Jupiter in Tail-End Libra and a Final Propulsion into New-Era Dynamics of Relating

We've just passed through fall equinox in the northern hemisphere as the Sun entered Libra (September 22), the sign of the scales, indicating equal hours of day and night. 

There is a momentary pause in the action and busyness for us to take a breath and see where we stand, particularly in relation to others and to the world around us. 

Greater Benefic Jupiter is completing its transit of relationship and justice-oriented Libra at this time and forms a final exact opposition to Uranus in Aries on September 27 (9:25 p.m. PDT), just as Pluto stations direct at 16 degrees Capricorn September 28 (12:36 p.m.) and Venus in Virgo opposes Neptune in Pisces September 29 (5:11 p.m.). (Mars in Virgo opposes Neptune in Pisces September 25 at 12:49 p.m.)

This astrological context indicates a final propulsion into new-era dynamics and rules for relationships and social scenes, one final surge past the sticky, tricky tendrils of karmically-loaded Piscean-era relating that will not bring us desired results as we move forward.

The current astrological context indicates that there is some stuff to clear in our relationships and in our dynamics of relating now - some old Piscean-era stuff that, if continued, will not create the healthy and loving relations and connections we desire. 

As Pluto stations direct, we're doing the big purge, shedding skins, moving through a process of energetic moulting and streamlining. As we move to the dark half of the year, we're dropping the non-essentials. We're dropping the drama. We're dropping the excess charge. (Ain't nobody got time for that!) We're dropping the weight of things that we do not have the strength or energy to continue carrying or dealing with or putting up with.  

We may have to reality check ourselves a little on this front, being brutally honest about any areas of emotional or energetic over-extension. With Pluto so strong in the zodiac, we may be tempted by "moth-to-flame" scenarios that have burned us in the past, and we're battling our own inner fascinations, compulsions, and desires at this time as much as anything.

With the combination of the Jupiter-Uranus and Venus-Neptune oppositions occurring at the time of the Pluto direct station, we're dropping the dead carcasses of Piscean-era ideals, fantasies, and dreams, as well as old rules around what other people "should" do in relation to us and how love and relationships "should" be.

From a previous article:

"Pisces is known for the heroic lengths it will go to in order to long and pine and sigh and hurt and torture itself over ideas and ideals of love and over the projected object of its affection.

Old school Pisces wants complete immersion in love and in a loved one. Always. And forever. It wants to be wrapped up in a cocoon of unending love, adoration, and support from the universe and from other people. It wants to do a continual backstroke in the auric field of the one it desires. Blissful communion and spiritual ecstasy with nothing reality-based that might burst its bubble.

But we're moving on from that as the dominant ideal for love. Those things exist in love, certainly, but they are no longer the singular ideal for which we are holding out.

Saturn Direct with Dispositor Jupiter in Some Juicy Territory

 Photos: Willow

The engine for concrete progress in the material world, Saturn, turned direct early this morning at 21 degrees Sagittarius, and we're ready to take on a new chunk of growth, development, and achievement in the public sphere. Plans slowly start to solidify and take form. Our positions have been fortified, and we're now setting our sights on the next leg up the mountain.

Saturn will now move through the last decan of Sagittarius in one sweep before entering its own sign of Capricorn at December solstice. More on the Saturn in Capricorn transit is available in this article, "Saturn in Capricorn: An Astrological Overview for Long-Term Strategic Planning."

We're ready for one final push toward achievement and greatness in the sign of scholarly Sagittarius, structuring our lives according to our own truth and guiding philosophies, making commitments and decisions under the ultimate authority of our own wisdom and knowledge.

Achievements in academia, medicine, law, or publishing are particularly highlighted, but again, the greatest Saturn in late Sagittarius achievement may be the commitment to living by our own truth, our own ethics, and our own philosophies, even when they are not aligned with those of the society or collective around us. 

There's a bit of a shake-up indicated in the status-quo-as-you-go as Saturn moves through the last leg of Sagittarius, and our wild-and-free spirits lead the way on this.

The dispositor (key influence) of Saturn in Sagittarius is Jupiter, currently transiting relationship, society, and justice-oriented Libra. 

Jupiter in Via Combusta Libra is heading into some mighty juicy territory as Saturn gets going direct again in Sagittarius, and this indicates some sparkle and flash in the social/relational realms this September.

You may recall from previous articles that Jupiter in Libra is currently in air-fire kite formation with Mars in Leo, Uranus in Aries, and Saturn in Sagittarius. This kite will be activated again by transiting Venus in Leo September 12 - 17.

Jupiter in Libra is also just about to form its final opposition to Goddess of Discord Eris at 22 degrees Aries (September 1 - 5), which brings Eris themes strongly into the kite formation party. This contact to Eris brings up the potential for some social discord and shuffling over the next month, and we have a re-triggering of themes from this February 15, 2017 article, "Necessary Discordant Notes as Uranus Makes Its Final Conjunction to Eris in Aries":

"The most well-known story about Eris involves a big social snub. Eris was not invited to a prominent wedding that was going on, despite the fact that all of Olympus had been invited. The social roster was not complete. Eris had been shut out of the proceedings. As a result, the big smiles and boisterous glad-handing were too phony for her to bear, and she stirred up some drama at their little party to make things seem more fair.

Queen Shit Disturber, that one is.

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.

Rejection of the Race-Based Agenda in Favour of the Common Struggle

The roots of many (if not most) white people in North America involve the escape of murder by the state, genocide by the state, or mass deaths due to starvation, overwork, poor conditions, and lack created by the state.

The current race-based agenda in North America - constantly repeated and reinforced - generally paints white people of European background as privileged colonialists who came to North America with the intention of displacing native people for their own benefit and profit.

This is an incorrect representation of reality in many instances, as many white Europeans were forced to emigrate to North America due to the terrible conditions that had been created in their ancestral countries. Many white Europeans came to North America as refugees. As I've written about before in this Jupiter in Libra article ("Jupiter in Libra: Bringing it All to the Table"), many white European communities are dealing with the trauma and resulting dysfunction of these experiences without the benefit of having their histories fully acknowledged in the accepted history books. The root causes of this dysfunction (alcoholism, drug addiction, poverty, rootlessness, overwork, domestic violence, relationship breakdown, mental illness, emotional disturbance, etc.) remain invisible in most cases.

Just a few examples of genocidal practises against white Europeans by the state include: the Holodomor in Ukraine, the Great Purges and gulags of Russia and Poland, the Irish potato famine, the Highland Clearances of Scotland, and the English enclosures.

World Wars I and II can be viewed in a similar light as state-directed mass slaughter and displacement of mostly Caucasian people. 

Common people being murdered, pushed off land, or forced into starvation and deprived conditions by the state has been a widespread practise throughout history, creating common roots among people of many different races and backgrounds. It is these common roots - most often erased in the political discourse of the day - that provide the strongest foundation for resistance and necessary change today.

We're All in the Same Boat Now So We'd Better Get To Paddling

By Willow from Willow's Web Astrology

We were once indigenous people, too.

Dispossessed from our land, too.

Native language stolen from our tongues, too.

We were pushed off, burned out, forced into starvation or urban slavery - a slow death sentence handed down by those with means.

Forced into workhouses and gulags

Either murdered quickly or left to perish slowly 
From cold and damp and overwork and filth and bugs and vermin and hunger and lack

Forced to give up our ways, too, to be useful to them, to make profit for them, to bend our souls, our natures, to fit their machine(s)

For many, to come to this new land was not a choice.

"Emigrate or die" is no choice.
Sent on ships not seaworthy and many sank

Conditions so poor many did not live to see land again

No monetary value for us, less worth than livestock or commodified slaves,

So no one cared if we lived to see the other shore.

Deprivation and early death on this new land, too brutal to sustain us, too heartsick and homesick to resist it.

So don't call me a "white European colonialist."

Don't try to make me feel guilty for the crime of surviving.

Don't tell me I'm on land I have no right to exist on,

As if I somehow need your permission. 

I'm here. I'm sovereign. And my roots go just as deep as yours.

My heart aches for a place to belong and for the old ways, for freedom, just like yours.

The Sun, the Moon, the seasons as my timepiece,

The intuitive call as true authority.

They teach us your history (their version) while we are severed from our own.

Our history stays invisible, while you spit their words at us: "white European imperialist"

And teach the partial story being misrepresented as truth

Common roots covered over with convenient black-and-white agendas

The genocide has happened a thousand times before

To every colour of skin

The land has been taken, revoked, stolen, and with it our survival, our peace

Set adrift on a sea of anomie, searching for a place to belong

Addictions to numb the heartsick and soulsick,

The gnawing knowledge that we may never again feel at home.

So if you want to fight corrupt power alongside each other

With long, parallel roots acknowledged,

If you want to make a better world for all,

I will stand with you.

But if you want to overpower my voice, my history, my truth,

If you want to misrepresent who I am and where I come from,

If you want to take my right to a place on the land (just like they do),

You're on your own.

If you want to paint me as white imperialist scum, you are really no better than they.

Your rhetoric will crumble and your power will desert you,

Under the awesome, undeniable force of the real story,

Under the drive for full acknowledgement and justice, currently being denied.

So reconsider this whitewash of history, this convenient erasing of roots, this partial truth declared to be whole.

Understand the common experience, the common struggle that is fought to this day, to this minute, to this second.

Overturn the denial of common roots.

Overturn these cheap slurs against those whose only crime is surviving the systemic violence they bring down on all of us.

Overturn their easy answers and over-simplified histories

Or take your place as just one more overlord,

As just one more chapter in their false historical line,

As just one more boot in the face.

The full spectrum is cracking open,

And the time is now

To stand for justice for all. 

"Rejection of the Race-Based Agenda in Favour of the Common Struggle" YouTube Video

Fringe-Dweller Associations, Survival-Based Subcultures, and the Tiny Home Community Movement

I was recently a guest on Matt Savinar's community radio show to talk about Jupiter in Libra activating the Uranus-Pluto square. I see these aspects as an indicator of the emergence/catalyzing of fringe-dweller associations and survival-based subcultures in the face of increasing fascist controls and abuses. You can read more on the subject in this patron article.

You can listen to the recent radio segment here:

Jupiter in Libra Activating the Uranus-Pluto Square: Fringe-Dwellers and Survival-Based Subcultures

I was speaking about the necessary emergence of alternative housing, including tiny homes, to solve the homelessness and affordable housing crises and also about the need for people and communities to take these matters into their own hands, as the current power structures will not be solving these desperate problems. The lack of effective action up to this point tells the tale, with billions of dollars wasted on inadequate Band-Aid solutions that only keep the nasty cycles going.

Today, that evil data-mining site we all use nowadays told me of a tiny home community in Oregon that has been created for the homeless. Another community is being planned for people who have jobs but can't afford a place to live due to the prohibitive cost of rents.

Upon further research, these tiny home communities are popping up all over the place because, quite simply, they are a common sense solution to the problem. Facebook Page: Tiny Communities

The creative potential of these communities to solve housing and social problems is huge. The possibilities are truly exciting.

A tiny home community has been developed in Los Angeles, California specifically for homeless teens. Each tiny home costs just $1,200 to build.

So let's just put this on the record: there is no legitimate reason why our governments are not spearheading major initiatives like this, as well as tackling more long-term solutions to the affordable housing crisis. At the very least, governments should be fully supporting the people behind these initiatives as well as training and supporting people to build their own alternative shelters.

The fact that this is not happening en masse, that people are on their own with this stuff, is a blatant sign of the corruption and inhumanity of the power structures on this planet. It is a blatant sign that our governments are failing us miserably. It is a blatant sign that - especially in the astrological Aquarian Age - politicians are not our leaders.

We are our leaders.

Luckily, the corrupt and control-based power structures of Planet Earth are no match - have never been any match - for human ingenuity, adaptability, and the desire to end needless suffering.

Intense Social Transformation with Survival-Based Subcultures and Fringe-Dweller Associations Emerging

 Photo: Willow

In many cases, common sense and common human decency cannot be applied within the current structural set-ups. This goes against protocol, you see. It's just not how things are done.

Ultimately, there are people sitting at the top of pyramid scheme hierarchies who have not truly earned their positions of power and leadership. These people are afforded a certain leniency and a certain level of freedom that are not offered to those struggling on the lower echelons of the power structures. Their lives are relatively easy and luxurious simply because they are living off the sweat, labour, talent, and intelligence of those beneath them on the rungs of power. Their ease is supported by the discomfort, struggle, and misery of those forced into disadvantaged positions out of economic necessity. And these unjust dynamics are built into most of the institutions, businesses, and structural set-ups in existence. 

If Lord of the Underworld Pluto transiting Capricorn has taught us one thing, it's that the structural hierarchies of Planet Earth are illegitimate to the point of criminality in many cases (moral if not legal).

Jupiter in Libra square Pluto in Capricorn throws a spotlight on all this illegitimacy and unfairness. With the first square intensifying into late November, we can't just put a happy face on it anymore. We're all out of happy faces.  


This is an excerpt from the patron article, "Intense Social Transformation with Survival-Based Subcultures and Fringe-Dweller Associations Emerging." It is available in its entirety to Willow's Web Astrology patrons, or it is available for $10.25 by PayPal or email money transfer for non-patrons.

Dispositor Venus and Unlocking the Benefits of the Jupiter in Libra Transit

 Photo: Willow

The planet that makes everything it touches bigger (Jupiter) entered Libra on September 9, putting a spotlight on all things Libran for the following year - justice, balance, peace, beauty, social settings, and relationships, to name a few.

As I mentioned in the previous Jupiter in Libra patron article, the Greater Benefic planet in the sign of relationships does not mean purely smooth relational sailing, however.

Relationships and social scenes are growing, developing, and expanding over the course of this year (along with desires for peace, justice, beauty, fairness, mutuality, and balance), but this expansion comes with some definite growing pains, especially as we struggle to navigate new-era relationship rules, dynamics, and constructs.


This is an excerpt from the patron article, "Dispositor Venus and Unlocking the Benefits of the Jupiter in Libra Transit." This article is available in its entirety to Willow's Web Astrology patrons.

A Blessed Point of Balance

The Sun enters Libra September 22 (8:21 a.m. PDT), marking fall equinox in the northern hemisphere, a balancing point when daytime and nighttime hours are perfectly matched.

After the nose-to-the-grindstone Virgoan harvest, a time of work, work, work and intensely industrious progress on the physical plane, we move to this airy Libran equinox point of balancing and re-balancing.

Fall equinox is a time when we raise our eyes from our own dutiful productivity, shifting focus to the enjoyment of human society and the people we like and love most on this planet. It marks a time characterized by relationships, sociability, and the shared enjoyment of the fruits of our industrious labour. It is a point of rest, recuperation, and relaxation as the scales balance themselves out naturally with little effort on our parts, perfectly counter-weighted for a fleeting period of time that must be recognized, enjoyed, and celebrated.

So Happy Equinox, everyone!

This equinox and the following Libra season are special ones, indeed, as Greater Benefic planet Jupiter is also newly in Libra (as of September 9), marking the first fall equinox since 2005 when lucky horseshoe Jupiter is bringing its blessings, expansion, and grace to the proceedings.

The Sun will form its one and only conjunction to Jupiter in Libra on September 26 at 3 degrees. These bodies will not conjoin again in Libra until September 30, 2028, so the cosmic grace is really raining down on all things Libra - and on anyone with a strong Libra placement or placements either natally or by Secondary Progression. This is a time of blessed expansion, luck, and grace in relationships, partnerships, social life, and community building. Issues around art, beauty, and aesthetic are being given a boost at this time. This aspect also indicates the potential for beneficial progress related to justice issues, fairness, truth, and overall mutuality in human relationships.

We are forming or building relationships and alliances at this time that expand our social webs in beneficial ways that will develop over the next 12 years of life on Planet Earth and beyond.

There is some strong social magic at this fall equinox and throughout this Sun in Libra season, to say the least.

With Jupiter transiting Libra until October 2017, love and togetherness are back in vogue.

This is not to say that it's all smooth relational sailing, however. (A more in-depth look at the Jupiter in Libra transit can be found in this patron article.)

Libra's ruling planet Venus moves into the sign of its detriment, Scorpio, on September 23 (8:51 a.m.) for a transit that lasts until October 18. This is the placement most heavily influencing the Sun-Jupiter conjunction in Libra on September 26.

In order to benefit fully from the relationship expansion indicated by the Sun-Jupiter conjunction, we must go deep, perhaps deeper than lovely Libra is completely comfortable with.

Full emotional authenticity - layer by layer - will be required as we work together to overcome tricky ancestral patterns and sore spots as well as their emotional/psychological aftermath.

There are deep needs that have gone unmet in relationship through our ancestral lines, particularly emotional and psychological needs. These unmet needs create disturbance, trauma, and dysfunction that are carried forward through the generations. The upcoming aspects indicate a wonderful opportunity to address the carried-over ancestral trauma and unmet needs right to their roots, building relationship dynamics with greater awareness, transparency, depth, understanding, and mutual support.

Venus transiting Scorpio indicates a time when it is especially important to be clear on underlying motivations, goals, and trajectories in relationships, ensuring that these things are ultimately compatible before too much expansion and merger are taken on.

Venus transiting Scorpio indicates a deepening of soul-level bonds, a stronger emotional meshing with others, and a full merger at the heart with those we love right to the core of who they are. Powerful bonds are being forged here, and a powerful love is being catalyzed that will fuel our relationships and social settings over the next 12 years. 

We will also experience some relief in mental pressure and intensity just in time for equinox, as communication and intelligence planet Mercury stations direct at 14 degrees Virgo on September 21 (10:31 p.m.).

We've had a lot on our mental plates as the messenger planet retrograded in highly-focused and hard-working Virgo. There were many details we had to stay on top of (not at all easy during a Mercury retrograde period), many duties that had to be completed, and much work and worry and stress that had to be navigated.

Now, with Mercury shifting forward again, we experience some relief in the mental strain and worry, as well as an alleviation of the painfully intense focus. (A full shift comes as Mercury enters Libra October 7.)

As Mercury re-gains speed direct, we start to feel as if we're on top of things once again.

Something has been clarified for us since August 10 when Mercury first entered the retrograde shadow. Our perspectives have been honed and re-shaped as new information and details came in - or were dug up by us.

As Mercury goes direct, we have achieved a necessary new clarity, and we are able to put that into practical application in our lives. 

Mercury stations direct in exact trine to Pluto in Capricorn, which is also stationing direct at this time (September 26 at 9:02 a.m.). This flowing Mercury-Pluto trine - though quite concentrated and intense with both bodies stationing direct - indicates some very welcome progress, no matter how small the advancements may seem. Solutions can appear for even the largest of problems and concerns.

Overall, the Mercury direct station in Virgo relieves mental pressure, taking a load off our minds as we move into Libra season.

Jupiter in Libra: Bringing it All to the Table

Photos: Willow

Relationship-related planet Venus is acting as a scout at the moment as it transits its home turf of Libra. 

Venus is currently out front of Jupiter, which enters Libra September 9 for a transit that lasts until October 17, 2017. 

As it transits the sign of the scales, Venus is forming the same aspects to the outer planets that Jupiter will form during its own year-long transit. 

This gives us a taste of the social and relationship growth on the near horizon, and friends, this taste could be a little spicier than we were expecting from such a balanced and peace-seeking sign. 

Just as we clear the final exact Saturn-Neptune square on September 10, Venus will square transiting Pluto in Capricorn (September 11) and oppose transiting Uranus in Aries (September 18). 

Sandwiched between those two Venus aspects, we have a number of dominant squares to navigate, and the flavour of these squares gives us an indicator of the sometimes-frictional growth opportunities that lie ahead. 

The Sun and Mercury retrograde will form their interior conjunction at 20 degrees Virgo on September 12, and both bodies will be in exact square to Mars in Sagittarius September 12/13. 

We will also experience a 24-degree Pisces Full Moon conjunct wounded healer Chiron on September 16 opposite the Sun and Mercury Rx in Virgo and with all bodies squaring Mars in Sagittarius. This Full Moon has a definite "getting it all on the table" quality, and the things being shared could be inflammatory (Mars). *ahem* 

As mentioned in the recent Jupiter in Libra patron article, Jupiter's transit of Libra will put a spotlight on social justice issues and the ongoing work toward a more just society.  *hoo boy* 

The main theme I see here - with Venus scouting for us in Libra and the Sun-Mercury in Virgo square to Mars in Sagittarius - is a requirement for some of the finer points on social justice issues to come forth in order to puncture and "reality check" some partial-truth rhetoric being put forth by academic circles, media, and various organized groups. 

Jupiter in Libra and a New-Era Shake Up of Relating Patterns

Big, beautiful Jupiter enters tropical Libra on September 9 for a transit that lasts until October 11, 2017. 

We have a lovely equinox September 22 to look forward to, as the Sun enters Libra and daylight and darkness hours are in perfect balance. This will be the first fall equinox with Greater Benefic Jupiter bringing its good vibes to the party since 2005. Enjoy this moment of natural re-balancing and good cheer. The Sun will form its one and only conjunction to Jupiter in Libra on September 26 at 3 degrees. Wonderful.

Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system and is said to make anything it touches BIGGER. Jupiter is associated astrologically with blessings, benefit, luck, wisdom, expansion, and the broadening expansion of horizons. Referred to as the Greater Benefic planet, Jupiter is generally considered an optimistic and jovial influence, a bringer of benevolent things.

Libra as a sign is associated with balance, peace, justice, beauty, aesthetic, manners, and social graces.

Oh, yeah, and relationships. Did I forget to mention relationships?

Now, I have a feeling I know how a lot of astrologers out there are going to read this transit. Jupiter in Libra: nothing but luck in relationships all year long! If we're single, we all fall madly in love, get married, and live happily ever after! If we're already paired up, get ready for romantic trips to Paris, Mimosas and chocolate-dipped strawberries every morning, and full-on coupled-up bliss!

The astrologer you're reading, however, has Venus in one of the tougher placements, which makes her well aware that relationships are not that easy-breezy, smooth sailing for everyone. In fact, if you are reading this particular astrologer, it's quite likely that you're well aware of that yourself, and probably from personal experience.

This astrologer is well aware that Jupiter is also associated with bluster, rhetoric, assumptions, blanket statements, over-reaching, and over-confidence.


This is an excerpt from the article, "Jupiter in Libra and a New-Era Shake Up of Relating Patterns." It is available in its entirety to Willow's Web Astrology patrons, or it can be purchased for $10.25 by PayPal or email money transfer.

This 3,400+ word article outlines themes and major aspects for the year-long Jupiter in Libra transit.