Photo by Amanda Painter
But what are you being called to review, assess and integrate? In part, that will depend on what Jupiter has been increasing, expanding or calling your attention to while it's been traveling through Scorpio since mid-October. You might want to consider whether anything in your life has seemed to be under a magnifying glass in those months. In other words, is there some inner experience or outer dynamic that has consistently called your attention to it?
Or, you might think about particular types of growth you've experienced these last five months—emotional, professional, financial, sexual, spiritual, physical, and so on. Jupiter is the planet of expansion, so the word 'excess' might be another way to think of this, depending on whether you feel like 'positive' things or 'negative' things have been on the increase. Is there anything in your life that seems outsized compared to your ability to handle, understand or guide it?
I ask, because although Jupiter is often cast as the 'lucky planet' (and often is, if you do your part), it also can magnify what isn't working or what one has been ignoring and needs to address. If that feels like it describes you, don't despair; Jupiter's retrograde offers you another chance to work with whatever it is and bring it into line. And if you feel like you've been on an exciting, upward trajectory, Jupiter's retrograde represents an opportunity to double-check things (especially your inner experience of what's been unfolding) and take stock. You can check the integrity of your growth and make sure it—and you—still align with your goals and values.
Jupiter stations retrograde tonight at 11:45pm EST, at 24 degrees of Scorpio. There's a set of channeled symbols for the degrees of the zodiac called the Sabian symbols, the most famous being the version reinterpreted by Dane Rudhyar. The symbol for 24 Scorpio is: "After having heard an inspired individual deliver his 'sermon on the mount,' crowds are returning home."
That might feel a little vague, but consider Rudhyar's keynote for that symbol: "The need to incorporate inspiring experiences and teachings into everyday living."
Rudhyar also notes the difficulty people often experience in assimilating what has been felt, heard and seen during "peak experiences"—that there is a need to allow such experiences to transform one's everyday consciousness and behavior so that it does not become confusing (or even toxic in some way). My sense is that he'd referring to the potential for the excitement, extremity and differentness of a peak experience to then give way to letdown when one returns to 'regular' life; or even the potential to get a little obsessed with the peak experience and the feelings it generated, and then have difficulty relating to non-peak experiences.
In other words, I think Rudhyar is describing disillusionment. Disillusionment can often lead to bitterness or other extreme reactions that are self-destructive. Perhaps the idea is to allow growth, peak experiences, and anything that has felt like a magnifying glass to be a window that lets us view possibility and potential, rather than 'the only way'. That possibility and potential then helps us to connect some dots in everyday life that show us the path toward our goal—knowing that life paths are never straight and rarely smooth.
One thing that crossed my mind in relation to these ideas is the mass school walkout planned for March 14, in which students are calling for stronger gun control measures in response to the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last month in Florida. While the shooting itself (and all like it) was horrific, the walkout could be a "peak experience" of sorts for many of these students (and their supporters), as they stand up and raise their voices collectively.
I sincerely hope their efforts generate some actual change; that said, I know that the gun lobby and the cultural mentality it has fostered is quite entrenched, and is not going to go away overnight. So there will be a need to integrate the feelings experienced during the walkout with the reality of going back to class (for the students and teachers). Not "going back to normal," exactly, but rather a process of marrying the experience of standing up with strength and in community with the reality of being a student—in a way that reflects some (perhaps subtle, perhaps dramatic) shifts in awareness and behavior.
That is just one specific example, however. Your review-and-integration process might involve working with something that's been expanding gradually, instead of a single isolated experience.
It could be something that you have not thought was a "big deal" at all, yet has been persistent enough to notice—like maybe your shopping habits have gotten a little looser than what your budget can handle. Or maybe you've been saying "yes" to many positive opportunities, and now you need to check whether you can juggle them all (or whether they all truly fulfill you and foster the kind of growth you seek). Perhaps you've been diving deep into healing something within yourself, and now you notice the need to backtrack a little and re-address some old material.
There are many ways you might experience Jupiter's retrograde through Scorpio, which lasts until July 10. That's three whole months—so you can afford to be gentle with yourself, and persistent, and curious. Your review and integration process need not happen overnight, or even in a week or a month. With Mercury and Venus now in Aries as of this past Tuesday, however, you might find yourself ready to take some initiative in getting the exploration going consciously. May Jupiter's blessings smile upon you as you do.
