I’ve been fantasizing lately about a higher being of extraordinary intelligence picking me up by the scruff of the neck, like a giant bird of prey, and dropping me into a new life.

Poof! In one fell swoop, I’d have a bigger apartment with no highway noise, all of my bills would be paid, I’d have the resources to pursue my goals for Real Astrologers, I’d be 20 pounds thinner, and the love of my life would be sitting here next to me. And, of course, I’d be at the top of the enlightenment spiral.

As crazy as that sounds, it just might be possible – not thanks to some giant winged alien, but by taking advantage of an extremely rare astrological phenomenon involving a giant planet.

Jupiter turned retrograde on Friday and will be in reverse (that’s what it looks like from down here) until September 8. Not known as the Big Guy for nothing, Jupiter is larger than all the other planets in our solar system combined, which may be how he got named for the father of the gods.

In astrology, Jupiter represents good fortune and abundance. His retrogrades are relatively benign; we just don’t have his luck to carry us toward our goals. But in a weird sort of way, this retrograde period may be luckier than we could possibly imagine.

The degree of Jupiter’s station – 22 degrees, 22 minutes Capricorn – provides us with an important clue. In numerology, 22 is the number of the master builder, the architect of the universe. Capricorn’s ruler, Saturn, is the planet of manifestation on the physical plane. This tells me that we may be able to use Jupiter’s retrograde period to think about what we truly want and need and to change what’s not working for us.

Individually and collectively, our thoughts play a major role in what gets manifested in our world, whether we’re conscious of them or not. Indeed, unconscious thoughts and beliefs have a nasty way of getting in our face through people and situations that seem to come into our lives randomly. This is the effect of Saturn, who gets a bum rap as the planet of limitations and constraints.

As scientific researchers have learned over the past few decades, matter is energy. The more solid a material object appears to be, the slower that energy is vibrating. Fast and slow are concepts related to time, which in astrology is ruled by Saturn. Put very simplistically, your thoughts interact with invisible energies in the universe, which coalesce according to the blueprint you’ve created with your thought pattern, plus (and here’s the kicker) any related unconscious thoughts and beliefs you’re harboring. Once that energy is manifested on the material plane, it’s locked up and unavailable for anything else. That is the “limitation” of Saturn.

If we don’t like what we’ve got, we have to invest energy into changing it. The more locked in and stuck we appear to be, the more energy it takes to undo it and turn it into something else. It seems to me that Jupiter’s retrograde in Capricorn will be extremely handy for this. Retrogrades in general are good for going back and doing something over, but undoing situations we seem to be stuck with is a tall order. Who better to help us out than lucky Jupiter?

Give it some thought this week and start planning your strategy. I know I will be!

Pat

P.S. Need a change of perspective? Don’t know how to get unstuck? This definitely would be a great time to get one of our exclusive forecasts!