Does it feel as if some promised bounty, some dream that appeared to be in reach, some knowledge or luck you were counting on, has been, rather stealthily, withdrawn? That may be the subtle (early Pisces) backtracking of Jupiter. Those pull-backs from retrogrades are temporary, yes, but sometimes what was removed wasn’t really there–and in this case, because Jupiter was in at retrograde point the sign of Pisces, what you thought was right there was most likely an illusion, in terms of proximity, at least. This retro period will take you into territory that offers a new, ‘modern’ take on that dream, telling you where it was outdated, and through ‘Higher Learning’ and/ or accident and serendipity, re-shape what you wanted (or wanted to know about) into a more appropriate form for who you are now. That’s the beauty of a retrograde, it can often save us from ourselves by forcing a hiatus–and that may be the benefit here.

Now if you haven’t had something whisked away, then you might be someone who sports a natal retro Jupiter, for whom this is Jupiter’s more characteristic dynamic, making whatever dreams you were inspired to pursue take a pause for inventory as it shifts signs–and that’s a good thing, allowing you to align things and orient yourself in the desired direction–and making your most characteristic approach to opportunity the right approach, for right now. If you’re someone who’s had good things come out of the woodwork, particularly long-delayed benefits or long-ago invested-in dreams, then Jupiter’s retro period is taking you back into territory where the dream of Pisces becomes the intellectual or group demands of Aquarius. You’ll be called to find (or perhaps shape) your individual role within a larger context: as member (or leader) of a group, within a specific intellectual sphere, within the avant garde in your field, within an experimental effort, or as a disruptor for the ‘old’ system. In every case, it’s energy that will change your thinking (Jupiter in Air) before it goes direct and returns to the creative or inspired Piscean path you were on when the retro started.

There’s also a loose Earth Grand Trine of Vesta-Pluto-Ceres, putting Mother Nature, dietary matters, the weather, and those things we take very seriously (what we find sacred, what or whom we’re committed to, matters of life and death, reform, serious change, transformation, responsibility) in focus, and by drawing our attention, allowing us to achieve a kind of balance. It’s do-your-best, steady-as-she-goes with all these areas, and we’re required to show reverence for the larger, natural world and for elemental forces that are beyond us–and if our efforts or responses involve alterations, as long as they are undertaken with an awareness of the importance they carry and the repercussions that could come, things will work out fine. That is, seeing our own choices as making a deep impact on the Collective well-being and the world at large means we’ll make the best choices on both a large and small, personal scale.

Too, South Node and Juno are tightly conjoined right now, with Venus trine both roughly July 3rd-7th. The power dynamics of the past in relationships and in financial arrangements might seem currently cemented in place, but they’re not as unchangeable as we might think. When Venus makes contact we might find that at least one party in any matter wants to make change, to update the power dynamic–and the other may stubbornly hold tight. The need to adjust, to ‘modernize’ the balance, will become obvious during this period, and the Moon’s contact to the North Node on the 6th will make not just the need, but the way to implement change, very clear.

See more about the period up to the New Moon here–