JUPITER in VIRGO: “It’s Time to Clean Out ALL Your Closets!”
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Pura Lempuyang Door-Temple in Bali
“This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still, treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.” RUMI
Dear Friend,
Expansive Jupiter enters punctilious Virgo on August 11th in the midst of a three-part intimate Tango with lover Venus, culminating in their third juicy conjunction in Virgo on October 25th. This is good news for those of us with even a touch of Virgo in our make-up–as well as the rest of us who could use an energy boost to help us clean up our acts and create some space for a little romance.
For a more detailed look at this Summer’s astrology, please review my last newsletter: VENUS Rx: “Who Do You Love and Why?”
Jupiter is the planet of good fortune and we’ll all experience an increased flow of abundance on all levels in the coming year and beyond lighting up that area of our life where Virgo sits in our birth chart.* But, Virgo being Virgo, some caveats apply.
The nature of Virgo, when expressed positively, has incredible attention to detail, is highly organized, efficient, loyal, and committed to being of service and helpful to a fault. But when the shadow side of Virgo comes into play, these same positive traits become over-developed and can be expressed as perfectionistic, nitpicking, hyper-critical and judgmental (and not in an especially constructive way).
For example, one of the ways a classic Virgo-type might tell you that they love you and care for your well-being is to give you a list of all the things you should have done before or could be doing better going forward.
At its worst, an over-developed Virgoan can become so loaded with repressed emotions that it adversely affects their physical health. Virgo is the sign of the virgin, i.e. purity, so while it is not too hard for them to get the concept that “God is in the little things,” the idea that you can’t be clean all the time without getting dirty first can flip them out, as the dirty/clean polarity in this plane of duality is a hard one for Virgo-types to accept. Thus, they can get stuck on either end of the OCD spectrum from cleanliness freaks to hoarders, and all kinds of weird points in between.
In addition, Virgo is the natural ruler of the sixth house of work and health, so how our work-life affects our health will be a prominent theme this year. This means that, while we may love being of service to others, if we give too much of our vital life force energies away and don’t know how to replenish ourselves and/or are working in a toxic environment and don’t know how to seal ourselves energetically—we are setting ourselves up to manifest physical symptoms—sooner or later.
For more on this: The MindBody Prescription, by John Sarno, explains how we repress negative emotions—such as anxiety, stress and anger—and then, by unconsciously creating physical symptoms and pain of various sorts, distract ourselves from the root emotional causes.
For how NOT to get drained or slimed by negative energies, see: Psychic Empowerment Practices
All that being said, here’s the most important thing to remember in healing ourselves on all levels:
“One sees that the ultimate metaphysical truth is that love is the alpha and omega of being: and that the work of healing, of rendering whole, is first and last the business of love.” Neurologist Oliver Sacks
So whatever we do to heal ourselves, we need to do it with love and compassion for our woundedness and to surround ourselves with friends and helpers who are able and available to be there for us on the heart levels. Why settle for anything less?
When the most negative side of Virgo is projected outward, oh boy! One can become so perfectionistic that everything and everyone becomes annoying, thus not allowing for any enjoyment of others–just as they are– in all their imperfect humanness–or Life—just as it is—in all its wondrous glory.
Classic Virgoan types that come to mind are:
Martha Stewart has a highly-refined aesthetic Venus in Virgo in her career house—which served as quite a boon in creating an empire out of her finely-tuned attention to detail—but in her personal relationships, not so much.
The same modus operandi applies with Steve Jobs: His Virgo-rising gave him a perfectionistic attention to detail that served him impeccably in transforming how we create,communicate and are entertained in the 21st century and beyond—but in his personal life, not so much.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I have Venus and Mars conjunct in Virgo in the 7th house of committed partnerships. This has helped me immeasurably in my work with clients, as I can innately see and articulate all the intricate workings of their soul’s multitude of karmic identities and how and why they are expressed through the present personality. It feels as if I’m putting an elaborate jigsaw puzzle together into a cohesive whole.
But, in my personal life, not so much. All that Virgo affecting my yin and yang energies tends to make me hypercritical and perfectionistic—especially in intimate partnerships—as the closer a significant other moves into my emotional space—it’s as if I’m seeing them through a magnifying glass—and myself too, of course—but in the 7th house, it’s easier to project the judgments outward.
Being aware of this trait for well over three decades has allowed me to be consciously vigilant of my Virgoan tendency to scrutinize to a fault so that I can exercise impulse control and verbal restraint with my partners and thus have learned how to appreciate them—and myself—just as we are.
So how do we make the most of this contradictory mix of the expansive let-everything-hang-out energies of Jupiter with the attention-to the-minutest-details energies of Virgo? The first image that came to mind is of the Hindu Deity Ganesha, the elephant-headed god, known as the Lord of Success and Remover of obstacles, who is very Jupiterian in nature. Ganesha is never seen in any classic presentation without a mouse—yes—a mouse at his feet. Why? In traditional Vedic stories, the mouse is Ganesha’s vehicle to get things done on the earth plane because he represents a relentless attention to detail with a very refined focus that balances out the enormous positive power of Ganesha—so nothing gets missed or neglected in the overall scheme of things.
Therefore my prescription to make the most out of Jupiter in Virgo (aka the elephant god and his trusty mouse sidekick) is to first cultivate an attitude that values space as much or higher than most of the stuff that could fill it. Then, with this attitude in mind, we need to clean out all our closets. (That means: clothes closets, kitchen cupboards, desk drawers, filing systems and even junk drawers–remembering all the nooks and crannies.)
We don’t need to do this overnight, unless we have an overload of personal planets in Virgo and our enthusiasm for clearing out clutter and creating more space simply brings us joy—for then it’s just business as usual. But if we do decide, between now and, say, the end of the year to do a thorough house-cleaning, the incentive is that we’ll experience more capacity for inner space to create—with beneficent Jupiter’s blessing.
When we choose to incorporate the Virgo knack of tidying up as relentlessly as a mouse, we’ll be rewarded by generous Jupiter with gifts of abundant growth—on both inner and outer levels. In fact many artist and writers, including myself, can’t really get down to being open clear channels for co-creation before we’ve at least organized our externals—that is, to the degree that we have Virgo operating in our natal chart—which usually sets the operational standards for our cleanliness quotient.
In addition, to creating more space to grow in our external environment, we also need to implement an internal clearing out:
1. Physical body clearing: through colon, gall bladder, liver and kidney cleansing. For more on this: SensibleHealth.com and The Amazing Liver and Gallbladder Cleanse by Andeas Moritz
2. Energy body clearing: through doing some kind of mind/body practices daily such as yoga or chi gung which incorporates breath work, to discharge stagnant chi and ground the being through the root. For more on this: Taoist Practices
3. Emotional, mental and psychic body clearing: through working on dissolving habitual mental, emotional and karmic patterns called samskaras in Sanskrit (karmic grooves). For more on this: Transformation and Healing by Thich Nhat Hanh
All this clearing out will facilitate new levels of experiencing the clear fresh pristine pure spaciousness of our body consciousness on all levels as our innate birthright. One of my favorite meditations—especially while floating in the ocean is: “Breathing in—I am space—breathing out I am free.”
But keep in mind, you need to do the inner and the outer clearing, because one without the other could make you feel more imbalanced.
Please note: If you are feeling a bit at a loss as to how to get started and clear out on the inner levels listed above, I am available for psychic phone consults with this specific focus. For more detailed info, please see: Psychic Counseling
But, be advised, I am not available to come and help you tidy up your home, (I’ve got my own issues here), but you can check out the book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo, although I’ll warn you in advance that it will probably make you a bit nutsy.
I chose to read it in the spirit of getting into the theme of Jupiter in Virgo, but every time the author says: “If the article you’re holding in your hand doesn’t bring you joy, throw it out” I seriously wanted to chuck this book out the window. So warning given—to take what you can use and leave the rest (as in all things)—unless you are a double or triple Virgo—then you’ll love it!
To really bring home the lessons available viscerally from creating more inner space, here’s one of my favorite meditations, in which I visualize going up the chakras, starting with the root, and saying:
1. I am not this body (following each with “neti-neti”–meaning “not this-not that” in Sanskrit)
2. I am not my senses, desires or gender.
3. I am not my roles or functions.
4. I am not my emotions, compassion or desire for service
5. I am not my words, creations or channel for these.
6. I am not my thoughts, philosophies or witness of these.
7. I am that I am: pure being/consciousness/bliss absolute.
After this, with the intent of my mind, I further dissolve down into the earth all the levels of chakra identity I have just detached from. By now, my mind is silent and I can just sit. The breath slows and sometimes stops. I AM pure being. No thoughts. Bliss spontaneously arises. This is how I like to start my day and I hope you’ll try this experience for yourself.
Last but certainly not least, Jupiter is the natural ruler of the 9th house of philosophy and higher truth, and when it is in the sign of Virgo, both natally and by transit this year, we need to watch out for being hyper-critical in our judgment of other people’s belief systems.
All belief systems—religious, spiritual, new age or whatever—are, from a higher perspective, just mental constructs that we use to help us function in the Earth Game by giving us some illusion of control by categorizing the Infinite. HA!
This means that, whether you buy into:
1. The Christian view of heaven, hell and purgatory
2. The Tibetan Buddhism view of bardos and nirvana
3. The Islamic view of paradise (the number of virgins for men is open to debate:))
4. The Vedic view of planes of consciousness called lokas
5. The Taoist view of eight bodies of consciousness
6. The new age view of the chakra system (“re-interpreted” from India), other dimensions and aliens
ALL OF THE ABOVE (and any other belief systems you can think of) are ultimately just MENTAL CONSTRUCTS!
Therefore, to get all wound up about which path is the true path—or the highest path—does seem rather silly and narrow-minded from a soul perspective. But this is exactly the danger with Jupiter in Virgo: To be judgmental and small-minded about spiritual or other life philosophies that don’t agree with our own. We will see this trending as it accelerates in the mass consciousness (as the lowest common denominator) and played out more on the world stage over the coming year.
To show you the philosophical range of Jupiter in Virgo, here’s a rather “high” expression by Timothy Leary: “If you take the game of life seriously, if you take your nervous system seriously, if you take your sense organs seriously, if you take the energy process seriously, you must turn on, tune in, and drop out.”
The shadow side of Jupiter in Virgo is exemplified in the charts of such as Mel Gibson and Osama Bin Laden. All forms of fundamentalism are rooted in a deep-seated fear of unity consciousness and a promotion of “specialness” through using judgment and separation as a defense mechanism.
So, to operate from the higher function of Jupiter in Virgo, we need to not buy into the craving to be “special” by beliefs such as: “You’ll be damned if you’re not ‘saved’” or “You won’t reach enlightenment unless you follow this or that teacher, path or practice.” But rather, to cultivate an attitude of live and let live, and understand that all paths (i.e. mental constructs) serve those that embrace them at the level they are capable of at this time.
Perhaps the only downside to any Jupiter transit is if we let it slip away without making the most of it. This is especially true in Virgo as—the more space we create on all levels—internal and external—the more room we’ll have to expand and grow. Here are some tips to optimally utilize these most spiritually pragmatic energies:
I. Embracing without judgment our own imperfect humanness AND everyone else’s on the planet as well.
II. Never comparing anyone else’s success, path or belief structure with our own: COMPARING IS A KILLER!
III. Cultivating an attitude that—since there is infinite abundance—there’s ALWAYS enough to go around–and it’s everyone’s innate birthright.
IV. Accepting that all roads—even circuitous ones–ultimately lead to the top of the mountain. So, we just need to stay in our own lane—the one that works for us.
V. Focusing on any one else’s path or belief structure dissipates energy and distracts us from our own journey and, besides, it really is none of our business!
Did you know that recent studies revealed that the happiest people on the planet are in places with the greatest poverty like India?
These studies have proven that externals comprise only 10% of the “happiness quotient.” The other factors making up our happiness are: 50% is a set point, based on our personality (i.e. karmic) predisposition, and most importantly, 40% is based on our intentional behavior to be happy with what is.
In fact, one of my spiritual teachers in India considers greed to be the most prevalent human trait on the planet—and the most harmful. If we look around us, we can observe that greed is a many-armed monster: Envy, jealousy, lust, judgment, arrogance, self-pity and anger can all spring from the insatiable craving for more, different or better.
In the Buddhist tradition, these impediments to spiritual progress (and happiness) are called the five hindrances: lust, agitation/worry, sloth, ill-will and doubt.
This year, we can choose to make our happiness predicated on not judging or comparing—but in fully luxuriating in the magnificent abundance that we have—just as it is. That means enjoying each moment with gratitude and sharing our abundance of love with others in whatever form makes our hearts sing and expand.
Happiness can be as simple as just enjoying being with the “non-toothache,” i.e. the cessation of pain, gratitude for daily surges of vitality, when they come, and doing at least a little something—every day—that gives our life meaning and purpose. Like cleaning our space:).
For more on this: On Pleasure, Joy and Bliss
In closing, to enjoy this year’s Jupiter in Virgo energies to the fullest, remember: The Divine is ceaselessly supporting all our endeavors that expand our range and grow our souls. But if we’re so clogged up with inner and outer baggage that there’s no room for new co-creative energy—i.e. abundance on all levels—to flow in—then we’re not doing our part.
Ram Dass says: “In most of our human relationships, we spend much of our time reassuring one another that our costumes of identity are on straight.” Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could all just BE and let everything hang out with loved ones and especially ourselves without nitpicking and just embrace our imperfect humanness?
After all, we’re all wounded somewhere—that’s part of what we took incarnation to heal—and we’re all mentally ill—it’s just a question of degree in terms of our illusion of separateness from All That is. Therefore, why not choose to relax with ourselves and others just as we are?
We can focus on our progress with gratitude and a glass-half-full perspective . . . or not. Jupiter always votes yes—Virgo is still deliberating . . . It’s your call!
Smiling and cleaning,
J o a n
GANESHA
“Once upon a time men were possessed by devils. Now they are not less obsessed by ideas.” CG JUNG
“Out beyond the ideas of right-doing or wrong-doing there is a field–I’ll meet you there.” RUMI
For a comprehensive look at all things Jupiter (and his shadow side), I encourage you to check out:
*If you’d like to really make the most of this Jupiter transit, so you’ll be awake and alert to the opportunities coming your way for abundance on all levels, an astrological reading from a soul-level karmic perspective is a most useful tool.
Once you know which areas of your life will be positively highlighted this year, you can focus more energy and attention there. This will lay the foundation for a 12-year cycle of abundance flowing into those parts of you and your personal reality that Jupiter in Virgo shining on through July, 2015.
So, if you’ve been thinking about gifted yourself or a loved one with an astrology reading from Joan’s unique psychic perspective—or are due for your yearly transit update—it’s the perfect time!
To get your birth chart for free: Astro.com
Please don’t hesitate to call me for a free consultation to discuss how to customize the perfect session for your specific needs at this time. I’m looking forward to connecting with you:
To help catalyze an opening to a higher perspective, I’ve written a number of articles on themes such as: body karma, addiction, last incarnation, aliens, astrological themes and much more: WRITINGS
Feel the need for some help in dealing with “the quickening” of energies now? Then it’s time for a daily mind/body/spirit practice that feeds your Soul! If you’d like to learn what keeps me sane, serene, internally stable and grounded, please check out:
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