Brazenness
If you don't ask, the answer is always NO.
“Live every day like it’s your last. Learn every day like you will live forever.”
Everyone’s worrying about this full moon in Gemini. Meh. We have a full moon once a month.
My eyes are on Jupiter as he slowly rolls towards Aries. We’re in the final halcyon days of a vacation by the sea before knowing the real world lies on the other side of a long, arduous set of plane rides.
We had a taste of Jupiter in Aries early this year (mid-May through the end of October). For a lot of people, life felt like it was finally going to speed up. Acts stemming from benevolent self focus (i.e., when being selfish actually benefits the whole) were meeting with favor from the Universe as if finally, here and now, agency wasn’t broken anymore. We could dare to feel fearlessness and anticipation for the future without anxiety again…but then it all went sideways, didn’t it?
And the disappointment from false starts is the worst, isn’t it? It’s hard not to wonder — did I misread the situation? What did I miss? Why aren’t I able to manifest the way I used to?
Jupiter Goes Back Home
But Jupiter going back into Pisces has its purpose — something that has to happen Jupiter in Aries unleashes you on the candy shop of life. Pisces is the place where we dissolve our personal consciousness and ego and reintegrate into the universal. Whether you see that as G*d or unfettered alignment with the natural order, this is where you become a foreigner in a foreign land — denuded of the projections, identities, familiar and instinctive modes and patterns of communication and language, stripped of worldly ambition — and forced to reckon with that self/Self you either take for granted, neglect, or don’t want to acknowledge during the course of living mundane, every day life.
However, it’s the self/Self that is the common throughline that ties everything together — all of your incarnations (if you believe in reincarnation) or all of the versions of you that you’ve lived in this lifetime. Here in Pisces we have the chance to become aware that you are the atoms of the universe made conscious to witness itself, the child born of billions of years of events that have culminated in your existence and the entity (in whatever form that takes) that will come into existence billions of years in the future as the result of your existence. This is Jupiter’s home domain — where, for all intents and purposes, he does some of his best work.
Karmic Knots
In Jyotish (aka Indian/Hindu astrology), the border between water and fire signs is called “gandanta” — a karmic knot. It’s a juncture, when traversed by a planet in transit or in our own natal chart, at which our understanding of how that planetary energy functions in our lives is challenged to transform from being conditioned, automatic, seductively familiar to a terrifyingly new, unknown, yet intensely empowering state and new awareness of self/Self.
Think of gandanta as a muscular knot. It can start out as a little soreness or a cramp. Often when that happens, a lot of us will pop an analgesic or walk it off or ignore it instead of figuring out what’s causing or caused the misalignment. Fast forward and there you are with a KNOT that hurts and is causing you to use the affected area of your body in a less efficient way that then in turn leads to even more misalignment in the rest of your body. What to do? Usually, this is the point at which, if it’s financially feasible, an expert is called in to work out that knot and help figure out what you’re doing in the daily course of life that’s causing it to occur. Having someone massage out a knot isn’t fun — it fucking hurts! And there you’re sat, a passenger and all you can do is breathe through it, mentally get yourself to relax into it. Then, at some point, it actually starts to feel good. But it isn’t just the massage, it’s becoming aware of your contribution to the knot and taking on new ways of using your body.
Wakey! Wakey!
Between Pisces and Aries, is the last of these astrological knots in the sequence of signs. At this border, the challenge is for the undifferentiated Self to take the leap into a distinct self. The spirit is called back into flesh — like someone on a peaceful vacation called to rejoin society.
So, yes, I’m mixing systems a little, but Jupiter’s return to tropical Pisces from his little dip into Aries is about reconnecting to the philanthropic why’s — to that faith in something larger than yourself and both the humility and sense of purpose that that brings as well as an understanding of scope, scale, and infinite time. Jupiter’s return to Pisces reminds us that, as I recently heard in a podcast interview (check the whole series out Do the Work), powerful people know when and how to ask for help. Jupiter in Pisces reminds us that we are all interconnected — our wants, needs, talents, skills, service — and that, by acting and doing in the world, we have the potential to benefit people (who we don’t even know sometimes) in ways beyond our limited comprehension. Whilst here, Jupiter reminds us of an apt quote from Mahatma Gandhi’s,
Live every day like it’s your last. Learn every day like you will live forever.
Benevolent Selfishness
Once Jupiter heads into tropical Aries on December 21, 2022, IT’S GAME ON.
The way Jupiter expands us so that we find wisdom in Aries is by inciting us to benevolent “selfishness”. Having become so steeped in that “why” that benefits all, here you will be challenged to be BRAZEN — to take risks, to believe in your self (as the embodied expression of Self), to not worry about success or failure but to learn who you are by doing the thing, to have faith that what you need will be provided at the right moment.
Aries is the soul discovering it’s on planet Earth in a body capable of doing and experiencing things a soul can’t while it’s undifferentiated in the ether. Here the sense of discovery, wonder, novelty can literally throw us into the fire. There isn’t any time to over think. Instinct and intuition kick in as the nascent consciousness of whatever planet has come through the karmic knot feels out the new conditions in which it finds itself.
The Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It
It’s here that Jupiter finds itself beholden to a landlord, Mars (the planet that rules Aries) — and, at the beginning of March, it becomes Saturn’s landlord — a turning of the tables so to speak. Jupiter’s dispositorship to Mars is like someone who’s been freelancing for a stretch and decides to join a consortium. Jupiter’s mission ultimately is to expand and bring wisdom through experience in the areas Aries (and secondarily in Scorpio since that’s Mars’ other sign) cover in your life: where you assert your will and individuality as well as how you learn how to trust and be trustworthy — usually parts of our life that require a certain amount of struggle, courage, and often being a “bad guy” or not caring about other’s judgments, being true to our convictions, comfortable with our identities and vulnerabilities, and be very attuned to the present.
Jupiter isn’t great at being a “baddy”. Jupiter’s version of being a “baddy” is by giving you too much of a good thing to see if you can stay humble in the flood of prosperity or to test your Self awareness to see if you understand where all that good stuff is really coming from (hint: it isn’t really you) and what it’s for (hint: it isn’t really for you). Jupiter is also really awful at boundaries (literally in Jupiter’s head those do NOT compute) whereas Mars is all about “this is me”, “this is my space” or being dialed in to the present (hello! Jupiter time is infinite time).
So, while Mars and Jupiter are friendly, Jupiter here will most likely do its best as a cheerleader who gases you up and helps you go for it — whatever that it — or a patron that finally gives you that resource you need because you were brave enough to ask and risk hearing “no”. Jupiter will show you new vistas to see if you will bound in with faith that you can handle whatever comes up.
Meanwhile, when Saturn enters Pisces and become Jupiter’s bitch (I love you, Saturn! mwah), Jupiter will also be able to provide the structures, systems, networks that will support you in your adventure in whatever brave new world you find yourself on as part of your life long journey to discover you.
Be Brazen
The important thing with Jupiter in Aries is (I know I keep repeating it) be BRAZEN.
Having a well thought out plan (while rewarded when Jupiter was laboring under Saturn’s yoke from December 2019 - December 2021), won’t be as favorably blessed as conviction, creativity, courage, the willingness to test and re-imagine, and a deep sense of honor and accountability. Think “Design Thinking” methodology. What’s important is solving the problem. Being agnostic as to the how and the willingness to try and fail will get you there faster — and benefit not only you but your community and society.
Anyhow, please take some time over the next couple of days to process what shakes out due to the Moon’s occultation of Mars during this full moon.
THE TAKEAWAY
Ask.
The answer is always “no” if you don’t ask.
Be agile and willing to improvise.
With that said, from this point on is me being brazen with marketing stuff. Enjoy!
Jyotish-based Timing Readings
OMG. I am SO enjoying doing these and am looking for a way to integrate them into my more Western based practice!
Anyhow, to catch anyone who missed it up: After recently learning a slew of jyotish techniques for life timing analysis, for fun, practice, and research, I'm offering a 60 minute session to review your major periods to date and look at the year ahead.
Because energy will be exchanged and so as not to incur any karmic imbalance, a donation is requested in lieu of a fee.
Only 8 sessions are left in this cohort of 18.
If you want to see your chart and how it’s playing out through a different lens,
Annual Paying It Forward Sale
At the end of the year, I always offer a 50% discount on full length readings for students (of any age or educational program), early career folks, and anyone in financial distress but feel strongly that astrology is a tool that can help them get perspective and sorted.
However, this year, because it’s been such a shitty year for most economically, I’ve decided to tweak this and make myself available on a donation/sliding scale basis.
Since my scheduling system app doesn’t make this easy to set up, please contact me and let me know which reading you’re interested in and whether you’re a student, early career person, or experience financial distress (and, no, I don’t need to know the whole story — we can talk about it at your session).
Books are Open!
December and January books are open!
Please remember that 5% of all proceeds from full length reading books and gift certificate purchases will be donated to Baby2Baby and the Cornell University School of Veterinary Medicine.
Lots of light,
Anak.
Tea Time in Real Time!
I left Twitter!
To test drive if it’s the right venue, I’m committing to going Live on IG on Monday evenings at Venus’ hour. This is roughly around sunset (~4:45/5:00p PT) — which is hella early these days, thanks Winter!
To catch the next episode please follow @thepracticalastrologer
