"I've got good news. That gum you like is going to come back in style."
—The Man from Another Place, from "Twin Peaks," Season 1, Episode 3
In astrology, Jupiter represents style trends, among many other things. The largest of the planets (1,200 times the size of Earth) orbits our Sun in about 12 years, exerting so much gravity on our central star that the Sun oscillates as Jupiter tugs on it. By the way, you can tell that to anyone who claims that the obstetrician exerts more gravity on the newborn baby than does Jupiter (by which logic astrology cannot possibly be true). I've never seen a doctor cause a star to wobble.
I don't think astrology is based on gravity, though. Reading the charts is the art of reading symbols, whether they have any mass or not. Points with no mass, weight, or size can have an influence. For example, what is a "sign"? It's a direction in space. Is there really a young woman living up in Virgo?
In our minds there is. Virgo is the astrological home of the Goddess. It's true that other signs are ruled by Venus and that Virgo is ruled by Mercury, who is androgynous. But you might think of Mercury in this capacity as a servant of the Goddess, capable of doing something that's nothing less than tantric: bridging the gap and opening common space between maleness and femaleness.
Last month Jupiter arrived in Virgo. It was last in that sign between August 2003 and September 2004. Those were difficult times, at the peak of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, during the first term of the Cheney-Bush presidency.
Despite the rawness of emotions and the still-open and infected wound of the September 11 incident, there was a feeling in the air: We must do something about this. I don't miss the Cheney-Bush presidency, but I do miss the spirit of devotion that was infused into the peace movement, especially in the form of documentary journalism—that is to say, actual thought, analysis, and reasoning, mainly emerging on what was then a much smaller, simpler, and decidedly less commercialized Internet.
In traditional astrology, Virgo represents food and the places where food is stored, in particular, grain and dairy. For modern humans these are essential. In the Northern Hemisphere, the Sun passes through Virgo during the time of harvest, when the crops are coming in and being processed, preserved and stored. This is a central concept of civilization; the difference between humans roaming around as small bands of hunter-gatherers and humans as the dwellers of towns and cities is our ability to grow and preserve food.
By a series of associations, Virgo in modern astrological thought includes service, medical care, healing, and teaching. In my experience there is a larger concept: Virgo and the axis it forms with its opposite sign Pisces represent the holistic principle. Everything is related to everything else. When we really want to address a situation or problem, it's helpful to invoke whole-system thinking: that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Any aspect of the environment can also influence the whole environment.
Said another way, what we think of as physical and spiritual are aspects of the same thing, accessible through each other. This idea is slowly catching on. For example, a scant few people are starting to notice how they feel after drinking two liters of diet soda, contrasted with how they feel better after drinking some water. The "mind-body connection" is a popular phenomenon most easily found in yoga.
In astrology, the concept of an axis of two signs—in this scenario, the Virgo-Pisces polarity—is essential to understanding just about anything. What we have with Jupiter in Virgo is the planet representing Pisces visiting its opposite sign. This is relational; it's an image of seeming opposites morphing together. It's an image of fertility—of the cosmic waters of Pisces soaking into the earthy territory of Virgo. Virgo and Pisces depend on each other, as do all the opposite signs. Now we get to experiment with what happens when there's a real mutual union between them.
Why I say "mutual" is that Chiron is presently in Pisces. Chiron does not "rule" Virgo, as it was not a factor in classical astrology. But it's certainly a representative of Virgo, in terms of Chiron's devotion to service, healing, and teaching. Chiron is still on its long but not long enough visit to Pisces (spanning from early 2010 through early 2019). This invokes the ancient astrological con cept of reception—Chiron in Pisces and Jupiter in Virgo are vibrating together, receiving each other's energy.
Planet spotters can note that the exact oppositions between Jupiter and Chiron will take place on November 3, 2015, February 23, 2016, and August 12, 2016. These dates represent potential thresholds, turning points, or peak moments in whatever relationships, projects or transformations are represented by the Virgo-Pisces dynamic.
Let's add one more thought: Jupiter also represents Sagittarius. So therefore, clever, practical Virgo is also being infused with the at once worldly and unworldly wisdom of Sagittarius. This will expand the scope of Virgo, giving it a wider range of perception and more tools to use in its journey of healing and service. Jupiter also stands for the benefits of whatever we do. With Jupiter in Virgo, it will be easier to consider the benefits of taking care of one another and taking care of the planet.
I have an official sign description of Virgo, which I recently saw quoted somewhere: "Virgo is a mentally oriented, highly intelligent, nervous sign that needs to remember it's made of the element earth, not air. That's another way of saying that your life is a constant process of translating from idea to reality and back. Ideas are not enough. Yours is not the sign of science but applied science.
"The difference is similar to that between working in theoretical physics and learning how to be a master baker, or using your skill in chemistry to be an expert hair colorist. Applying ideas can be challenging because the mental world changes so much faster than the often-stuck dynamics of the physical world, and we're often at a loss for how to translate between the two. That would be your job: to identify ideas and how to apply them; to match up problems with corresponding solutions."
Of all my concepts of Virgo, applied science is my very favorite one. This resonates with an idea offered by Woodstock-based therapist, philosopher and gemcutter Joseph Trusso, who has Virgo rising: Use what you know.
Imagine all that wisdom flowing into Virgo by way of Sagittarius and Pisces—that's a lot of opportunity to apply the things you've learned to the life that you're living, and to the world situation.
Speaking of.
The world situation is so dire that most people seem to have given up doing anything about it, or even wanting to think about it. There seems to be maturity and wisdom in the notion that you can't do anything anyway. That idea, of course, is bait for apathy: So why bother? Rather, just take care of yourself, feed your habits, and either a) trust that everything will work out for the best or b) that nothing drastic will go wrong. Have a good time; don't worry about anyone who has it worse than you, because that's bad luck.
Meanwhile, I am often amazed when I think of the number of self-help books that have been sold and read, reaching the top of the bestseller lists, and the healing workshops that have been taken by so many people, and the years and years of spiritual practice engaged in by millions of people—and meanwhile, we are still witnessing the world in what appears to be a serious slide into the abyss, much of which is emotional.
It's also true that wars and wildfires are raging. Major economies are wobbling. The wealthy are gobbling up things like $100 million Manhattan condominiums as investments that they plan to leave vacant. There exist a vast number of people with so much wealth, they seem to have no idea what to do with it. The reality is that doing something with it—that is, taking an active role in the world, and focusing one's mind on what we might contribute—directly contradicts the way of life of possessing, amassing, and keeping. This too is largely about matters of spiritual and emotional healing. Many seemingly different topics are drawn in, like survival, death, how we treat the other, and how far our scope of existence expands into time and space.
Said another way, do you think you're part of something larger than yourself? Do you notice the extent to which your environment actually does nourish you? What is your role in the exchange?
When we talk about the concept of using what we know, and applying the wisdom we gained from so much study and reflection, we're talking about action—that is, what we actually do. There seems to be a contemporary concept that in living the best way I can, I am doing all I can. In being the best person I can be, I am doing what I can. That is true, if we're talking about the beginning of the process, not the end.
The idea that "we're all in this together" has taken a beating in recent years. It is directly contrary to the prevailing political views of our time, which are all about being rich, getting richer, laws that favor only the extremely wealthy, and elections determined more and more by money rather than issues. This is largely on the political level, but applying the holistic principle, we can see that politics is a method of organizing not just society but also thought and the frameworks of ideas—that is, the ideas that make up who we think we are, and therefore how we should act on any given day.
Using what you know is the same as the spirit of service. That might be in service of what actually makes sense for you personally, or what makes sense for you to do within a wider concept of your environment. It means not pretending to not know what you do know, i.e., recognizing the problem with denial. The fact that denial is such a popular mental habit does not mean that it's good for you or for anyone else.
But it takes real focus and intention to come out of denial (and dealing with what you denied). You might say that's the whole purpose of spiritual training, of therapy, of community work, of political participation, of nearly anything that requires you to say to yourself, "Yes, I get it," and to the take the next step of doing what makes sense in the context of knowing; of getting it.
I would propose here and now that a great deal of the pain or discomfort or fear or depression that you may experience from time to time, or often, could be resolved by "getting it" and doing what makes sense in that context.
The 1960s were an extraordinary time in history. I don't want to romanticize them but there was, in fact, a spirit of awakening and of action and participation. The notions that we're all in this together and that we share a common space, and doing something with what we know, were more widely practiced. The essence of 1960s astrology involved Virgo and Pisces. There were many breakthroughs in that era, and in some ways we are still riding on its coattails. I think the most significant experience of that era was the actual sensation that we're all in this together.
We still are. And the idea that we are has never counted for more than it does today. It may be easy to live in a bubble, but I assure you, it's lonely, and eventually you'll run out of air. Meanwhile, it's very likely you know exactly what to do, because you're called to do it every day.
