Why do you think Sagittarius, ruled by Jupiter, planet of knowledge, is a Fire sign rather than an Air one?

An answer is in the Bible (tongue in cheek). In the life of the patriarchs, it is often mentioned that they “knew their wife”, as a way to mean they had sexual intercourse. This has always made me smile, but it’s actually revealing: knowing is much more than the result of learning intellectually.

Real knowledge involves active participation.

With Jupiter, knowing is living. I know London because I live in London. I know love when I love. We could argue endlessly about what love is exactly, but would lovers do that? They know.

We, astrologers, are nerds. It’s not wrong, but like with everything, there is a right amount, half way between too much and not enough.

Too much astrological nerdiness and we are like theologians disputing the number of angels able to stand on the head of a pin instead of being mystics carried away in ecstasy. We’re contemplating the cosmos, for God’s sake!

A key word for Jupiter is “enthusiasm”, which etymologically, takes us back to a Greek word meaning “being inspired or possessed by a god”. Jupiter’s glyph makes me think of a boat with wind in its sail.

I understand, for instance Venus in Taurus square Mars in Leo when I am able to conjure up these energies and feel them sparring and sparkling within myself. Venus in Taurus is a goddess of wet clay; in her embrace the warrior gets glued to the land. Ploughing the field, he feels the sudden urge to saddle his horse, fasten his belt and go risk his life to get gold. But can he do that without breaking a heart?

Feeling the energies rather than just thinking about them, is like touching them. My way to live this makes me come up with pictures and little stories as illustrations.

However, please don’t make me say what I didn’t: don’t bin the thinking altogether! Just don’t stay stuck in it exclusively.

Jupiter rules over two signs: a Fire sign: Sagittarius and a Water sign: Pisces.

Fire and Water are the life giving elements. Fire meets Water when sun rays hit the plants and photosynthesis takes place. Plants grow, feed animals etc. All life is dependent on this meeting of Fire and Water. The earth knows life.

In the sea, deep down it is dark and cold but just under the surface, life is thriving. Plankton, algaes, corals, crabs, fish and the nets of fishermen. Sea, sex and sun. Water, Fire and Life.

Again, Jupiter’s kind of knowledge is the opposite of a cold and dry intellectual understanding. It’s Fire and Water, it’s hot and wet. It’s a vine in the jungle, a wolf in the mountain, a mystic in contemplation. The mountaineer knows the mountain, the sailor knows the sea.

This knowledge proceeds not by separation, but by union of the subject and the object.

Apart from Sun and Moon, which function as a unit, all traditional planets rule over two signs, a masculine and diurnal one, and a feminine and nocturnal one. The rule of the game is duality. Life is always breathing in and breathing out in alternance.

When Jupiter is breathing in, the “vibe” is Pisces and when it’s breathing out it’s Sagittarius.

Here is the simplest imagery I have for Jupiter: if you practise Chi-Kung, you may hold an invisible ball of energy between your hands. You move your hands apart and the ball becomes bigger. Expansion goes simultaneously in all directions.

When this happens in Sagittarius mode, the energy is yang. Our presence to the world expands. We embark on a journey or a quest, we become important in our social environment, our wealth increases, whatever was created by the power of the Sun and the fertility of the Moon grows.

When this happens in Pisces mode, the inner world expands. Life gives us more to feel. Music, love, poetry, stories, compassion, praise and prayers or even a living silence give our souls the opportunity to be filled with more, as we surrender to something greater and greater…

Sometimes, we suffer, and we don’t like it, but there is a way to salvation.

Placed in any sign, Jupiter will bring this movement of amplification of inner and outer life expanding and knowing itself in the process.

I know someone with Jupiter in Taurus placed on the MC, and no, she doesn’t run hedge funds, she doesn’t own much, apart from a very small house.

With Jupiter in Taurus dominant, couldn’t we expect expansion on the material plane? Jupiter is squared by her Aquarius Sun in the chart but this square doesn’t explain everything.

She grew up in Paris. One day she discovered a beautiful countryside in the South of France and fell in love with it. She has been living there ever since.

Abroad, from Jupiter’s point of view, is not necessarily on the other side of our country’s border. Staying put on the same spot can be a wonderful journey, knowing that we’ve left another world behind.

When I knew her, she was growing strawberries on a small patch of land near her tiny house. Don’t tell her that’s not wealth.

Jean-Marc Pierson

Storyteller, Astrologer

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