As we approach the transition of Jupiter from the yang, Fire sign of Sagittarius to the yin, Earth sign of Capricorn on December 18th, I find myself considering the effect Jupiter has. In traditional astrology, Jupiter and Venus are called “Beneficent” and when they show up in charts and by transit, they are said to bring all that is good. That sounds wonderful but it is not my personal experience in my own life or in the lives of those whose charts I’ve read.Since I have a natal Sun/Jupiter conjunction, albeit out-of-sign, Jupiter plays an important role in my chart. He is also closely square to Saturn, as is my Sun. So it’s like I have Jupiter revving up the engine while Saturn has the brakes on. Fun, huh! This is one of the reasons I tend to see Jupiter as an amplifier of existing aspects rather than a planet that bestows blessings to all that he touches.Another example of seeing Jupiter as a neutral amplifier is the effect he has by transit. The last couple of years saw Jupiter transiting out of my 12th House and into my first. Now this transit didn’t particularly bring me luck or make me wildly optimistic. If anything it exacerbated what was going on in other parts of my life plus I put on weight by wanting to eat chocolate and candy to boost my flagging energy due to feeling weighed down by my Second Saturn Return. In this case, it was more of a vicious circle and I am very, very happy to have Saturn in health conscious Virgo. The closer Jupiter gets to the cusp of my 2nd House, the less interest sweets hold . . . nice!That being said, a case can be made for Jupiter in the 1st House giving me the push I needed to get out of a day job that was becoming increasingly more difficult for me – due to feeling like I was making no progress in making positive changes there. As Jupiter winds up his stay in Sagittarius he will be sextile my Sun in Libra. I do see Jupiter/Sun aspects as more positive because the Sun is our heart and main source of positive force in our lives.

Just for the record, here is a very brief summation of how I see Jupiter in Aspect:

Jupiter/Moon – intensifying mood swings and emotional issues
Jupiter/Mercury – making someone prone to exaggeration
Jupiter/Venus – lots of fun but not so good for the budget
Jupiter/Mars – increasing the desire to take risks and forge ahead blindly
Jupiter/Saturn – classic case of conflict between caution and blind optimism
Jupiter/Uranus – shudder . . . do anything on a dare
Jupiter/Neptune – hallmark of extreme righteousness or enlightenment
Jupiter/Pluto – amplifies Pluto’s natural tendency towards obsession

Yes, some of this is a bit tongue-in-cheek but there is evidence to support these broadly written concepts. It makes more sense to me to take a more cautiously optimistic position when Jupiter is involved instead of telling people a Jupiter/Sun transit will see them winning the lottery, for instance. Any and all feedback on this subject is welcome as I happily file it all away for future reference!! :-D

Taken the other morning showing turning leaves. The big willow trees are coming down in a couple of days – too much risk of falling on the house. Hopefully one of the last major effects of Uranus Rx closing in on my IC for the last time.