Jupiter in Scorpio Oct. 10th- Nov. 08th 2018
“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956
Teachings from the Shadow
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge. – Carl Jung, Aion (1951)
Jupiter the philosopher, adventurer and teacher enters the sign of magic and mystery taking us on a journey to our unconscious and through the underworld.
We transform through the process of inviting our demons to the dinner table and getting to know them. Out of fear, shame, guilt and/or trauma we can suppress or repress our shadow, disassociating from ourselves. When we do this, we unknowingly give our shadow power and control over us. That’s why shadow work is so important.
When we’re able to acknowledge and see our shadow, we are able to do our inner work. We are able to dig up what’s been buried and honor what’s still alive in us from our past. Through this process, we become honest with ourselves and move deeper towards healing. This is no easy task, it takes commitment and continual work. Shadow work never really ends. It’s a life-long dance and we all make mistakes along the way. Shadow Work is dependent on one’s openness and willingness to learn. A willingness to be humbled by our wrongdoings and take responsibility for our own lives.
This is why “Spiritual bypassing” can be dangerous.
Spiritual bypassing is when we use spirituality or our spiritual practice to avoid and suppress reality – usually when reality is dark or overwhelming or requires us to “do work”. Bypassing or escaping a reality we don’t want to accept gives us a false perception that spirituality is all “love & light”, when in all honesty a lot of the heavy lifting in spirituality is very uncomfortable.
When I was younger, I was facing a host of physical and emotional challenges. I was struggling with health issues and feeling completely lost. As a young adult living in the big city who just wanted to have fun and party, I was desperately trying to show everyone I was fine.
Although on some level I realized there was deeper spiritual and emotional issues at hand, I was constantly bypassing my problems so I didn’t have to change my lifestyle. I didn’t want to look at what was underneath the surface. I could escape reality by making it a point to always “focus on the positive” or “leaving it to spirit” to solve all my problems. But the reality was, I wasn’t making any changes. I just figured spirit would come down with a miracle for me.
My pain continued to worsen until I couldn’t even get out of bed or get myself dressed. I was frozen, unable to move. It was then, I was forced to face reality. I had to look at myself and go deep, I had to look under the surface, go to the underworld and stop trying to escape.
It was the beginning of a long journey of continual transformation. I came to realize that my body was saying “no”. That the physical manifestation of disease also reflected emotional/mental/spiritual issues that has been suppressed and repressed for a long time.
Years later I have unpacked quite a bit. I am also doing the best health wise I have been since I was a young teenager. But I didn’t find deep healing until I started to integrate my shadow. I had to change my relationship with anger for one (and many other things). I had a lot of it and still do. I have learned to allow it room and space in a healthy way. Anger is not bad or wrong, tt has its place just like joy. So when I am angry now, I express myself! I realized if I don’t allow space for my anger, it comes through as resentment or other subconscious nasty ways. Unexpressed anger can come through by unconsciously keeping score with my partner or by presenting as inflammation in my own body.
With Jupiter in Scorpio there will be no room for “spiritual bypassing”!
Now is the time to get to “know” ourselves better than we have before. It’s time to make space for our unconscious to become conscious. To look in the eyes of our anger, insecurity, depression, shame, guilt, our sexual impulses, our power and our fear of death and welcome these feelings with open arms!
It’s time to learn to build true intimacy with ourselves by encompassing all aspects of our personality. We look at the darkness and allow it a home within us, so we can give up self-rejection and begin to integrate and heal as a whole person. “What you resist, persists.” ~ C. G. Jung
Scorpio, the sign of death, sex, power, the taboo and the underworld is also the sign of intimacy.
In order for true intimacy to occur within ourselves and relationships, we have to let others see all of us. We had to give up hiding our who we truly are by masking our shadow. We must become accepting of our own inner darkness, to reveal our triggers, desires and secrets to those closest to us, which can be terrifying. We don’t always get the response we want from another person, but showing up whole is necessary for true intimacy to thrive.
Over the past year while Jupiter was in Libra, we’ve been put to the test in the realms of relationship. Now that Jupiter has left Libra and moved into Scorpio, we’re going to be schooled at a whole new level!
Intimate relationships are often the ones to keep us in “check” because our partners act as our mirrors. Relationship have a way of shining the light on our shadows and as a result, they create opportunity for our healing. But as we’re all well aware, intimate relationships aren’t always pretty – they can take us into our deepest unconscious behaviors, oldest wounds and patterns. They reveal our darkest parts through jealousy, power dynamics, reactivity and fear.
If you’re not in an intimate relationship or find yourself pushing intimacy away, then this transit can reveal everything that stands in your way of having true intimacy so you can begin to heal.
This transit is also about our sexuality, another taboo face of Scorpio that many tend to fear. Suppressed sexuality is a huge issue in our culture today, usually stemming from outdated belief systems that tell us our sexuality is wrong, shameful or evil.
Suppressed sexuality can come out in the darkest ways. When people believe it isn’t safe to talk about their sexuality, they learn to hide their thoughts and desires, leading to immense amounts of guilt and shame. We see rampant sexual abuse and poor boundaries in our culture as a result of our inability to speak openly and honestly about our sexuality with one another.
Another shadow side of sexuality is using sex as a ploy to fill a void within, or viewing our sexuality as way to get love or attention. In these circumstances, we overstep our own boundaries and find ourselves in precarious situations.
We’re being asked to do the work to heal our sexuality and embrace our vulnerability. To unveil our deep dark secrets and allow ourselves to be seen in held in our humanity.
This is a time where we can begin the journey to embracing our body. A time to take action in simple ways to promote an integral relationship with our sexuality in unison with our hearts.
With Jupiter’s transit we are going to come to face a lot of outdated beliefs around these “taboo” subjects, we’re invited to grow wiser and have new experiences to begin our transformation.
It’s an amazing time to be alive and we can start by shifting the world we live in by integrating in our shadow in baby-steps. It’s even more powerful if we support each other in this journey with compassion and forgiveness for ourselves and others.
Jupiter, the planet of expansion is bringing his optimism to help us on this journey. We will be getting some very helpful aspects through this year long transit.
From three trines from Neptune to three sextiles from Pluto, we’re supported now to step into the transformations our soul needs and desires so we may experience a metaphorical “death and rebirth”.
Jupiter trine Neptune
– Dec, 02nd, 2017 – May 25th , 2018 – August 19th , 2018
Jupiter sextile Pluto
– Jan. 15th,, 2018 – April 14th , 2018 – Sept. 12th, 2018
Jupiter trine Chiron
– Nov. 01st, 2018
Jupiter goes retrograde on March 8th, bringing us into deep reflection and review of the lessons that came through in December, January and February.
Shadow period: Dec. 12th, 2017
Retrograde: March 8th, 2018
Direct: July 10th, 2018
Leaves retrograde zone: Oct. 6th, 2018
We’ll have to go deeper into these aspects another day. Because there is much to unpack in a year long transit!
Let us support each other to dive down deep. To be detectives and follow the psycho-analytic nature of Scorpio and give ourselves a year of good old soul therapy. To love ourselves from the deepest place of acceptance and understanding. To empower ourselves through the lessons of shadow to become more whole.
