Jupiter in Scorpio: Underworlds

Thursday October 12th 2017

The Isle of the Dead — Arnold Böcklin

Within the earth, beneath the mountain, through the dark lake, there is another world. Sunlight does not penetrate. You must bring your own light. This is the realm of the dead, a place of ghosts and shades, a place of buried wealth, secrets, hidden desires.

Gilgamesh, Inanna, Psyche, Demeter, Balder the Beautiful, Dionysus and Orpheus; the Japanese creator Izanagi, Gesar the King of the Mongols and the Mayan Hero Twins — these gods and heroes visited the underworld and returned.

This dangerous, dark otherworld is found in the myth or folklore of all continents — so is the story of a descent and resurrection. Joseph Campbell Included this in his concept of the “monomyth”, the hero’s journey. The story of the descent to the underworld has been used as a psychological metaphor in the 20th century for a battle with depression, madness or grief — a struggle with the darker reaches of the psyche.

Anubis, the jackal-headed god, wakes the dead Osiris.

Scorpio’s Cave

This place is represented astrologically by Scorpio — the sign of sex, death and taboo; surgery, excision and transformation; detective work, criminality, psychology and truth-telling; power and extreme wealth.

It’s no accident that film mogul Harvey Weinstein’s years of sexual predation have been revealed this week as Jupiter moves into Scorpio. (Weinstein — a larger-than-life bon viveur is a Jupiterian type (Sun in late Pisces, perfect for the film business).

Hollywood really does act things out the collective, even off screen. Last year, as Jupiter went into Libra — the sign of marriage and divorce — Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt announced their split.

Jupiter in Scorpio: October 10, 2017 — November 8, 2018

Jupiter will be shining a great big light on secrets in the coming year. Watch out if you have been cheating on your taxes, your alimony or your partner, or if you have been handing out backhanders. Anything illicit, corrupt or illegal could come to light. Jupiter is also a planet associated with justice, so there will be court cases, and Scorpio is associated with revenge.

Remember, Jupiter carries a great big magnifying glass.

Think of this as a journey to the underworld collectively. This does mean we may encounter monsters, but at least we are moving forward now, and, according to the hero’s journey, this is where the treasure lies.

However, on a personal level, it’s not quite like that.

For the water signs, Pisces (aside from one H. Weinstein), Scorpios and Cancerians, this could and should be a lovely transit, increasing your sense of well-being, creative flow — and in the case of Scorpios, popularity.

Capricorn and Cancer, in particular, may feel a release of pressure, as Jupiter was at a tough angle to your Sun for the previous 12 months, and now is at an easy, helpful angle.

King Gesar travelled to the Underworld and fetched the food of immortality and the water of life.

Power and Discontent

In fact, collectively, Jupiter in Scorpio could well be less argumentative than Jupiter in Libra, which was opposing crazy, erratic, rebellious Uranus in Aries all year and at a nasty square to power-hungry, corrupt Pluto. Indeed, Jupiter brought out the harsh aspect between those two heavy hitting planets that was active between 2012 and 2015. Libra is, of course, one of the most political signs, and that struggle was played out in the political arena through the election of Trump, Brexit, the French elections, Venezuela, Erdogan…

One danger of Jupiter in Scorpio is the abuse of power. Jupiter will be working with Pluto, while in Scorpio. Not only will these two now be in a dynamic aspect by sign, Jupiter is also in Pluto’s own sign during this year. This means nuclear responsibility needs to be taken very seriously. It also means that “the Deep State” around the world could become more powerful. In short, if you are living in a police state, be careful. However, the flip side of this is that the real workings of states — who holds the power — could become clearer.

It’s important to remember that Scorpio is simultaneously a sign of secrets and truth. Scorpio is about what lies beneath the surface: people’s real motivations, and the state’s real machinery.

Psyche gives a coin to Charon, ferryman of the dead. She has been sent by Aphrodite to fetch a magic box of cosmetics from Persephone.

Transition

You don’t need me to tell you that we are living through a period of transition. Although you can trace the roots of the problem deeply back into history as far as you like, this period began in 2008 when Pluto went into Capricorn and the banks crashed. Since that year, the capitalist system has been stress-tested repeatedly, democracy’s flaws have been repeatedly revealed. It’s about the transformation of power structures.

This coming year, we have a lot of big changes coming up astrologically, and this move of Jupiter into Scorpio is the start of that. In December, Saturn will move into Capricorn, after two and a bit years in Sagittarius, and next year Uranus will move in and out of the early degrees of Taurus, after a tempestuous tour through Aries since 2011. So that’s a shift from fire to earth, from inspiring to doing. This means Pluto in Capricorn will be getting more support and less hostility, so the transformations being wrought in the collective power structures will start to become more real.

There is another interesting element to this. Lilith, the Dark Moon, goddess of the broken-taboo, outcast, child-eater, wild one is entering Capricorn on November 9: she will stay there for nine months. This could work in various ways — but watch out for the people in power and pay attention next May and June when these two hook up.

Jean Marais in Cocteau’s Orphee

Digging Deep

We talk about “soul searching”, when we refer to someone examining their conscience, asking themselves questions, like, “are my motives really pure?” “am I abusing my own power?” “is my need cruel?” That is part of the hero’s psychological journey.

But soul searching could be something more like a shaman’s journey of soul retrieval too. We might go deep into the underworld in search of the lost pieces of our selves. That could be the treasure.

Perhaps, Jupiter in Scorpio offers us collectively an opportunity to retrieve something precious that we’ve lost, or at least to laugh in the face of demons.