Everything. Everything.

In “Me” I Trust.

As of this writing, Jupiter is at about 15°Aries, starting the second half of its stay in Aries. (For how to work with Jupiter while it’s in this part of the sky, please check out Brazenness.) Hopefully, you are all having wonderfully expansive adventures in self/Self belief and are enjoying saying “Fuck it! We ball!” whenever confronted with your fears as you reach for your courage.

Aries compels planets that occupy it to act impulsively, disregarding consequences, believing wholeheartedly, passionately that the courageous action defines them. The planets ingress in and Aries hands them the script: With your whole chest, release the battle cry of “Freedom!” (like Mel Gibson’s rendition of William Wallace in Braveheart) and then charge towards an uncertain ending in a battle against a superior force.

Some planets (Venus and Saturn), who don’t put much stock in these kinds of heroics, wind up either overdoing it (and falling on their swords because they’ve tripped over their own feet) or half-heartedly going through the motions (and falling on their swords because they’ve been trampled in the melee). They spend their time in Aries like kids in P.E. class hoping not to get picked for the dodge ball team and waiting to scoot over into Taurus for art class and warm cookies and milk.

Meanwhile, Jupiter loves this shit. He gets to bust out the thunderbolt, stand on a promontory, and have the wind cinematically tousle his luxurious hair and beard. The moment of destiny has arrived! And Jupiter is there to meet it, fuck up some Titans, and create a new world order.

However, Jupiter’s lord, Mars, is still in Gemini. So, it hasn’t been as straightforward a path through to “wise freedom” (the 5th goal of a Sacred Heart education of which I am a product) and a new world order. In Gemini, Mars gets mired up in the copious spilling of words, mental gymnastics, and/or endless modeling, testing and focus group studies before getting on with it. The to-ing and fro-ing leaves Mars cranky and often exhausted (especially while Mercury is burnt up and drunk in Pisces currently!). Currently, Mars is like a director who wants to call “Action” on Jupiter, but as the scene gets slated, the studio execs step in with new pages…there’s poor Jupiter, relegated to a couple of stumbling steps on his way off that cliff to make that leap of faith into the battle of the ages.

Despite this, the curbing of Mars’ impulsiveness has largely been to Jupiter’s benefit. (Things always work out for Jupiter. More on that below. Stick with me on this one.) Having the most refined script to enact, Jupiter, when finally unleashed, gives an award worthy performance rather than one that has to be corrected in post.

In more real life terms, it’s as if the reactive edge that Aries often has — that primal, emotional spur — has been removed from the equation. Instead, it’s all been very cognitive behavioral-esque — taking leaps from considered cliffs rather than emotionally reactive ledges. The risks remain, but the action is a conscious choice not a pre-programmed reflex. While there are stakes, Mars presence in Gemini, allows there to be a sense of playing a game, a sense that Jupiter’s leaps of faith can have multiple takes, that it’s okay if there’s a bit of figuring things out.

ENJOY THIS PLAY TIME! ENJOY learning ways to break free from the repetitive cycles of the past that yoked you to inherited or outmoded ways of interacting with your life to blaze a new path to a brilliant, unknown world that you are choosing to engage with.

While Mars is in Gemini and lord of Jupiter in Aries, the point is to learn to TRUST yourself as an expression of Self.

Because once Mars enters Cancer, that’s when play time ends and we see what this new 12 year cycle of Jupiter is heralding.

Screw Your Courage to the Sticking Place

Once Mars enters Cancer next week, Jupiter in Aries leaves bootcamp and goes on deployment. The stakes will rise — especially around the April 19th eclipse at 29° Aries.

Mars is technically “fallen” in Cancer. Why?

Mars flourishes when there are clear directives, all possible exigencies have been accounted for, everything is timed to the last second, and the only thing that’s personal is watching out for your comrades-at-arms. Mars loves a clear chain of command. Also, in its two domiciles (Aries and Scorpio) and its sign of exaltation, Mars prefers a targeted, surgical deployment rather than waging a protracted war of attrition. Wars of attrition are costly, often diffuse the justification for resorting to military force, and, more insiduously, lead to poor outcomes for re-integration for soldiers when they return to civilian life.

But do NOT make the mistake of thinking Mars is weak in water signs. If you do, that will be the end of you if you ever come into any kind of conflict with anyone who might have one.

On the contrary, Mars becomes even more dangerous in water signs. Why? Because, if and when they engage, it’s PERSONAL, and they can lie in wait like dormant herpes waiting to flare up right before you go on that third date with someone you really really really want to have sex with after being celibate for years.

To cut to the chase, Mars in Cancer reminds me of Martin Sheen’s character in Apocalypse Now. (I would embed the most demonstrative clip that comes to mind, but it contains graphic scenes of violence.) When he finally gets around to executing his mission of assassinating Colonel Kurtz, he does so because he feels for the man inside Kurtz who would be better off “set free” from this mortal coil.

Mars in Cancer acts from the emotions that arise when a threat arises to itself and, more importantly, those it considers family — even if it’s to protect one of them from themselves! Mars in Cancer doesn’t need carefully laid plans, justifications, receipts. It comes at action from a place beyond cerebral cognition — from the primordial first brain in the gut. Because of this, it waits for the right moment, to catch the wave, adding the moment’s kinetic power to its actions.

So, once Jupiter’s lord goes into Cancer, it will not only exalt Jupiter by reception, it will finally be able to give Jupiter the juice it needs to “screw its courage to the sticking place”, as Lady MacBoo chided her husband in the Scottish Play, and believe that it can only triumph.

If Jupiter in Aries while Mars was in Gemini was war games, this is now war. Mars is goading Jupiter on to do what is necessary — like Krishna exhorting Arjuna to participate in the battle — even if it means slaying his kinsmen.

All of this conspiring to further develop your self belief by putting you very viscerally in touch with what and who TRULY matter in your new world — in your new understanding of you, your place in the universe, what you believe in, and how you will act in accordance with those beliefs.

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That anaretic eclipse of Aries with Jupiter co-present and Mars squaring by sign feels like that whatever last vestiges are holding you back will be removed, birthing you into this new 12 year Jupiterean cycle. Look to the houses covered by Sagittarius and Pisces in your chart to see where this new cycle will manifest due to the expansion of your Aries house.

The Last Temptation

Now, let’s fast forward to when Jupiter gets into Taurus on May 16th — a sign ruled by his frenemy Venus.

Just like Venus is fuck all when she finds herself in Sagittarius, Jupiter doesn’t quite know what to do with himself when he wakes up on the Taurus farm. Thunderbolts and philosophical treatises on the meaning of existence don’t help plant the crops or milk the cows. Venus hands him a rake and points him to the nearest stall that needs cleaning out. From the heights, the Sky God comes down to earth and has to get his hands dirty — held accountable in this embodied realm to put his money where his mouth is and walk the walk.

So, it’s with this in mind that we come to the transit that inspired this whole newsletter. The Jupiter / North Node conjunction on May 27th at 2°26’ Taurus. (If you prefer using the "True Node”, then the conjunction takes place on June 1, 2023 (True) at 3°37’ Taurus.)

This is a relatively rare sky event. The last time was on June 24, 2016 (Mean) at 16°17’ Virgo (or June 20, 2016 (True) at 15°47’ Virgo). Virgo is another sign in which Jupiter is totally awkward in — because, true to being Mercury’s exaltation, Jupiter has to answer all the “w” questions before it can do anything…and, like any princeling, Mercury needs Jupiter to full on SHOW it what Jupiter means. No textbook theoretical examples welcome.

Rahu (aka The North Node) eclipses whatever it touches which is why, in jyotish, Rahu/Ketu are considered the most powerful “planets”. Rahu is one of Venus’ besties and performs quite nicely in Taurus, manifesting that which we need for material comfort and security — which is what it’s been making us individually and collectively obsessed with since the end of December 2021. As the North Node reaches these final degrees (it goes backwards through the sky remember) in Taurus, it’s readying itself for its final leg in Aries before starting a whole new 18 year cycle.

So, when Rahu and the Sky God meet, we come to a great fulcrum that challenges us to be our own lodestar.

Rahu represents the obsession that brought us into this life whilst Jupiter seeks to connect us to that which is beyond time. Rahu in Taurus wants us fully embodied and Jupiter has to stick to the same Venusian script — but it’s still Jupiter. It needs you to know you’re more than just the atoms that have coalesced into your consciousness!

The image that comes to mind is Satan exhorting Jesus to turn the stones into bread while he’s wandering hungry through the desert. Rahu will goad Jupiter to show how powerful these ideals are — show Rahu what they can produce IRL. If your philosophies, your beliefs, your understanding of yourself is so strong, then accomplish this thing.

And some of you might well do, but beware of what you have to trade in to make that thing real. Be cautious about the material expansion that you are being called to step into and make sure it is aligned with that self/Self belief you acquired whilst Jupiter was in Aries. How many of us have taken on a job because it’ll pay you “fuck you” money only to find that it’s at the cost of having to “be” someone else 40-80 hours a week? Or bought the dream house and found that you can’t even enjoy it because you’ve got to work like a dog to make sure you don’t default on the mortgage? Or gotten yourself into the outwardly “perfect” relationship but discover you have to lean into a projection you can’t possibly sustain over a lifetime?

Navigating this transit will require the discipline to hold your self accountable to your Self. Yes, manifest — who doesn’t like to see the effort they exert into the world count for something? But, also, remember Jupiter is being “eclipsed” — and you know how the astrology-verse will caution you not to do magic on an eclipse. It isn’t about not getting what you want — it’s more that you might end up in some kind of Faustian arrangement that sounds good at first and then is just yuck and turns you into someone you don’t want to be.

Thankfully, Saturn will have your back…but more on that next newsletter. I’m getting an alert that I’ve used all the words I’m allowed for a post? LOL. Go figure.

Lots of light,
Anak.

If this newsletter in any way feels like it’s been of service, please consider making a donation that will enable me to keep writing this content here.

Books are Open!

Lots of light,
Anak.

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