Jupiter Enters Virgo

Today, August 11, the largest planet in our solar system enters the sign of Virgo, where it will be until September 9, 2016. In astrology, Jupiter is known as the great benefic – i.e. it symbolizes good luck, abundance, expansion (and excess), optimism. It rules publishing, foreign travel and cultures, religion and philosophy, higher education, abstract thought, sports, animals, our ideology and worldview.

If you’re a poker player, Jupiter is your royal straight flush. If you’re a nomad, Jupiter is your free ticket to exotic ports of call. If you’re applying to college/grad schools, Jupiter is your ticket into the program of your choice. If you’re a writer, Jupiter’s energy gets you published. You get the idea here.

In Roman mythology, Jupiter was the sky god, Mr. Supremo, and his equivalent among the ancient Greeks was Zeus. In other words, he was the big dude.

All of us have Virgo somewhere in our charts. If you know your time of birth – from mom or dad, a relative, sibling, or from your birth certificate, go here to get a free chart. If you don’t know your time of birth, use noon. So what can you expect during this transit?

Well, if you’re earth sign Virgo or have a Virgo moon or Virgo rising, then certain facets of your life are likely to explode wide open. Wherever you have placed your attention and focus will suddenly expand in ways you probably haven’t even anticipated. You fall in love, get married, have a child. Your novel or screenplay is purchased, you become a travel writer and a professional globetrotter, you land the part in a movie that’s a career game changer, you’re promoted, get a substantial raise, you move…You experience pivotal life events.

If you’re a Capricorn or a Taurus, then your life is also impacted in a positive way because Jupiter is forming a harmonious angle to your sun sign. If you’re a Cancer or a Scorpio, Jupiter has some gifts for you because it’s forming a beneficial angle to your sun sign. Even water sign Pisces, the polar opposite of Virgo, benefits but with some challenges. The air signs – Gemini, Libra, Aquarius – are beneficiaries of this transit, too, in spite of Jupiter forming challenging angles to your sun sign.

That’s the oxymoron with Jupiter’s transit through any sign, even Virgo. Everyone benefits, but in different ways. Pisces and the air signs may experience the excess part of this transit – weight gain, more work responsibility, more family obligations, more financial obligations. But one way or another, you can make this transit work for you by going with the flow – whatever that flow is for you.

If you have  other planets in Virgo, then as Jupiter approaches a conjunction with these planets, you benefit. In my own family, our daughter is a triple Virgo – sun, moon, and Mars, and Rob is a triple earth sign – sun and rising in Taurus, moon in Virgo. I have a moon in earth sign Capricorn and a rising in water sign Scorpio. This means that each of us will experience the expansiveness of Jupiter in different ways.

In the following section, I have laid out the meanings of each planet. When Jupiter forms an angle to any of these planets, the expansion will occur according to the nature of the planet that is impacted. If the planet governs your sun sign, Jupiter’s benefits are even more powerful.

Sun – the ego, will power, your creative thrust in life. Rules Leo.

Moon – your inner world, emotions, intuition, how you nurture and are nurtured, the nurturing parent. Rules Cancer.

Mercury – communication, travel, contracts, your conscious mind, writing, teaching, your intellect. Rules Gemini and Virgo.

Venus – romance, artistic ability, material resources, earning capacity, spending habits, sociability. Rules Taurus and Libra.

Mars – your physical energy, sexuality, dynamic expression, athletics, competitive spirit, action, the individuation process. Rules Aries, co-rules Scorpio.

Jupiter- luck, expansion, the higher mind, higher education, publishing, foreign travel and cultures, achievement, prosperity, worldview, spirituality. Rules Sagittarius, co-rules Pisces.

Saturn- responsibility, discipline, limitations, restrictions, structure and foundation, physical reality. Rules Capricorn.

Uranus – your individuality, breaks with tradition and old pattern, sudden disruptions, genius, revolution. Rules Aquarius.

Neptune – your visionary self, illusions, what’s hidden, the paranormal, imagination, dreams, artistic inspiration, flashes of insight, mystical tendencies, all forms of escapism. Rules Pisces.

Pluto – transformation and regeneration, redemption, power, transcendence, the afterlife, good and evil. Rules Scorpio.

Jupiter takes 12 years to circle the zodiac. So for some hint of what this transit may mean for you, look back to the 13 months between August 2003 to late September of 2004. What was going on in your life then?