A Year of Expanding Our Personal Effectiveness Through Responsible Group Work

Today we take an in-depth new look at the qualities of Jupiter in Capricorn, since we can use them to great benefit during the next 12 months.

Jupiter will occupy Capricorn for the first time since December 2007 through January 2009 beginning 10:20 am PST, 6:20 pm GMT on December 2. Here the planet of expansion and new openings moves from the wider views and greater truths found in its home sign of Sagittarius into the quest for personal power and effectiveness in Capricorn.

The “Distributive Fire,” also known as “Fire By Friction,” now gives way to visions of organized power expressed through group action. Capricorn is about responsibility, self-discipline, and one’s sense of duty to self and the purpose one knows instinctively is true for us. This is the sign of the wise elder who through long experience has come to know how to be appropriate in social environments.

Jupiter will move forward until it gets to 28 Capricorn, going stationary retrograde in mid-May. After that it retrogrades back to 18 Capricorn, where it goes stationary direct in mid-September. From there Jupiter rockets forward through the rest of Capricorn until it enters Aquarius on December 19, 2020, just before its fateful rendezvous with Saturn at 1 Aquarius at the Grand Mutation, launching a new 20 year and 200 year era! So Jupiter again occupies one sign for a little over a year (unlike Jupiter in Aries which went less than 3 months during Summer 2010 and 5 months in 2011).

Jupiter’s Qualities

So what’s the big deal about Jupiter entering Capricorn? First, let's revisit Jupiter's nature. Jupiter rules 2 signs. In other words, Jupiter finds its “home” in two signs, those being Sagittarius (Fire) and Pisces (Water). Those two signs offer us a glimpse of Jupiter's nature. We can learn a lot by examining how Jupiter functions in those two signs.

Jupiter was in Pisces from mid-January through early June 2010, and revisited that sign from early September 2010 through mid-January 2011. In Pisces, the water quality is emphasized, just as it was when Jupiter occupied Cancer from June 2013 through July 2014.

Before this past year, Jupiter last revealed its innate fire characteristics in 2007 when it was in it home sign of Sagittarius, and another type of Fire was expanded between June and September 2010, as well as January through June 2011 when it was in Aries. We got another dose of Jupiter in the Fire sign of Leo between July 2014 and August 2015, and have now completed a year of Jupiter again occupying its home sign of Sagittarius.

Being a combination of Sagittarius and Pisces, Jupiter rules "the open sky" as well as "the vast depth." Jupiter symbolizes ever-expanding forms of Higher Truth as well as deep feelings we share with all other humans throughout time.

So Jupiter is both Fire and Water, and Mutable by nature. In watery Scorpio from late 2017 through late 2018, Jupiter was in its element in a sign which gave Jupiter more stability and sticking power, holding energy in a “cocoon” until it broke out and broke free in Sagittarius this past year.

Jupiter’s Recent Transits

While it no doubt benefited from the Earth practicality when it was in Taurus from June 2011-12, and expanded its view in Gemini from June 2012-2013, it again found itself in the friendly Water element of Cancer from late June 2013 through July 2014. Jupiter in the Fire sign of Leo was in a sign harmonious to its nature with the added benefit of the steadiness of being in a Fixed sign.

It then occupied Virgo from August 2015 through September 2016. Virgo is not a sign friendly to Jupiter, since it is opposite its home sign of Pisces. Virgo is the 7th sign from Pisces, and the 10th sign from Sagittarius. Thus Jupiter in Virgo externalized whatever began when Jupiter was in Pisces and was made concrete in Aries, and marked a point of fulfillment of the things set into motion when Jupiter was last in Sagittarius.

Jupiter in Libra between Sept 2016 and Oct 2017 was a sign both beneficial and stressful for Jupiter. Libra is the 8th sign from Pisces, and the 11th sign from Sagittarius. That helped us all re-calibrate and re-balance many things, and we all danced with ideals to be embraced. In Scorpio we either attracted or failed to attract the substance needed to fulfill these ideals, and this past year marked the end of the Sagittarian cycle which began in 2007 and began a new one.

In astrology, we can see a lot by which third of the zodiac a planet it transiting. The first third involve Aries through Cancer, the second third is Leo through Scorpio, and the third third is Sagittarius through Pisces.

The initial Fire of Aries starts a process that is secured in Taurus, explored in Gemini, and anchored in personal feelings in Cancer. Leo begins the second set of “4 elements in motion,” but in signs of interactivity with others. What begins in Leo finds significant form and function in Virgo, comes to see a greater ideal in Libra, and grounds and focuses the magnetism in Scorpio.

In Scorpio, Jupiter’s naturally expansive expression finishes that third of the process. What began as confidence and dramatic forms of expression learned in Leo, given a refinement and practical significance in Virgo, and refined and made pleasing in Libra is given power in Scorpio by the depth intensity of the search, or quest, for what is beyond form. In Scorpio adventurous Jupiter went into the unknown, seeking expansive power, expansive voids to fill, expansive ways to turn defeat into victory, and loss into gain, as preparation for future adventures in Sagittarius.

We’ve now had a year of Jupiter beginning the final third of zodiacal experience, where the fire of Sagittarius will now be crafted into forms of personal power in Capricorn. This personal power will carry over into the Aquarian ideal of the greatest good for the greatest number, before it enters the final sign of the zodiac, Pisces, which is Jupiter’s other home.

What the Greatest of the Great Say About Jupiter in Capricorn

Grant Lewi, in his masterwork Astrology For The Millions, says Jupiter in Capricorn sees opportunities related to “practical sources,” where the expansion is toward whatever makes us “authoritative and consequential” people, where we follow whatever will bring us “acclaim.” He states this position offer a combination of “daring and caution,” where anything can be used “as a means to power.” He says this position will risk anything to gain power, but will never risk power for any reason. And finally, he offers us that this position ignores “irrelevant bypaths and blind alleys,” and plods onward along the path to whatever “High Place” we aspire to achieve.

Marc Edmund Jones, in his masterwork Astrology: How and Why It Works, says Jupiter in Capricorn "indicates the development of a consciousness which is characteristically self-exploiting, and quick in its response to new situations. It is motivated by “its own inexhaustible capacity in meeting any issue of life,” and “interested in dominating the milieu in which it finds itself,” where we can “continually prove our talents.”

Jupiter’s Outer Planet Aspects in Capricorn

Jupiter in Sagittarius did an off-again, on-again square to Neptune between December 2018 and February 2019, and again from May through October 2019. That meant we had integrative T-squares from both mid-Gemini and mid-Virgo, helping us integrate the Mutable sectors of our charts.

As it is closing on Saturn and Pluto, it made only semi-sextiles, elftiles, and deciles to those planets for most of the year. However, it did configure a variety of ways with Uranus! It began its entry into Sag in Nov 2018 with a quincunx to Uranus, moved into a biquintile, sesquisquare, and quadraelftile before going retrograde last April, It then made another sesquisquare in May and early June before going SD just before making a biquintile in August. It then made another sesquisquare in Sept-Oct, and now approaches its trine to Uranus followed by a quintile to Neptune in December 2019.

In 2020, Jupiter will make a cluster of very important aspects setting long wave cycles into motion. Late January and February show Jupiter tredecile Uranus, which is an extremely fortunate aspect, followed by a sextile to Neptune. Late Feb through March is extraordinarily dynamic, with Jupiter biseptile Uranus and then conjunct Pluto!

It goes retrograde at 28 Capricorn in May before making any other outer planet aspects. It then makes another biseptile to Uranus in June, followed by its second conjunction with Pluto. Jupiter then tredeciles Uranus in July accompanying its long wave sextile with Neptune from June through November 2020. After it goes direct in September, it will again sextile Neptune, tredecile Uranus, and conjunct Pluto in October and November. In late November Jupiter again biseptiles Uranus at the same time it conjuncts Pluto, and in December septiles Neptune and makes its fateful conjunction at 1 Aquarius with Saturn, creating the Grand Mutation ushering in a new 200 year era!

Mars-Jupiter Cycles and Aspects

Mars-Jupiter cycles are very important in how things activate in the world. The one we’re in now began when they made a conjunction in early Jan 2018 at 18 Scorpio, and as Mars is in Scorpio right now, we’re finishing that cycle and preparing for the next Mars-Jupiter cycle which begins in March 2020 at 23 Capricorn. So we’ll reap a harvest when Mars crosses 18 Scorpio in mid-December, seeing how we’ve been transfigured these past 2 years by knowing we did some sort of excellent work.

Mars begins the Jupiter in Capricorn year at 9 Scorpio, making a septile as the Jupiter year kicks off! This obviously “sets destiny in motion” which will take some dramatic turns when Mars enters Capricorn on February 16, triggering the Jupiter effect from that waning septile in early December. Mars makes only waning aspects before their conjunction in March, with the semisquare in the second and third weeks of December, and then a novile, decile, elftile, and semisextile from late December through late January.

After Mars conjuncts Jupiter in March, it begins a new series of waxing aspects in early May beginning with the semisextile. The elftile, decile, and novile all happen in the second half of May, with the waxing semisquare at the end of May and beginning of June. The month of June brings us the septile and sextile, the month of July brings a quintile and binovile, while August brings the waxing square, the first big turning point in the coming cycle!

In early September, Mars goes stationary retrograde at 29 Aries just before it makes a biseptile with Jupiter, and then retrogrades back to the square in October, making a lot of oppositions and T-squares with inner planets in Libra and Saturn and Pluto in late Capricorn! This throws a lot of integrative frictional energies into Cancer, so take note of what happens during the Cancer-Capricorn oppositions of mid-July through early September since those will show you elements of both the problems and solutions to come with the Mars T-squares.

You can also begin to position yourself productively during the inner planet transits in Aries. Venus makes squares to Saturn and Pluto in late February and early March 2020, and both the Sun and Mercury make those waxing squares in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th weeks of April.

In November and early December 2020 Mars flirts with a binovile to Jupiter before pulling farther away en route to squaring Jupiter in early January 2021 from 8 Taurus to 8 Aquarius. So the Jupiter in Capricorn year begins with Mars in early Scorpio and ends with Mars in late Aries. Seems the area in our chart between Scorpio and Aries will be highly active next year!

Mars-Jupiter Cycles Across Time

This past year while Jupiter was in Sagittarius, it was in its home sign, ruling itself and all the transits in Pisces and Sagittarius. Once Jupiter enters Capricorn, Saturn will become Jupiter’s dispositor. That returns Saturn to center stage for the two years Jupiter is in Capricorn and Aquarius, since Saturn rules both of those signs. That makes the 20 year cycle to come of extraordinary importance, since Saturn is the “governor” of all events occurring as a result of Mars conjuncting Saturn on March 31 and Jupiter conjuncting Saturn in December 2020. So Saturn will play a major part in all things involving Mars and Jupiter from late February on.

The Mars conjunct Jupiter cycle beginning at 23 Capricorn in March will also be in play for 2+ years, but it will be launched with and “governed” by Saturn at the 30th degree in its home sign of Capricorn. Interestingly, that cycle will feature Saturn in both Capricorn and Aquarius, its other “home” sign. It will still rule all things related to those signs the entire time, as well as any planets moving through those signs!

So that cycle should see a blend and shift of the fundamental energies governing the visible field as of the Spring of 2020, laying down some basic Aquarian structures in the world. Those Aquarian ideals and efforts will be launched in December 2020 when Jupiter enters Aquarius, not long after the next election. A new era beckons!

Other Important Things about Jupiter Moving from Scorpio to Sagittarius

Because of the span where Jupiter will be retrograde in Capricorn, we’ll enter its “shadow zone” in the third week of February, which will last until it goes SRX in mid-May at 28 Capricorn. It will RX back to 18 Capricorn where it goes SD in mid-September. It then moves back through its shadow zone until early December, when it finishes its stay in Capricorn.

Obviously, all the lessons I've discussed so far are playing out in the house(s) that transiting Jupiter is moving through in our charts. Remember Jupiter was the “nozzle” in all the focused Jones patterns during the years it was in Cancer through Libra. We all learned to feel more deeply and experience a stronger connectedness with All-That-Is when Jupiter was in Cancer (6/13-7/14) which allowed us to open to an expanded authentic self-expression while Jupiter occupied Leo (7/14-8/15).

We crafted that feeling-expression through work and attention to detail into a practical plan to improve our lives in Virgo (8/15-9/16), and shaped and refined it into something beautiful, pleasing, balanced, and/or transformed in Libra (9/16-10/17). It ceased to be “the nozzle” in Jones patterns in Scorpio, but still continued to intensify, purify, concentrate, and make our evolutionary process more focused during its time in Scorpio (10/17-11/18). This set the stage for seeing a greater truth, vision, or perspective about our place in the Divine Plan, and setting sail into that wider evolutionary awareness during its time in Sagittarius (11/18-12/19). We can now accept our power, or role to play, based on the visions and truths of the past year.

Though Jupiter is no longer the nozzle for any Jones pattern, and won’t be for many years to come, it’s still the entry planet for the occupied span of outer planets between Capricorn and Taurus. Except for when Pluto leads the occupied span between April and June, Jupiter will be the gateway until it conjuncts Pluto for the third and last time in November 2020. At that point in time, Pluto will lead the occupied span of outermost planets until Jupiter’s next waning phase with Pluto which begins 2026, initiating the “Spring” of the 21st century!

Jupiter Teaches Us to See the Bigger Picture in All Areas of Life

By examining the life areas of each house, we can see the progressive lessons Jupiter teaches us on a year-to-year basis. Since it takes about 11-12 years to make an entire circuit through all the signs, we can learn how the expansions and openings that happened when it crossed our Ascendant, Sun, or planets are related to what we learned in subsequent year periods about those life qualities.

Our natal Jupiter in its sign shows us where we naturally learn and embrace various kinds of "quests." Regardless of what sign our natal Jupiter is in, Jupiter transits teach our Jupiter a greater openness to wider truths and futures as it moves through its 12 year “pulse” of evolutionary expansion. We now leave a year when Jupiter in Sagittarius “taught” our natal Jupiter about “life as adventure,” where we learned, imagined, and opened to other possible futures and greater Truths than we knew before. Now we enter a year when Jupiter in Capricorn will teach our natal Jupiter more about structure, discipline, and responsibility so we may become more effective in our society.

Regardless of how we're living the adventure of our life, Jupiter in Sagittarius opened new futures based on what we let go of when Jupiter was in Scorpio. Now, an even greater, larger, or wider quest begins! Whatever we learned about our freedom to grow beyond the known and familiar is now going to open greater worldly opportunities, where we can explore things which are more appropriate to our evolved sense of Self on our Life Quest.

We can renew our sense of intention, and open our imagination in ways which will open doors to a greater effective power and group work. We expanded into more perfect forms of relationship and archetypal roles during Jupiter in Libra; we “broke on through to the other side, yeah” in Scorpio; we blasted off into “Space, the final frontier” when Jupiter was in Sagittarius. Now we can claim our power and effectiveness in our new mission.

These are the voyagers of the Starship Aquariuspapers. “Its five years mission: To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.” We’ve launched into inner and outer space, and now it’s time to coordinate with the Federation as we explore new roles and responsibilities!

Reprinted on crystalwind.ca with persmission from Robert Wilkinson.