Jupiter: ‘Great Benefic’ or the Joker in the Pack?

Jupiter, known in Greek myth as Zeus, king of the gods, has been perceived for centuries as the ‘Great Benefic’, and many astrologers assume that this planet will always herald good fortune, opportunities for betterment, and material and emotional rewards. Sometimes this interpretation is entirely valid. At other times it isn’t, as anyone tracking the 2020 transit of Jupiter conjuncting Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn might have observed. Hopes that the pandemic would soon be over were dashed as cases of Covid-19 began to spike again and move into a second wave, while virulently partisan politics, conspiracy theories, and burgeoning fear and rage generated destructive divides between individuals, families, communities, and nations. When Jupiter transits in aspect to natal planets, the same contradictory picture emerges. Sometimes great opportunities arise. Sometimes the transit coincides with the collapse of relationships, financial hardship, the onset of serious illness, and even death. Sometimes both extremes occur at once. And in natal charts, Jupiter aspects are not always benign in the accepted sense. Take, for example, the natal Moon-Jupiter conjunction in Adolf Hitler’s natal chart, or the Sun trine Jupiter in Donald Trump’s. What does Jupiter really symbolise? These three seminars explore the enigmatic, paradoxical, and unpredictable Jupiter in the hope of finding a clearer understanding of this tricky and magical planet.

Jupiter Part 2: When You Wish Upon a Star

‘Zeus does not bring all men’s plans to fulfilment.’
– Homer

The second seminar of this series will explore Jupiter’s transits and progressions and the meaning of other transiting and progressed planets moving into aspect with Jupiter in the individual birth chart. We will also consider the interaction of Jupiter in one natal chart with planets in another person’s chart in synastry, and the implications of these cross-aspects in relationship. Jupiter returns to its natal place every twelve years, and we will examine this planetary cycle in terms of what it might symbolise in the development of the individual’s life and the opening of doorways both dark and light on the human journey.

This part is also available in a bundle with the other 2 parts to rent on this platform.