Star Struck Style

I’m about to experience a Jupiter return. The entire month of May should be characterized by this transit that occurs about every twelve years. In this instance, Jupiter will be speeding over the degree it inhabited on the day I was born. Sometimes aspects like this linger when they coincide with a planet’s retrograde cycle. That will not be the case this time. However, Jupiter will be lingering around my midheaven for several weeks later in the year. I guess that is the consolation prize.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to the abundance that Jupiter can bring. I’m also preparing myself for the worst because I can be overconfident during Jupiter’s harmonious transits to both itself and my natal Venus. It whispers promises in my ear that often turn out to be full of hot air.

I suppose that’s the Saturn-ruled Capricorn in me speaking when I state that I can’t trust Jupiter. I don’t believe that I’m a pessimistic person — I was born with Jupiter in the optimistic ninth house, after all — but I’ve been through this before.

What I should do to prepare for this rare astrological event is to heed the advice of my horoscope for this transit on astro.com. It reads as follows:

“This influence indicates the beginning of a new cycle of growth and progress. However, it is often the focus of exaggerated expectations. You may expect sudden windfalls, great wealth or luck, and all kinds of wonderful opportunities. And these things do happen sometimes with this influence, but most people should expect more subtle, but equally useful effects.

Events now, such as meetings with persons or even changes in your psyche, open the way for you to become wiser and more mature and to have a broader understanding of the world. At this time you will reach out consciously and unconsciously and ask more of the world, but at the same time you are willing to give more to the world.

This influence can make you feel either more demanding or more giving toward others, but you are not likely to get much out of it if you think only of what you can get. The law of conservation of energy in the universe says that you can transform the energies in your life from one form to another, but you cannot create them out of nothing. This influence represents a time when you should see whether you are doing that in your life.

Concretely, you can expect persons who are good for you to come into your life. Or circumstances will arise that give you increased freedom or an opportunity to do something that you have never done before. Educational opportunities may come to you at this time, or a chance to travel. Sometimes this influence does in fact bring about financial advantage, but you should not sit around passively waiting for it to happen. This is an excellent time to invest or expand in business as long as you are very careful not to overdo it or overextend yourself.”

With today’s new moon in my seventh house and my recent declaration that I need to focus on the connections I make with others, I’m encouraged to read the line “you can expect persons who are good for you to come into your life.” That is more likely to happen if I get out into the world. In my current state of underemployment, I’ve actually given myself the opportunity to do just that. I won’t be chained to a desk forty hours a week. I’ll have the “increased freedom” I need to make the most of this cosmically-blessed time of my life.

So, I’m going to cross my fingers and hope that there is more to this rare alignment than hot air. On the other hand, just look what hot air does to those balloons in the photo I posted above. Maybe I need to rethink the concept of “hot air” altogether. Perhaps this is my time to soar.

Hmmm . . .