Jupiter, King of planets, has left the sign of Kings, Leo, behind. Jupiter expressing through the robust sign brought: a rise in stardom (everyone can be a star, now), big egos and more recently, lions. As Jupiter expresses through Virgo, that’s the planet of expansion, in the sign of humility? Opportunity through: work and service? It doesn’t sound like King behavior. Yet over the coming year this is what we have.

I was listening to one of those call-in advice shows yesterday. I only caught it mid-way, but the caller’s question revolved around her painful sense of loneliness which began with the feeling of being different as a child (she was singled out for being unusually tall). Now a PhD living in a blue-collar neighborhood, she didn’t share the same interests of others and spends a lot of time alone. Her voice was pained.

In addition to naming her as an introvert and sensitive person, and talking about the necessity of learning the extra skills it takes for us types to live in a largely extroverted world, the show’s host suggested her real issue was one of self-worth. She described people who have high self-regard and self-esteem as also having the ability to take positive action on one’s own behalf. Why hadn’t she moved? She suggested: If you’re an introvert and hang out so much, alone, at least you could move to a community that shares your interests when you do decide to be social.  And, the Dr. added, we all deserve to be happy and fulfilled. In a nutshell: our self-worth makes decisions for us about what we can or can’t do all the time.

It all struck me as Jupiterian. On advice shows, as in life, when it comes to moving into a better place, there are often a lot of self-justifications, fear, shame. And underlying that, the question: Do I believe I deserve better? Am I worth the trouble it would take to make me happy? With Jupiter, we’ve got to believe we can be: bigger, better versions of our self, that we can have an improved life. We also need to be restless and dissatisfied with the present, and hungry for a better future. Most of us have the dissatisfied bit down, but what about believing in our self, our deservedness? What about alchemizing our malcontent into an appetite for more– and using that to power us forward instead of hold us back? When we really feel this way, we’ve entered Jupiter’s territory, and the potential for magic.

Jupiter in Virgo breaks it down: Good fortune doesn’t just happen. We must roll up our sleeves and make it so. With Jupiter in Virgo we may need to acquire new skills to get to the next level; expand our calling, vocation or craft; lift our nose up from myriad details and analysis paralysis to move toward new vistas. In other words, we can use our dissatisfaction, hunger, desire for better…to make our own luck.

Make Your Own Luck

Every Jupiter transit requires our co-participation. To identify where, with elbow grease, opportunity knocks, look to the house Jupiter transits. Virgo is the sign of competence, craftsmanship, skill building, health, service, excellence. For the next 12 months, practice these themes, and the “luckier” you become.

If Jupiter is transiting your…

1^st house- reach beyond your current self-definition, courageously put your self out there, open and bloom in your environment – it’s a rich and exciting playground of self-discovery for you now

2^nd house- take a personal inventory of the skills, gifts and talents you have to offer, get hungry for new earning opportunities, acquire new tools to help you get there, organise your finances

3^rd house- expand your avenues of self-expression, improve your communication skills, express your self in new arenas, take classes to help you with this, teach what you know, get new wheels

4^th house- think big about the kind of home and family you want while taking steps to actively create it, expand your definition of family to include pets, kids, friends, in home and hearth the sky’s the limit

5^th house- fall in love with an art form or person, re-kindle your romance with your lover, take a hobby to the next level, nurture social and artistic connections, improve your relations with kids (they’re open to it now)

6^th house- ask for more from your work environment, befriend co-workers (there are some good ones), vie for a new office space, ask for a lateral promotion, spearhead a project you’d enjoy, hire a health coach

7^th house- accept all invitations to be social (there are quality people waiting for you, in the wings), sign up for a relationship course, ask for more from your partnerships

8^th house- take a psychological inventory (what unhealthy behaviors can you drop?), free yourself from baggage, de-clutter, get debt relief, make a will, explore your ancestry and lineage (there are latent gifts here for you)

9^th house- doors are now open to you in these areas: spiritual tribes and teachers, publishing, foreign and long-distance travel, university and higher education studies, seek out mind-blowing experiences that enrich your sense of meaning, magic and possibility

10^th house -the more competent you appear to your community, the more fame and honors you receive from them, polish your professional persona (and watch people respond), expand your professional identity and reach to more accurately represent and share your skill level

11^th house- friendships and groups have grown stale for you, seek out new friend groups, allies, alliances and networking organisations, reach out: people want to know you (this is the house of “love received”)

12^th house- develop your spiritual life and intuition, dream and inner work, retreat and creative time is especially rich, you can align your skills with what the collective needs and wants now