Jupiter opposite Pluto August 2013: Negotiating with the Gods

There’s no denying that the past week or so has been intense, with the planet of war (Mars) aligning with the King of the Gods (Jupiter).  Jupiter represents our desire to expand our horizons and grow in confidence and knowledge, we long to interact with other cultures and to become knowledgeable and even perhaps famous.

When Jupiter is involved we seek to be as one with the gods – to be our best selves.  This can sometimes make us a little cocky and perhaps even arrogant or self-righteous, and when aggressive Mars gets into the picture the atmosphere can really heat up.

Mars and Jupiter aligned on July 22nd, but there has been little peace since then because Mars went on to oppose Pluto, the Lord of the Underworld and Destruction on the 27th of July as Jupiter began to move into position to join Mars in battle with Pluto.

Pluto, despite certain astronomers deciding that it’s not really a planet, is the most potent force in the astrological pantheon.  Pluto empowers us and strips us of any veneer that is holding us back from self-realization.  But it also can break us down so that we are forced to surrender our ideas and ideals of what life is supposed to be like and force us to begin anew.

Jupiter will oppose Pluto (in a 180 degree aspect) three times between now and April 2014, and the first exact alignment is August 7th.  (You’ll be reading more about that in my Planetary Illuminations column – sign up in the sidebar if you’re not already on my mailing list.)  This is particularly significant in light of the cycle involving Uranus and Pluto (catch up on this in the sidebar article) which is already in effect.  So Jupiter’s alignments are not only to Pluto, but to Uranus as well.

Jupiter tends to expand whatever it comes into contact with, and as it dances first with Pluto and then with Uranus (more on that in future articles) so the dramatic pressure for transformation (Pluto) with change and innovation (Uranus) will become even more pronounced over the coming months.

Jupiter inspires us to find meaning in our lives by developing faith and belief in an ideal that works for us.  It therefore rules theology and religion, but also travel and exposure to other cultures that expand our minds.  Jupiter also presides over the realm of higher knowledge and the search for a truth that makes sense for us.  However, Jupiter’s need for continual expansion can result in an overinflated sense of reality that has no basis in the real world.  Pluto on the other hand demands nothing less than Truth with a capital “T” – the ultimate Truth that can be known  only when artifice and the superficial are discarded, and when Pluto interacts with Jupiter the inflated hopes and dreams of Jupiter can often be burst.

With Jupiter opposing Pluto we will likely see conflict between the small truths and the bigger Truths that underlie the very fabric of reality.  Jupiterian truths are like theologies – your truth may be different from mine.  Your politics may be different from mine.  But Truth is a reality that cannot change from one person to the next.

Oppositions require synthesis and negotiation- they act like a seesaw, moving from one side to another until we are able to balance in the middle.  Under the Jupiter/Pluto opposition we need to learn to balance faith and hope (Jupiter) with the reality of Death and renewal (Pluto).  We may need to re-evaluate our belief systems (Jupiter) so that we can become the empowered human we were meant to be (Pluto).  We may need to give up our ideas of our own righteousness (Jupiter) so that we can surrender to the higher self that guides us always (Pluto). we will all die someday although we each have a small truth as to what might happen next.

Surrender and knowledge are the key to navigating this planetary cycle.  I’ll be writing more about the Uranian implications soon.

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