Jupiter Retrograde: How Big A Wave Can You Ride?

Right! We are in the Jupiter retrograde period. It happens once a year – usually lasts for about 4 months and then goes direct again for about 8 months – so we have 4 months of Jupiter retrograde to look forward too. But, before we look at the specific effect of Jupiter retrograde in Scorpio – which is the sign that it’s traveling through until November of this year – quite a bit more of this Scorpio energy – let’s look at what retrograde planets do in general.

First, all the astrological planets, except the Sun and Moon, which we know are not planets, but we group them in the planets category anyway, move retrograde with some regularity. That means that Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury all move retrograde at some time. We hear a lot about Mercury retrograde because it creates disruptions in communications, contract signings and travel. But, it’s not the only retrograde planet out there! And btw, Mercury goes retrograde very soon, like within two weeks, so we’ll have that to discuss soon.

Like it’s effect on Mercury, retrograde motion, which is apparent, right? I mean the planets don’t really stop and start moving backwards. It’s like if you’re in a train and another train passes you, you can get the feeling that you’re moving backwards. Or when you look down at your feet in the shallow edge of an ocean wave and as the water rushes back out to sea, it looks like your feet are moving backwards. They’re not really! Ha!

So retrograde motion of the planets is something that we observe from the Earth’s point of view and because it looks like the planets are moving backwards through the starry backdrop behind them, we, as astrologers, evaluate that and give it meaning.

Retrogrades enhance, magnify or cause us to review. The reason that you don’t want to initiate a contract in a retrograde Mercury is because it’s not time of forward movement in your thinking. It’s a time of review. So, new contracts are not favored. Likewise, with all the other planets, there is a review of energies and efforts that we’ve made during the forward movement times.

Retrograde motion builds up energy so that we have it for the next forward motion period.

Thinking about the ocean again – when the wave crashes and washes up on the shore – the movement of all that water back into the sea helps to create the size of the next wave. When the waves are big, there’s a big undertow because the amount of water washing back into the ocean is sizable and strong. That’s what retrograde motion is like.

Jupiter is retrograde until July. What do we need to do now in order to make the biggest wave possible when it goes direct? That’s a good question and one that I’m sure we would all love the answer too. Since Jupiter rules expansion and pushing beyond our boundaries how can we maximize our growth potential for 2018 by using this retrograde to build energy.

The answer is easy. Look at your life and evaluate where you have already begun to create expansion. This will include any projects, ideas, or efforts that you have put forth since last October. That’s when Jupiter last went direct. Now, make an account of which of those things, remember we’re looking at growth-oriented things, like relationships that have formed or ideas that you’ve put into some stage of being, and see how those people or things could use energy in the retrograde to help them build to an even more productive, more boundary busting state of high energy – ready for a breakthrough in the summer!

We all have something that we’ve put energy into. If that thing still interests you, now is the time to weed it and add fertilizer.

In particular this Jupiter retrograde is in Scorpio. Maybe it’s about sex, but more likely it’s about some form of intimacy other than sex. Some partnerships that formed in 2017 are being reviewed. If they work, we dig in deeper. We reinvest. We recommit. It’s adds to the energy of the retrograde stored energy that’s building the next wave.

Often this retrograde is about money at some level or another. The way in which we’ve shared money or collaborative arrangements that involve an exchange or sharing of money and time. These are the projects and relationships that need revisiting and shoring up. They are the things that will take you to the next level.

Ask yourself – do I have unfinished business that I’ve been putting off or ignoring? Is that very thing begging for attention? If so, you’d better grab hold of it now because it’s a quick four months the retrograde and when it goes direct you need to be ready. Think of this like preparing plants indoors right now, so they can get planted outside when the danger of frost is over. If you planted the seeds in little starter cups and nurtured them inside the house for a couple of months before putting them in the ground outside then when the starting gun goes off, you’re already way ahead in the growth potential curve. If in those months you did nothing and then just put the same seeds directly into the ground, you’ll still get a harvest, but it will be later and less abundant.

I strongly recommending maximizing your 2018 growth potential by taking the next four months to invest stored energy into a project that means something to you. Then when you see the wave you get to ride, you’ll be so happy that you did.