Me and Jupiter

I have no recourse but to chuckle sometimes when people tie themselves into anxious knots trying to be positive. It's a sure sign that they are masking their own fears about negativity, which is understandable. Curmudgeons are not always popular.

It is a fact, however, that hanging around unhappiness, sharing misery and what not, can train you to be less overcome by the normally occurring bad experiences of living. Theoretically. The brain is wired toward negativity and some people relish the downside, others run and hide, some sugar coat and wait to be rescued, and the lucky few wise ones take it in stride. Most of us have experienced trauma and completely recovered. Many times. A voice in us knows that it's likely to come again. How often does it take before we have confidence? Before we trust in the overall cosmic mechanism?

Positive is positive and doesn't need proof or dictatorial enforcement. It bubbles naturally. Some are eager to castigate other humans, ejecting them from the inner sacred circle of good dare they defy the ruling. Some look to the planets to bail them out, Jupiter being a traditional favorite. Some become millionaires teaching you how to improve your bad attitude, but most seem to live on a diet of anti-depressants in one form or another, trying valiantly to keep up.
Astrology used to be inclined toward hocus pocus in its strict lines separating good and evil planets, but things are changing and the structured systems of old are being blasted away. Assumptions about positive and negative work best when kept in good ratio. And predictions about outcomes are best grasped with a loose and flexible hand. A moderate investment.

Picture this. I have moon conjunct Jupiter in Sagittarius on the 9th house cusp, the only thing above the horizon, the tip of a kite formation shooting out into the universe. The moon rules my Cancer Sun. I am a leaping fire-breathing embodiment of Jupiter and I'm familiar with the entity's behavior. Depending on when I was slapped, Jupiter seems to be just on the 8th house side meaning arcane information is at my beck and call with a deep feeling connection to the planet's character, added to by the moon placement. I have a good disposition, but man, I can be negative (Jupiter inflates that too). It's usually a passing Cancer mood and doesn't affect my overall philosophy, which is, "So what. I'll figure something out." C-est la vie and Que Sera Sera, as Doris Day sang so pointedly with her good intonation.

"You believe in the goodness of life," they say about my planets. Yes, that's right. But the goodness is not what you think it is. I believe in a benevolent force in the universe that I can easily access, not that experiences are necessarily "good." Upbeat times are a lead-in to unhappy ones and vice versa. So in ways the low ones contain more hope. It never fails to swing. Since I believe that I control very little in the world, and that most of it is in invisible hands, I have no choice but to trust it. I'm kind of stuck.

Experiences are all valuable to me, as long as I don't pass out, and my positivity rests on my view that things make sense. The sequence is just right as it is. Sometimes the terrible things give back the most gain ultimately. It's what you call being an opportunist. I don't demand that life be a certain way since I've discovered that it does what it does, and no matter what, I'm protected on my safe journey to my death. If I sort of dance with it it twirls me around with adequate gentleness, and not being good at leading, I have a tendency to relax into my partner's arms. I'm easy, if a bit too slow.

It's all in the game and my metaphysical position is that I came here and this is what I got. It's not that things are good, because they're not. It's a matter of contrast. Negative is an equal part of it. Plus and minus create energy and electrical flow -- life's movement. Jupiter calls the individual to live fully not tarrying long enough to decide if it's good or bad. Enthusiastic participation is the key, and the Jupiterian knows that one thing begets another. Experience itself is good.

We hook on to externals as a reflection of something going on inside which is why some people feel the pain more than others at any given time. Frightfully negative events are always happening and each individual reacts uniquely, and that can change from minute to minute with fleeting moods. There is no ordered way of behaving. If someone seems too detached to another, then maybe the one who needs emotion is missing sympathy in their own lives. If another is crying copious tears maybe they are feeling a little too sorry for themselves and could use some high and dry separation. And as I said, some who insist on brushing it off with a positive attitude could be afraid of their own negatives. It could be a missed opportunity with a chance to take a little walk through the dark night of the soul for some added feeling. The collective emotion is important but the way it hits is usually a symbol of the personal. It's a perfect road map to self understanding and even directional choices, this personal reaction. Searching for others to rescue you from yourself only works momentarily.

The more the negative is denied, the less likely the positive will flow in for contrast and balance. They actually work well together, with all the angles there are in any situation. The philosophical comprehension of experience works perfectly with Jupiter. Rolling with the punches maintains the identifying joviality and volatile spirit of Jupiter and Sagittarius. Fearing trouble excessively is completely useless. A healthy respect works quite well. It comes to everyone and we're equipped to handle it. Big trouble often comes unannounced anyway. It loves that.

Hope doesn't depend on people or even events. It's a trust in circumstance, good and bad. One knows the wheel is always turning around and things work themselves out. And now Pluto's after more, parking himself on our country's Jupiter as he has been. The trip through Sagittarius didn't fully do it. I agree it was short. Positive is not what you might think it is, but it's always there, often riding bareback on a negative.

You recall Pluto at the end of Sagittarius? Remember the soaring wave of optimism? Heights like that generally follow a path downward. Jupiter also deflates as easily as it inflates and long term positive can go missing. But short term is always available.

Jupiter's ebullience rode itself out nicely and now that Saturn is settling in, the future has taken on a different tone if one cares to speculate. Not quite as nonsensically enthusiastic. Neither pleasant nor malevolent can label the future at this point. You know it's going to be both. We select what we will.

While it's necessary to have a vision of better times, it's equally important to study current realities. And those who believe magic is going to exonerate the crowd could easily feel the same way when they get to the destination -- frustrated, probably depressed, and looking for better times. Future bailouts. And the fact of the matter remains ... things are good enough now in some ways and wisdom suggests banking on the assets already in hand, if I may use the B word. One of those assets is a place for ethical behavior in the human psyche that doesn't ever go away. The ruthless and corrupt have their places, too, but Jupiter lets a lot of it slide. You know Sagittarius. "Water off a duck's back."

In the ninth house, after the deep interpersonal bonding of Scorpio and the eighth, the seeker becomes aware of a broader universe and the source of guidance is questioned. This leads her to god figures quite often, but the idea is to gain perception of so called higher realms. I just call them far out. I think we're led by an intrinsic systemic intelligence, but then again, I have a Moon-Joop in Sag. I've not found individual humans to be accurate personifications of this intelligence as far as guiding humanity is concerned. So I don't follow them, and in some of my "negative" moods, I'm identified as an iconoclast. Yet I think every individual has this intelligence and guides her or himself perfectly as it pans out. The sum total of our individual destinies creates this wild collective experience and it's truly amazing running on automatic pilot like it does. Safety and goodness are relative. We are our own leaders, thankfully.

The reason I bring this up is because of the Pluto transit to US Venus and Jupiter, and the disaster that's occurred whilst the planet is nestled exactly between the two. I recently had Pluto to my Jupiter and in the next part of this discussion I'll tell you about it and why the country is positioned where it is and what possibilities are available.