Jupiter Crosses My Ascendant

For the seventh time in my life, transiting Jupiter is about to cross my Ascendant. It's useful to look back at other times when the planet has crossed. If I look back to June 1st of 1999, I can see that Jupiter crossed my Ascendant at a time when I had decided to leave the Australian International School. At some point later in the year, I flew to Hong Kong for a job interview and was looking at other prospects.

Jupiter moved forward into my first house and stationed in late August of 1999 in 5° of Taurus. Turning retrograde, it stationed again on December 21st, exactly on my Ascendant. This corresponded to my departure from Singapore and my arrival in Jakarta, a pivotal change in the course of my life. The station on my Ascendant was the reason for the potency of this Jupiter contact with my Ascendant. Often Jupiter can whiz by the Ascendant once and not cross again until the next cycle.

This was the case for Jupiter's next crossing in May of 2011 where, as far as I can recollect, nothing major happened. The same will be the case this coming time when it crosses on April 21st 2023. It seems that I may well be spending a week in Kalimantan starting from the 19th of April, so that is in keeping with the nature of the aspect. See Figure 1 for the details.

Figure 1

ADDENDUM: April 22nd 2023

I am indeed in Kalimantan, having arrived in Banjarmasin yesterday and departing a week from today on Saturday, April 29th 2023.

74th Solar Return

Figure 1 shows the chart cast for my 74th solar return that will occur on my birthday April 3rd 2023 at 2:17 am in Jakarta. Often the solar return occurs on April 2nd, the day before my official birthday, but this year the two coincide.

Figure 1: created using Astrolog

The chart is noticeable for its preponderance of planets in Aries. Apart from the Sun, there is Chiron in 15°41', Jupiter in 19°33' and Mercury in 28°32'. Jupiter will cross my Ascendant around April 26th so promises to be an expansive month where I have the opportunity to set my sights on new horizons and explore hitherto unrealised possibilities. Chiron remains behind in my twelfth house, maintaining a focus on healing, behind the scenes, both physically and psychically.

Figure 2 shows the transits to my natal chart at the time of the solar return.

Figure 2: created using Astrolog

The T-square formed by transiting Saturn's opposition to its natal position with the natal Moon at its apex is a dominant influence as I've discussed in related posts.

Neptune into Aries

Looking ahead to July of 2025, I noticed that Neptune turns stationary retrograde in 2°10' of Aries, right on my natal Mercury. However, transiting Saturn is also conjunct in 1°52' of Aries. Transiting Ceres in 12°55' of Aries is conjunct my natal Sun and transiting Chiron in 26°52' of Aries is conjunct the North Node of my Moon. Furthermore, transiting Uranus in 29°53' of Taurus is conjunct my natal Moon with transiting Venus close by in 0°10' of Gemini. Pluto in 3°03' of Aquarius is in sextile aspect to the Saturn-Neptune reaction.

This promises to be an intense time and what it presages I'm not sure. Perhaps my powers of communication (Mercury) will be affected. After all the Saturn/Neptune conjunction is aspecting the Uranus/Venus conjunction on the cusp of the Second House. Pluto promises it may be transformational. This is purely speculative so I'll have to wait and see.

Figure 1 shows a chart cast to the time that Neptune turns stationary retrograde.

Figure 1

By that date I'll be 76 years old and one can't help but wonder if this configuration could portend my end. That's clearly a worse case scenario. Looking at Desy's chart, it can be seen that the Saturn-Neptune conjunction sits right on her Ascendant. See Figure 2.

Figure 2

Whatever happens will clearly affect her as well. Many of these aspects will be ongoing. For example, Saturn and Neptune will again be conjunct in 0°45' of Aries in late February of 2026 while Uranus will continue to hover around my natal Moon. See Figure 3.

Figure 3

I get the feeling that whatever happens it will be ongoing. With Neptune already on the cusp of my twelfth house, the prospect of some sort of Neptunian healing has been playing on my mind. Chiron, the wounded healer, is currently transiting my twelfth house and will remain there for some time. The injunction, "physician heal thyself", is relevant as my thymoma remains an ongoing problem and I'd certainly like to cure myself of that affliction.

I've dabbled in finding a cure before or at least diagnosing why the problem had arisen in the first place. In November of 2021, I asked the following question:

Why did my thymus gland malfunction in the first place and create my current thymoma?

You have a hollow heart and you're trying to fill up the gap that has been created. The thymus gland is associated with the Heart Chakra, a centre of unconditional love and forgiveness. Since a falling out with a family member a couple of years back I've been containing a lot of resentment and anger. In a sense, I've been hollowing out my heart and ridding it of compassion and understanding for the family member concerned. 

This answer suggested some sort of meditation but I never took action of any kind to fill my "hollow heart" with "compassion and understanding". Perhaps it's time that I did. The practice of meditation has also been shown to be helpful in improving remote viewing proficiency, something else that I've recently become interested in. 

Neptune has a period of revolution of 165 years and so this is the first time that Neptune has been on the cusp of my twelfth house. In my natal chart, Neptune is strongly aspecting my Sun and Mars/Venus conjunction by opposition. I've always been interested in mysticism and spirituality and so Neptune's passage through this house will likely see a burgeoning of my interest and understanding of such matters.

Transiting Saturn Opposite Natal Saturn

I've written about this opposition before in a post titled Saturn Opposition on November 16th 2022. There's an overlap between that post and this but also some new observations.

The chart in Figure 1, showing my natal chart and the transits to it at 8:26pm in Jakarta on March 7th 2023, shows transiting Saturn in 29°59'57" of Aquarius. Very shortly this planet will enter Pisces and, on reaching 0°01', will be exactly opposite its natal position.

Figure 1: generated using Astrolog

Saturn takes about 29.4 years to orbit the Sun and, from experience, I've found that its squares, oppositions and conjunctions have been associated with significant events in my life. There's no reason to suppose that this current opposition should be any different. 

Before getting into that however, it's useful to remind myself of the significance of Saturn in Virgo on the cusp of my fifth house. Traditionally the fifth house is associated with creativity, self-expression and specifically with romance and children. Saturn's grating square with my Moon in Taurus is ameliorated only by both bodies being in Earth signs. Saturn has acted as a block to my self-expression (excessive shyness in my early years) but also a brake to the excesses that someone with so many planets in Aries is prone. 

It was late December 2014 that Saturn first reached the square to its natal position and thereafter it moved forward into Sagittarius and then moved back into Scorpio, finally stationing in 28°16' of Scorpio on August 2nd of 2015. This was the time that I received news that I would need to stay in Australia uninterruptedly for two years if I wanted to receive my pension while overseas. This was a major psychological blow because I was now separated from my family in Indonesia.

Going back to the previous conjunction, this first occurred in early September of 2007 and then there was a close contact in early May of 2008 when it stationed in 1°41' of Virgo. This was a period when my daughter ceased communicating for an entire year, a harbinger of the total and ongoing break in communications that would occur in April of 2017. That was nearly six years ago now. This leads me to speculate what the effect of this current opposition will be.

Saturn will move forward into Pisces before stationing in 7°12' Pisces on June 18th and then moving back to station again 0°31' Pisces on November 4th. This is a potent station and it will occur in the exact opposite degree to its natal position. See Figure 2. I can only wait and see how this transit plays out.

Figure 2: generated using Astrolog

Mars Attacks

I'd woken late, a couple of minutes before 10am, and made my way to the kitchen carrying the bucket of accumulated dishes to wash from yesterday's meals. As I stepped to the kitchen sink, I stepped on the shard of a broken cup that I'd broken on the day before. I thought I'd picked up all the fragments but this one had escaped me. 

The shard sliced my right foot and I began bleeding immediately and profusely. I don't think I've ever lost so much blood. Eventually I stemmed the bleeding, applied a bandaid and all was well, although I think I was in mild shock. The time was a little after 10am and I've set the chart time to 10:10am which is pretty close to the time the accident occurred. The date is January 22nd 2023 and the location is Jakarta.

I suspected the involvement of Mars of course and I wasn't wrong. Figure 1 shows my natal chart with the transit superimposed on the outer ring.

Figure 1

As can be seen, Mars about midway through my second house in 8°39' of Gemini almost exactly opposite my natal Chiron in 8°57'R of Sagittarius. Mercury is in 8°57' of Capricorn and so is exactly semisextile natal Chiron and quincunx transiting Mars. Of course, my natal Mars-Venus conjunction, with midpoint in 9°14' of Aries is involved as well. 

The designation of Chiron as the wounded healer comes to mind. I was definitely wounded in the leg, like the centaur Chiron, and this quote from Wikipedia is relevant:

In Greek mythology, the centaur Chiron was a "Wounded Healer", after being poisoned with an incurable wound by one of Hercules's arrows. Jung mentioned the Chiron myth "wounding by one's own arrow means, first of all, the state of introversion".

For Jung, "a good half of every treatment that probes at all deeply consists in the doctor's examining himself... it is his own hurt that gives a measure of his power to heal. This, and nothing else, is the meaning of the Greek myth of the wounded physician."

Jung felt that depth psychology can be potentially dangerous, because the analyst is vulnerable to being infected by his analysand's wounds by having his own wounds reopened. To avoid this, the analyst must have an ongoing relationship with the unconscious, otherwise he or she could identify with the "healer archetype", and create an inflated ego.

Withdrawal of both projections may however ultimately activate the powers of the inner healer in the patients themselves.

Jung’s closest colleague, Marie Louise Von Franz, said “the wounded healer IS the archetype of the Self [our wholeness, the God within] and is at the bottom of all genuine healing procedures.”

Jungians warn of the dangers of inflation and splitting in the helping professions, involving projection of the 'wounded' pole of the archetype onto the patient alone, with the analyst safely separated off as 'healer'.

I don't want to make too much of such a transient event but it was impactful psychologically to see one's life blood spilling so profusely and dramatically on the white tiles underfoot. I was reminded that, given my disillusionment with the medical mafia, I need to be my own healer and treat my own wounds, both psychological and physical. 

Jupiter in Aries

Whatever the effects of my forthcoming Saturn opposition, the most immediate influence comes from transiting Jupiter that will enter Aries on December 21st, pretty much coinciding with the solstice. Thereafter it will soon pass over all my planets in Aries according to the following schedule:

• contacts natal Mercury on January 9th 2023
• contacts natal Mars-Venus on February 17th 2023
• contacts natal Sun on March 5th 2023
• contacts transiting Chiron on March 12th 2023 (in 14°23')
• contacts natal Ascendant on April 26th 2023
• turns stationary retrograde  in 15°34' of Taurus on September 4th 2023

Despite turning retrograde in September, Jupiter will not reenter Aries during its current cycle so really its influence is fairly fleeting, from now up till early May of next year. Of course, it's already been in Aries earlier in 2022. To be specific:

• entered Aries on May 11th 2022
• contacted natal Mercury on May 23rd 2022
• stationed in 8°42' Aries on July 28th 2022
• contacted natal Mercury on October 8th 2022
• left Aries on October 29th 2022

The main effect during the year seems to have been my visit to the Kampung in Sumatra in July when the planet stationed near my natal Mars-Venus. This was my first significant journey outside of Jakarta since returning permanently at the start of 2020. I don't see the planet as having a major impact in 2023, although it is an opportunity for personal growth.

Saturn Opposition

It's been thirty years but transiting Saturn will soon be returning in opposition to its natal position. This last occurred in May of 1993, shortly after which it stationed in the first degree of Pisces in June of that year. I well remember the turmoil of those months and I wonder if something similar is not in store for me next year.

Saturn will enter Pisces on March 8th of 2023. It will move forward before retrograding and once again stationing in the first degree of Pisces before turning direct again. This station will occur on November 4th of 2023. Figure I shows the chart for May and Figure 2 shows the chart for November.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Everything old is new again, they say, and it certainly seems that the situation I was in back in 1992 is very similar to the situation that I am in now. How 2023 turns out remains to be seen but I sense that a similar change is coming, although perhaps not as drastic as occurred thirty years ago. Back in the early 90's, I was in my early forties and the opportunities and options available to me were quite different than they are now.

Of course, Desy will be profoundly affected by this coming Saturn transit given that her Sun is in the first degree of Virgo and her Sun/Saturn is opposite in early Pisces. Figure 3 shows how the transits affect her chart when Saturn stations in November of 2023.

Figure 3