Jupiter has been Retrograde in the sign of Taurus since the 4th of September. It’ll take place during the whole Q4 of 2023 (stationing direct on the 31st of December at 2:40am UK). It’s not too late to think about what that means for your business.
Jupiter is the planet of growth and expansion, and of luck if you believe in that idea. As the ruler of Sagittarius it also governs long distance and foreign travel, big business and wealth, higher education, religion, and the law (the themes of the IX house). In Traditional Astrology is also ruler of Pisces, which in Modern Astrology is Neptune’s sign.
If you consider it ruler of Pisces, then it governs the themes of the XII too, which is the subconscious as the hidden. It’s where we shed the final layers ahead of the new cycle of the Zodiac.
A retrograde is a time to stop and take stock of the way these themes show up in our life. For this transit it’s about being patient with our decisions.
Taurus Energy
The retrograde takes place in the Fixed Earth sign of Taurus, which is ruled by Venus. It’s an energy associated with the material realm in its most sensual expression.
Stop and smell the roses is the vibe with this sign. While the go-getter (cardinal) Capricorn climbs mountains against all odds and mutable Virgo brings their view down to the finest details to make sure it’s possible to realise, Taurus is the energy of attuning with the rhythms of nature and letting the seeds we planted with Aries season grow at the pace they’re meant to.
It’s the energy of the VII of Coins/Pentacles in the Tarot. Even if Taurus season takes place in Spring (April and May) it’s the energy of Autumn and Winter. Taurus is about having the patience to wait for Nature to show us growth.
Questions for self-reflection
The season we entered at the Equinox (Libra) is about slowing down to prepare for the new year. It’s a different kind of finishing the year strong than scrambling to meet a goal. Here’s some questions for you to ponder in whatever way you prefer:
- What things have I done this past year? How have I grown?
- Are the goals I set for myself and my business still relevant?
- If they are, what things got in the way of achieving them?
- What things do I need to adjust and implement in order to support myself in doing so? If you want to achieve them next year, that is.
I’ll be completely honest with you, I did not achieve mine. Life got in the way, and I had to make some tough decisions. I believe that everyone should work from a place of nervous system regulation, but especially service providers that work closely with clients in potentially triggering situations. That obviously applies to coaches and healers, but it applies to photographers too.
The importance of somatic business
It’s stressful to get your portraits taken, even when they’re not boudoir ones. There’s a lot of messaging in society around how we’re supposed to look, and most people don’t have loving relationships with their bodies. And the camera will reflect something that is not always flattering unless your photographer knows how to pose people (which is a skill I keep working on).
So I shut down to the bare minimum of running a business, and have prioritised making sure that I healed. By working less, I created space for my mind, body, and soul to process the events of the recent past.
So the adjustments for me moving forward are quite straightforward, I need to go back to the level of input that I had before my marriage broke down. And since I strive to always embody what I preach (everyone slips up), I will be doing it from a place of holding space for myself as healing is a journey rather than a destination.
Retrogrades during Q4 of the year
Astrologer Meghan Rose suggests this is a time to make more calculated risks, if any at all. It’s time to take a step back and be more intentional, practical, and dedicated. The overlap of the Retrograde with Q4 makes it a great time to evaluate our investments, whether financial, relational, or how we use our time.
I decided to quantum leap again. It may not look as impressive as what most manifestation girlies with a podcast make it look like. But I feel like until now my queen energy has been that of a child queen in name only, stifled in any decision and power by her mother as her regent.
People love to talk about impressive stories because it can be hard to see something inspirational in micro-shifts, but even micro-shifts count. It’s powerful to connect to our future self in 5 years and see the fruits of the seeds we are planting now, but our future self is also the self we are in 2 minutes.
In a way, past present and future all co-exist, and it’s not some out there woo concept. By the time you think about the present, the moment that was the present at the beginning of the thought is already a few seconds in the past, and the present is what was then the future.
Grounding in the present to envision the future
Spiritual teachers love to talk about how nothing exists beyond the present moment, and I agree to an extent. It’s a good way to remind ourselves to be grounded and not live up in our heads and our anxieties. But, really, all that exists is the future.
The key is to live grounded in the now as a stepping stone towards what’s next. When I finish writing this, I’ll get up to stretch a little before I sit back down to post it. I could stay sitting down and push through, but I’m doing something that will serve my future self. Maybe I will also change the bedding so that my future self tonight will not be cold like she was last night, which in turn serves the future self at different points in time.
Making powerful decisions
They are decisions I’m making in the now, as a person with specific values that I am embodying in the now, but they are in service of my future because the present moment is so fleeting my future self is all there is.
I think there is a danger in holding a future vision when it becomes disconnected from the present. It’s like being a balloon full of helios, without a weight you will fly away. But the weight keeps you grounded while still able to fly compared to a balloon full of standard air, or one that isn’t filled at all.
Jupiter in Retrograde is a great way to look at how we can ground ourselves in the present without affecting our ability to fly, and making powerful shifts and decisions that build up to enough change to be a whole new person.
Every decision we make splits our timeline, the choice is ours of which timeline we want to be on.
