Tennis Anyone?

Looking at the following chart, it’s pretty easy to imagine a tennis match.

The court is drawn by the colored lines. Teammates are connected in blue. We have Uranus and Jupiter on the left, Pluto and Saturn on the right. Pluto and Uranus are the rivals. They have been, and will continue to battle it out. It’s like they are in a tournament all by themselves, except as part of the fun, they have each picked a partner for a few rounds of doubles.

Since this pattern is constructed from outer planets, it is not just a flash in the pan type aspect. However, Jupiter is the fastest among these, and he’s the one who got me into all of this anyway. So, before we discuss the tennis match further, let’s look at what Jupiter is up to, which has us spanning nearly a full year.

Early Wednesday morning (1/30/2013), Jupiter stations direct at 6 degrees 20 arc minutes Gemini. When a planet experiences a retrograde cycle, a part of the Zodiac is transited three times. There is the initial forward movement, the retrograde back over, and then the subsequent forward motion. So the entire cycle began on July 10, 2012 when Jupiter first reached 6 degrees 20 arc minutes. The first third of the cycle completed on October 10, 2012, when Jupiter stationed retrograde at 16 degrees 23 arc minutes Gemini. Therefore, we are now two-thirds through the cycle, which will finish on April 25, 2013, when Jupiter again reaches and then passes 16 degrees 23 arc minutes Gemini.

Now, you may recall, in my Full Moon Horoscope post I mentioned how the Gemini chart was filled with soul-searching introspection. Back then, I hadn’t seen the half of it.

Jupiter is our largest planet and the closest of the outer planets. It takes 12 years to travel around the Zodiac, which is about one sign per year. Obviously, it will spend extra time in Gemini because of this retrograde. In my mind, Jupiter acts on us almost indirectly. Since it expands what it touches, it’s hard to get a read on the planet itself. Instead, what we most feel is whatever is expanded.

So for Gemini, it has spent all of this time in the first house, and has therefore been making this soul-searching exercise so much bigger and longer than otherwise. The end points of Jupiter’s retrograde cycle are 6 and 16 degrees Gemini, so those born between May 27^th and June 6^th are most affected. Add up to 10 days to either end, and you get the next level of influence. Those of you in this range can finally start making progress in that area of you life next month.

The good news for all is the Gemini part of your chart will now experience movement once Jupiter gets some forward momentum going again. We will all experience this, just in different areas of life. And I do think we’ll all feel different next month because we have two additional influences promoting this. Both Mars and Venus are moving forward and will change signs this week – on the same day no less. And how apropos that it is on the 1^st of February.

But before going further, I want to go back. What else lies in that range of Gemini? Well, the 2012 Venus Transit did! The Venus Transit happened on June 5, 2012 at 15 degrees 45 arc minutes Gemini. So this Jupiter retrograde cycle relates back to that aspect. Jupiter will pass over that exact location a third time on April 22^nd.

So maybe those of us who have been waiting for that Venus love to enter our lives in a real way are about to get our own! Last June, many Astrologers were talking about how the Venus Transit was supposed to affect us. Maybe the actual transit was just the beginning and maybe Jupiter has us finishing out the work to get there!

Lets get back to our tennis match. You may recall that I mentioned last week that we’ll only have at most three planets in Aquarius at one time (not counting the moon). This is NOT going to be the case for the next few signs. At its best, we’ll have SEVEN planets in Pisces all at the same time (March 10-11)! That’s a lot of water! In fact, during that time, Saturn and the North Node of the moon will still be in Scorpio – more water.

And I see impressive stellia coming in each of the next four signs/months. This, however, is not that unusual. Venus and Mercury are never far from the sun, so it is not terribly uncommon to have a cluster around the sun. However, what interests me most is how this affects the “tennis match” above.

The Uranus-Pluto square is a big deal. It is a multi-year event and we’re not even halfway through it. By design, it is transformational. However, what we’re going to experience over the next few weeks is a tipping of the scales.

By way of analogy, let’s continue with the sporting match theme. Pick any sport you like that is decidedly one team or individual against another. How often do we see momentum shift is such events? One player or side makes a strategic or impressive play, and suddenly the tides turn. Everyone watching the game can feel the energy shift. Some can even see it coming.

Well, on February 11^th, the sun will cross the halfway spot between Pluto and Uranus. If you look at the diagram above, you can see the onlookers splayed between the two sides. They are all moving to the left. By the second week of March, we’ll have seven bodies in Pisces and then on March 28^th, we’ll have that triple (really quadruple) conjunction in Aries including Uranus. However you look at the Uranus-Pluto square, the Universe is about to back Uranus and in a big way.

To my way of thinking, this is good news! The Uranus side of the struggle is the individual’s pursue of progress. Squares are motivators. Thus for an individual to experience inner power (Uranus in Aries), s/he often must encounter and overcome external resistance (Pluto in Capricorn). I expect to see some surprising shifts and events over the next three months in all forms. We ought to feel the energy shift over these next two weeks, but it might take a bit longer to manifest out there.

Early February is going to shift the winds and then the tides are going to turn as we progress through Pisces. In late March, things are going to really light up.

As this first month of 2013 winds down and until you feel the shift, keep focusing on the inside. Any progress made there will pay dividends in the months ahead. And don’t worry if you can’t see progress in this work. Trust in your efforts and intentions. You will see the results of them soon enough!