History of Jupiter in Pisces

Below are all the dates Jupiter was in Pisces since 1879, with a summary of its major aspects during each period, and various seemingly relevant events extracted from Wikipedia.

Jupiter enters Pisces on January 18th, from where it will form an opposition with Saturn in May, and a conjunction with Uranus in September. Jupiter last conjoined Uranus in Pisces nearly 700 years ago in 1334.

The main pattern I notice below is that electric light, the essential pre-requisite for the development of TV and films, was developed with Jupiter in Pisces (opposite Uranus), and this placement always seems to bring developments in TV and film, big movies etc. Films are usually attributed to Pisces, and “light” in all its forms seems appropriate in this spiritual sign too.

The other thing that stands out is the way the events strongly reflect the outer planet aspects Jupiter was making while in Pisces; Jupiter always makes anything it aspects “bigger,” but this also illustrates how planets in Pisces, even Jupiter its traditional ruler, absorb and take on the colour of anything that touches them, perhaps more than expressing their own character.

I’ll leave it at that, I’m sure you can all see the patterns; would be interested to hear what you notice.

25th March 1879 – 2nd April 1880

Jupiter was opposite Uranus in Virgo (exact in March, September & December of 1879), having recently squared Pluto in Taurus (March 1st).

Electric light was a feature. The first light bulb of practical use was developed by Edison, who also demonstrated incandescent light for the first time, and the first ever electric street lights were installed in Wabash, Indiana. Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky was born.

8th March 1891 – 16th March 1892

Jupiter was involved in a t-square; opposite Saturn and squaring Neptune & Pluto in Gemini. It also trined Uranus in Scorpio.

Many ships sank, with much loss of life. Viruses were discovered. J.R.R. Tolkien, Henry Miller and Cole Porter were born. Carnegie Hall opened. First long-distance transmission of Alternating Current (Gemini and Uranus). “Tobacco Protests” in Iran.

20th February 1903 – 1st March 1904

Jupiter again involved in a t-square, squaring Pluto in Gemini and Uranus in Sagittarius, three times. Also trined Neptune in Cancer once as it entered Pisces.

Several events re the U.S. taking control of the Panama Canal and Guantanamo Bay. Anais Nin, Bix Beiderbecke, Eliot Ness, Bing Crosby, Vincente Minelli and Bob Hope are born. Technological developments in travel, i.e., Ford’s first car, the original Ford Model A, and Orville’s first flight. The first “World Series.” Women’s Social and Political Union (suffragettes) founded in U.K. in October. The High Court of Australia sits for the first time. The Russian Social Democratic Labor Party splits into two groups; the Bolsheviks (Russian for “majority”) and Mensheviks (Russian for “minority”).

4th February 1915 – 12th February 1916

Jupiter conjoined Chiron in Pisces (exact in May and November). It also trined Pluto at 0° Cancer as it entered Pisces.

Middle of World War I. Pluto is photographed for the first time. Muddy Waters, Billie Holiday, Orson Welles, Saul Bellow, David Rockefeller, Ingrid Bergamn, Arthur Miller, Frank Sinatra, Edith Piaf are born. Norman Wisdom, a literal Jupiter-Chiron in Pisces, known for playing the sad clown in films, was born (Don’t Laugh At Me Cos I’m a Fool). Monet paints his Water Lilies. Onset of the Armenian Genocide. British and German forces get out of the trenches and play football in no-man’s land on Christmas Day. Franz Kafka’s Die Verwandlung (Metamorphosis, The Fly etc) is first published in Germany. Theory of General Relativity published by Albert Einstein. Dadaism begins. Nobel Prizes for Peace and Medicine are not awarded.

18th January 1927 – 6th June 1927
11th September 1927 – 23rd January 1928

Jupiter squared Saturn in Sagittarius in February 1927. Jupiter was in Aries from June to September.

Werner Heisenberg formulates the Uncertainty Principle. First successful long-distance demonstration of television (Bell Telephone Co. transmit an image of Hoover). Pope Benedict XVI, Sidney Poitier, Cesar Chavez, Coretta Scott King, Peter Falk, Roger Moore, George C. Scott, Steve Ditko were born. The Great Mississippi flood affects 700,000 people. To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf; themes of subjectivity and the problem of perception. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded in the U.S (Academy Awards). Charles Lindbergh makes first non-stop solo trans-atlantic flight in his plane the Spirit of St Louis. CBS goes on the air with 47 radio stations. The Jazz Singer, the first feature-length “talkie” opens in the U.S. (end of silent film era). 1,600 people are hospitalized in London after hurting themselves on the icy streets (watery square to Saturn). Show Boat opens on Broadway. The BBC was established as a public corporation by Royal Charter. In Britain, 1,000 people a week die from an influenza epidemic. The River Thames floods in London killing 14 people.

14th May 1938 – 11th May 1939
30th October 1939 – 20th December 1939

Jupiter opposed Neptune in Virgo in April 1939, trined Chiron in early Cancer twice, and trined Pluto at 29+ Cancer as it left Pisces in May. No major aspects in the second period. Jupiter was in Aries in the interlude.

Tail-end of Great Depression. Run-up to and start of World War II, which finally breaks out in September 1939 while Jupiter is temporarily in Aries. Neville Chamberlain’s famous “peace in our time” announcement. In 1938 Adolf Hitler is Time magazine’s “man of the year.” These are just a couple of examples of the world’s state of utter delusion and denial (Pisces) in the run up to the second world war  - obviously there was much more to it, but this seems to be the Jupiter in Pisces (opposite Neptune) element. Spanish Civil War ends in 1939. Premiere of the longest U.S. film ever made (at that time), Gone With The Wind. Superman and Batman first appear in comics. The “world’s first oceanarium,” Marineland, opens in Florida. Orson Welles’ adaptation of War of the Worlds is broadcast on the radio, causing panic. A coelanth, thought to be a long extinct fish, is caught. Mohandas Gandhi begins to fast in protest of autocratic rule in India.

15th April 1950 – 15th September 1950
1st December 1950 – 21st April 1951

Jupiter trined Uranus in Cancer in April and July of 1950, and January of 1951. It retrograded back into Aquarius in between.

Beginning of “The Golden Age of Television” (1950′s and 60′s in the U.S. and U.K.). L. Ron Hubbard publishes Dianetics (beginnings of Scientology). In South Africa, the Group Areas Act is passed, formally segregating races. Jordan formally annexes the West Bank. Peter Frampton, Jay Leno, Stevie Wonder, Huey Lewis, Richard Branson and Dr Phil McGraw were born. The Office of Defense Mobilization is established in the United States. Mount Etna erupts in Sicily. The new United Nations headquarters officially opens in New York City.

25th March 1962 – 4th April 1963

Jupiter repeatedly opposed Uranus and Pluto in Virgo, while also conjoining Chiron in Pisces. It also trined Neptune in Scorpio three times.

J.F.K. is U.S. President. Vietnam War ongoing. Cuban Missile Crisis. Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring is released, giving rise to the modern environmentalist movement. The publication of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique launches the reawakening of the Women’s Movement in the United States. Female suffrage is enacted in Iran. A Clockwork Orange is published. The United Nations passes a resolution condemning South Africa’s apartheid policy. Tom Cruise, M.C. Hammer, Joan Cusack, Demi Moore, Jodie Foster, Quentin Tarantino were born. Marilyn Monroe died. Steve Ditko was born with Jupiter in Pisces in 1927, and his character Spider-man is now “born” under the same placement, in a Marvel comic entitled Amazing Fantasy #15. The Hulk also debuts with The Incredible Hulk #1 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. West Side Story wins Best Picture. David Lean’s epic film Lawrence of Arabia premieres. Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin become the only apparently successful escapees from Alcatraz. The United States Supreme Court rules that mandatory prayers in public schools are unconstitutional. John F. Kennedy delivers his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech. The first Wal-mart and Target stores open. The Rolling Stones make their debut at London’s Marquee Club. The Beatles release their first single, Love Me Do, and first album, Please Please Me. A locust swarm threatens New Delhi. Telstar relays the first live trans-Atlantic television signal. An agreement is signed between Britain and France to develop Concorde. U.S. spacecraft Mariner 2 flies by Venus, becoming the first probe to successfully transmit data from another planet.

8th March 1974 – 18th March 1975

Jupiter squared Neptune in Sagittarius three times, and trined Saturn in Cancer twice.

Cold War and Northern Ireland “Troubles” are ongoing. The Pioneer 11 probe passes Jupiter and captures famous images of the Great red spot. Impeachment of Richard Nixon. Watergate. Alanis Morissette, Joaquin Phoenix, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Seacrest, Drew Barrymore were born. A Japanese soldier from World War II surrenders in the Philippines. The Super Outbreak, the largest series of tornadoes in history, hits 13 U.S. states and one Canadian province. ABBA win the Eurovision Song Contest with their song Waterloo. Stephen King publishes his first novel, Carrie. The Warsaw radio mast is completed, the tallest structure ever built (it collapses on August 8, 1991). The Universal Product Code is scanned for the first time, to sell a package of Wrigley’s chewing gum. Juan Peron, President of Argentina, dies and is succeeded by his wife, Vice President Isabel Peron (the first female head of state in South America). The Rumble in the Jungle – Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. Lord Lucan disappears. The Milgram Experiment (about responses to perceived authority figures) is published. Wheel of Fortune premieres. Margaret Thatcher becomes leader of UK Conservative Party. The Rocky Horror Show opens on Broadway. Vietnam War: South Vietnam President orders the Central Highlands evacuated; this turns into a mass exodus involving troops and civilians (the Convoy of Tears).

20th February 1986 – 2nd March 1987

Jupiter squares both Chiron in Gemini and Uranus in Sagittarius three times – they form a t-square once around August 1986. Jupiter also forms a t-square with Chiron in Gemini and Saturn in Sagittarius in April 1986.

Mid Reagan/Thatcher years. In Ukraine, one of the reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear plant explodes, creating the world’s worst nuclear disaster. The Iran-Contra Affair. The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis. Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme is assassinated on his way home from the cinema. The first paper is published describing the Atomic force microscope. United States Navy divers find the crew compartment of the Space Shuttle Challenger; the bodies of all seven astronauts are still inside. An article in the New York Times charges that Kurt Waldheim, former United Nations Secretary General and candidate for president of Austria, may have been involved in Nazi war crimes. Pope John Paul II officially visits the Synagogue of Rome, the first time a modern Pope has visited a synagogue. Hailstones weighing 2.2 lb (1 kg) fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92. John McCarthy and Terry Waite are kidnapped in Beirut. Hands Across America: At least 5,000,000 people form a human chain from New York City to Long Beach, California, to raise money to fight hunger and homelessness. Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” in FIFA World Cup. The Big Bang in the London Stock Exchange abolishes fixed commission charges, paving the way for electronic trading. Supernova 1987A, the first “naked-eye” supernova since 1604, is observed. Charlotte Church, Lady Gaga, Usain Bolt and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were born.

4th February 1998 – 13th February 1999

Jupiter squared Pluto in Sagittarius in March 1998, and trined Chiron in Scorpio (April and October).

John Hume and David Trimble win Nobel Peace Prize. Good Friday Agreement: the Belfast Agreement is signed between the Irish and British governments and most Northern Ireland political parties, with the notable exception of the Democratic Unionist Party. Monica Lewinsky Scandal and attempted impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Voters in Maine repeal a gay rights law passed in 1997, becoming the first U.S. state to abandon such a law. Iraq Disarmament Crisis. Florida El Niño Outbreak: Tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42. Data sent from the Galileo probe indicates that Jupiter’s moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice. Natascha Kampusch is abducted by Wolfgang Priklopil (she remains in his captivity until August 2006). The film Titanic wins 11 Oscars. The Food and Drug Administration approves Viagra for use as a treatment for male impotence. Catholic priests’ sex abuse scandal: The Diocese of Dallas agrees to pay $23.4 million to 9 former altar boys. At a conference in Rome, 120 countries vote to create a permanent International Criminal Court to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Google was founded. Sky satellite television launches in the UK.

18th January 2010 – 6th June 2010
9th September 2010 – 22nd January 2011

Jupiter opposes Saturn (which has retrograded into Virgo) in May 2010, and then conjoins Uranus in Pisces in September and January of the second period. It’s in Aries in between. Chiron is also in Pisces from 20th April to 20th July 2010 (before retrograding back into Aquarius ’til February), but it makes no conjunction with Jupiter. The last conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus in Pisces was in 1334 (thirteen thirty-four), the next will be in 2093.

13th May 2021 – 28th July 2021
29th December 2021 – 10th May 2022
28th October 2022 – 20th December 2022

Jupiter conjoins Neptune in Pisces in April 2022. Jupiter is in Aquarius during the first interlude, and Aries during the second.

Mercury Retrograde – Trick of Perception

On the personal level, retrograde planets are sometimes said to “internalise” the action of a planet, i.e., make it more yin, receptive, inward-looking, e.g., Mercury retrograde might listen more than speak. Perception is an internal process which seems appropriately represented by Mercury retrograde, and earthy Capricorn, a big fan of the tangible, seems an ideal place to touch and feel things. Mercury retrograde is a fine time for a short journey inward …

If I see an object in front of me, it means that certain neurons have fired in a particular way, and my brain has constructed an image based on that data. The process of seeing has happened entirely inside my own head, and consists solely of chemical reactions in my own nervous system. It seems unreasonable to assume that the resulting mirage in my mind should bear much relationship to “external reality.” The assumption that it does is sometimes known as Naive Realism. The same applies to all the other senses; sensory perceptions are only a factor of the perceptive apparatus that generates them; a tree that falls when no-one’s around doesn’t make a sound because sounds are generated by ears not trees.

By this logic, we can’t verify that anything we perceive exists outside of our own imagination. We can’t verify that it doesn’t either. In other words, we “know” pretty much nothing. Mercury, the Trickster, usually amply demonstrates this fact for us during his retrogrades.

Astrology is said to originate from Hermeticism, a non-dual philosophy where the mind (Mercury) is considered to be the cause of all imagined duality – hence its sign Gemini, the twins. Everything the mind can conceive has an opposite, and therefore each side of an opposition creates and necessitates the other; either both or neither can be, because essentially they’re the two ends of the same stick. This is why it isn’t possible to be e.g., happy all the time; happiness is a concept which simultaneous gives birth to its opposite concept, unhappiness. The two are twins, born at the same time, creators of each other; we can only take both or neither, because they’re one thing, and this applies to all mental concepts.

It’s said that “beyond the mind” (inwards) where Mercury by definition cannot go, is the peace which has no opposite, and this is often described as rock-like, and as the only thing that is in fact real (Capricorn).

Hylonome Notes

These are just some thoughts and ideas based on the mythology and the orbit.

Mythologically, centaurs represent the wild, untamed, animal, sexual, or even barbaric side of human nature, and how it is (e.g., in the case of Chiron) or is not integrated. In Hylonome we had a potential symbol of unbridled female passion, a strong, sexy woman who cannot be owned. Instead she fell in love with the alpha male of the centaurs, Cyllarus, and committed suicide by throwing herself onto the spear that killed him in battle. She had potential but she threw it all away on some bloke. This is what we tend to hear about her, and so her archetype often gets reduced to something like, the myth of the stupid girl.

If we look at Ovid’s description of her, we can see that she was beautiful, feminine and loving, but she was also strong, was in an equal relationship with Cyllarus, and could fight well:

Many females of his race courted him, but one, Hylonome, won him, none lovelier, among the female centaurs, in the deep forests. She alone held Cyllarus’s affections, by endearments, by loving and admitting love; and by her appearance, as far as those limbs allow its cultivation: now she would smooth her mane with a comb, now entwine it with rosemary, now violets or roses: or else she wore bright lilies. She bathed her face twice a day in the spring that fell from the woods, on the heights near Pagasae, twice dipped her body in the stream. She would wear only selected skins of wild beasts that became her, over her shoulder or across her left flank. Their love was equally shared. They wandered the mountainsides together, rested at the same time in caves: and now they had both come to the palace of the Lapiths, and both fought fiercely.

These traits are not mutually exclusive, but neither are they easily combined by just anyone. They describe an expectation that’s commonly placed on women (by themselves); to be strong, feisty and independent, yet sweet, receptive and loving; all things to all men. Hylonome illustrates how this can be a dangerous balancing act to attempt, since it’s not safe to simultaneously be emotionally wide open (which Hylonome certainly is) and go into battle. Men are often expected to achieve a similar balance between something like hunter-warrior and sensitive lover, but this is probably shown more by Cyllarus. Cyllarus and Hylonome are both idealised versions of their gender, and of love, and try to live that in reality as mere mortals (of the centaurs, only Chiron was immortal).

Working with this kind of duality / paradox is a centaur theme (see also liminal beings), and it’s echoed by the orbits of the centaur planets, which usually swing back and forth between two or more of the outer planets, bringing the energy of one to the other — not combining them like a conjunction, but bringing them towards and away from one another, as a process, requiring ongoing learning and adjustment.

Hylonome’s orbit goes from Neptune to Uranus, and if you transport yourself into the myth and be her, you can feel exactly that transition:

A javelin (who threw it is unknown) came from the left and took you, Cyllarus, below the place where the chest swells to the neck. When the weapon was withdrawn the heart, though only slightly pierced, grew cold with the whole body. Immediately Hylonome clasped the dying limbs, sealed the wound with her hand, placed her mouth on his, and tried to prevent the passage of his spirit. Seeing he was dead, with words that the noise prevented from reaching my ears, she threw herself onto the spear that had pierced him, embracing her husband in dying.

Her response seems sudden, impulsive, erratic (Uranus), but we can understand where she was coming from, we can understand the overwhelming empathy and oneness with her loved one (Neptune). The theme of feeling other people’s pain and taking it on as your own, perhaps completely unconsciously, and the potential dangers of that, is in there. Astrologically you could say that if you pick up vibes from Neptune, which are by definition unconscious and possibly delusional, it’s pretty dangerous to let Uranus decide what to do with them. The result will probably be some kind of irrational reflex, which could be either tragic or utterly brilliant.

We could also see this scene as a metaphor for the ending of any relationship; Cyllarus’s heart “grew cold,” and Hylonome followed the standard procedure of hanging on, trying to patch it up, making futile attempts to breathe life back into it and finally despair. But she still didn’t let go, she joined him even in death. She may be someone for whom endings are inconceivable, incomprensible, just totally out of the question (Neptune acknowledges no boundaries). Or she may simply be what any of us might feel at the time of the initial shock and disbelief.

With Hylonome maybe we need to recognise that Neptune and Uranus have stunning potential but are both literally too “far out” to be left to their own devices. It seems that this process needs grounding. Many of the other centaurs’ orbits (like Chiron) come in as far as Saturn, which does exactly that. It may be worth looking at bodies aspecting Hylonome in a chart to see what could consciously be used to perform the grounding function, something to slow her down before she crashes. It seems to me that she would be exalted in an earth sign for that reason, but I think her nature is Piscean.

The planet herself is a sun-sign Pisces, discovered 27th February 1995, and the grief-stricken wailing often associated with Hylonome situations (she can have a kind of mass hysteria effect) is evocative of the so-called Neptunian spiritual longing, coming from an unfillable place inside that needs to join with something bigger than itself and go home. Hylonome seems to focus more on the side of Neptune/Pisces that has that instinctive sadness, rather than its blissful side. Hence her association, at the extreme, with suicide, when the Uranus factor is allowed to impulsively act out those feelings of both sadness and need for oneness (ego death) that Neptune picks up from the ether. But Neptune doesn’t speak of anything that really has any physical equivalent, so attempting that kind of literal translation into this realm can be anything from disastrous to pointless. Neptune can be expressed more obliquely through any form of art, and this is the best way I can think of for Hylonome to fulfill her need to do something dramatic with her longing, not least because she’d be so good at it. You don’t have to die to be dramatic, but I think maybe you do have to get your feelings out in a way that is physically satisfying if you’re dealing with Hylonome (see below).

Sylvia Plath had Hylonome in Aries in the first house (conjunct Eris), very close to the Aries point. To me she sums up the feeling. She manifested the most extreme both positive and negative expressions of this planet. If you listen to her voice at this link, it’s very strong, not like some dreamy fish girl, but with a slight crack. This reminds me of Ovid’s initial description of Hylonome; she seems both strong and intensely vulnerable (sounds like a Cancerian trait).

Hylonome’s Uranian impulses seem to be directed more towards the self than at others, as if Uranus was retrograde. Mars is retrograde in Leo in the planet’s discovery chart, which could be expressed as self-attack, and which is also a picture of the arrow through the heart in the myth. Leo rules the heart, and in the myth we can see that Cyllarus’s heart was pierced by the javelin, and that this was a mirror of how Hylonome felt emotionally. Her heart was pierced. The feeling is of a wound that energetically had already happened to her, which she then acted out by throwing herself on the javelin. In a sense she simply manifested the “pierced heart” energy she was experiencing, which was just too strong not to appear in the physical world. This need to physically touch the pain in your heart is something we can all recognise on a gut level by feeling that myth, hard as it might be to explain or express; we can feel that maybe Hylonome talks perfect sense in the wordless realm (and note that her words were inaudible in the myth).

An everyday example of this instinct to physically touch unconscious pain is described by Carola Beresford-Cooke in her Shiatsu text book, based on the principles of traditional chinese medicine:

It is my personal opinion that addictions such as smoking or drinking are tied in to a primary weakness in the organ or organs affected by the drug, and that the habit arises as an instinctual attempt to protect a vulnerable organ or stimulate a sluggish one, but one which subsequently causes more damage. So, for example, a receiver who smokes and has a Lung imbalance may well have had the Lung diagnosis before he began to smoke, although he will have made it worse over time.

Hylonome probably does not represent addictions as such, but she does have a strong Neptune element. Maybe she gives some clues about the underlying causes of addictions, and maybe there is a relationship to compulsive behaviours where you are quite literally trying to put your finger on something. These could be forms of addiction that are not really to a substance. Self-harming might be one example.

It seems to me that Hylonome is deeply intuitive, picks up all the vibes around her and feels them in her body. I think Uranus is related to the energy body, as the go-between for the physical (Saturn) and pure being (Neptune). We need to be aware of Hylonome’s process, and somehow learn to allow a thought gap between the feeling and the doing in any situation. It isn’t easy, and so Hylonome may sometimes represent the pain you bring on yourself with emotional reflex actions that truly don’t feel controllable, that you honestly don’t understand, and that feel more as if they “just happen to you,” but which eventually cause enough heartache to force you to find a way to slow down and have some compassion for yourself. Then perhaps it’s possible to use Hylonome’s potentially stunning combination of sensitivity and genius, to express yourself in other ways.

Ode to Hylonome