I'm sure by now you've heard of a “Saturn Return” at least in some capacity ??
If not, to put it simply; A Saturn Return occurs every 28-29 years and indicates a time of growing up, taking responsibility for your life, and awakening. It'll be an era of pushing boundaries and working hard toward long-term results. Of course, this varies based on your own personal chart and influences.
But because of the intensity of a Saturn Return, this astrological transit receives way more attention than many of the other planetary returns. To be expected I suppose, as the incredible “milestone” like nature of the life changes that come along with a Saturn Return are usually enough to make you stop and notice, and maybe even prompt you to investigate what might be going on!
(My Saturn return brought me my first taste of success in entrepreneurship, tons of travel for work and play, a husband, home ownership and another baby all in its 19-month transit across my Natal Saturn in Sagittarius).
But, did you know that A Jupiter Return happens a little more frequently??
.....And that it can be just as significant??
This happens about every 12 years of your life. Jupiter is considered to be the “lucky planet” of growth & expansion, so it is assumed that a Jupiter Return is an extremely lucky and prosperous time, but there is a much deeper side to Jupiter and its mighty influence too. In order to receive all the luck and prosperity from the Universe, Jupiter sometimes has to first create a pathway, and like any new route ahead, it first has to be cleared of any old debris before a clear path can be paved.
This new pathway can sometimes involve the breaking down of old structures, beliefs, ideas, environments and even habits. It can also involve breaking down and clearing out relationships, dreams, goals, and values.
It might even have to shatter a dream or two, possibly even have you questioning a vision, in order to make space for the paving of a smoother new road to journey down.
Even though Jupiter is considered to be “lucky”, that's a reductive way to summarize the force that our largest planetary friend really carries.
Jupiter's essence is much more than just simply “luck”, it’s also the planet that rules over the bigger picture. Our broader perspective. Our highest potential. The expression of Jupiter in our birth chart allows us to analyze our potential for growth and expansion, our consciousness, and our higher mind. It is also how we see "something extra" in life. It can be our state of grace for something that gives a broader meaning to our existence. The terms “silver lining” and “the bright side” are very much an expression of Jupiter itself.
Jupiter reveals what has the most capability of making us happy and what brings meaning to our lives.
It is where and how we perceive good opportunities and where we can be most successful in our lives. And much of the time it does this by illuminating the silver lining to be found or by prompting us to have to look on the bright side, after a particularly dark event or period of time.
Jupiter's size alone can imprint a “go big or go home” attitude wherever it's situated in our charts- or as I call them, our cosmic contracts. But this can also mean that things may not appear or feel very lucky until you have been able to consider the bigger picture and broader vision worth “going big” for.
(My Natal Jupiter sits in the final degrees of Aries at 28°… which by the way, Jupiter happened to transit 28° Aries just yesterday, ((May 9th, 2023 is when I started writing this)) signifying my third Jupiter return. Hooray! Exciting right?? Or was it??…)
During our first Jupiter Return, which happens around 12 years old, usually, these transits focus is on preparing to enter adulthood.
It is the final year of childhood before becoming a teenager and there is a big shift in the way you think, feel and act. This is the period of time where we find our own natural gifts, what we love to do, discover our lucky traits and find our unique BIG expression of self.
At age 24ish we experience our second Jupiter Return and generally, this can be a very crucial point in our lives.
If you think back to what was happening in your life at around 24 years old, you will probably recall something happening that was piecing together what Jupiter would have been trying to show you or ignite from within you.
(Maybe you're currently 24 and you are going through changes? You could be wrapping up your 2nd cycle or just starting your 3rd one).
My second Jupiter return landed on my very first Mother's day, one month after my daughter was born. At the time I didn't really think about the impact of that Mother's day, but looking back I can remember exactly how I felt and I can see EXACTLY what expansion Jupiter was cultivating within me, and that call to rise up has been the underlying theme for the greater part of the last decade for me.
Jupiter Returns are all about bringing positive growth for the greater picture of your life, and sometimes Jupiter needs to change and clear things before this is possible. Sometimes Jupiter needs to throw a few challenges and lessons in there so you can really learn to appreciate or feel the “luck” in all the situations that are moving you towards your higher potential.
Before the start of a new Jupiter Return, it might even feel like a closing to a cycle that has been unfolding over the previous 12 years. Whatever themes were prevalent over the 12 years before, usually come to an end and are cleansed, purified or transmuted into the potential of your next 12-year cycle.
Jupiter cycles always bring something new. An opportunity for positivity, growth and a chance to “Go Big” once again.
So most people going through a Jupiter Return will feel like they are starting a brand new chapter in their lives.
If you want to know the specific themes your Jupiter Return will bring, you need to look at where your Natal Jupiter sits in your birth chart. Also paying attention to any other aspects influencing your Jupiter expression. Once you locate it, you'll see what indications for lessons of growth and abundant opportunity Jupiter is meant to teach you, and what the themes of not only just your Jupiter Return, but Jupiter’’s imprinting may look like throughout your life in its 12-year cycles.
So why am I writing all about Jupiter today??
Well, yesterday was a day that I'm still trying to process. And being an Astrologer, the first thing I do when trying to understand or bring clarity and meaning to my life and what I'm experiencing is to consult the Astrological weather. In other words, look to the skies to see what cosmic systems might be moving through my energetic area.
I knew my Jupiter return was going to be around this time this year. But I didn't realize that it was literally yesterday at 28° of Aries.
So when I woke up this morning and remembered the events of yesterday, I did what any obsessive Astrologer would do…
I looked up my transits.
AND whatd’ya know!?!?
There it was. Jupiter.
Sitting its big ass down right there on its home, in my cosmic contract.
And with that knowledge, brings clarity. It offers the silver lining. The bright side. It shows me where I'm naturally inclined to succeed if I allow that energy to flow. It reminds me of where my best traits and talents really come from. It gives me a broader perspective to see the big picture of where my luckiest energy can flourish throughout the other areas of my life.
My luck. My prosperity & abundance. My most natural state of comfort??
Well, we know it's in Aries. Which is of the self. Of being an individual. New life, new adventures. Passionate and energetic. Excitement. Ready to fight, to light a fire. It's chaos. Blissfully ignorant at times. Impulsive and fearless. Instinctual with a lack of calculated care. It's the spark, the life force energy of enthusiasm for paving your own path. Aries is “I AM”. Aries is “ME”.
Jupiter expands this nature in me, and in the last degrees of Aries, it brings about a mature sense of expression in this powerful fire sign.
I knew that this next 12-year Jupiter cycle would be all about ME and who I AM. But holy guacamole I'd be lying if I told you I was ready for it to kick off the way it did yesterday on DAY ONE…
So what happened yesterday?
What symbolically dramatic Aries-style Jupiter return kind of day did I really have yesterday??
Well… my office flooded.
Badly.
It was a storm-related sewage backup kind of flood.
The kind of water damage where you don't just “dry your things out”. You burn them.
You even burn the clothes you were wearing while burning your things.
It was poo water.
There, I said it.
It was poo water… okay !?!?
But it wasn't just a little shitty water damage to me.
My office was my current baby. I have been fighting for my own business. My own legacy. My personal dreams. My big vision… for years.
Last year I moved out of my home office and set up a healing & wellness space downtown and began building a community around my work. I sensed that my cycle of identity as “Mom” was shifting. I wanted separation of my identities. ME and MOM could co-exist, but they weren't the same person. I felt that a physical separation gave me that space to just be me when I went into my zen den.
So believe me when I say this …
walking through a pool of poo water picking up and going through all of my things really felt like my own identity had been shit on. Like I lost the ME part of me to the flood. Every single item in my own personal office space felt like it was a piece of me drowning… in poop.
Dramatic?? Maybe. I've been known to have a dramatic moment once or twice in my life ....
But honestly, there couldn't have been a worse day from my perspective of loss that I was observing life through yesterday.
So what meaning does my discovery of Jupiter's giant ass taking a giant shit on its Natal chart birthday, offer me today??
Well, the best gift it could have delivered of course.
Broader perspective.
I am the LUCKIEST when I AM! Don't forget, it's in Aries right?!!
And then it hit me. My biggest point of attraction for bringing joy and passion and prosperity into my life has always been me. Not my things. Not any one place, not a title, not a group of people or location or address.
It's ME.
I AM my most natural gift.
I thrive in chaos. I create beauty from pain. I go all-in fearlessly. I regret nothing. Constant change keeps me satisfied. I get mad- and then get even. I take a hit and throw two back. A challenge accepted lights a fire inside me like nothing else can. I will not stop fighting for what I want. I will always get my way. And I will defeat anyone or anything that tries to stop me.
You know those crazy unrealistic action movies with the huge slow-motion explosion behind the dangerously cool badass who's walking towards the camera as she tosses the match behind her looking totally comfortable barely escaping death for the sake of winning the fight??
That's me.
That's how I move through life. I will win. Even if I have to burn it all to the fucking ground, I'll walk away smiling still holding the match, knowing that I won and the next battle will be even more risky yet glorious.
So even though I felt like I had to separate the Mom part of me, in order to express and come back into the true nature of who I am, I really don't need to be anywhere specific in order to embody those parts of myself. My office was my oasis away from the mundane parts of motherhood where I could practice being me again, and it served me well.
I remember who I am. I came back to myself and had long enough to explore and grow into a confident and secure version of myself again while building and creating a community and friendships in my local networks.
Of course, I don't want to give up my office. And I don't have to. I can replace my things once the restoration and damage have been repaired. I could also not though, and that would actually be okay too. (And honestly, it's going to come down to a smell test).
So Jupiter may have kicked off its 3rd cycle with the most ridiculous lesson yet, but if the broader perspective of who I am and who I get to become is just the beginning of the next 12 years, I'm here for it !!!!
Bring me all the shit Jupiter, I'll turn it into flowers, sunshine, rainbows and cash !!!
So long story short… check your transits and planetary returns. Your “bad days” or that “bad year” you're having, may actually be gifts in disguise.
Here's a quick reference guide to check your Jupiter cycles at a glance.
If your 24th, 36th, 48th or 60th birthday is happening during 2023, you're moving through a Jupiter cycle reset.
And if you’re 72 this year, get ahold of me right now. I have questions.
What elemental themes can you expect at a glance ??
If Natal Jupiter is in a Fire sign: Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. You're likely going to have a sense of leadership, expansion, bringing new ideas into reality, taking action, going for it, and lots of passionate energy.
If Natal Jupiter is in an Earth sign: Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn. You're likely going to have a sense of stability, discipline, healing, hard work, ethics, commitment, and simplicity.
If Natal Jupiter is in an Air sign: Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. You're likely going to have a sense of innovation, compassion, courage, communication, working with others, collaboration, and lots of grandiose ideas and a need to express them.
If Natal Jupiter is in a Water sign: Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. You're likely going to have a sense of, creative expression, intuition, emotional healing, empathetic gifts, transformation, dreams becoming reality, truth-seeking and secrets revealed.
Of course, these are all just a few examples of what it could really look like for you.
There are always other planets, supportive or challenging aspects to consider, what house Jupiter is in plus all the other fun human-type stuff like your experiences so far, your trauma and conditioning and your overall nature and cosmic contract to name a handful.
If you haven't had a chart reading yet, I highly recommend it. If you're having a return of any planet, definitely suggest it.
The insight you can gain from an Astrologer walking you through your birth chart and current transits is priceless and can be the most helpful tool for not just surviving but thriving through these cosmic cycles. Which you can do below if you're interested.
!!!!UPDATE!!!!! - May 19th, Friday, New-Moon....
...... I found a new office space.
And Guess what!?!?
It's 3x the size, and less $$$$
Thanks Jupiter. You're the Cosmic BFF I've always had, and you show up just when I need a little dose of tough luck the most.