by Robert Wilkinson
in the first post I gave you a quick update about what to expect now that Jupiter is entering Cancer. Today we take an in-depth new look at the qualities of Jupiter in Cancer, since we can use them to great benefit during the next 12 months.
Jupiter now enters Cancer for the first time since 2013-2014 on June 9. Here the planet of expansion and new openings to wider views and greater truths finds expression in all things involving our security, comfort, day to day life, and root feelings where we have Cancer.
Jupiter gets to 26 Cancer before going stationary retrograde on November 11. This year's retrograde period will take it back to 16 Cancer, where it goes stationary direct next March. Thus it’s in Cancer for the rest of this year and the first half of 2025.
So let's revisit Jupiter's nature. As I noted in previous articles on Jupiter, that planet rules Pisces as well as Sagittarius. Those two signs offer us a glimpse of Jupiter's nature. We could learn a lot by examining how Jupiter functions in those two signs.
Jupiter was in Pisces from mid-May through late July 2021, January through early May 2022, and November through the December 2022 Solstice. In Pisces, the water quality is emphasized, just as the fire quality was shown to us back in 2019 when it was in Sagittarius and the times it was in Aries mentioned above.
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 Fiery Aries, Jupiter was in its element, in a sign that takes the initiative in embracing the new. In Aries the expansive principle flames on in dynamic ways, opening new doors after closing the old ones in Pisces. What is initiated in Aries is substantiated and secured so it may endure in Taurus.
Like the Earth of Jupiter in Taurus, the Air of Gemini was an unfamiliar element for Jupiter. Earth and Air are “cool” signs, while Fire and Water are “hot” signs. So Jupiter’s essentially a “hot” planet, and has completed a 2 year period of “cooling off.” The Earth of Taurus is practical and steady, bringing focus as a Fixed sign, followed by a year of cool air. While the element was foreign, Jupiter IS a mutable planet which got to experience a world of distributive ideas.
Now Jupiter gets to experience two years of “friendly and familiar” elements, the Water of Cancer and the Fire of Leo. The coming year will bring the expressive side of Jupiter’s compassion and forgiveness for those who open to it. Whereas Gemini opposed Jupiter’s home sign of Sagittarius, Cancer brings a new type of expression to Jupiter.
We can understand even more by contemplating that Cancer is the 5th sign from Pisces, and the 8th sign from Sagittarius. Thus Jupiter in Cancer expresses its Pisces qualities in the social-interactive world, while eliminating all which hinders its humor, freedom, and ability to explore vast vistas of life experience. This prepares Jupiter for creative service in Leo, pursuing higher and nobler truths of its Sagittarius nature.
Jupiter in a sign ruled by the Moon brings the Shamanic Healer Guide to the sign of The Innocent/Primal archetype. This part of the quest involves exploring one’s primal innocence or conscience, the part of us which knows the right thing to do without ulterior motives and considerations getting in the way. This is a time to explore the depths of your willingness to care and provide, whether for yourself, others, or both. This will be excellent for giving us protection and comfort as we learn to offer compassion and empathy to others.
During the year Jupiter was in Gemini we learned thought experiments from the land of perception; during the year Jupiter is in Cancer we will expand our feeling capacity and know what we care about. Jupiter’s duality is Wealth/Poverty, and as I offer in my book Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend, this is the aspect of consciousness showing how we are grasping circumstances with abundance or neediness.
By our Jupiterian function we waste time, energy, or money, or are expansive in ways others can mistake for weakness, and thus learn to use what we are given so our vision can be made real. This part of personality teaches us to understand the eternal abundance of the Universe by giving us those things we need when we need them. Saturn teaches us to accept them and use them wisely.
Jupiter is said to be "exalted in Cancer." That means the expansive quality of Jupiter finds its "grounds of greatest growth" in the tender caring of Cancer. Jupiter is a double mutable planet (Sag and Pisces) and so does well with the Cardinal quality of initiative found in Cancer, and is in familiar territory of the Water quality of Cancer. It could be said that Cancer is where Jupiter "playfully expresses" its Pisces side.
So we begin a year of expansive Jupiter in the realm of personal feelings. I would think at its best we can love and care abundantly, unafraid of intimacy while understanding the needs and boundaries of all.
Jupiter in Cancer should bring us confidence in the life areas where we have Cancer in our chart. Jupiter in Cancer is more centered than Jupiter in Gemini, and should allow us to enjoy life’s abundance at whatever level we live. This should give us broader understanding of all things Cancer, and allow us to be free of clutching, insecurity, or petty feelings.
What Two of the Greatest Say About Jupiter in Cancer
Grant Lewi, in his masterwork Astrology For The Millions, says Jupiter in Cancer “causes you to see opportunity along lines that promote security and luxury, and Is therefore an excellent business, money-making position. You aren’t grasping, but you are careful, because your wants are comparatively great, and you strive in every way you can to satisfy them.
The final end of opportunity is to you a pleasantly furnished home with all the trimmings of luxury, and one way or another you will generally have it. You will not see opportunity along lines that jeopardize this, and play your hand close to your chest, even when you may appear to be daring. You have just as much regard for the security and comfort of others as you have for your own, and thus are generous, charitable and openhanded with what you possess. Home, children, friends are important, and in gratifying this side of your ego, you are likely to become a substantial and respectable pillar of the society whose niceties you value and want for your own.”
Marc Edmund Jones, in his masterwork Astrology: How and Why It Works, says Jupiter in Cancer "indicates the development of a consciousness which is characteristically self-satisfied, and quick in its response to new situations.” Jupiter in Cancer is motivated by "its own complete tolerance for experience in any given phase,” and “is interested in the perfection of living” while needing “a continued reinforcement of his own cloistered reality.”
From Here We Go On
Obviously, all I've discussed so far is playing out in the house(s) that transiting Jupiter is moving through in our charts. This is a time when the deeper feelings and connectedness we initiated with Jupiter in Pisces, opened in new ways of doing our Being during Jupiter in Aries, secured as a steady movement in Taurus, and opened new understanding in Gemini can now open to a greater enjoyment of life and access to what we need while Jupiter is in Cancer.
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.
It's also a time when the Cancer energies can "teach" our natal Jupiter more about exploring closer connections with self and others, regardless of what sign our natal Jupiter is in. Our natal Jupiter in its sign shows us where we naturally learn and embrace various kinds of "quests." Jupiter transits show us how we relate to our natural openness to a greater truth or future.
Regardless of how we're living the adventure of our life, Jupiter in Cancer shows us how that quest or adventure is related to our feelings, needs, and way of experiencing personal feelings. We can now expand our caring, kindness, understanding, and capacity to nurture and be nurtured. This transit encourages us to take the ideas and perceptions of the past year and use them to get what we need to enjoy life to a greater degree. We now begin an adventure into a whole new view of things!
© Copyright 2025 Robert Wilkinson
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