Jupiter Enters Scorpio
by Steven Forrest
When Jupiter, the reigning heavyweight champion of the solar system, enters a new sign, stand back – the “gravity” of the symbolism is going to pull a lot of events into its synchronistic orbit. Jupiter crossing such a line is the main event this month, as it enters Scorpio. Jupiter takes about twelve years to orbit the Sun, spending an average of one year in each sign. It entered Libra on September 9, 2016. The passage into Scorpio occurs on October 10, 2017. After that, it remains there until it crosses the Sagittarian frontier on November 8, 2018.
Jupiter’s principle effect is to expand anything it touches. It symbolizes abundance – hence, its historical reputation as the “Greater Benefic.” But before we leap into paroxysms of ecstasy here, let’s reflect on exactly what Lord Jupiter is going to be expanding. The answer lies in the symbolism of Scorpio, and as in all things astrological, there’s good news and bad news. Better said, there are ways to get it right and ways to get it wrong.
Scorpio embraces all of the “strong energies” in the human psyche – instincts, mammal reflexes, appetites, rage, fear, the wounded places in us all. It represents, among other strong psychic forces, our sexuality. And sex is as good a place as any to start our thinking about this transit.
Imagine a year in which human sexual drive is boosted, say by “5%,” across the board in everyone . . . and then think deeply about that idea for a moment. For people in loving relationships, that “5% increase in sex drive” is nothing but merry news. But what if you are in no relationship at all? Then how do you feel about that news? And going darker, what about the world’s rapists, molesters, and exploitive pornographers? Or people on that borderline? Their sexual drives will be boosted too.
You begin to get the picture: Jupiter entering Scorpio is a complex event, with potentially high, positive meanings, along with darker ones. Everything in the human unconscious is lit up. As individuals, we will respond to this stimulus well or poorly. But collectively on the stage of history, we will probably see the expression of the full spectrum of possibilities.
In all cases, the presence of the unconscious mind (Scorpio) will be vividly, even spectacularly, demonstrated (Jupiter).
Jupiter in Scorpio Through the 12 Houses
When Jupiter, the reigning heavyweight champion of the solar system, enters a new sign, stand back – the “gravity” of the symbolism is going to pull a lot of events into its synchronistic orbit.
In this this audio recording Steven will introduce the core significations of this transit, consider some of the historical correlates, and then provide descriptions of Jupiter through the 12 houses.
Always, in any kind of Scorpionic time, the bottom line is that the unconscious mind is becoming conscious. Spontaneously, humanity generates powerful symbolism that guides us like a lighthouse into deeper understanding of ourselves. That which is taboo is brought to the surface.
Individuals do the same thing on a smaller scale. Metaphors of mystery – and of mysteries unveiled – abound in the historical correlations we find during Jupiter in Scorpio times. For one of my favorite examples, the space probe that let us first see the dark side of the Moon was launched with Jupiter in Scorpio. What magnificent symbolism that is! Also under this transit, Moby-Dick was first published – and just reflect psychologically for a moment about Captain Ahab’s obsessive hunt for the “white whale” deep down in the waters of the unconscious mind. The first Sherlock Holmes tale, A Study in Scarlet, appeared. The C.I.A. was founded. This list goes on.
At the individual level, we need to ask ourselves hard questions – that’s the Scorpio process – about what we really want and what is truly good for us. There’s Jupiter. And then, armed with that hard-won self-knowledge, we need to boldly and audaciously make our moves. You need a victory – but you had better make sure you “know what’s good for you.” Thus, Scorpionic inner work sets the intentions, while King Jupiter leads the charge.
That’s the road to the higher ground.
The lower ground? When Jupiter-in-Scorpio operates unconsciously, the dark and tangled complexes that animate human madness find extravagant outward expression, both individually and collectively. We see our fears crystalized and expressed on the stage of history or the stages of our individual lives. Nightmarish massacres such as the Rwandan genocide of 1994 occur with Jupiter in Scorpio, as did the first execution by lethal injection. Deaths occur that take on broad eerie symbolism in the collective pages of social history – think about the passing of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison in 1970 and 1971, or of Kurt Cobain in 1994. Or remember the Kent State massacre? Or the beginning of the murder spree of that iconic dark-Scorpio figure, Jack the Ripper.
All those deaths occurred with Jupiter in the sign of the Scorpion.
In every one of these instances, the collective unconscious spilled out extravagantly into the world of physical manifestation.
What will Jupiter in Scorpio mean for you personally? Well, we know you are soon scheduled to “have a long talk with yourself” about what you really need and what you really, truly feel – that’s Scorpio. If you are brave and real enough to get that talk right, the Laws of Synchronicity guarantee that you will have the opportunity to act on those desires, plus an excellent shot at realizing many of them.
Technically, the key question is, where does Jupiter-in-Scorpio fall in your own birthchart? What aspects does it make during the year-long transit? Critically, is Jupiter in the 3rd house or the 8th or one of the other ten?
Most likely, if you use a quadrant house system like Placidus, the transit will impact two of your natal houses and so there will be two phases to this powerful transit. Because of retrograde motion, Jupiter might toggle back and forth over a house cusp, spending, for example, several weeks in your 7th house, then enter the 8th for a while, only to return to the 7th, before re-crossing back into the 8th.
How does a wise response to one house support a more fruitful response to the next one? How do they interact?
Because this transit is potentially so beneficial to us all, I’ve prepared a longer, deeper talk about it – available here, for a small fee. It’s about two and a quarter hours in length.
The first half of the program delves much further into the ideas I’ve briefly outlined in this newsletter. I also explore some of the other historical landmarks that have been associated with the configuration.
The other half of the program is tailored to deepening your understanding of what this transit might mean for you personally. In it, we go house-by-house, seeing how the basic energy of Jupiter-in Scorpio interacts with each of the twelve houses.
I’m fastening my own seatbelts here. As soon as Jupiter crosses the Scorpio frontier, it enters my 12th house and crosses my south lunar node. As synchronicity would have it, that coincides with my heading for Yunan Province in China to teach – appropriately enough, that is a place where I’ve always intuitively felt that I had some Buddhist (12th house) karma (south node). Jupiter hitting that part of my chart suggests whatever karma I have there has ripened – it’s time to have a look at it. Then, through much of 2018, Jupiter will be crisscrossing over my Ascendant – so my prayer is that some wisdom arises for me in the 
12th house chapters of the transit – wisdom that allows me to take truly helpful and discriminating advantage of whatever outward opportunities arise as Jupiter interacts with my Ascendant.
That’s just me – but it illustrates the kind of two-house thinking we explore in the longer talk I’ve prepared. I hope you find it helpful.