Gas giants Jupiter and Saturn sit beyond earth boasting a total 75 orbiting moons! Jupiter is less dense than earth, being composed of mostly hydrogen and helium and resembles a huge space balloon, whilst Saturn’s distinguishing features are its beautiful thin rings of ice, dust and rock particles that resemble a halo.
Together, these planets are touted as great teachers in respective degrees and are delegated with many astrological functions including the governance of various departments of earth's societies. A lot can be said about these two figures and their vibrational impact within the universe, volumes of books - yet for now let's keep it brief with a few words…
Jupiter – consciousness expansion, gaining faith through experience
Personified as the King of the Gods, Jupiter (Roman and Zeus in Greek) is one of the most boisterous folk in the solar system and with good reason, being second in size to the Sun, Jupiter has great command over the universe with an appetite for learning and ever expanding need for exploration.
As the God of Justice, Jupiter has an affinity with moral code placing him in governance of social systems that require fair dealings, ethics and laws. Jupiter is also a scholar, teacher and preacher in his own right, being concerned with developing higher knowledge and understanding universal principles - he loves to disseminate what he knows on any platform. (Thus ruling universities, teachers, preachers, guru’s, judges, broadcasters, journalists, lawyers and law making officials.)
Jupiter is a highly social being and often loves to be around others. As master of the universe (which he’d like to think himself) Jupiter commands attention wherever he goes, and this broad belly nature can see Jupiter fearlessly explore far-away lands, exotic landscapes and mix with many diverse cultures. Jupiter’s appetite for experiential learning, freedom and development of faith is vast – he needs room to move, something to believe in and will enthusiastically search out meaning in everything he encounters.
Astrologically, Jupiter’s qualities are traditionally said to be benefic, fortuitous in nature and always ready to dish out the guts and glory. Yet this signature is in effect to the actions that merit it, as Jupiter expands whatever is located in a chart and this could be a ‘bad’ aspect or experience.
In such case, it goes with saying that Jupiter is subject to the nature of duality and his character has a low expression, which is evidenced by many pastimes involving unscrupulousness, gluttony, ignorance and prejudice. Thus qualities to monitor within ourselves as we engage Jupiter in our lives, his nature can swing both ways pending the state of our choices.
In our chart we can look to Jupiter for understanding different facets of our life that relate to his qualities; how we expand our consciousness (learn), relate to fellow beings, identify with a cultural system and develop morality, faith and beliefs. As we get to know Jupiter and manage his presence effectively, we can feel empowered through Jupiter’s gifts and experience confidence, compassion, wealth, knowledge and dignity.
Jupiter is also associated with: reward, philosophy, religion, money, gambling, popularity, kindness, intelligence, development of character/growth, travel, big and global issues, ambition, status, progress, prosperity, diplomacy, internationalism and much more.
Saturn - mastery, responsibility
Saturn’s reputation precedes him as the hard-tasking, disciplinarian who’s grounded in the 3-dimensional world of form. Saturn is the bricks and mortar that brings it all together and his methods are persistence, focus and self-control. Being traditionally titled as a ‘malefic’ force Saturn is often viewed as the obstacle layer, that prohibits one from experiencing enjoyment in lieu of hard-work and austerity.
As the principle of limitation, order and rules, Saturn’s vibration does represent a very imposing force and reminds us that we live in a world of boundaries and insurmountable natural laws. Yet over time we can appreciate that these qualities establish much needed parameters in life, otherwise chaos would rule the world we live in and nothing of value would ever amount.
Responsibility and self-sufficiency are the lessons Saturn dispenses as he builds us from the ground up, and we get a good dose of these lessons at various Saturnine junctions: 14, 21, 28/9, 35...
On a personal level despite much heartache and pain, Saturn can become an unexpected friend, who in time has taught us how to live a life of integrity if we choose to take that path and build up firm structures for a period of time that we can be satisfied with and release when we meet the end.
Saturn is also about self-sufficiency and discipline, focus, mastery, responsibility, contractions and fear, rigidity, sustained effort, accountability, commitment, hard lessons, solitude, ambition, karma, resilience and gaining wisdom and reward through time.
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Even though it can feel as though we’re pushing barrels uphill wherever Saturn sits in our chart, it's precisely the area of life we need to develop resource by putting in consistent effort. Saturn is the way we demonstrate responsibility and authority in our lives. Saturn also provides stamina we need to get on with our (at times very mundane) tasks and yields satisfaction from climbing the mountain of goal attainment through a relentless persevering spirit.
Sources
The Round Art – A.T. Mann
Planets in Youth – Robert Hand
Exploring Jupiter - Stephen Arroyo
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