““Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!” ”
Jupiter in Aquarius, 5:07 am, PST, December 19th, 2020 - May 13th, 2021, July 29th - December 28th, 2021.
MERRY CHRISTMAS, or happy holidays, to everyone!! Every year I watch ‘A Christmas Carol’, AKA ‘Scrooge,’ one of the many versions, on the night of Christmas Eve. I haven’t decided which one I want to watch tonight…
I was thinking how funny that Jupiter is now in Aquarius this year, just like it was during the months of extensive writing Charles Dickens did the fall of 1843. He published that famous novella that December. It sold out by Christmas Eve that year!
Last year, I shared the amazing story of the astrology at play when Dickens took the chance to work so hard on the book. It speaks a lot about Saturn and Jupiter. Given the planets are together now in the sky, I can’t help but ask, how can one best work with them in terms of evolutionary astrology, for personal growth and change in the New Year? I thought I’d post the story again:
Between October and December in 1843, when Dickens produced ‘A Christmas Carol,’ he threw himself into an intensive writing period of several weeks. Saturn happened to be in the sign Capricorn (like the planet was this past fall, 2020). During the 6-week period, the planet formed an exact conjunction with Charles Dickens’ natal Mercury on his 5th House cusp, house of creative expression, Mercury the writer. Faster moving Mars came through as well by conjunction, helping Dickens to focus his will and put into action creatively his ideas about moral and social reform, the higher octave of Capricorn.
Charles Dickens’ birthchart, A-rated
Charles Dickens
When the book sold the days before Christmas that same year, Venus by transit joined Saturn in the sky, again meeting Dicken’s natal Mercury. Jupiter and Neptune in Aquarius were also exactly in conjunction with his natal Sun, also in his 5th House, during November – the visionary writer as teacher of social justice and change.
It wasn’t an easy time for Dickens (Saturn conjunct his natal Mercury, Pluto in Aries by transit in an exact square) and he didn’t make much money despite the book’s popularity – he actually got into a legal scuffle over it - but in the long run…what a gift.
Set for noon. Note: This chart comes at the end of weeks of writing by Dickens and some of the transits mentioned above had passed.
Most cool I think is that Neptune seems to have this impact of moving the larger collective. And there the planet was sitting on his natal Sun, his solar self. When we consider the nodes of the Moon, we see a karmic pattern, like something needed to be said. The south node in the sky in the fall of 1843 exactly aligned by conjunction Dickens’ Jupiter in Gemini in his 10th House.
I often think about what a collective impact that story had and how its legacy is so enduring. Good ol’ Ebenezer Scrooge and his encounter with the three ghosts; everyone knows the story. Maybe now is the time for all of us to take such a chance, create a collective Aquarian change for the common good.
This coming year, in 2021, Jupiter, with its 12-year orbit, will spend about one year, off and on, in the sign. In May, the planet briefly enters Pisces, returning under retrograde motion to Aquarius by the end of July, finally leaving Aquarius all together the end of December, 2021. Most people are a little familiar with the concept of retrograde motion, when a planet appears to move backward in the sky (most widely known today by the popularity, or lack thereof, of Mercury retrograde).
Because of this phenomenon, some people will experience the Jupiter transit through Aquarius impacting key areas of their chart more than once, and possibly more deeply, and with more opportunity to learn, through the transit later this coming year. Check to see where late degrees of the sign Aquarius, 22˚ and after, fall in your birthchart.
Those born under the sign Aquarius in late January and the start of February, or those who have planets in early or the middle of Aquarius, need to take advantage of this January, because it is one shot deal. Jupiter will have a strong punch for a brief period then and move on after. This is made especially so, because of Saturn present close by in Aquarius, and the planets will form a square to Uranus in Taurus, Saturn by February.
Saturn and Jupiter as seen through the Hubble Telescope, December, 2020
Some may want to check their own birthchart and be like Dickens next month. Dive in, do it, have faith and try hard. With the right intention, what do you have to lose? Effort can be a struggle, but always worth a try…
Wishing the best for everyone in 2021 and many blessings for Jupiter’s passage through Aquarius!