To be notified by email when new articles are posted, join my mailing list!

In a rare triple conjunction, Jupiter, Neptune and Chiron will join forces in Aquarius in the spring of 2009, sparking themes of otherworldly longing, loss and transcendent healing.

Jupiter and Neptune last met up twelve years ago in late Capricorn. Interestingly, the recent stock-market nosedive parallels what occurred in 1997--the last time the Dow Jones industrial average fell below 7,000. Another defining event of that year was the shocking, mysterious death of Lady Diana Spencer--which triggered an unparalleled outpouring of grief, rage and worship. This marked a death knell for the monarchy (symbolized by Capricorn, sign of the establishment).

As co-rulers of Pisces, Jupiter and Neptune blur the boundaries between this world and the next, and often correspond with losses that test and strengthen our faith. Both planets are connected to that greatest of all mysteries--death. My 92-year-old grandfather passed away peacefully in his sleep when Jupiter trined his natal Neptune. A friend's father died (more painfully, alas) from an ongoing battle with leukemia when Jupiter squared his Neptune and Ascendant. Transiting or natal Jupiter are often active at death, serving as a boost to the great beyond (Lady Diana had transiting Uranus exactly on her natal Jupiter at her sudden passing).

Jupiter-Neptune is passionately creative. Poet Maya Angelou and singer-songwriter Bob Dylan possess the trine. Writer Henry Miller and dancer Isadora Duncan had these two power-packed planets in square to each other. Visionary artist Paul Klee had the sextile. The conjunction is featured prominently in the chart of otherworldly sitar player and spiritual teacher Ravi Shankar.

Jupiter, however, also symbolizes pride and excess; Neptune, illusion and deception. A friend with Neptune conjunct his natal Ascendant staged a musical showcase when Jupiter crossed that point. He rented a 2,000-seat auditorium and invited everyone he knew--but only 200 showed up. He suffered a huge financial loss. Jupiter-Neptune suggested the delusions of grandeur that made him believe he could pack a large auditorium.

The horoscope of Aleister Crowley contains a fixed t-square between Jupiter, Neptune and the Ascendant. Crowley was a colorful figure in the early part of the 20th Century, who specialized in questionable forms of magic. His Jupiter-Neptune square brought him to great spiritual heights as well as the depths of depravity. Early in his career, while on his honeymoon in Egypt, Crowley channeled an inspired work, The Book of the Law. He later proclaimed himself the messiah of a new religion that celebrated sexual perversion. After one of his disciples died from drinking the blood of a cat and another went mad, Crowley descended into heroin addiction and perished.

Clearly, Jupiter-Neptune is a potent cocktail. Sip carefully of the divine nectar and the world of spirit opens its gates. Drink wantonly of the magic brew and risk a death by drowning. If Jupiter and Neptune are prominent in your chart, the choice is yours.

The Chiron Connection

A shamanic healer who navigates between the worlds, Chiron symbolizes freedom through selflessness. To attain healing powers, a true shaman must undergo a near-death or painful initiatory experience that shatters the ego. This is mirrored in Chiron's tale, in which the mythical centaur was accidentally wounded by a poison-dipped arrow. Suffering greatly, Chiron spent his whole life searching for a cure--and in the process, became a master teacher and healer. As an immortal unable to find release in death, Chiron martyred himself by taking Prometheus' place. Chained to a rock, each day an eagle would devour Chiron's liver, and each night it would grow back. In recognition of his selfless act, the god Jupiter ultimately freed Chiron from suffering by placing him in the stars, in the constellation of Sagittarius.

When Jupiter unites with Chiron, we're offered an unparalleled opportunity for healing. Add Neptune to the mix, and we gain the ability to move between dimensions. This extremely rare conjunction of Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune in Aquarius happens from May thru July, then again in December. Aquarius symbolizes the union between male and female, left brain and right brain. Neptune has been moving through Aquarius since 1999; Chiron joined it in 2005, and both remain there until 2011. Together, they offer the chance to heal old wounds between men and women as well as rebalance the male/female energies within. As I've explained in a related article, Chiron in Aquarius represents the return of Isis, or the Divine Feminine, to Planet Earth. The Aquarian-style love that's coming in is an intense, cosmic fusion that exalts the male/female principle into something beyond the sum of its parts.

Since Jupiter entered Aquarius in January 2009 to join Neptune and Chiron, a spiritual quickening has occurred. Many innovative Aquarian concepts (such as green building, energetic healing and new forms of digital communication) suddenly went mainstream. As Jupiter dove into the spiritual ethers of Aquarius, this country inaugurated Barack Obama as its president, catalyzing an Aquarian vision of hope, change and brotherhood. We have charged Obama, who was having his Jupiter return in January, with wielding the cosmic forces to bring about change.

Astrologer Terry Lamb has noted that the triple conjunction of Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune represents the "healing of the great wound," which to me is the illusion of separation from Source as well as each other. During this triple conjunction, a great wound may indeed be triggered for the purpose of healing, pulling us together to realize our interconnectedness (it may have already begun with the financial shake-up). Those born between February, 1955 and January, 1961, with Chiron in Aquarius in their birth charts, may feel a special call this year to express themselves selflessly (Chiron) for the benefit of the whole (Aquarius). As the economic crisis has shown us, personal gain (represented by Leo, Aquarius' opposite sign), is no longer as important as joining together to make it through these changing times.

Between November 2008 and November 2009, we're moving through the Sixth Day of the Mayan Calendar. This is a period of potential enlightenment, in which a great influx of light is flooding the planet. In earlier spirals of the pyramid that depicts the evolution of consciousness, the Sixth Day corresponded with the Renaissance and the Beatnik-Flower Child era. It's no coincidence that during this Sixth Day, as we near the top of the evolutionary pyramid, Jupiter-Neptune-Chiron is here to accelerate the process. According to Mayan Calendar scholar Ian Lungold, at the "end of time as we know it" in 2012, many of us will become conscious co-creators with the Divine (others will likely fall by the wayside as "mulch" for new growth). Lungold felt that the dimensions of spirit and matter would begin to merge at that time, sparking a Golden Age.

Wherever the triple conjunction falls in your chart, you are experiencing the high-frequency and potentially nerve-wracking Aquarian energies of change, stirring things up to bring about healing. To successfully navigate these energies, you must stay centered in your heart. The heart is the safety zone, the place where you feel at home--yet most of us prefer to operate from our minds, where we think we can hide from pain and sorrow. Chiron, Neptune and Jupiter are uniting to proclaim that feeling our pain will bring true joy. As Khalil Gibran noted in The Prophet, "Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy."

So, as Chiron brings his selfless influence to temper the potential excesses of Jupiter-Neptune, let's breathe deep and reach out to others in whatever ways feel appropriate. Sip from this potent cocktail of change to raise your spirits and open your heart. Feel your oneness with All That Is, as you open to Spirit's guidance, release your fears and allow the shamanic healing within to occur.

Portions of this article are excerpted from Simone's feature in The Mountain Astrologer, "Jupiter-Neptune: Magician or Fool?" (Oct-Nov.1997)

© Simone Butler. All rights reserved.

<< return to articles index

Home :: Biography :: This Month :: Articles ::
Consultations :: Resources :: Mailing List