By Amanda Painter

On Sunday, Jupiter will station direct in Sagittarius, the first of two signs it traditionally rules (the other being Pisces). I know a few people who’ve been feeling like some part of their lives has been less able to develop over the last several months, or like it’s been hard to home in on a goal or vision. Jupiter traveling in apparent retrograde motion since April 10 is as good an image as any for that sensation, if it’s one you’ve been experiencing.

Photo by Amanda Painter.

In these final days before Jupiter makes its switch (which happens at 9:37 am EDT / 13:37:11 UTC on Aug. 11) it might be helpful to ask yourself some questions. The answers may be slow to emerge after the station direct; I have never tried to track whether Jupiter stations tend to arrive with the same kind of ‘sudden truth’ moment that Mercury stations can signal. I suspect that the expansive nature of Jupiter may correlate to a wider window of revelation and reorientation.

Yet this may be a good time to start practicing and opening up the space via these questions. Such as: how in touch do you feel with your sense of purpose or your vision for your life? What are you noticing right now about the lessons you’ve learned and the patterns you’ve perceived that contribute to your worldview and sense of yourself in it?

When you allow yourself to get very quiet and still inside, where can you feel yourself drawn to expand and emerge and explore? Do you even remember how to find that quiet place inside, or do you need to consciously reacquaint yourself?

Jupiter stations direct in a square to Neptune in Pisces, and in a conjunction to a deep-space phenomenon called the Great Attractor. The Jupiter-Neptune square describes your goals and dreams being thrust into the glare of reality. Do they stand up on their own footing, or do they evaporate?

You may feel a push to see what’s what, which is really an opportunity to demonstrate the validity of your plans and the solidity of your ideals. This does not mean everything you’ve set your sights on is a pipe dream; it’s simply a reminder that squares require action and a little work. All designs must be tested for their integrity before you can run with them. This concept could also apply to your spiritual ideals. Are they in touch with reality? And who gets to be the arbiter of that?

You might consider how often you see them play out around you, or how often these concepts have been articulated throughout history. I’m reminded, as I write this, of a particular quotation by the writer and Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, who died this past Monday:

“This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

Expand her focus on writing to all of the arts, and it’s easy to see what Morrison is referring to throughout history. It’s one of the reasons art is often clamped down on — its makers muzzled, imprisoned and even killed — when fascist regimes gain power.

You might be thinking, “But that’s not what I mean by my spiritual ideals.” If so, I’d ask you to reconsider or to broaden your scope of reference. I think there are few things as deeply spiritual as taking the creative gifts within oneself and using them to speak one’s heart, mind, soul, courage, outrage, passion — one’s life essence. Perhaps that’s also why so many people have the creative impulse beaten out of them, literally or figuratively.

I’ll be curious to see how and if this particular ideal of mine is tested in the coming days; though I can think of others more specifically individual to my own journey that might be up for a proving (maybe). The essential role of art in healing civilizations has, I think, been tested time and time again.

On perhaps a more mundane and ‘practical’ level, Jupiter-Neptune squares can also signify generosity toward others. It may be difficult to discern who truly needs the assistance; but if your well is full, it might not matter so long as it feels good and in alignment for you to offer what you have. That said, there’s a caution here about false or misplaced optimism in business dealings, especially risky ones. Business is business. Altruism or an ethically minded win-win approach must still be balanced with the reality of the fine print and demonstrable circumstances (I’m not suggesting they be abandoned if inconvenient, but rather that a deal is not a sound one if it asks you to compromise on your values).

Then there’s Jupiter’s conjunction to the Great Attractor. This one’s a little trickier to pin down — which seems to be a quality of the Great Attractor anyway. In a 2008 article on the Great Attractor, Eric described astrologer Philip Sedgwick’s delineation of this point, when strongly placed in natal charts, as lending the person a polarizing effect, saying they tend to “evoke strong, opinionated responses from others, a typically Sagittarian trait, but amplified significantly.”

Eric continues, “I have noticed that the people who don’t like them or what they stand for cannot do much about that fact; they can bark and growl but that’s about it. The Great Attractor puts reprisal out of reach and in a sense encourages cooperation.”

So, a kind of slipperiness; a polarizing effect; and with Jupiter, Neptune and Sagittarius all involved, this could be especially strong in the realm of beliefs, ideals and philosophies. The current wave of argument over the roles of assault rifles and gun control laws (or lack thereof) in the context of mass shootings in the U.S. certainly bears this out. In your own experience, you might watch for polarization getting out of hand in your online conversations in particular (notably the more political ones) — though any area of life could supply the context for expressing this energy.

Other events of note: Mercury enters Leo again on Sunday (at 3:46 pm EDT / 19:45:27 UTC), and Uranus stations retrograde in Taurus overnight Sunday into Monday. Mercury’s pre-retrograde ingress of Leo occurred on June 26. That was a few days after the solstice, and less than a week before the first of our two recent eclipses. It could be worth a look at your calendar or journal to recall what you were thinking or trying to express then, and how, and to watch for relevant echoes now.

Speaking of notes and reminders: if you play with or meditate on any of the questions I mentioned earlier that relate to Jupiter stationing direct, your notes could be useful in staying focused on the place where you most desire to aim your arrow of intention, as Jupiter reorients on its forward path.

Of course, you may also find in the coming days that the target itself has shifted. That’s okay — all that matters is that you notice, and respond accordingly. Whether that means adjusting your aim or recognizing a new target is up to you.

COMING SOON FROM PLANET WAVES…