by Robert Wilkinson
On September 4 Jupiter goes stationary retrograde at 16 Taurus and will remain retrograde until December 30 when it will go direct at 6 Taurus. What does this mean?
First, it means that the Jupiter adventure we’ve been doing as it raced through Aries between January and May has now hit a high water mark at 16 Taurus, and we will begin to review all the Jupiter related things that have come up since mid-June, when Jupiter went into its shadow zone for the first time. Since then we’ve gotten a look at the span between 6 and 16 Taurus, and now get another look at that same span of experience, but from a retrograde angle instead of a direct angle.
This span involves the entire emotional and social level, as well as the individual, mental, and spiritual levels of the Scene of Substantiation (first half of Taurus) and the initial entry degree to the actional, material, and physical levels of the Scene of Confirmation (last half of Taurus). That means we get a review of these parts of Taurus, giving us a “future look” at Taurus skills and insights to be applied when Jupiter moves through its shadow zone between late December 2023 and late March 2024.
A crucial factor in this retrograde is that Jupiter is retrograding through the exact span that Mercury retrograded through in late April and early May. So Mercury gave us a dress rehearsal for what we can expect with this Jupiter retrograde, except that where Mercury is narrow, Jupiter is broad. Where Mercury is precise and meticulous, Jupiter is very expansive and occasionally sloppy. Where Mercury gives an ordered immediacy, Jupiter gives a vision of a flamboyant future.
Also, whatever “news” Mercury brought us about the themes of this span has been a Mercurial influence since April, because of that retrograde being in play until late August when Mercury again went retrograde. So we’ve gotten a lot of signs, signals, and information that the old answers can’t confirm our new life conditions, and old approaches won’t get the job done.
Given the retrograde quality of these lessons, I’d say the earlier one prepared us for the expanding of those themes for the rest of the year. By next year we should have all the Mercurial and Jupiterian information we need to embrace 2024 with new ideas, new answers, and new approaches which we’ll be practicing for the next 4 months!
Jupiter will retrograde back to 6 Taurus by mid-December and remain there until mid-January, setting the platform for all Jupiterian things in 2024. Be ready to join with others in efforts to build bridges and cross “chasms” in January, but between now and then, find a new plan, get a new understanding, and remember this entire period is building “spiritual character” as we return to simpler joys for pleasure and revitalization.
Mobilize the last half of October, and take a look around to see if you need other things to be your new role. By November you’ll either renew a “consecration” or you will realize you dedicated yourself to something in the past which needs reconsideration and/or renewal.
So we now review the emergent factors in our lives since June, seeing the potentials, protections, blessings, opportunities, and newer, more expansive ways of expressing ourselves. This assists the rapidly unfolding Aquarian work set into motion at the Grand Mutation of 1 Aquarius in December 2020, affecting us all for 200 years to come. This impacts our group work, our ability to contribute to a greater good, and find “new wineskins for new wine.” We now review the future we’ve glimpsed so we may come to understand our higher potentials in the Taurus part of our chart.
Jupiter in Libra (9/16-10/17) taught us ways of being balanced as we move through our world, and new perspectives in our life interests. Jupiter in Scorpio (10/17-11/18) taught us about desire, loss, and magnetism, and our need to eliminate all that would block us from living our higher values. Jupiter in Sag (11/18-12/19) took us beyond forms, beyond binding forces, and gave us a greater adventure wherever it falls in our chart. Jupiter in Capricorn (12/19-12/20) brought many things together, gave us new Jupiter/Saturn and Jupiter/Pluto cycles, and taught us the value of using power in disciplined ways.
Jupiter in Aquarius (12/20-5/21, 7/21-12/21) taught us ways of opening to a greater vision, a greater good, and a greater ideal. Jupiter in Pisces (5/21-7/21, 12/21-5/22, 10/22-11/22) opened us to a greater compassion, a greater “collective feeling experience,” and for those who are in training for world service, a greater empathy and ability to know, both near and at a distance, what is going on anywhere the consciousness is focused on. Jupiter in Aries (5/22-10/22, 12/22-5/23) taught us ways of questing on our own initiative into newer, more pioneering openings, and Jupiter in Taurus is teaching us ways of opening to a more enjoyable way of “doing our Being” as we substantiate and confirm new conditions.
The Sabian Symbol for Jupiter’s Stationary Retrograde Degree
The Sabian symbol for the 16th degree of Taurus is “An old man attempting vainly to reveal the Mysteries.” In the Astrology of Personality, where Rudhyar uses the original Dr. Jones' class notes on the symbols, he states this degree is about “conscious possession of more knowledge and potentiality than can be used,” “great inner fullness,” and “spiritual loneliness.”
In "The Astrological Mandala he states this degree is about “the inadequacy of past knowledge in a time of crisis.” He goes on to say this part of the zodiac deals with the “emergence of new developments” where “traditional concepts are not adequate to confirm the new conditions of existence.”
He offers that “even the most consecrated tradition does not have the real answer to the problem,” and that “from the Zen point of view the mind facing trouble should not depend on past concepts but should repeat “Not this! Not that!” until the pure Void is reached.” He states this degree falls in the Span of Enjoyment, and is the first degree in the Scene of Confirmation on the actional and material level of the Act of Differentiation.
Dr. Marc E Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this is a degree of “the need to share whatever may be the ultimate substance of selfhood, as brought here to a personal realization on the intellectual side.” He says this degree implies “an awakening to a transient inadequacy, and a stirring to the effort which of itself is a promise of fulfillment once the proper conditions have been established.”
He offers that “There is revolt against inertia which threatens the very core of selfhood.” He offers us the keyword PERTINACITY, and states that when operating in a positive manner, this degree is “the uncompromising integrity of higher vision and an unshakeable determination to dramatize it.”
So we enter a 4 month period of learning to see how we may have “awakened to a transient inadequacy” in the past, or may need to rouse ourselves against “an inertia” which takes us away from our center of power. This is a Jupiterian platform to review what we first began to realize in April and May, so take a new look at finding new ways, new ideas, new methods of expanding your knowledge or wisdom.
This retrograde will help us see the larger picture of the greater truth and future in any group work we’re doing, so keep integrating your vision, your commitment, and your sense of spiritual-social connections to “pre-form” the pathways to a greater truth, vision, and timeless labor next year. Keep moving through the world living the highest truths you can, allowing your Soul to express through your Higher Self using your mind, feelings, and bodies as a perfectly attuned vehicle to demonstrate your spiritual truths. Experience your spiritual heritage by feeling what has been preserved, or what needs preserving.
Summing Up
As Jupiter now retrogrades, preparing to take us “back to the future” in Taurus, we now get a new look at the area in our charts between 6 and 16 Taurus. As this span helps us to a new view of what is substantial, what needs to be made substantial, or what is no longer substantial in our lives and spiritual work, we’ll have opportunities to simplify and enjoy where we’re at and what’s in flux. Because Jupiter teaches us what is possible and what it not, it’s time to take a look back at the rapidly developing opportunities and/or truths we’ve experienced since May, a take a new look at how we can be natural, easy going, and authentic in a greater contribution we might make to our world.
Just remember to enjoy the ride, and try not to get too freaked out while you’re seemingly in reverse motion re-approaching another passage through what began in a great upheaval in May. We’re already in the new realm, and this gives us another look at how we can become better bridge builders with others in our spiritual group.
Jupiter retrograde in Taurus will be good for glimpsing how to BE while still aware of our connection to the collective field. Keep integrating your body, feelings, and mind into the larger benevolent consciousness that you ARE behind the masque of personality. This offers us a period of reflections and revisions in our sense of what works and what doesn’t, so trust what you’ve experienced about your unique part in the ocean of existence, seeing how things have changed since the Spring.
During the coming months, Jupiter will be opposed by all the inner planets, creating a “tension of opposites” which will be very beneficial in bringing forth our power to act effectively in our own way. During Jupiter’s retrograde, we will again see our spiritual companions in a new light, preparing for the rapid developments which will be secured in stable forms when Jupiter races through Taurus during the first four months of 2024.
Use this time of review, reflection, and reconsideration well. There is a lot of work to be done as we open to the New Era and its changing requirements in action, feeling, and thought. There will be a lot of specialization and productivity during this Jupiter retrograde due to the quintiles and sextiles it makes to Saturn, so have confidence that even though some things may seem to be going backward, actually it’s a very productive time preparing us for rapid developments in early 2024!
Because Jupiter is retrograde, expect reviews and returns of a Jupiterian nature wherever you have the first half of Taurus. So whether you’re looking back at how you came to the group work and compassion you have, or how your journey brought you to this spiritual understanding, you are now glimpsing a future which will manifest in a huge way in 2024.
You entered the Mystery in 2018, and allowed your life to be transfigured by previous inspired truths and teachings. 2019 offered wide open spaces of spiritual expansion as prelude to major shifts begun at the Grand Mutation of 2020 at 1 Aquarius, ushering in the pre-initiatives of a new great Age. 2021 took us into glimpses of “the Edge of the Great Age,” and 2022 launched us into a new identity and a last look back before this part of the quest commenced in 2023. Review how you got here, and practice skills which will make you a Master of your future Destiny. You’ve going deeper – now it’s time to see how widely your life has expanded since May!
Copyright © 2023 Robert Wilkinson
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