Hope Springs Eternal - Jupiter and Neptune Conjunction in Pisces

As we experience the Spring Equinox, our thoughts turn to the blossoms of spring and our hearts muse over the old adage “hope springs eternal”. 

This year the Spring Equinox is accompanied by a powerful and hopeful combination of planets as transiting Jupiter meets up with Neptune in Pisces for the first time since 1856. 

Neptune entered the sign of Pisces, which is the sign he rules, over a decade ago in April 2011.  Because he moves slowly through the heavens, he will remain in Pisces for 14 years until the spring of 2025. 

Compared to Neptune, Jupiter moves like lightning around the zodiac, spending only about one year in each sign.  Jupiter entered Pisces at the end of December 2021 and will finally leave Pisces at the end of December 2022.

The crescendo of Jupiter and Neptune in Pisces takes place on April 12, 2022, when Jupiter will conjunct Neptune at 24 Pisces.  This conjunction makes the period from the Spring Equinox to the end of April 2022 a time of powerful inspiration. 

That is of course, assuming we can keep two feet firmly planted on the ground by embracing the positive potentials of the astrological archetype associated with this transit.

The Astrological Archetypes

By nature, Jupiter and Neptune, who are brothers in myth, are comfortable working together in the zodiac because both Jupiter and Neptune are philosophical planets. 

When working with any planet, it is helpful to remember that each archetype has both a positive and negative expression.

On A Positive Note

The positive expression of these two planets is their inspiration for a more meaningful life. 

 Jupiter, or the Guru planet, is the visionary philosopher whose inspiration guides us on our pathway to the future and helps us develop our own personal philosophy of life. 

Neptune is the mystic who dreams of a world in which spirit is the main character and he bids us to deepen our personal spiritual path. 

Jupiter’s philosophical approach is comfortable with Neptune’s mysticism.

Jupiter’s vision of the future is comfortable with Neptune’s desire to dream.

On A More Challenging Note

The challenge comes from the awareness that these two ‘feel good’ planets have a tendency to excess and over-idealization.

Put simply, what Jupiter and Neptune envision and dream up together can just get too big.  Jupiter expands whatever he touches, and together with Neptune that expansion can become galactic. 

If a dream becomes galactic, then it becomes a false utopia that simply cannot be brought into reality.  Rather than the potential for an inspiring life, the galactic dream becomes a source of deep disillusionment. 

Together, Jupiter and Neptune bring either a powerful wave of inspiration or a rip-tide of delusion and confusion.

Potential Of This Transit - From Inspiration To Reality

If you are inspired by a powerful vision of Jupiter and Neptune during this transit, a scene from the Mahabharata, the great epic of India, provides a key to working with Jupiter and Neptune.  In the Mahabharata, the heroes, or Pandava, are at the brink of war with their cousins, the Kaurava. In an attempt to avert war, the heroes of are given a dank, swampy, bog as the location to build their kingdom.  The wise elder Bhishma advises the five heroes (Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva) to “dry the marshes, plow the fields, build a dazzling city and draw the world to it”. 

This wise advice reminds us that to “dry the marshes and plow the fields” requires a lot of actual hard work to reclaim the land and make it fertile.  Otherwise, the stinking bog will remain a stinking bog.  To be brought into reality, all visions require practical efforts in the real world of daily life. 

 Hope that springs eternal is rewarded when your inspiration becomes a rewarding and fulfilling reality.

Potential For This Transit - A More Fulfilling Life

If you feel like you are at a fork in the road during this transit, you may find that Jupiter and Neptune are inspiring you to live a more spiritual life day to day. 

This can feel as if you have been called to a “second half of life” that feels different from the past and you may experience a deep welling up of inspiration to live a more fulfilling life.  You may be called to contemplate what you truly want from life and what matters most to you at this time. 

If you are inspired to embrace a more fulfilling way of life, the practical reality is that you will need to make new choices and establish new habits.  In some cases, you may need to break through lifelong patterns of coping strategies that you learned as a child and are keeping you stuck as an adult. 

Accept that the process of breaking old patterns and establishing new ones will come slowly and patiently over time.  Some days you may feel as if you have slipped backward and need to remind yourself of the progress you are making.  Embracing the path of spiritual growth is hard work, but it is worth the effort.

Here are three themes that you may emerge during this period.

The first theme is a powerful urge to slow down and not be dominated by busyness once and for all.  In the process of slowing down, we let go of the habit of constantly moving from one task to the next.  We learn to direct our attention toward the simple things in life that bring us joy.  Perhaps you want to meditate more deeply or to live with greater conscious awareness, greater joy.  Or maybe you are feeling a deep call to have more time to smell the daffodils and narcissus blooming in your spring garden.  This is a key step to what Paramahansa Yogananda said:  “Simplicity of living plus high thinking lead to the greatest happiness”. 

The second theme is the emotional acceptance that imperfection is a natural aspect of life and that no one is perfect.  While we all seem to recognize that this is true intellectually, we often suffer with feelings of guilt.  We feel that we should have done better or we should have done more. A key to moving forward is embracing self-forgiveness and releasing feelings of guilt, doubt or lack of self-worth.  Having compassion begins with being compassionate with yourself. 

The third theme is connected to healing your state of being, which is both important for daily living and for the spiritual path.   While you might decide to slow down and embrace self-forgiveness, your body may have developed habit patterns that have been unconsciously running your life for decades.  If you experience some degree of anxiety, this can be a supportive time to engage the path of healing that can lessen the experiences of anxiety.

Hope that springs eternal is rewarded when your daily life has a greater spiritual focus.

Note To Specific Clients:  While Jupiter and Neptune in Pisces will impact the chart for each and every one of us, the charts of some individuals will be more powerfully impacted.  One group particularly impacted is the group of people born between the end of 1965 and the summer of 1969 for whom Jupiter and Neptune in Pisces will be making a powerful opposition to the Uranus and Pluto in Virgo conjunction in your birth chart.  

Historical Context

Sometimes powerful transits correlate with important events in history.  Neptune moves very slowly around the zodiac, taking 165 years to make its way around the Sun.  So, the last time we experienced a conjunct of Jupiter with Neptune in Pisces was March 1856.  When we look back to the past, it can be interesting to note how history tends to repeat itself. 

In March of 1856, the Treaty of Paris brought an end to the Crimean War in which the Russian Empire was defeated by an alliance of the Great Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia. 

This time around, Russia is again engaged in a war with its invasion of Ukraine.  In 2022, hope springs eternal for a peace treaty that once again brings an end to war in Ukraine.

May you feel the hope that springs eternal and move in harmony with the Sun, Moon and stars.