Welcome to Ghost of a Podcast. I’m your host, Jessica Lanyadoo. I’m an astrologer, psychic medium, and animal communicator, and I’m going to give you your weekly horoscope and no bullshit, mystical advice for living your very best life.

Hello, my darlings. I’m going to unpack Jupiter in this week’s Astrology Hot Take. But before I do, I want to encourage you to join me over on Patreon where people get to tell me what I need to talk about on these here Hot Takes. And you can learn with me all kinds of things—astrology, Tarot, do live streams, that kind of fun stuff. And if you are on social media, go ahead and follow me in those places because I post lots of stuff, pretty damn routinely. So there’s lots of places that we can connect outside of the podcast. Although, please, keep on coming back over here. 

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Okay, so let’s talk about Jupiter. We’ll talk about Jupiter in the birth chart—some myths, some facts, and then we will talk about some Jupiter transit stuff, including, but not limited to, the Jupiter Return. Okay, so when people start studying astrology, it is very seductive to think Jupiter, the planet of good luck, the planet of everything going your way. And let me just tell you, that’s not it. That’s not what this planet is about. 

Now, this planet is a benefic—it’s referred to as a benefic. It tends to have a kind of a lightbulb, positive impact on our lives. Where Jupiter exists in the birth chart, natal aspects allowing, this is where we experience flow, where we are naturally inclined to grow. 

Jupiter is the ruling planet to the sign of Sagittarius, and its natural placement is the ninth house. This is the planet that is associated with philosophy and adventure, growth, expansion, openings, a willingness to really explore, a drive to explore—those things are wonderful. 

Truth be told, my friends, it is also associated with alcoholism and gambling. If I hear about a lot of cheating, I’m going to check out Jupiter—what is Jupiter doing? Because Jupiter’s impulses are really essential to its energies. So where we find Jupiter in the chart, depending on placement and aspect, we can feel entitled to do whatever we want, as much of it as we want, be damn the consequences. Because Jupiter is about the journey and not super fixated on the outcome. 

Now, of the outer planets, Saturn and Jupiter are called the social planets as opposed to the generational planets. Technically speaking, I often just push them all into one bucket of being generational planets. And that is in no small part because when I’m looking at a person’s birth chart for inherited issues as a means to understand immigration patterns in the family, I’m looking to Jupiter. And so, there is a way that Jupiter absolutely, and certainly Saturn, do reveal generational and inherited conditions. That said, technically speaking, it is a social planet because Jupiter’s very much associated with how we connect with others, how we play with others, how we learn from others, how we influence others. 

So Jupiter in your birth chart is absolutely a wonderful place to look. This is where you may find that things are kind of easy for you—things work out for you. In reality, my experience is that most people don’t identify with that. Now, if you’re super Jupitarian, and you have a nature that’s super easy, and you haven’t lived a life with a great deal of trauma, then, yeah, you’ll probably identify with Jupiter is lady luck, and she likes me. But for everybody else who doesn’t fit into that easy peasy, trauma free lifestyle situation, you’re likely to feel like Jupiter represents a place where I guess I’ve actually had a lot of luck. I guess things actually flow for me. 

And the reason why I’m framing it that way is because you don’t necessarily notice that things are going your way because that’s the way it's always been for you. And this is where Jupiter can be associated with entitlement because we don’t realize we’re taking for granted things flowing for us where we have Jupiter because they’ve always flowed for us in that particular way. 

A beautiful thing to do is to look at the sign and house placement of Jupiter in your birth chart, and if you’re more advanced of a student of astrology, to look at the aspects, the natal aspects to that planet to have a better understanding of how it functions in your life. 

Okay, so just a little bit more about Jupiter itself in the birth chart, and then we go into Jupiter transits. So Jupiter is associated with knowledge and study. The energy of Jupiter in your birth chart is the energy of generosity. We tend to be givers where we have Jupiter in the chart. And so, it’s really valuable to understand the ways in which you’re generous, but to also understand that when Jupiter is harshly aspected—so when there’s a lot of squares or oppositions, sometimes conjunctions will do it—there’s a way that we can be irresponsible. Because the risks we take, we don’t really consider how they make other people feel. 

That’s actually why it’s associated with cheating, in my experience. Because when you have a commitment to person A, but then you meet person B, and you’re just like, “Well, it really has nothing to do with person A. They don’t really need to know about it,” you’re really just thinking about yourself. It doesn’t come out of malice, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fucked up. And Jupiter often will motivate us—when it is motivating us to do shitty things, it motivates us to do shitty things that we feel perfectly okay with and we can justify. 

Now, Jupiter is associated with growth, which means it’s also associated with growths—like literally like cysts and fibroids, like growths. And that is not necessarily a bad thing. When we have something grow larger than it’s meant to, and when we have something grow where it’s not meant to, then it becomes a problem. Now, that’s a metaphor and a physical, literal thing. 

Jupiter in the birth chart in a meaningful way is there to not only give us resiliency and to support our evolution, but also to teach us that all growth is not good growth. All adventures are not good for you. Trying to learn something, trying to teach something, it’s not always the right moment. It’s not always the right thing. So there is a lesson to be learned with Jupiter around proportion. How much cake can you enjoy before the cake gives you a tummy ache? It’s one of the meaningful lessons about Jupiter that we don’t always read about when you’re doing your research into astrology. 

As you start to see how Jupiter functions in your birth chart, you can use it as a resource—a resource that supports you in your resiliency and in your capacity to have abundance in your life. It’s a really beautiful planet to explore and experiment with. 

On January 5th of 2021, Georgia has the opportunity to flip the US senate blue. And whether or not you’re in Georgia, you can get involved. Here are some organizations that you can donate to and volunteer with, and the links to them all will be show notes. 

One super star on the political scene is Stacey Abrams. I know you’ve heard of her, but let me just tell you about her organization Fair Fight, whose mission it is to advocate for free and fair elections by fighting voter suppression and promoting fair elections in Georgia, as well as around the country. You can donate and find out more about how to get involved over at fairfight.com. 

Now, there’s another organization I want to share with you, which is called The New Georgia Project. They seek to empower the new American majority to vote through advocacy and engagement. You can go to their website at thenewgeorgiaproject.org to donate and get involved. 

And, finally, you need to know about Black Voters Matter. Their goal is to increase power in marginalized, predominately Black communities. Effective voting allows a community to determine its own destiny. Get involved and donate at blackvotersmatterfund.org. Link to all three of these orgs will remain in show notes.

Now, let’s talk about Jupiter by transit, and we have to start with the Jupiter Return. So everybody goes through a Jupiter Return every like 11 to 12 years—somewhere in there. And that’s because it takes that long—almost 12 years or approximately 12 years—for Jupiter to cycle through all of the zodiac to return to wherever it was on the date of your birth. So that’s what a return is—when a planet returns to exactly where it was on the date on your birth.

The Jupiter Return is a meaningful transit, but not unlike what I was saying about Jupiter in the birth chart, there’s a way that people can misunderstand what the Jupiter Return promises. It does not promise unicorns and rainbows, and everything is amazing, and you hit the lottery and all that kind of stuff. That’s not what it is. I mean, it certainly can be, I suppose, but it’s not the most common experience of the Jupiter Return. And if you are listening to this, and you are older than the age 12, then you should know this by now because you’ve already gone through at least one Jupiter Return. 

So they happen at 12, around 24, and you get it—every 12 years, it happens again. And to know the exact date of it you would have to use an ephemeris or consult with an astrologer to figure that out. 

Now, the Jupiter Return is a time where we become wiser. And we become wiser because things click—they come together. Jupiter is associated with synthesized knowledge, with lived experience accumulating to be information that you can actually use, and not just use in a practical way—that’s more Saturn—but use to inspire and motivate and buoy you forward. Jupiter Returns are a time in your life where you can expect some measure of growth. And it is possible that that growth comes through a windfall or a job opportunity or love or something like that, but generally speaking, it’s not that material. 

Jupiter is, in fact, not that material. It governs over religion and higher education, not stuff. And so, when we, let’s say, get some sort of windfall around an opportunity, that’s because that opportunity is the vehicle for our growth, for our evolution, and transmutation, right. It’s a beautiful fucking thing, but it’s not essentially about the material thing that is presenting itself during the Jupiter Return. 

Generally, when the Jupiter Return exists, things come into our life or insights kind of clarify themselves or gel that give us a sense of growth and increase our freedom or resiliency. This is a wonderful thing. For a lot of people, it’s also a pretty subtle thing. So if you’re going through a shitty time, if you are having other transits from outer planets that are kind of heavy and difficult, this will simply be wind beneath your wings. Any Jupiter transit, including, but not limited to, the Jupiter Return will simply be wind beneath your wings. 

It will represent that perfect person walking up to you at that perfect moment and saying just the right thing and it helping you. It will not represent a get out of jail free card. And I don’t mean to be a boner killer over here, but I do hear a lot of people being like, “I don’t get it. I went through my Jupiter Return. Jupiter was doing this thing to my yadda, yadda in my birth chart, and I thought I was going to get all this amazing stuff, and nothing really happened.” And so, it’s really important to have measured expectations, so that you can actually get the value and the bounty that Jupiter transits seek to provide. 

Now, every time we go through a Jupiter Return, it is both the opening and the ending of a 12-year cycle. So that means that if you’re going through your Jupiter Return, you are also at the onset of a new Jupitarian cycle of growth and wisdom and lived experience. And the more intention that you bring to that, the better. That means your next Jupiter Return’s going to be even better. 

Jupiter over the course of an almost 12-year period will form an aspect to every single planet in your birth chart—every planet, every point. And even when we go through, quote, difficult transits by Jupiter—the square, the opposition—it doesn’t tend to be like a bad thing. 

The exception to this comes up when you have an excessive nature. When you have a substance abuse problem or any kind of addiction in general, Jupiter expands it. It makes you more restless and more inclined to dive headfirst into whatever your behavior is. And so, in that way, Jupiter can be quite difficult. 

Jupiter, if you have a tendency to overspend, which I think falls into the addiction bucket, if you have a tendency to overspend or overextend yourself in any way, Jupiter transits can be very challenging because they egg you on, and they can even give you short term rewards for what will in the long-term cost you dearly, right. 

And so, while Jupiter transits are very unlikely to make you feel bad, they do challenge you to know yourself, to know what is a good opportunity on paper versus a good opportunity for me. What is a delicious beverage that I would love to drink this evening versus a hang over tomorrow morning? 

Jupiter transits are often a time where we meet people, we have insights, or we get opportunities that help us to grow and that increase our health, our wealth, or our resiliency in life. It’s really positive. But again, these things can be subtle. 

So what do you do with this information? My friends, let me tell you what you do. You note when Jupiter transits are happening to you, so that you can bring intention to making the most out of this period, and not just by hopping on all opportunities and not by waiting for some magic windfall to come, but instead, for doing what Jupiter truly wants us to do, which is to grow, which is to engage with all the difficulties of life with the intention to transmute them into something more precious to us—healing, right. And none of this happens without effort and intention. 

And when I say effort, the effort may simply be choosing to be receptive—the effort of truly receiving your blessings, of being grateful for what you have at this moment, and even for what you’ve gone through that brought you here. Jupiter supports us in doing this. 

At the end of the day, when we go through Jupiter transits, and when we’re looking at Jupiter in the birth chart, what we are seeing is our capacity to transmute or transform, not in a Plutonian way that is heavy and painful—because even the most gentle and easy Plutonian transformation is painful and difficult. But Jupiter’s transmutations are not actually that difficult. But what they are is testing your vision for yourself. They are testing your willingness and your drive to see the big picture and to grasp it with both hands. Where we find Jupiter in the chart, and when we go through Jupiter transits, we are on call to grow and to evolve. That takes your willingness. It takes you. 

My loves, thank you for, again, joining me for this Hot Take of Ghost of a Podcast. If you want to know more about Jupiter or any other planet in the damn zodiac, just pop me an email over at ghostofapodcast.com or buy my damn book, Astrology For Real Relationships: Understanding You, Me, and How We All Get Along. It’s a great book. It will teach you shit about astrology, and you know you want to learn. Talk to you soon. Bye.