On Tuesday, April 12, the planet Jupiter will pass over the exact degree of the zodiac where Neptune currently resides. This cohabitation of planets, called a “conjunction” by astrologers, combines their significations and offers a potent elixir. These two meet each other only once every 13 years, making it a prominent feature of 2022’s astrological outlook. And for once, this one is mostly hopeful.
Jupiter is the optimistic planet, generally friendly, bestowing luck and an abundance of friends to all that have him well dignified in their birth charts. When things could go terribly awry and do not, Jupiter is at play. Jupiter expands minds and social circles and enthusiasm. He is the jolly giant, wise philosopher and teacher, nudging the odds just in our favor. Jupiter is also the governor of faith, and can buoy our spirits by connecting us with what is bigger than individual lives or thoughts.
If Jupiter connects us to the beyond, Neptune is what we find there. Neptune dissolves the neat cognitive structures that are peddled as the truth. Neptune rules over dreams, altered mental states and the deep feelings of connectivity to God and/or the cosmos that are sometimes experienced. Neptune’s gifts are divine inspiration, creativity and hope.
The meeting of Jupiter and Neptune is a balm of hope to sooth the furrowed brow of the world. It is the inspiration of the artist turning pain into poetry and loss into a humbling experience of love. It is the cresting wave of grief over all we have endured in the last two years, bringing the lifeblood back to our hearts.
But Neptune is also delusion and confusion, and too much optimism and enthusiasm from Jupiter can lead to excessive indulgence in pleasures, gambles or substances. The two reach for something larger than life, and sometimes we humans fall short in our efforts and capabilities.
Every religion wrestles with the paradox that the sacred and the profane are mixed together in the human condition. Spirit animates flesh and flesh contains spirit, intermixed and interconnected, despite how we may seek to transcend the ugliers parts of existence.
The Jupiter-Neptune conjunction has a flipside. What happens when we combine enthusiasm with creativity? What about connectivity with delusion? Abundance with unreality? We see innovations in art, yes, but also the proliferation of conspiracy theories and inflation of markets.
The 2009 film Avatar was released under such an auspice, and its revolutionary three-dimensional filming was supposed to replace normal movies. The film was gorgeous, to be sure, and one of the highest grossing movies of all time, but Jupiter-Neptune might have been over-enthusiastic about its impact. Coincidentally, the second Avatar movie will be released this year.
Speculation about the conjunction’s general impact on the collective is one thing, but how might we engage with this moment on a personal level? I had been pondering this question for several days when I awoke to the answer in my inbox. It was an email from an old friend asking to reconnect after a significant falling out we had six months ago. The pain of the past appeared, but there was no longer any fight in it. At once I was thinking about Jupiter-Neptune and how their combination might ripen us for forgiveness.
Forgiveness, absolution, spiritual cleansing. One of the babies thrown out in the bathwater of organized religion has been the rituals of forgiveness that allow us to shed our missteps and acquaint us with our inherent worthiness again. The process of forgiveness is inherently one of renewal, when sworn-off possibilities are transplanted into a new context.
Neptune dissolves — boundaries, distinctions and our own harsh edges that guard against our vulnerabilities. Jupiter offers hope and connectivity. In the vitriol of the political and social state brought on by differing opinions on the pandemic’s handling, or whatever else you have been rubbing up against, next week’s Jupiter-Neptune conjunction is a moment to transcend your own fear and rigidity, soften your gaze, and engage with benevolence and hopefulness towards those around you and your own precious self.
Whitney Will is an Astrologer and Psychotherapist who grew up in Carbondale. You can find her work at starhearthastrology.com
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