Jupiter’s clouds as photographed by the spacecraft Juno, at a distance of just under 19,000 km, roughly the distance between NYC and Perth. By NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstadt/Sean Doran {{PD}}

Our attention is on some Jupiterian concept or area of life, consumed with having or getting more, with expanding our world, with the facts, with finding or making opportunity, with ‘getting the word out’ in some form or fashion, with learning or teaching, with beliefs, and with certain forms of freedom, the ‘don’t tie me down’ kind. Some astrologers see this transit as lucky, and it can be, but the luck arises from our concerted focus on Jupiterian elements of our lives, rather than from any external force that randomly bestows favor. It’s a case of being lucky precisely because we are attuned to where we can expand, where we can find more. We’re ready to grab the opportunity or take the advantage as we become keenly aware of it as soon as it’s on the horizon, even feeling it as it approaches. And that’s where we meet the other aspect perfecting today, the Sun quincunx Saturn. This has to make us wonder what obstacle must be removed, what reality accommodated, what restriction gone around, what suppression thrown off, before we can get our hands on Jupiterian abundance. Find the benefit, find the obstruction, and you know just what you’ll need to do, to get your version of ‘More’.

The temple of Jupiter in Baalbek temple complex, in Lebanon.
© Guillaume Piolle CC BY 3.0

For those born with the Sun at 15 Leo. Check your natal chart for the correct Sun degree (you may want to read both the degree number and the one that follows, if you have minutes on your Sun position–together these offer a more complete picture of your year ahead) Dear Leo, though it’s important for you this solar year, through to your next birthday, to have a clear idea of what you want and to go after it, it’s also important to know: the facts; what you truly believe; and what stands in your way. If you don’t sort those out, you may end up spinning your wheels, frolicking on a sunny beach, getting and changing nothing–and for some people, that’s perfectly fine. You, though, may be a little more restless than this, and do need to find some way to widen your horizons. Learn, travel, expose yourself to the new (to you) and exotic, and have no fear–you’re meant to break certain constraints this year, and your natural inbuilt cautions will warn you when you’re about to go too far. Good luck!

Today’s word image is a pilot who doesn’t seem to know how to fly the plane! Is there someone in your world who’s supposed to be an expert, who’s ‘in charge’ of important events in some significant way, who’s just not competent? Aside from any suggestion that they’re holding a position they shouldn’t, be aware that as frustrated as you are, they are just as frustrated, just as confused. The incompetence isn’t a feature of this person insisting on pushing their way into something they can’t handle, but more a result of being handed a status they never meant to hold in the first place. Go easy on them, and don’t get on that plane!

{{PD}}

Seeing this Jefferson Airplane poster made me think of a time decades ago when I was babysitting some tweens. These were the days of Jefferson Starship. I joked that they must’ve gotten themselves more modern transportation, because they used to be Jefferson Airplane. The scoffs could be heard ’round the world. I was told in no uncertain terms that if I was going to make up stories, they’d need to be better than that!

By Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59064604

Anyone else feel lately, for want of a better word, ‘haunted’? What we’d like to not think about is right there, isn’t it? Our anxieties are free-floating, and our minds, in trying to deal with them, look around for problems that can explain our feelings of hopelessness and dread. Am I being too dramatic? Maybe, but when we’re so charged-up with worry that we comb our lives for upsetting scenarios to attribute that anxiety to, then we’re cart-before-the-horsing it, and so misdirecting our attention, effort, and energy into trying to solve problems (mostly through worry!) that don’t really exist–and meanwhile, our dreams gather dust and our forward momentum is lost. The antidote? Face what you’ve been avoiding, but don’t let it dominate your thoughts; that is, take action to alleviate conditions, and/ or just move along–half the time those things we’re obsessing about are outside our control, anyway. And try to see how these matters that plague us may have roots in wounds to or some kind of violation of what we see as sacred, to be honored, or as ‘rules to live by’. We often have a very difficult time looking at or even recognizing something so deeply but narrowly traumatic. Tomorrow, the 7th, we see a Sun-Jupiter trine with Sun quincunx Saturn, suggesting bounty, opportunity, expansion, the kind of positive scenario that can’t happen unless we’re willing to deal with and modify the reality picture, to include what’s holding us back.

(Perfecting today: Chiron semi-sq Vesta, Mercury sesq Black Moon Lilith)

For those born with the Sun at 14 Leo. Check your natal chart for the correct Sun degree (you may want to read both the degree number and the one that follows, if you have minutes on your Sun position–together these offer a more complete picture of your year ahead). Dear Leo, you can just feel Love, Money, or some other wonderful something sneaking up on you, can’t you? This feeling persists through the solar year ahead, and promises big opportunities and pay offs to come–so what must you do to make these realities? Number 1, match your status and empowerment level to your action level–make effective moves by acting in ways that you’re already empowered to do and in roles and venues that already recognize your authority. Number 2, keep your eye on the prize, not the one at your feet, but the one at a distance, the one that requires a long-term effort, as that’s the one that offers out-sized reward. And number 3, work with your instincts and intuition so that you are not just comfortable listening to them, but can call on and trust them without too much intervening thought. Good luck!

‘Self-portrait in a convex Mirror’ By Parmigianino c1523 {{PD}}

Today’s word image is a portrait: someone who is placed in a position of ‘helping’ who is deliberately placed there because they know nothing about the issue! What does it say, for instance, that someone is in a position to help sell something, but can’t even answer basic questions about the item? To me it says that those selling don’t want to answer any questions, that in fact they want an impulsive, emotion-driven, unthinking purchase to be made–and that may be the case when the seller knows of issues they’d rather not acknowledge. Some people think, the less informed the party buying their sh*t, the better. Do you really want to ‘do business with’/ be involved with that?

‘La Leocadia’ By Francisco Goya c1820 {{PD}}

We’re at that liminal, Dark of the Moon point, just before both the New Moon in Leo and the station direct of Mercury. That means a lot of tension with nowhere to go, a lot of feeling around in the dark, trying to get our bearings, a lot of effort made that won’t quite meet the mark–and that’s okay, really, because at this time we’re likely gaining access to areas of the unconscious that are usually well-hidden by the conscious mind. Wisdom can seep into the mind at this point without our being aware of it, a kind of subtle intake that will only make itself known later. The trick today is to avoid acting on delusion, misinformation, or in misunderstanding of our own values (Yes, this can happen, if one is telling oneself one’s values are other than what they truly are). We learn by absorbing, and especially valuable to us at this time are the lessons we can glean from power entities, those in authority; we can gain knowledge simply by observing their interaction with what they consider their domain. Though seemingly a passive point, there’s a lot going on here below the surface–so relax, and know that no striving is required in order to get things together effectively.

(Pallas nov and Venus contra-parallel Ceres, Neptune sxt Vesta, Mars qnx and Venus sesq Neptune, Mercury parallel Pallas)

The table’s all set for a Happy Birthday. ‘Open Door on a Garden’ By Konstantin Somov 1934 {{PD}}

For those born with the Sun at 07 Leo. Check your natal chart for the correct Sun degree (you may want to read both the degree number and the one that follows, if you have minutes on your Sun position–together these offer a more complete picture of your year ahead). Well you’re a firecracker, aren’t you, dear Leo? What scene did you just recently blow up, what riot start, what chaos unleash, that you may have to spend the solar year, through to your next birthday, atoning for? Oh, maybe it’s not that harsh, maybe it’s only that you’re being asked to re-construct, resurrect, transform, or tear down to the ground something that’s always been there–and you may wonder why, and why you are the one being asked. Let’s just say it’s because you’re the one that has the correct status, who holds the position that can make it all happen–and you have the energy, and yes, ego, to take it on successfully. A lesser Being couldn’t even approach making this change. The only question you need answer is, Who do I need to surround myself with in order to make the most of that post-change world? Good luck!

Photo By Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada – Skull of Sabre-Toothed Tiger – Museum of Anthropology – La Paz – Baja California Sur – Mexico CC BY-SA 2.0

Today’s word image is another dream symbol, a sabre-toothed tiger. An extinct predator, prehistoric–so we might ask ourselves: What previous danger (one we still see as impacting us) is actually long gone? And doesn’t that suggest it’s time to let that go as a part of the psyche, or even as an excuse for particular responses and views?