom will be Mercury, followed by Jupiter, the brightest. At the height of the diagonal will be Saturn. All of them, and the Moon, will be in the existential sign of Aquarius.

Writer philosopher Colin Wilson said that existentialism was a “philosophy of intuition”. Unlike Sartre and Camus, he saw the world as inherently meaningful, with the only thing blocking us from such meaning being our own “sensory blinders”. Ultimately, his existentialism was based on optimism just as much as realism. He saw the “feelings of inner freedoms” to be intimately bound with an effective “grasp on reality”.

“It is as impossible to exercise freedom in an unreal world as it is to jump while you are falling.”

Colin Wilson, The Outsider

With the planet of optimism and intuition blazing the brightest in the center of the lineup, its a perfect evening to ponder the vital hunches of a cheery existentialist.

Our perceptions are Mercury, the faintest light at the bottom. Faintest by design, for they keep the chaos of stimulus ordered for us. We can walk down the street without feeling bombarded by sounds, sensations and sights. Our selectivity saves us, yet it also keeps us away from our full reality.

For full reality, we have to find places of correspondences; how our physical reality corresponds to us in a personal, meaningful way. In this way we can sense our interior power, which Wilson also refers to as our reality.

Sensing our interior power is to abolish the notion that we are passive creatures. In fact, he correlates passivity with an increasing sense of unreality. If we can, for a moment, embrace his maxim that “perception is intentional”, we can begin to see how passivity really can blur reality.

“The sense of order and meaning is a direct stimulus of the will, and even mere perception springs from a will to perceive .”

Colin Wilson, Existential Criticism, The Chicago Review 1959

What does this twinkly display of order correspond to in you?

Can you feel an interior power arise in recognizing this correspondence?

Can you feel… your reality?

Saturn the planet of reality winks from the top of the line.

Happy star-gazing and as always, happy astro pondering!

Astro art by Johnnie Day Durand.

https://www.happyastropondering.com/

Hindsight and Foresight, A Full Moon on a Cold Night!

Metaphorcast 12/28/20- 1/3/21

The Mohawk Native Americans would call this week’s Full Cancer Moon, the Full Cold Moon, falling in the cold month of December.  A New Year will find us before the weekend, allowing for the phrase Hindsight is 2020 to not only be a viral meme, but also a re-wakened dream.  If myth’s are indeed, as Joseph Campbell said, public dreams (as opposed to dreams being private myths) there is indeed a pertinent myth to reflect as the new twenties gain their stride.  That is the myth of Prometheus and Epimetheus.  Foresight and Hindsight.

It was both Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus who sculpted all living creatures with clay.  Epimetheus sculpted the various animals and beasts, with their horns, scales, wings, feathers, teeth and fur.  But it was Prometheus that sculpted the humans last.  He had no special gift to give them, as Epimetheus had already given these specialties to the animals, so Prometheus decided to make human beings walk upright like the Gods, and he gave them fire.

Epimetheus, in hindsight, can see the deep seated desire of the tiger, with his sharp teeth and powerful reflexes.  In hindsight he can see the spacial craving of the bird, with it’s delicate and aeordynamic wing.  He can see the swamp king’s alpha dream in the crocodiles scales teeth and giant jaw.  But what of the human?

Prometheus made the human, not in hindsight, but in foresight.  The human, with no horn, wing, or giant jaw, no beak or fur or retratctable claw, no antlers, scales or stinging tails, nothing special here to see, except that speical quality, of vision and fire, from eyes heart and mind, we can be in two different places at the same time.

The past and the future, who’s dividing line is so slight, it makes each tiny moment it’s own fire to ignite.

As Albert Camus said, “With rebellion, awareness is born.”

Tuesday night we will see the Cold Moon, December’s Full Moon, in Cancer during this Capricorn Season.  A Cancer Full Moon is the Moon at it’s Moonest.  Whatever the Moon does for you, it does it more on the Cold Moon, the Full Cancer Moon, in this start of the Winter Season.  

To have foresight is also to have hindsight. To grasp a future is to understand it’s roots.  In the Cold Moonlight of the Ocean of Memory, that forms an endless chain back to the place of myths themselves, can you feel your reality in it’s full mythic sense? Your own private myth of dreams, and your resonance to certain public dreams of myth? What would an Epimethean set of glasses tell you about yourself.  And when Prometheus hands you that burning fennel stalk, in which way would you point it?  What would you hope to illuminate?  

As the Cold Moon begins to wane, it will still be bright and beautiful, weather permitting for New Years Eve, in the sign of Leo, the quintessential party animal.  Though parties will be at a minimum this year, the Leo Moon lights any stage with a healthy dose of drama.  A realistic re-rendering of any setting, living room, hallway, sidewalk, kitchen, as the stage that dramatically swaps out an old year for a new one.  

The newfound Aquarian energy in the sky, with the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, is a giant twinkly wink from Prometheus and his gift of foresight.

Foresight can make way for important paradigm shifts, like the one that happened in the 16th century, when the Ptolemic Earth-centered model of the universe was replace by the Copernican Sun-centered one.

There is a very interesting article written by astrophysicist Peter D Usher that sees Shakespeare’s Hamlet as a dramatization of this paradigm shift. Hamlet symbolizes the awakening to a new infinite and Sun-centered universe. He is ultimately responsible for the death of the old king, Claudius, who shares Ptolemy’s first name.

Portrait of an Astronomer (Nicolaus Copernicus?) Marco Basaiti
Date 1512 (funny that he also looks like Shakespeare!)

The sky during this time in history shared a key characteristic as it does now, as Jupiter and Saturn go into what’s known as a “grand mutation”, shifting from 200 years of Earth conjunctions to a new 200 years of Air conjunctions. These Jupiter Saturn conjunctions are known as trigons. The full trigon cycle is 800 years, as it passes through each of the four elements.

In Shakespeare’s time the shift was from Water to Fire, and the fire of the Sun indeed became the new center.

Now it is from Earth to Air, as the Aquarian Age truly begins.

Hindight may be 2020, but that’s old news.  Another year over and a new one just begun.  Will we see another paradigm shift in 2021?

Happy New Year all the same!  

And Happy Astro Pondering!

https://www.happyastropondering.com/

Jupiter Saturn Great Conjunction 2020!

The week begins with a lively event, as the Winter Solstice will present, the shortest day and the longest night; look to the sky for a fantastic sight.  For Jupiter and Saturn will align, and form a shining star so divine, and while this occurence happens every 20 years, they have not been this close since the days of Shakespeare!  And even then it’s predicted to have not been well-seen, for that we are looking at the early 13th century! 

Needless to say, take advantage of the extra evening darkness tonight.  Look just above the Southwestern or Western horizon after sunset.

Saturn, the planet of tangible reality, fused together with Jupiter, the planet of far-reaching possibility.

What does it mean for these two planets to unite, on this special first day of Winter, when the Sun enters Capricorn, the sign of reality. 

Is there a place, where reality and possibity unite, to form a different type of reality?

Maybe.

German physicist Werner Heisenberg was born under a Jupiter Saturn conjunction.  Known for publishing the Uncertainty Principle in 1927, he made staggering discoveries in the strange quantum world of potenitalities and possibilities.  He discovered a strange physical world, a probability wave that lived between reality and possibility.

He said, “Revere these things beyond science which really matter and about which it is difficult to speak.”

Born on the same exact day as Heisenberg was another reality-possibilist, Walt Disney.  He famously said “Fantasy and Reality often overlap” and maintained that his films were made for the child in everyone.  He spoke to children matter of factly because he saw that they were “always reaching”.  He also saw children to be “born blessed with vivid imaginations”, and he admitted that he resented the limitations of his own imagination.

The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle speaks of a certain fuzziness to reality.  It states that the position and the velocity of an object cannot both be measured exactly at the same time, even in theory.

It’s like knowing that your car is at this exact location, and having no idea what speed you are going, or vice versa.

A strange world where reality meets possibility, shining symbolically in the sky on this darkest night.  As a New Year approaches and an old and challenging one comes to an end, what a good time it is, to get cozy with uncertainty itself!

It is uncertainty that brings about expectation, and investigation.  Lively things, alive with a sense of future.  Things that keep us reaching, and re-vivify our imagination! This Great Star in the sky, a glimmer of the Aquarian age, as both of these planets just went into Aquarius last week, the sign of future and innovation.

While certainty may seem to quell stress and fear, uncertainty, with it’s dynamism, is a reason to cheer.  As psychologist Erich Fromm said, “The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning.  Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers.”

Mercury is now in Capricorn, along with the Sun- perception is sharp- tuned in.  Perfect for beholding that briiliant night star.

Venus is in Sagittarius- celebrating the enthusiastic love of knowlege, which historian and mathematician, Jacob Bronowski saw as “an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty.”

Mars moving onward in Aries- the most daring of planetary signatures.  Oh where would we be without the ability to dare.  Walt Disney said he like to dream, then test his dreams against his beliefs, then dare to see them through.

There it is again- that strange world- alive between reality and possibility.

Uranus in Taurus, the body electric, supporting by trine aspect the energy of the Sun and Mercury.  See the star and be the star.  The merging of the near and the far!

Neptune in Pisces – dreaming before daring

The Moon

The Moon will begin the week in Pisces, the sign of imagination and fuzziness.  Get cozy with that fuzzy aspect of reality, and let your imagination seek out peritinent avenues that slowly come into focus.

By early evening Monday, as we begin to look for that brilliant night Star, the Moon will wax into Aries, and the atmosphere comes alive with anticipation.  Though you will be able to enjoy the beauty of this “star” for the whole week, tonight when these two planets are the closest.  Its the Winter Solstice, with drama at it’s mostest!

The Aries Moon will continue through Tuesday and Wednesday- make room to dare, and do it with flair.

By Thursday, Christmas Eve, we have a larger Taurus Moon, the sign associated with nature.  Now that we have meditated on nature’s fuzzy little secret, pour some eggnog and turn the fire on the TV- these warm fuzzies are like wormholes to that world between worlds.  Where possibility and reality snuggle.  Where possibilities glisten, and reality listens.

Enjoy this Big and Fuzzy Moon for Christmas night as well, after the cookies and mistetoes have cast their spells.  Hold close the things certain, like the warmth of love, and give tidings to uncertainty that twinkles from above. 

By evening on Saturday the Moon grows quite large in Gemini, the sign of facts.  Like little pixels that continue to accumlate, and make our world a knowable place, less fuzzy.  The last timet the Great Conjunction Star was this visible was when religion held the answers, whereas now it is science.  

Heisenberg always held a strong curiousity towards where these two worlds might unite. He said, “The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you.”

If there is a world between reality and possibility, where waves behave in the most mysterious ways, and sharpness bottoms out into more of a blur, this is surely the realm where blood starts to stir.

Enjoy this chrystaline first week of Winter, in all of its uncertainty.

as always, happy astro pondering!

A Hunger for the Classic. Jupiter enters Capricorn.

Jupiter made it’s move into Capricorn on Monday, December 2nd, after a year in it’s natural sign of Sagittarius.  Quite the energetic shift.  The reins are being pulled back on the riled up horses.  A new enthusiasm has set in, just in time for Sagittarius Season.  A new enthusiasm for the restraint, cool-headedness, and everything classic.

Walking bass line please.

Let’s let Jack host this intro.

My words would be so much better here if you picture it being spoken by Jack Nicholson (He has a strongly place Jupiter in Capricorn).

Jupiter in Capricorn is a wild enthusiasm that is cool, calm and under control.  Just beneath that surface is an unbridled gaiety that is just waiting to break out into dance.  But that surface is cool, calm, still and pristine.  What really comes forth is the glimmer.  The glimmer that hints to the wild gaiety within.

The glimmer of life through the pristine of winter.

What is classic?

What is classic is what is of lasting worth.  What is classic is timeless.  Capricorn is the most classic sign of the zodiac.  It may be bound of in rules and restraint, but it is precisely these rules and restraints that illustrate it’s timeless beauty.  The order of the planets is astounding, yet it is order.  Finding actual order in the life you lead can be of the same profound realization.

Well me-ow.  Some things do make total sense.

When Jupiter is in Capricorn, finding order provides a healthy dose of spiritual zest.  Rising up to the task at hand to see that it gets done.  Restraining the emotions when they become overdone and vitality-depleting.  Capricorn is cool, calm, detached.  Jupiter in Capricorn is cool, calm, detached and in possession of a wild gaiety (Jack).  We all have an opportunity to tap into our inner Jack Nicholson and cultivate our cool and collected side to kindle the flame of the wild horse within.

The wild horse within hungry for structure and rules that make sense.

To further see into the archetype of Jupiter in Capricorn here are some other famous people with this natal placement.

Often described stylistically as bringing old hollywood back, Scarjo gives us look into the classic.

Timeless beyond words, Charlie Chaplin.  Also a certain seriousness that really let his art of comedy sail high.

Classic, and similar to Jack with his wild horses of gaiety under cool, calm restraint.

Walt Disney had Jupiter in Capricorn conjunct Saturn.  His creations are classic and his dreams are on the actual map! 

Classic Jupiter in Capricorn talk.

The take home message for this new year of Jupiter in Capricorn? 

You are classic, timeless, and joyously solitary (on one level).  Your solitariness puts you straight to your own source of inner-direction.  Find that place of wild gaiety, that crazy horse, and give it some well-structured rules.  Rules that are meant to see it grow responsibly and with a goal in sight.

Delight in the cold snap of reality.  Delight in your own autonomy.  Delight in places where you need to pull back the reigns and establish more order.  Delight in the order and the beauty of the order.

“The chief forms of beauty are order and symmetry and definiteness, which the mathematical sciences demonstrate in a special degree.”       -Aristotle

Happy astro pondering!

 

 

 

 

3 Ways to Jumpstart your Sagittarius Season!

Sagittarius Season has commenced.  The smell of pine trees find their way into your local shopping mart.  Glimmering lights are beginning to sprout up in the neighborhood.  It’s cold outside, but the inner hearth is warming up.

Here are 3 things you can do to actively engage with the spirited archetype of the Archer!

1. Fire your arrow of attention at positive targets.

When you find yourself in a tailspin of repetitive negative thoughts, the happy horse is here to remind you of your superpower.  You can aim your arrow of attention at another target, one that provides you with a better emotional response.  This is not denial of feeling, this is true maturity.  This is choosing what feelings you would like to see recede into the distance, and what feelings you would like to see come forth.  This is your birthright as a conscious human being.

The Centaur has immense strength and skillful aim.

2. Soak up the sights of a grand vista!

No other sign knows the importance of wide open spaces like the eager-to-run horse.  Grand open spaces are a release from the pesky details of the day to day that diminish the deeper meanings of life as a whole.  Standing out in an open field, or up on a mountain, or even just outside instead of inside refreshes the mind with an intuition of a greater meaning to life.  Don’t forget to soak up some vista sights!

Where did those troubles go?

3.  Say yes to the zest!

Eat your food!  Your food for life, which is the zest of living.  If things are becoming too mechanical and meaningless- take a day off!  Your soul needs spiritual food just like your body!

There you have it.  Onward with the Season of the Horse!

As always, Happy Astro Pondering!

happyastropondering.com

Sage Sagittarian Wisdom from Sagittarians for Sagittarius Season.

It is Sagittarius Season, a time of integrating the lessons of the Archer.  Let’s go straight to the mouths of some famous fiery centaurs to best get at the kernels of this excitable wisdom.

Jupiter is Zeus, the sky-god.  The sky gives a sense of no limits, endless expansion.  Hendrix’s guitar has the same effect.  Just look at the gleam in his eye, a total give-away for the zest of this mutable Fire sign.

A Sagittarian understands that seeking is what needs to happen.  Things don’t just fall on your lap.  You have to engage in the journey.

The Archer understands that indeed, it IS more about the AIM.  It is the aim of a goal that generates enthusiasm and spirit.  If we keep the aim in sight, we keep the spirit kindled, the faith alive, and the enthusiasm ignited.

Zest is absolute nourishment for a Sagittarian.  It permits them to fly high with their ideas and imagination.  The contagious fire can then spread and catch on with others, creating inspiration and wonder for the masses.

Sagittarius teaches us that hope is a gentle yet very potent thing.  If we can keep a dose of it in our hearts, we are well on our way to kindling the robust fire of Sagittarian strength,

It was Jim Morrison’s idea to name the band the Doors based on Aldous Huxley’s book “The Doors of Perception”, which was derived from the William Blake line: “If the door of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: infinite”.  Sagittarius is a door, an opportunity, a gateway to a broader perspective.

A Sagittarian understands that attitude is everything.  It’s not what happens in life it’s our attitude towards these events that matters.  Attitude is altitude.  Sinatra’s songs often inspire a sense of brazen confidence, “if I can make it there I’ll make it anywhere”… “regrets I’ve had a few, but then again too few to mention.”  Sagittarius reminds you to always believe in yourself.

Sagittarius is a day-time dreamer.  It dreams and then it points it’s arrow towards this broad and far-reaching ideal.  Jupiter co-rules both Sagittarius and Pisces, both of which are associated with dreaming.  Pisces is underwater, therefore the dreams are more rooted in the dark subconscious.  Sagittarius is the sky, therefore the dreams are more conscious.  Spielberg stays true to his Sagittarian center with day-time dreaming.

Sagittarius teaches us to be true to our values, and protect them to foster a true and personalized sense of “rightness”.  Having a strong sense of morality is medicine for Sagittarius.  Jon Stewart has made a living through the sharing of perspectives to attempt to arrive at new understandings.

 

Sagittarius has an inner fiery promise of purpose buried within.  This sign seeks meaning, and it will travel far to find it.

Happy Sagittarius Season.  May the spark be lit, then encouraged to grow, where it can guide you and become delightfully contagious in spirit.  Let the sky-horse carry you away to places you know you’d like to be.  These places are within reach.  Dare to dream in the daylight.  Encourage you zest and be mindful of your values.  What a wonderful time of year.

 

Where Have You Gone Joe DiMaggio? The Jupiter Effect.

Paul Simon ran into Joe DiMaggio at a restaurant after the famous “Mrs. Robinson” song hit the airwaves, and was able to address the rationale for writing that line, as DiMaggio was a bit confused by it, since he hadn’t really gone anywhere.  Paul Simon explained to him that the line meant, where have all the great heroes gone, which satisfied Joe.

It does seem to resonate on some mysterious and deep level that DiMaggio is more than a great ball player.  He is, as Simon put it, a great hero.  Someone who inspires the public and lifts it’s spirit.  When someone is inspired by a hero, they too walk taller, and live with more confidence.  Simon saw the need for this inspiration as he wrote “our nation turns it’s lonely eyes to you.”

 This is the domain of Sagittarius and Jupiter.

To be lifted up, out of the doldrums and into a place of faith and confidence is the domain of Jupiter, and it’s associated sign Sagittarius.

DiMaggio couldn’t be brighter with Sagittarian fire, with Sun, Venus and Mars all together on the Ascendant, the “dawn” of the horoscope.  He dawns on others with an impossible to miss ray of inspiring hope and heroism.

What’s really amazing is that you can even see the long face of the horse, which is a Sag trademark.  For more on strikingly accurate facial features of the zodiac, visit William Shrieb’s site-  Astrovisions

This month marks a homecoming for Jupiter, as it re-enters Sagittarius

Celebrating Jovial Jupiter’s re-entrance into Sagitarrius.  This archetype is effervescent, bubbling with enthusiasm, eager to enjoy the celebration.

As of November 8th of this year, Jupiter has moved into it’s natural habitat of Sagittarius, an event that occurs every 12 years.  Jupiter spends one year in each sign of the zodiac.  The year ahead is a metaphorical return of Joe DiMaggio, a return of inspiration.

As joyous as it sounds, like any planet or archetype, it is a spectrum of positive and negative.  When examining what this transit means for you, we must look at the full psychology of Sagittarius.

The psychology of REWARD.

Seeking rewards is such a common event in daily life and we are most often completely unaware of operating this way.  Even something as simple as grabbing your morning coffee is geared to obtaining the reward of feeling awake and alert.

Agent Cooper is following his Jupiter promptings when drinking his damn fine coffee

Jupiter has always been associated with rewarding experiences, as well as luck and joviality.  In this way it is traditionally perceived as more benevolent than other planets, like Saturn for example which is associated with restriction.   But there is error in this perception, for the psychology of reward can put you in trouble just as fast as the psychology of restriction.

And then maybe a bit too much Jupiter with this amount of donuts.

What this transit means for you

This transit marks a time to look at the year ahead and ask yourself, what are your ideals?  Where do you find yourself looking up to others.  Where do you continually seek inspiration?  What kind of rewards do you seek on a daily basis?  Do you satisfy these needs in healthy or not so healthy ways?

Jupiter is the broader vision of our life.  The pattern-seeking and the “what if” thinking.  Jupiter encourages us to dream in our waking life, and look for all sorts of possibilities.

Sagittarius’ arrow is pointed upward with intent, towards high ideals.

So the metaphorical spirit lift of a great hero is returning this year.  This is the hero of your own enthusiasm and your own faith in what you can do.  The psychology of this psychic fire must be tamed by your rational mind.

For instance, just because you believe you can fly doesn’t make it necessarily so.

The gift of Jupiter moving back into Sagittarius is one to be celebrated, reflected upon and channeled into a helpful way.  If you feel like you’ve gone too long without a lift in spirits, look for ways that it is trying to find you now.

Spirits do best when lifted

Sometimes a glance at the natal chart, indicating where Jupiter is specifically transiting in regards to your own psychological starry imprint can be especially helpful.  On the flip side, if you feel swamped in a theme of “excess”, Jupiter can shed light on where or why this is happening, so you can gain a better sense of control.

For the year ahead:

Joe DiMaggio revved up the spirits of many.  Think about who, in your personal life or in the public eye, has had this type of effect on you.

Then maybe think why…

Then maybe just feel what that felt like…

Jupiter teaches in this way.

 

 

 

 

High skies and deep waters: Frank Sinatra.

Let’s begin with his Sun, which is in Sagittarius.  His solar energy runs on inspiration, bigness, and optimism.  “If I can make it there I’ll make it anywhere” packs an extreme punch coming from the mouth of this man.  It seeps into our souls and makes us BELIEVE in ourselves and our potentials.  His Mercury is conjunct the Sun, so his words carry forth this uplifting energy.  This conjunction is in the 2nd house of his own values and talents.

Life is a barrel of laughs when your in the rat pack. Sinatra pictured here with Sammy Davis Jr and Dean Martin. Typical Sagittarius gleefully indulging in a lifestyle of excess (booze and smokes) and living like there’s no tomorrow.

Now let’s look at his Moon.  It’s in dreamy Pisces.  His reigning need is to merge with the mysteries of life.  In this quest he emits a dreaminess.  It’s hard not to immediately call up the Looney Tunes version of him, where he is depicted rail-thin on a stage with all sorts of animals swooning “Frankie!!” and falling to the ground.  They are under his spell.  His Moon is in the 5th house of creative self expression.

From Looney Tunes, “Swooner Crooner”, this hen is under his spell…. “oh Frankie!”

To emphasize this dreamy component, there is Neptune at the Midheaven.  His public role wrapped up in an ethereal “je ne sais quoi”.  And then there is Jupiter (always highlighted for a Sagittarius) squaring (giving structure to) his Sun, in what sign?  Pisces!  His own optimism and faith (Jupiter) restored by feelings of divine beauty and mystery.

“Old Blue Eyes” putting forth a look of reverie

Don’t we want to know about his Venus?  With all that charm he displays?  Well let’s talk about it.  It’s in Capricorn AND opposed Saturn, which basically just amps up that Capricorn.  His charm is CLASSIC (Capricorn).  He is threaded into society (Capricorn), as reflected by his MANY connections to politicians (also a Sagittarius theme), mobsters, and hollywood stars.  This Venus is in the third house of communications, putting that charm right where it’s needed, on that golden voice of his.

Ava Gardner was Sinatra’s second wife, followed by Mia Farrow.

At Peter Lawford’s house with Marilyn Monroe.

Pisces Moon’s can be very sensitive people.  This may explain him converting to be a republican overnight when JFK snubbed him by choosing Bing Crosby’s house to stay at during a convention instead of his.  He had built a helipad and everything!!  Turns out Bobby Kennedy insisted that John not stay there because of all of Sinatra’s ties to the mob.  Sinatra ended up tearing apart the helipad with a sledgehammer.

Before the helipad incident these two were chums

On an ending note, Sinatra displays such a gorgeous balance of his Sun and Moon energies, which is something we all strive to do.  There’s a reason why the apparent size of the Sun and Moon are the same from where we stand on Earth.  He has this balance.  His Sagittarius larger than life, filled with inspiration, his Pisces dreamy as the day is long.  That’s why I would like to dub him Frank Sinatra, Piscittariun .