Jupiter Draws the Fixed Star Goodness Into Its Retrograde Period

Planet of expansion and cosmic blessings Jupiter goes retrograde on February 5 (10:52 p.m. PST) at 23 degrees Libra, exactly conjunct highly fortunate fixed star Spica (23 Libra) and tightly conjunct highly fortunate fixed star Arcturus (24 Libra).

The Jupiter retrograde station conjunct two superfantabulous fixed stars draws the fixed star goodness into the following retrograde period. (This is a good thing since Jupiter will go direct again on June 9 at 13 degrees Libra, conjunct unfortunate fixed star, Algorab, indicating that a bit of the nasties could be possible around that time, especially related to society, justice, or other people.)

With Jupiter in retrograde motion, we're shoring up social and relationship-related expansion we've experienced since Jupiter first entered Libra on September 9, 2016. Throughout the retrograde period, we'll be drawing on benefits and goodness from the social networks we've been developing and interacting with since then.

Any social or relational benefits we are experiencing now will come to their full and glorious peak as Jupiter direct forms conjunctions to Spica and Arcturus yet again September 6 - 16, 2017.

The very fortunate fixed star influence indicates a beneficial boost when dealing with all things social and justice-related, and this is carried through the retrograde period. If there are areas that are barely tolerable to you at the moment due to their unfairness, hold on. Things could be restored to a more equitable state as Jupiter Rx goes over the ledgers in Libra. At the very least, you may come into contact with others who find things just as intolerable as you do, finding strength and comfort in numbers.

As Jupiter now goes retrograde in Libra, we're applying the social and relational wisdom we've accumulated through all our social experiences - and maybe most importantly, from the social experiences that didn't turn out quite as we had hoped.

One of the great Jupiter lessons is that some of the deepest wisdom comes after falling flat on our faces. So with Jupiter in relationship-oriented Libra, our social gaffes, our interpersonal frictions, and our general faux pas moments in relation to others are valuable sources of wisdom that can now be applied, making for more successful interactions with other people and with society, in general, as we move forward.

The choices we have made in partnerships of all kinds can now be re-assessed and weighed. We can be grateful for the wisdom our choices have brought and for the richness they have provided, while also making wiser and more balanced choices in future, if necessary.

A Jupiter in Libra retrograde period allows us some time to put our social histories into fuller perspective. With this fuller perspective, we can re-balance relational dynamics, softening our stances in certain areas while becoming more aggressive in others.

There is a quality of withdrawal inherent in any retrograde period, so this is also a good time to practise applying the wisdom of when not to interact, when not to join the social fray, and when not to go along with the crowd.

Sometimes it's in our best interests to put ourselves out there with other people, and sometimes it's in our best interests to keep our own counsel. Sometimes it's in our best interests to enter a public debate or argument, and sometimes it's just not worth the energy expenditure. Sometimes it's in our best interests to push a contentious issue with others, and sometimes it's better to just let that shit slide. With Jupiter in Libra in retrograde motion until early June, we're working this balance like full-on stealth ninjas.

Fixed star Spica is associated with lots of good stuff: fame, wealth, honour, glamour. Arcturus is associated with all that, along with popularity and success through work and travel.

But perhaps the most important thing these mucho beneficial fixed stars provide - including during this Jupiter retrograde in Libra - is a shield from the heat, friction, and general social angst associated with the Via Combusta. 

From the September 3, 2016 patron article (which I would suggest patrons brush up on...), "Jupiter in Libra and a New-Era Shake Up of Relating Patterns":

"The Via Combusta is an area of the zodiac between 15 degrees Libra and 15 degrees Scorpio (except for 23 and 24 degrees Libra) known as the burning path or combustible way. Traditionally, it is associated with "unfortunate and ineffectual events…"

When the Via Combusta is strongly highlighted, there is a feeling of running the gauntlet through sometimes seemingly insurmountable odds, collective karma, booby traps, and friction, very often related to relationship dynamics, which are Libra and Scorpio territory. 

There's a fire in the Via Combusta and within people with a strong Via Combusta signature that keeps them burning, burning, burning a path through life as you would imagine a shooting star burning an accelerated path through the night's sky. There's a feeling here that one has to keep going, no matter what, through the wreckage of old, crystallized layers that would keep us stultified, constricted, and unsatisfied with old wounds perpetually reopened by a revolving cast of characters. 

The basic goal of the Via Combusta is to reach escape velocity. In space travel, this is the point a space shuttle reaches when its speed and momentum allow it to escape the effects of gravity pulling it back down to Earth. In the case of the Via Combusta, it's about reaching the points of awareness and pure momentum where we escape the gravity of the sticky, tricky wreckage trying to draw us back into old territory, especially involving old constructs and dynamics of relating...

Jupiter will be in the Via Combusta, traveling the burning path, from November 20, 2016 to May 4, 2017, re-entering this zone again on July 15, 2017 and leaving the area entirely on August 22, 2018...

Chronic relationship issues and social frictions could be experienced in an exaggerated way so as to draw our attention to the areas that need a little more “Libra finessing.”

Relationships and social scenes are experiencing a period of growth, expansion, and development during the transit of Jupiter through Libra, but they will also be in a fairly continual state of “transformational morph,” which can be frictional.

Relationship constructs still playing by old era rules will be breaking down, and we will be forced to re-formulate the ways in which we relate to others in an ongoing way.

Ultimately, we are working to reach “relational escape velocity” from problematic relationship themes, particularly those of the astrological Piscean era. These themes have very long roots, collective/ancestral roots, and we will need a heavy dose of wisdom and luck (Jupiter) to move beyond them.

Lucky for us, this is just what Jupiter provides."

With Jupiter in Libra interacting with revolutionary Uranus in Aries and transformational Pluto in Capricorn during much of 2017, we are opening into big new social and relational territory - cardinal sign territory. We have to go, we have to move, we have to shift out of old relational holding patterns, and this isn't without its frictional moments.

But the Jupiter retrograde station conjunct Spica and Arcturus indicates some blessed and protected social expansion that is being shored up, developed, and strengthened over the next four months.

We've bitten off about all we can chew socially and relationship-wise at this point. We've gone about as big as we can go.

At the same time, collective social tensions and divisions have been pushed right to their breaking points.

Now, with Jupiter retrograde in Libra, we go back over the social and relational webs that will sustain us for the next 12 years of our lives and shore things up. We strengthen valuable social ties. We make friends. We make alliances. We inject benevolence and understanding where they are needed. We interact. We learn to allow space for some of the more frictional relating points, some of the potential breaking points. Or we let things break down organically and then re-formulate into something more workable. We grow as social beings. We come to understand our own social context in fuller and deeper ways. We reformulate social scenes to include new and different people with new and different ideas. We learn to honour the potentially-frictional individual differences while organizing around shared collective goals. We expand social frameworks and rules so as to include those who have not fit into them previously. We extend generosity to others in deeper ways, accepting people for who and how they are while appreciating that same acceptance when it is extended to us. And we also fully honour the right not to interact, not to associate, not to join the group or crowd.

Rigid social rules about associating only with a certain class, a certain race, a certain age bracket, a certain sexuality, a certain political or religious mindset, or a certain lifestyle will often become outmoded as we hurtle further into the astrological Aquarian era. Under the benevolence and broad-mindedness of Jupiter in Libra, judging people primarily on how they dress, how they look, how they speak, how much money is in their bank accounts, what music they listen to, what books they read, or what type of car they drive will seem even sillier than usual. (And isn't all that just amazingly silly to begin with?) 

Are we all going to get rich and famous during this transit of Jupiter through Libra, as the Jupiter-Spica-Arcturus sandwich may boast? No. But it's quite possible that we're going to be blessed in ways that make us feel rich and famous. It's quite possible that the people, beauty, and expanded social outlets in our lives, in particular, will make us feel rich and famous - or whatever version of that we'd like to experience. It's also quite possible that our enjoyment of life will be increased in certain ways during this transit that will have ripple effects for the following 12-year Jupiter cycle, and this includes, in particular, the enjoyment of other people and of social settings. It's possible that our sense of peace and our appreciation of beauty will be increased, as well, and this makes one very rich, indeed.

Even under the heat and karmic touchiness of the Via Combusta, relationship issues are not quite so harsh or unforgiving with this highly fortunate fixed star influence drawn into the retrograde proceedings. So let's count our blessings, starting with the people who bring us good luck and cheer just by being in our lives.  


Thank-you to astrologer Rob Tillett for providing good information online on the fixed stars.