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Jupiter - The Eternal Optimist
(The True Believer)

"The ancient grand vision of Jupiter is hard for us to imagine today, and it is probably impossible for us to feel the awe with which such a cosmic force (or deity) was experienced." Stephen Arroyo

Zodiac Good Guy
Known to traditional astrology as the "greater benefic," Jupiter was the all around Zodiac Good Guy! In traditional astrology Jupiter wore an (almost) spotless white hat. Above all else, you wanted to ensure that the powers and influence of Jupiter were on your side!

Ficino
Check out, for instance, the brilliant writings of the Florentine Renaissance astrologer Marsilio Ficino.

Shocking, but true... the astrologer and priest Ficino played a vital and leading role in the Italian Renaissance, among other things, reintroducing the Western world to the works of Plato, Plotinus, and many others.

Anyway... in order to live a happier, more fulfilled and healthy life -  Ficino literally prescribed filling one's home and life with all of Jupiter's many colors, minerals and images. And it seems that Ficino experienced great difficulty coming up with much of anything negative to say about Jupiter.
The Book of Life is only recommended for advanced readers.
(Buy it Now at Amazon.com)

My, My, My... How Times Have Changed
These days we "modern, enlightened" astrologers tend to write Jupiter off. We often gloss over the deeper meanings of Jupiter's placement in birth charts. We generally ignore his transits over birth planets...

And when we do manage to pay Jupiter any attention, we find great glee in charging him with being an overly pompous, ineffectual windbag - while simultaneously striving to point out all the more negative, shadowy possibilities of his nature.

Why is that?
Maybe it's just the pendulum of opinion swinging from excess to excess - from all light to all dark. Frankly, it all suspiciously sounds excessively "Jupiterian" to me, since moderation has never been thought to be one of his strong points.

Whatever the reason - it's a huge mistake… In Stephen Arroyo's (highly recommended] book Exploring Jupiter, Arroyo explores how Jupiter points the way to:

• your sense of future direction and purpose
• how you can develop confidence and self-esteem
• where you should take a "leap of faith" in order to manifest your greatest potential
• where you have a special breadth of vision and intuitive perception that can lead to any expanded scope of activity and understanding

  Short excerpt from Arroyo:

"In contemplating the profound qualities and aspirations that Jupiter represents in astrology, I cannot help but feel that Jupiter's bigness and broad vision is inextricably linked to the perennial human search for a larger truth and for an experience of oneness with the universe…

Witness, for example the symbol of Sagittarius: the Centaur. This unique creature is still grounded on the earth with an animal body, but that does not stop him from using his human half to carefully aim his arrow at a specific goal on the distant horizon."

Yep! Huge mistake, ever counting Jupiter out... and if Jupiter happens to loom large in your birth chart, then doubly huge mistake!

Regarding the transits of Jupiter, astrologer Steven Forrest writes:

"Essentially, this is a call to recognize an opportunity. Traditional astrologers view it more starkly - to them, it is simply the planet of luck. And that is often the case: the toast does tend to land butter-side up when Jupiter is crossing sensitive territories. But the real, evolutionary meaning lies deeper. One key is that Jupiter is future-oriented...it is concerned with bright, unexplored possibilities.

Stripped to its bones, Jupiter always asks one primary question: how have you been underestimating yourself? Its transits signal a time when new opportunities come into existence, but to seize them you must recognize that you deserve them, that you are capable of rising to them, and that old deals and compromises are finished. Trust yourself, have faith in life and go for it: that's the spirit of Jupiter."

Jupiter Loomers
Some of the ways that Jupiter can loom large in the birth chart:

• Sun, Moon, and/or Ascendant in Sagittarius
• Sun and/or Moon closely aspected by Jupiter
• Sun and/or Moon in the 9th house
• Jupiter conjunct one of the angles (Ascendant, Descendant, Midheaven, I.C.)

I have one of these trademark "Jupiter Loomers" in my birth chart - and I can tell you Jupiter's transits have often behaved like a finely tuned, precision clock in mirroring my life journey.

Recommended reading for intermediate to advanced readers:
Exploring Jupiter
by Stephen Arroyo
(Buy it now at Amazon.com)

More about Marsilio Ficino
Find out more about at the site of one of Dr Z's pal, Renaissance Astrology.

(back to Jupiter)

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