On August 11th Jupiter moves into Virgo, illuminating this sign until next September*. You may be feeling the shift already because whenever a planet changes signs their mode of expression takes on those particular qualities. Jupiter is the god who personifies the archetypal principles that have to do with expansion and growth, success and abundance. His is present in the ways we think beyond ourselves as in our philosophies about life, our curiosity about foreign places. Jupiter is the movement of energy that has us feel uplifted and elevated – imagine Zeus on Olympus amidst gorgeous cumulus clouds. On this theme Rick Tarnas says Jupiter is a “striving for breadth of experience”; so imagine into this as the desire to reach out and embrace the world so to incorporate more of it into ourselves. Growing, expanding, improving….And note the shadow expressions such as inflation, excess and extravagance, you know - too muchness, too big.
In Virgo, Jupiter moves with the qualities of perfectionism, analysis, fine discrimination. Virgo is a sign attuned to transformation, so healing processes where one state is shed in order for birth into the new is where Jupiter (growth and abundance) comes through. Health, being in service to others, humility, and attentive analysis of any situation are also Virgo interests and these will be themes Jupiter will happily move into and seek to expand into awareness.
While I was meditating on this the figure of Hygieia came immediately to mind. A goddess of health, from whom we get the word hygienic, she heals through the arts of holistic medicine that focuses on the balancing of energies in the body or psyche. The snake entwined around her is an ancient symbol of health as seen in the caduceus and our modern medical symbol – but it is also the animal associated with rebirth as it can shed its skin and live, symbolically reborn. Notice in the tablet image that she is leaning against a tripod. This is the ancient Greek seat of oracular priestesses, which go further back than Apollo, connecting Hygieia to the wisdom of the earth and the goddesses Gaia and Themis. Hygieia is a wise figure who knows about health of the body and earth, the matter around us, and the healing potential within these bodies.
Hygieia
Personifying Jupiter in Virgo as Hygieia is a way to imagine these gods in our lives. She inspires an expansion of awareness through healing, balance, and critical discernment – how else do we assess what is needed, what is the right thing for the moment? Hygieia is a way to imagine into how the principles of growth, success, expansion will express themselves over the next year. And whatever house in your chart Virgo rules identifies the specific area of your life where this energy will be moving, where awareness and striving for wider experiences will emerge.
Late summer wishes of joy and ease,
Safron
* In deference to Virgo, the precise date of Jupiter’s last day before changing signs is September 9, 2016.
Caption and credit for lead photo of Hygieia: Hygieia (marble, Second century A.D. Roman copy of Greek original. Wm Randolph Hearst Collection. LA County Museum. Photo by rocor, flickr)
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