Jupiter in Cancer: Expanding Consciousness
Known as the “Greater Benefic”, one way that Jupiter may be experienced is as a higher octave of Venus, the “Lesser Benefic”. Venus has to do with sensory gratification on the material level, aquistion and one-to-one unification. Jupiterian energies are to satisfy the mind, acquire the experience of life to gain wisdom and to unite those of like philosophical leanings.
Jupiter is about expansion, the effort to include as much raw material into our consciousness as we can in order to take a broad overview of all. This is why the two warnings of Jupiter are 1) weight gain and 2) overdoing. These are actually mis-directed Jupiterian energies, having taken the natural tendencies of expansion and growth in mind and consciousness and brought them down into gluttony.
As a good luck manifestation, we see Jupiter giving us the confidence to grow beyond egoic limitations. Being the next planet out from Mars, where we have constructed our personal identity and built our “egoic box”, Jupiter encourages us to think beyond what we’ve considered to be our ordinary capabilities and to explore new realms. Naturally, this extra confidence aids us in attracting good fortune, and the good fortune has new and broader channels through which to flow to us.
Perhaps the world’s best known astrology chart that contains Jupiter in Cancer natally, is the chart of the United States of America. This is an excellent teaching tool, as several factors are unusually emphasized, such as for our purposes, the Jupiter/Venus conjunction in the 7th house.
Compare these concepts to what you know of the United States for Jupiter in Cancer. Welcoming, tolerant, sympathetic, patriarchal, business-like, acquisitive and emotional. If my understanding of how the U.S. is perceived in some other countries is correct, it is also considered to be nosy, bossy, and stingy.
Notice the Cancerian qualities as they’re expressed here. This could be anyone’s major parent figure, particularly as perceived by an adolescent. This is what Jupiter in Cancer looks like from the outside. However, we are all going to be living it, at least until August of 2002. What can we expect the subjective experience to be?
Jupiter is a very social animal. The best way to expand one’s experience is through our connections with other people. We can expect to do and participate in more at home entertaining, and to do our vacationing in homes, timeshares and with distant family members. Getting in touch with our roots will be an important means of extending our reach, to connect with an ancestral past.
Cancer is the sign of our foundation, that from which we spring. Home, family and the past are all primary foci. Emotions, primal and fierce must be explored and learned from. Our sense of personal security, the womb-like feeling of warmth and nurturing is very important. Financial matters typically do very well under this sign, with a practical, and sound economic strategy.
Philosophically, Jupiter in Cancer needs to reach out to those who are in need. Feed the hungry and house the homeless. Such endeavors may be very successful unless they are overdone(!) and the receivers begin to feel smothered and patronized.
At the time of this writing, Jupiter is approaching the conjunction to the transiting North Node. Some of the lessons we can learn at this time include the experience of emotional honesty, trusting in one’s spiritual guidance, validating the intuition and allowing oneself to be spontaneous. This is a lovely aspect, helping us to make these steps into unknown territory and to give us the confidence to attempt new ways of being.
As we extend our concept of family and reach out to include more people within our sphere of nurturing, we can exemplify the highest standards of Jupiter in Cancer.
