Jupiter in Psychological and Evolutionary Astrology: Signs, Houses, Aspects

By Tina Rahimi

Is there a downside to the planet of growth and prosperity? What does our natal Jupiter reveal about our psychological makeup or evolutionary path? What does it mean when Jupiter conjuncts Saturn or squares Venus in the birth chart?
This book is an edited collection of articles published online by Tina Rahimi between 2017 and 2019 to methodically address these questions. The author explores Jupiter in the natal chart, drawing on her professional experience as an astrologer and her academic background in literature and philosophy.
The book contains a complete description of Jupiter's signs, houses, and aspects in the natal chart: seven primary aspects (conjunction, square, opposition, quincunx, semi-sextile, trine, and sextile) between Jupiter and ten other planets (including Chiron) are discussed in detail.
Anyone with a basic knowledge of astrology, or those who are perplexed by the complexity of their birth charts, will find this book enlightening. It may also be useful to professional astrologers who are interested in interpreting Jupiter through a psychological or evolutionary lens.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Aug 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9798350913187

Book preview

Meaning and Multiplicity: Jupiter in the Birth Chart

Jupiter as Expansion and Multiplication

It is a relatively well-known fact among astrology enthusiasts that Jupiter expands and multiplies everything it touches. This can be true of Jupiter’s aspects to other natal planets, or while transiting the natal chart. In many cases, Jupiter acts like yeast: it adds to, expands, or inflates the function or significance of the planets with which it is in dialogue. In a positive sense, Jupiter is associated with abundance and fertility. In ancient astrology, material wealth, happiness, and virility were evaluated by observing the condition of Jupiter in the natal chart.1

However, the core Jupiterian principles of expansion and multiplication can occasionally point to negative scenarios in a medical context: obesity (expansion of the body), swelling, or enlarged organs can correspond to a challenged Jupiter, either in the natal chart or in the transit chart.2 In the psychological context, Jupiter may signal excess and mania if not handled with care.

Therefore, this archetype can manifest in our lives either positively or negatively. It all depends on how much consciousness we put into working with this planet, beyond simply considering it the greater benefic.

Jupiter as Capacity for Faith

Just as our cognitive ability is symbolized by Mercury in the birth chart, the opposite function, faith, is symbolized by Jupiter. Therefore, when we believe in something without empirical evidence, we are operating from our Jupiterian core.

Faith (Sagittarius) is our ability to go beyond knowledge gained through dissection and analysis (Virgo) or information gathered through categorization and labeling (Gemini). Jupiter symbolizes this ability to look at the horizon, much like Christopher Columbus, and see something beyond our immediate field of vision.

Faith can provide hope and optimism. Where our mental limitations and calculated logic cannot save us, God’s grace can. Since Jupiter was the ancient ruler of the Neptunian realm of Pisces, it also symbolizes our ability to let go and let God. However, Jupiter and Neptune differ in their style of surrender: Jupiter encourages surrender to God’s wisdom, while Neptune encourages surrender to God’s love. When we stop thinking or looking for evidence and accept something on a leap of faith, we invoke Jupiter. On the other hand, when we understand that we cannot know anything and that the highest form of wisdom we can ever hope to attain is love, we are blessed by the Neptunian principle.3

Negatively, Jupiter can symbolize dogmatism–the illusion that one’s belief system is the best and that one has a divine mission to spread it around the world or impose it on others. As history has taught us, faith can easily be taken to extremes. A challenged and unintegrated Jupiter in the natal chart can indeed symbolize ideological intolerance or religious extremism.

Jupiter as Capacity for Humor

As a mythological figure, Jupiter loved adventure, but also fun and games (note the natural trine aspect between Sagittarius and Leo). Jupiter’s placement in the birth chart can thus reveal the kind of humor we enjoy or produce. For example, Jupiter in air signs tends to enjoy verbal humor, puns, or wordplay. In contrast, an earthy Jupiter may find pantomime or physical comedy more enjoyable. Charlie Chaplin, for example, had his natal Jupiter in the earth sign of Capricorn, and he indeed perfected the art of humorous expression by relying entirely on his body and not using words. Also, people with Jupiter in the earth signs seem to have a greater chance of turning their humorous flair into a career, giving it a practical and tangible expression.

Jupiter as Need for Meaning

Religion and philosophy have been understood as Jupiterian themes: after the death-and-rebirth phase of Scorpio and the eighth house, comes the need to make sense of what we have been through, and this is represented by Sagittarius and the ninth house. Religion is one way to make sense of our human experience, and philosophy is another. As the Austrian psychiatrist and existential psychotherapist, Viktor E. Frankl once said,

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms–to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.4

At times, the only way to deal with a traumatic event is to give meaning to it. A well-integrated Jupiter5 in the natal chart can symbolize our inner tendency to discover this meaning and go beyond the trauma. On the other hand, an uncomfortable natal Jupiter can make us reluctant to search for meaning. In this case, we may become too cynical or rigid in our interpretation of traumatic events in our lives. We may unconsciously deprive ourselves of the relief that alternative interpretations can give us, and so we may remain stuck in the Scorpio phase (encountering the trauma) without ever moving into the Sagittarius phase (finding meaning in the trauma).

Jupiter as Capacity to Understand the Foreign

Since Jupiter has to do with going beyond ourselves and opening up to unexplored horizons, it can also indicate our tolerance (or lack thereof) for what is generally considered foreign or unknown. A well-integrated Jupiter makes us comfortable with what exists outside our cognitive or ideological horizons. This includes foreign languages or cultures, foreign religions or ways of life, foreign foods or traditions, and generally anything that is unfamiliar to us. In contrast, an unintegrated Jupiter can signal that we are uncomfortable with challenging our way of being and trying new things. We may develop xenophobia or a lack of tolerance for other belief systems, ideologies, or lifestyles.

The ability to see the bigger picture is also related to Jupiter’s symbolism in this sense, as it represents our ability to put things into perspective and not to get caught up in an immediate, narrow point of view. Taken to extremes, however, this can lead to undesirable results, such as seeing the forest but not the trees. In other words, with an uncomfortable Jupiter in the birth chart, we may lose sight of the important, practical details that need to be taken care of. We may focus only on a general perspective or theoretical frame of reference.

Jupiter as Tendency to Go Beyond

Since Jupiter symbolizes expansion and a tendency toward the big picture, it can also symbolize overreaching of any kind. If Jupiter remains unintegrated, it can indicate a tendency to bite off more than one can chew. This basic indication can be further modified by Jupiter’s contacts with other planets in the natal chart. In aspect to Saturn, for example, episodes of overdoing may be followed by episodes of underdoing, indicating an uneasy rhythm in the individual’s life.

Interestingly, since Jupiter represents moving beyond the boundaries of time and space, it can also represent the process of physical death, moving beyond the boundaries of the body and merging into the broader cosmos. In this sense, Jupiter transiting a sensitive point in the chart can sometimes (not always) symbolize the shedding of physical existence and the release of one’s soul into boundless time and space. Alternatively, it can symbolize the development of faith in one’s destiny, which means finding meaning in whatever transpires regarding the point or planet Jupiter touches in the chart.

Jupiter in Fire Signs

Jupiter in Aries

Jupiter in Aries symbolizes confidence in our ability to initiate new trends or take a course of action to the extreme. As the archetype of the pioneer, Aries represents our courage to jump in and just do it. Therefore, Jupiter in Aries may signal that our psyche is relatively familiar with the idea of jump-starting new things or taking an unprecedented course of action that has not been approved or imagined before, for better or worse.

An excellent example is the Spanish painter and sculptor Salvador Dali. His paintings display his fearlessness in depicting the raw aspects of the unconscious mind. There is also a refreshing, childlike openness to experimentation with new concepts in his work, which is another quality associated with fire signs: sheer enthusiasm for creating and doing things rather than a concern about the outcome of the action, or the approval of the audience.

Jupiter in Aries may signify that the most effective way of finding meaning in life is by living out our primal urges in an unabashed, uncensored manner. The very fact that we are alive gives meaning to our existence. Therefore, there is usually no compelling urge to dig deep and find sophisticated reasons for life. We may also feel an inner attraction toward whatever is wild and unrestrained, as the meaning of life (Jupiter) is very much flavored by the Arian urge to be as natural as wild weeds. As Gerard Manley Hopkins (who had this placement in his natal chart) eloquently remarked:

What would the world be, once bereft Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left, O let them be left, wildness and wet; Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.6

Jupiter in Leo

Jupiter in Leo symbolizes confidence in one’s ability to create or procreate. As the archetype of creativity, Leo represents that part of us that endlessly wants to shine, entertain and play in the hope of gaining attention or admiration. Therefore, Jupiter in Leo may signal that our psyche is prone to self-aggrandizing. A tendency to show off our special abilities may also exist, especially if we are not working in a creative field, not channeling this energy into a constructive, professional outlet.

In its positive form, Jupiter in Leo symbolizes general optimism about the intentionality of life. It symbolizes the fact that things are moving toward a purpose, and that is the sheer glory of existence. There may also exist a passionate preoccupation with the self and various manifestations of it (symbolized by the Sun, the ruler of Leo). An excellent example of this outlook is reflected in the works of the French philosopher and writer Maurice Blanchot, who apropos his natal Jupiter in Leo said: