Maybe it’s because Jupiter and the North Node have been conjunct near my Sun recently.  Or maybe it’s because of the impressive and inspiring photos of Jupiter being sent from the recent Juno probe (as above–almost overwhelming, isn’t it?).  But I’m in a Jupiter frame of mind and inclined to probe it a bit myself.

In early May I wrote an article in The Gyre called, “Jupiter the Seeker.”  In it, I wrote about the way Jupiter can lead you to your best sources of wisdom.  I covered Houses 1 through 6.  Houses 7 through 12 will appear in next week’s July edition of the Gyre.  For those who missed it in the Gyre, I’m reprinting it below–something I rarely do.  For those interested in Houses 7 through 12, now is your chance to sign up for The Gyre.  Not only does The Gyre include original material, but also discounts and early announcements about classes.  See you there.

Jupiter the Seeker
The following article is a continuation of one which appeared on The Inner Wheel at the end of January.  Please visit The Inner Wheel HERE for part One.

We don’t pay a lot of attention to Jupiter, and what we do understand of him is often misunderstood.  Far from the jolly airbag (if you’re listening to him speak) or the jolly firebag (if he’s persuading you to do something foolish or inspired), in the grand scheme of things Jupiter has an important job to do.  He is helping you process your experience into wisdom.  Wherever Jupiter is placed in your chart, he is your own personal guru, and the house he is placed in provides the realm of experience which will cause you to sit up and take notice, to learn.

As I’ve explained in part One, Jupiter is Mercury’s companion in the mutable cross, each ruling two signs.  The journey of the mutable cross is one where information becomes knowledge becomes wisdom becomes understanding/universal truth.  The journey from Gemini to Pisces.  It isn’t an accident that Jupiter is associated mostly with the 9^th house and the 9^th sign.  We tend to associate Jupiter with the happy go lucky Sag, and forget about the Sage.  Sagittarius, at its best, is about the pursuit of meaning.  It’s travelling truth is not about wanderlust for its own sake, but for the exploring we must do, into unfamiliar territory, in order to broaden our internal horizons.  The third house is about staying within our neighborhood.  The ninth sends us travelling as far as we can.  Once we have travelled and consolidated our wisdom, it becomes the compassion and understanding in the 12^th/Pisces.

In our natal charts, Jupiter represents our higher Mind, our instinct.  It tells us how we dream and what we dream about, particularly if the ninth house is untenanted.  Most important of all, it shows us where we need to go, how we need to expand, what experiences we need to have, in order to grow into our wisdom.  Aspects to Jupiter support the journey. I think that people often pay so much attention to Saturn that they ignore Jupiter as a source.  Saturn is all about our hard-core experience on the Earth, it represents what we must do.  But we are not all about doing, and Jupiter represents what we must learn in both intellectual and instinctive terms.  What have we gathered from what has happened to us?  On the one hand, yes, Saturn must prick any overblown illusion bubble Jupiter has created, but it is also Saturn’s duty to take Jupiter’s hard earned understanding and create something of it.  Saturn without Jupiter is a very sad Saturn indeed.

If we think of our own personal Jupiter as a vehicle for wisdom, we will get a lot more from his position in our charts.  Also, if we realize that Jupiter is where we can be neglectful and blinded to our own actions (aka:  Lazy), then Saturn’s task is so much easier.  Until we fully understand Jupiter’s role, his placement can tell us where we let things slide.  With any Jupiter position, there is a great danger of leading an ‘unexamined’ life via the natal sign and house–we shrug our shoulders.  We assume, we over-reach, and we can fail until we know ourselves better.  Rather than desiring escape, we must confront our limitations and vow to correct them. This is the point where mere understanding becomes wisdom.

A Short Description of Jupiter the Seeker in the first six Houses:

Jupiter in the First house:  Wisdom comes via the experience of self-identification and self-actualization.  This process is often hit and miss, because my sense of myself can be inflated.  I may have a difficult time relating to others and therefore never see the way my actions/intentions are reflected in the world.  I often do not or cannot see myself as others see me.  After a time I learn the truth of myself and my place within the scheme of things, and am able to understand how a strong sense of being contributes to the whole.

Jupiter in the Second house:  Often a generous spirit well-liked by others, Jupiter in the second can take a mis-step when it confuses inner and outer resources.  When Jupiter is in the second, the emphasis needs to be put on ‘what do I have to give and where should I focus it to be of the greatest use?’ Jupiter here must learn what it means to distribute personal resources without depleting the essential core.  Experience centers around the uses and abuses of resources.  Jupiter in the second eventually develops a value system by which all of its actions can be judged.

Jupiter in the Third house:  Often has talent for learning, speaking and making connections, and often has a far-ranging outlook and imagination, unsullied by the ordinariness of daily life.  The difficulties of this placement can be an exaggerated ‘don’t fence me in’ approach that relinquishes day to day responsibility.  Sometimes there is an exaggerated need to teach, talk or to explain, to become the local blowhard everyone avoids.  Jupiter here must learn that all pies cannot be in the sky, that the ordinary world is a sacred thing.  Meaning comes most readily when we ‘get real.’   Jupiter here often tries to escape ordinary things, feeling that they are a vehicle for entrapment.  Wisdom comes from understanding that there is much to be learned from the day to day world if we accept things as they are.

Jupiter in the Fourth house:  Can be lucky in the family environment and the sense of having roots.  However, there can also be jingoism and mindless flag-waving over things like Mom, home, country and apple pie. There is a real danger of assuming everything is okay in the deepest parts of the psyche when clearly they are not.  There may be excessive dependence on the family structure and/or a tendency to lord it over others in the family.  Sometimes, these people are their parent’s teachers.  Wisdom comes when the inner world is discovered and explored.  It is different from Jupiter in the third in that the ‘seat’ of wisdom is not the mind, but the psyche.  By gathering psychological wisdom and understanding, we live at the font of our deepest being, the seat of our own power.

Jupiter in the Fifth house:  If often the happy-go-lucky Jupiter, optimistic planet in the fire house.  There can be a plethora of love affairs, creative inspiration, a desire to spread the seed around.  Jupiter in the fifth wants and needs inspiration, expects life to be a celebration and desires everything to be larger than life.  In contrast to the first house Jupiter, issues are not about the Self/identity  but of what the ‘I’ creates.  There can be a real sense of laissez-faire and of “It’s good to be King,” due to the Leo fire/fire association. Jupiter can become our representative of what is god-like, for good or not so good.  (This also happens, in a different way, in the natal 12^th house.)  It can also represent where we feel we are godlike.  Such inflation is part and parcel of the 5^th house.  The problem of Jupiter in this house is the inflation of the ego and what it is capable of accomplishing.  Wisdom comes from realizing that one cannot function as an independent entity: creative acts need to be shared and nurtured.  Jupiter here learns that it isn’t the ego that creates, that it must open itself as a vessel to higher wisdom.  There may also be issues with children and understanding that one is responsible for what one has created.  Wisdom may come through leadership, and understanding that leadership means being responsible for the welfare of the group.

Jupiter in the Sixth house:

Jupiter in the sixth is in a tricky house–the planet of expansion in the house of Virgo?  And yet Virgo is the perfect antidote to Jupiter’s overblown ways and expectations.  Jupiter in the sixth, initially, can go too far in all things in daily life.  The sixth house is a house of balance, it’s where we sort ourselves out before we can move forward and connect with others in a true sense.  Jupiter in the sixth can over do it, can assume it can accomplish more than it is capable of.  Jupiter here can also be the employee who fiddles her resume or the politician full of promises.  There may be issues because of a tendency to over-do.  Physically, there may be health issues (weight, drug dependency, etc.); emotionally, a tendency to a lack of realism (optimism and then its reverse, despair). There can be workaholic inclinations or a desire to avoid work entirely. Spiritually, there may be what Rinpoche Trungpa called, “spiritual materialism,” an egotistic desire to be the most spiritual person in one’s circle. Wisdom comes from learning the value of balance, and of doing the work necessary before launching into the next project, plan or scheme.  It is necessary to have a realistic view of what can be accomplished. The idea of service must permeate daily life, the need to care for those who cannot care for themselves.

Jupiter through the 7th to 12th houses will appear in the next edition of The Gyre.