Jupiter in Scorpio and Heightened Instincts

* Jupiter entering Scorpio for the next year heralds a time of heightened instinctual intelligence. In the psychological language of the elements, water is related to our primal, physical instincts. I sometimes use the example of Scorpio, a solid, Mars ruled, feminine water sign, being like a mastiff or a large and solid watchdog, maybe even Cerberus, guardian of the underworld. When the watchdog is sitting on the porch in the cool air of Autumn it’s totally content and might even look like a lazy giant. However, as soon as anyone walks by it sits up and its radar turns on and it goes into detection mode. Then the watchdog starts scrutinizing, huffing, zeroing in, and sending a message through its body language. To us, the passersby look incredibly normal, not harmful at all, and yet we tend to trust what alerts that watchdog and what doesn’t, more than our own senses.

Why does Scorpio relate to this heightened instinctual radar, this guardianship motif, this tendency toward protection and security? One reason has to do with the fact that Scorpio’s association with zodiacal Autumn relates the sign to a time of year where the Sun has entered the underworld of the solar year and is now moving with a single-pointed focus toward the winter solstice. Whereas Libra represents the judgment moment or the pivot of the Sun into the underworld, Scorpio is most quintessentially about the descent. Scorpio represents the long, slow staircase down into the lowermost regions of darkness. The solid or “fixed” quality of Scorpio relates to the idea that the descent of this time of year is pervasive, constant, steady, and all-consuming. It is the most “stable” period of solar descent and darkness in the year. As such we have the sign of Scorpio related to both notions of darkness and depth, mystery and death, as well as the guardianship or protection against darkness, within the darkness.

In other words, we have to become creatures of the underworld in order to be guardians of the overworld. We have to be creatures who can move into, sense, feel, and trust our instincts if we want to protect against and live alongside the darkness.

Jupiter in Scorpio represents a year of our lives where our instinctual intelligence may be heightened, may grow or expand or may become an integral part of what grants us success, insight, and enlightenment. However, to the extent that we tend to be paranoid, obsessive, hyper-vigilant, or constantly suspicious or superstitious, then this may be the kind of year where we’re constantly facing our demons or being haunted by old wounds or a general fear of the future.

* Whenever Jupiter enters a new sign, in the system of whole sign houses, he enters a new house. Even if you use quadrant-based houses, Jupiter will enter a new that often rules a new house. Pay attention to the shifts and changes that take place in these first weeks, relative to Jupiter’s entrance into a new house. Houses are regions of fate. In whole sign houses, signs become houses and then act like lightning rods for the distribution of planetary rulerships over the topics of the houses, or the regions of fate. If Jupiter is just entering your 7th house, watch for shifts or changes taking place in love and relationships. If Jupiter is entering your first, then it might be a year of gaining confidence (or gaining weight! haha). If Jupiter is entering your 11th house, watch as friendships and allies and even benefactors or inspiring visions of the future become the theme for your year ahead. Put simply, Jupiter’s ingress into a new sign will generally coincide with new topics in your life coming into the Jupiterian spotlight.

We will visit more on Jupiter in Scorpio over the next days as there is plenty more to say!