Feeling good about Jupiter in Cancer

Ready for some good news at last?

Well, Jupiter moves signs this week, a yearly event which is always a cause for optimism.

After just over a year in Gemini, the planet of growth, hope and expansion, moves into watery, sensitive, moony Cancer.

The major themes of Jupiter in Cancer are explored below and where Jupiter touches something in our chart we are presented with an opportunity:

 ~ A chance for integration and self expression where Jupiter touches planets in Cancer by Conjunction

~ Easy creativity and emotional flow, if we're prepared to tap into it, when it Trines planets in Scorpio and Pisces

~ Opportunity knocks when it aspects planets in Taurus and Virgo by Sextile, but it's up to us to seize it when it comes

~ A chance to overcome challenges and breeze through obstacles a bit more easily when it Squares planets in Aries and Libra

~ An opportunity to reach out to others and improve relationships when it Opposes planets in Capricorn

Tips for your Jupiter transit:

~ You need to put a little effort into it, so if opportunity comes a-knocking, don't forget to answer the door. You've got to be in it to win it!

~ Don't court disappointment by expecting too much. Jupiter transits don't tend to be transformative, but they can make life a little easier and help set you on your way

~ Your Jupiter in Cancer transit may coincide with a transit from another planet, such as Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto or Chiron, particularly if your transited planet or point falls early in its sign...

~ ...If this is the case, Jupiter may expand and inflate the influence of that transit. It may add a sense of purpose and responsibility to a Saturn transit for example, intensify a Pluto transit, exaggerate/stimulate a Uranus transit or glamorise/discombobulate a Neptune transit

~ Cancer is cardinal sign. It calls for action. It's up to you to answer the call, but your patience could be tested if you don't see immediate or far reaching results.

Why Jupiter into Cancer is an important ingress:

First up, it's not in Gemini any more. In the tradition, Gemini is the sign of Jupiter's detriment so it wasn't very comfortable there. In Cancer it is much, much happier. It is exalted.

To exalt, according to the dictionary, is to extol - glorify - elevate - praise - raise - extol - honour. Jupiter just loves that! In essence, in this sign its influence is more positive.

Secondly, Jupiter in Cancer makes significant connections with other current planetary alignments. Here's an edited extract from my Saturn in Scorpio book, which places these alignments in the bigger picture:

Between October 2012 and July 2013, Saturn in Scorpio forms a Trine aspect with Neptune in compassionate Pisces. During the course of this Trine, the human effect of all the change and disruption we’ve been experiencing in the world will become more and more obvious and its victims harder to ignore. We will be made to understand the emotional effects that the long running financial crisis has reaped. For those sitting safe, it will be easy to sweep this under the carpet, but hopefully this Trine will inspire individuals and the collective to feel compassion for those who are suffering and take some responsibility for supporting them.

In June 2013, ethical Jupiter moves into Cancer and forms a Water Grand Trine with Saturn and Neptune. If we are being optimistic, throughout Saturn Trine Neptune, but especially while Jupiter is in the picture, we can predict peaceful resolutions, treaties, new understandings and a more compassionate idea of morality. This is an opportunity to show that we care and to do something practical about it. If we want to be cautious, we should be wary of those who merely pay lip service to compassionate actions and humanitarian causes, while surreptitiously pursuing their own agenda.

At the same time that Jupiter in Cancer forms a Grand Trine with Saturn and Neptune, it also opposes Pluto and Squares Uranus, forming a cardinal T-Square. This links the Grand Trine with the Uranus-Pluto Squares, giving the closed-circuit energy of the Grand Trine a channel for release. The hope here should be that the reactionary, rebellious nature of the Square will be injected with a loathing for violence and a longing for peace and harmony. This could turn into a new mass movement, perhaps marking out the summer of 2013 as the new summer of love.

Looking at it from a less positive perspective, this Grand Trine could also open the way for floods, landslides, tsunamis and other water based calamities.

The Grand Trine could also dilute the forceful message of Uranus Square Pluto, causing disillusionment, misplaced idealism and deception. While Uranus and Pluto are busy re-writing the rule book, Saturn in Scorpio provides the opportunity for society’s powerful to furtively re-write their own, secret, rule book, thus rooting their control over the rest of us ever deeper. 

Jupiter in Cancer will exaggerate the effects of Uranus Square Pluto and Saturn Trine Neptune.

The major themes of Jupiter in Cancer explored. These can be applied personally to your own chart or to world events:

• the wise mother / mom knows best / super mom
• moral and ethical issues around motherhood and childbirth 
• family values
• the extended family
• protecting one's family and oneself, which is essential but can be detrimental if taken too far
• exaggeration /over idealisation of the caring, nurturing female archetype
• getting your 'feet under the table' at home
• home affairs vs. foreign affairs
• foreign homes / foreigners abroad / expats
• an increased need for emotional and physical security
• learning about our roots, particularly the maternal, matriarchal line
• emotional over-reactions / exaggerated emotions
• letting moodiness / crabbiness get out of proportion 
• increased awareness of old, ingrained habits, bad and good
• a chance to use and develop our intuition
• increased instinctual reactions
• finding or becoming a coach or mentor
• the role of the carer in society
• the feeling that we are all one big family here on planet earth
• the goddess archetype, mother earth, Gaia
• the environment, our habitat
• rising waters / release of water
• spiritual growth
• a focus on international aid and charity and the ethical issues that arise from it
• stretching the emotional boundaries
• letting your feelings guide you
• emotions spilling over
• overwhelmed by emotion
• absorbing too much of other people's 'stuff'
• developing empathy and compassion
• life flowing better
• increased awareness of the cycles that guide and inform our life - both personal cycles and cycles of nature
• feeling bloated - physically, emotionally, spiritually
• acting on gut instincts
• questioning what we are prepared to 'stomach'
• stomach complaints
• water retention
• having a full belly
• real, big, wet, healing tears, vs. crocodile tears
• striving for self improvement
• showing kindness and generosity
• giving and receiving big hugs
• being a comfort for others / receiving comfort
• becoming comfortable

Jupiter enters Cancer June 26, 2013 and leaves July 16, 2014.

I hope you enjoy Jupiter's transit through Cancer.

Jupiter photo credit: Water map: ESA/Herschel/T. Cavalié et al.; Jupiter image: NASA/ESA/Reta Beebe (New Mexico State University)

A Jupiter Extension

To celebrate my Jupiter Return I discounted my e-book Saturn in Scorpio: Your Guide Through the Dark until the end of June, but because I'm excited about Jupiter moving into Cancer and because it will be making a nice opposition to my Sun in early Capricorn, I'm extending the sale to 14th July.

It is now available on Kindle from Amazon at $3.99 and equivalent in other currencies (normal price $5.99) or you can buy a PDF via PayPal direct from this blog for £4 or equivalent (normal price £7), just click the Buy Now button at the top right of this page. Please note all PDF orders are sent out manually so there may be a delay of up to 24 hours between placing your order and receiving your book.

For more info click here

With love,
Mandi
www.mandilockley.com

Nelson Mandela, Freedom and Sacrifice

I can’t think of Nelson Mandela without the Free Nelson Mandela tune popping into my head. Released in 1984, it was a protest song against his imprisonment for opposing the apartheid South African government. 

 

Mandela has a Moon-Uranus Square in his birth chart, an aspect of freedom, independence and rebellion. In Mandela’s case, his early years were nothing less than a rebellion against his mother country. Moon-Uranus is not an aspect you would expect to suit someone who spent 27 years incarcerated. And it’s not. But Mandela was a political prisoner and with his Moon in tenacious, unyielding Scorpio, he never gave up on his ideals. Eventually, his time inside became an act of protest in itself and this no doubt helped to sustain him.

 

Click to enlarge

The Moon falls in the 12^th, the house associated with imprisonment. With this placement comes the need to feel and understand sacrifice, to serve, to surrender oneself to something greater, but with the Moon in Scorpio in its Fall, this happens the hard way, the long- winded way. He needed to hold fast to the courage and strength of his convictions. Notice that the Moon also Squares Mercury and Saturn in Leo in the 9^th House. This is an aspect pattern which suggests a stubborn adherence to one’s highest ideals and the patience required to do so. It also suggests internationalism (9th House) and it was in part due to mounting anti-apartheid pressure from abroad that Mandela eventually regained his freedom.

Mandela’s Sun in Cancer falls in his 8^th House. An 8^th House Sun draws its energy from deep inner resources. 8^th House Sun people can feel socially isolated, literally in Mandela’s case for 27 years of his life. It is, however, through the experience of isolation and also through the experience of crisis that Sun in the 8th people can eventually find the strength to emerge from the shadows transformed and able to live life in full light. And Mandela did this to the max. It wasn’t enough for him or for the world for him just to be free. He was the leader of a banned political party, the ANC, before he went to jail and within a few years of his release, as the leader of a now legal ANC, he was elected as the first black president of South Africa. This also fulfilled the higher promise of Mercury-Saturn in Leo in the 9th square Moon in the 12th and widely opposing Uranus in Aquarius in the 3rd.

The astrology is neatly summed up in the titles of his two of his books, The Struggle is My Life and Long Walk to Freedom as do the following quotes:

For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.

 

 A Sun-Moon Trine suggests a personality that needs to feel at peace with itself. It can be a remarkably strong willed aspect when it comes to getting what it wants, but has a veneer of amiability that tends to make people with this aspect popular and easy to get along with.

 

Mandela also carries a generational Jupiter Conjunct Pluto in Cancer aspect in his chart. It falls in his 7^th House and therefore speaks of his public persona, how he is received by others. The conjunction is the start of a whole new cycle for these two planets. The graphic above includes the major themes of the alignment and all of them are easy to relate to Mandela’s life. It’s associated with a deep questioning of received values, morals and ethics; power struggles, shifts in power and the desire for power; wealth and influence; faith and belief; zealotry; the emergence of new philosophies; the powerful urge for change and being a law unto oneself. Certainly, Mandela has become a totem for these

qualities, acting them out, bringing them into the world.   This is helped along by the fact that Jupiter sits on the private becomes public Aries point, with its placement in the 7^th House making a double whammy of thrust towards the public arena. Where the personal comes in is from is a very tight Sesquiquadrate between the Moon and Pluto and a tight Mercury-Jupiter Semisquare. His public facing side is further underlined by the presence of Venus on his 7th House cusp. In double sided Gemini, it represents on the one hand the immense public popularity and positive acknowledgement he has come to enjoy and on the other hand, given that Venus Trines Uranus, it is an indication of how the attention he received riled and threatened the establishment in his early career.

The 27 years he was in jail represents pretty much an entire Saturn cycle. It is fitting that transiting Saturn was opposing his natal Neptune at the start of his incarceration in August 1962. Additionally, transiting Pluto and Secondary Progressed Sun were just past his MC. This transit marks out this time as a major milestone period in his life, suggesting a significant shift in status.

On his release in February 1990, transiting Pluto had just entered his 12^th house, Squaring his 9^th House Mercury-Saturn conjunction and widely applying to conjunct his Moon. These transits are a symbol of needs and ideals powerfully transformed and given power.

In 1993, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, jointly with Frederik Willem de Klerk (South

Africa’s last apartheid-era President), for their work towards the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime. Mandela's transits for the December ceremony include healing Chiron on the MC and Saturn conjunct natal Uranus, marking a zenith moment for the rebel being embraced by an old order (represented by de Klerk) who were finally embracing the powerful forces of change. There was also a rather fitting buildup of transiting planets – Sun, Venus, Mercury, North Node and Pluto – in Mandela’s 12^th House.

Upon his election as President of South Africa, in early May 1994, Neptune and Uranus were opposing his Sun and Saturn had recently made the first pass of its transit to his IC. Transiting Chiron was still in the midst of its series of conjunctions with his MC, a transit that symbolised the healing that needed to be done in South Africa after many years of apartheid and was also an apt symbol for the final acceptance of Mandela, the former maverick, into his full power and influence.

There’s no doubt Mandela has had a long and singularly remarkable life, one which is reflected powerfully in his birth chart and transits. Once dubbed a dangerous and violent threat, he rose to become one of modern history’s most transformative leaders, described by Desmond Tutu as “the beloved father of our nation” His current illness, as transiting Neptune approaches his IC, is a reminder that while this popular and influential figure cannot live forever, his legend will never be forgotten.

Chart data from Astrodatabank. Birth time rectified by Noel Tyl http://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Mandela,_Nelson

 

Quotations from www.brainyquote.com

Sale Now On!

30% off Saturn in Scorpio: Your Guide Through The Dark until the end of June.

Click here for full details

 

www.mandilockley.com

The Jupiter Return - A Cause for Celebration?

It's my Jupiter Return. Three cheers, hip hip hooray and let's all drink a toast to that!


Jupiter is like a balloon

Call me an old curmudgeon if you like, but the Jupiter Return feels like one of those celebratory occasions that force us to be jolly, whether we want to be or not. These days promise so much, but deliver so little. For me, they include New Year's Eve (it's just a date) and Christmas. The pre-crimbo stress and expense rarely seems worth it and the magic feels sadly absent, but perhaps that's because it only really exists in the Hollywood version. Birthdays also come under this category for me, but no doubt that's because my birthday falls on Christmas day, when everyone is too busy to make the effort or give a s**t, myself included.

I sound very Saturnian, at its grumpiest best, don't I?  Certainly I don't sound like someone who has a sort-of maybe Sun-Jupiter aspect in my birth chart. Perhaps I should explain a little bit more about my Jupiter and Jupiter in Gemini generally, so you know where I'm coming from.

Jupiter in Gemini is in its detriment, meaning that it can't easily function to its optimum level in this sign. Jupiter in our chart speaks about how we express and pursue faith; hope; optimism; growth; opportunity; prosperity; morality; higher understanding and the higher self. In Gemini, Jupiter needs help, support and focus to express these qualities.

Gemini's energies can be too scattered and superficial for Jupiter. At worst, Gemini can lack the moral compass required to get the most out of Jupiter. However, there will be times when the Jupiter in Gemini native will seem to 'get it' and we see a glimpse of the best that Jupiter can offer, but it's very often at that moment that Jupiter in Gemini seems to get bored, or restless, or will tap into its self-sabotaging twin, or whatever, and will revert to some of the less attractive expressions of Jupiter.

Those with Jupiter in Gemini are also at risk of suffering from anxiety, or at the least will worry too much and overanalyse everything. Because of this, it's difficult to trust in oneself and in the world in general. It can be hard to make decisions based on the instinctual higher mind. Instead, it's easy to make what seem like rational decisions, but which are in fact not, because the lower, worry-full monkey mind has made the decision maker lose perspective on the issue at hand.

But life is nothing if not a journey of discovery, growth and learning, so a mistake made is a lesson for future success and those scattered Gemini energies can sometimes come together quite magically for Jupiter in Gemini people or those experiencing a transit from Jupiter in Gemini. Communication is key for this placement, connections need to be made, shared and verbalised. Through doing this, we can connect to something bigger than ourselves. In this space life becomes infinitely more meaningful.

My own Jupiter at 25 degrees of Gemini falls in my 1st House. That almost-maybe aspect to my Sun is an Opposition. It's just over 8 degrees in orb, out of sign and separating. That's why I don't count it. Sun-Jupiter natives are supposed to be over-confident, jolly, bubbly, bouncy, super-optimistic, indulgent. While I like to think I have many fine qualities, I wouldn't say they include any of the above. Consider that my Sun is in Capricorn in the 8th House! Jupiter in Gemini in detriment needs help and it's not going to get much from my Sun!

My Jupiter has a much more intimate relationship with my Mercury in Sagittarius. This planetary pair in these signs are in mutual reception (each falls in the other planet's detriment).  Mercury, therefore is where Jupiter in Gemini in detriment must look to for its support. The trouble is, Mercury in Sagittarius is also in detriment, so its a bit like the blind leading the blind. What this mutual reception and alignment (the two planets are in a 165 degree Quindecile aspect) begs me to do though is communicate effectively. This is both an obsession and a challenge. I have had times, particularly when I was younger, when I was so quiet I was almost mute, but as I get older there are more and more times when my mouth runs away with me and it takes a great deal of perceptiveness to know when to shut up. Often I'll say the wrong thing or be too honest and hurt the other person. Then there's the feeling that nobody's listening anyway. I wrote about this in The Curse of Mercury in Sagittarius.

The lesson is to find the perfect balance between quietness and noise. To speak up when needed and to recognise when it's time to let the silence speak. I strive to communicate with an open mind, intelligently, diplomatically and elegantly. I try not to worry too much and I try to have hope. I don't always get it right, but I do mean well. Perhaps this is the message for my Jupiter Return.

A Shameless Plug and a Special Offer:

To help me 'celebrate' my Jupiter Return I'm discounting my e-book Saturn in Scorpio: Your Guide Through the Dark until the end of June.

It is now available on Kindle from Amazon at $3.99 and equivalent in other currencies (normal price $5.99) or you can buy a PDF via PayPal direct from this blog for £4 or equivalent (normal price £7), just click the Buy Now button at the top right. Please note all PDF orders are sent out manually so there may be a delay of up to 24 hours between placing your order and receiving your book.

Here's a bit of blurb to whet your appetite:

Find out how you and your loved ones may be affected by Saturn in Scorpio.

Saturn in the intense, inscrutable and controlled sign of Scorpio may feel worrying, especially given the disruptive and unsettling changes the world and many individuals are facing.

This new book from Mandi Lockley - Saturn in Scorpio: Your Guide Through The Dark - is designed to help you successfully navigate the cold and deep waters of this transit and tap into its healing and transformative potential.

The major themes of Saturn in Scorpio are explored in-depth including issues of safety, fear and control; sex and intimacy; the power of love; rejection, anger, vengeance and forgiveness; the power of the unconscious and money, debt and taxes.

Discover how these themes and more may be relevant to you personally and how best to cope with them, but also discover how they will be reflected in the wider world.

Anxious about your Saturn transit? Saturn in Scorpio’s transit to your own birth chart is covered in detail, including its transit through your natal houses and to your planets. Many books and websites deal with astrological Saturn in general and Saturn transits in particular, but this book is specifically tailored to the unique experience of Saturn in Scorpio. It also includes an extended section on Saturn to Saturn transiting contacts and the Saturn Return.

This comprehensive astrological guide also examines how Saturn in Scorpio fits into other current and upcoming major planetary alignments including the ongoing revolutionary and disruptive Uranus-Pluto Squares and the Jupiter-Saturn-Neptune Grand Trine of 2013. Find out how we might see these energies manifest in the world around us.

Saturn in Scorpio: Your Guide Through The Dark also includes a bonus chapter on the Secondary Progressed Moon cycle - an important and very personal cycle of emotional maturity - and explains how it links with your personal Saturn cycle.

This book is suitable for all levels of astrological knowledge. Whether you are a beginner to astrology, a serious student, or a consulting astrologer working with clients, Saturn in Scorpio: Your Guide Through The Dark will be a valuable resource to help you through this challenging transit.

For the beginner, the book has instructions on how to calculate your Saturn transit and includes a Saturn in Scorpio ephemeris, for quick and easy calculation.

What readers have said:

Get this book! It will be a go to reference that you’ll return to again and again.
Auntie Moon

“Just to tell you how much I am enjoying your e-book ‘Saturn in Scorpio: Your Guide Through The Dark’. Congratulations for the excellent, informative, enlightening, deep book. It is worth every cent.” ME via Facebook

“I’ve purchased this e-book and can recommend it very highly. She’s an accessible writer. I’ve gone though it forwards and back, and re-read many passages over again, and each time I gather a bit more. It’s great to find a writer you can feel like quoting.” EJR, online

“I finished reading it, loved it, and will be re-reading it to my other half who has his Saturn return looming.” LL via Facebook

“I find it to be a wonderful guide...the descriptions of the Scorpio and Saturn themes are covered in an orderly fashion and Mandi Lockley offers not just some examples on how they may or may not manifest, but she also offers ways in which to work with these themes in a positive, more conscious manner. This e-book is just in time!” NR via email

“I’m in a heavy Saturn period and everything she said rang true, even things I don’t want to admit or face. But that’s what Saturn in Scorpio is for, right? Book Rec at ElsaElsa Boards

“Bought it, downloaded and read it (well most of it) and it rang true indeed. I liked it. Very good read.” ES, online