Jupiter/Sagittarius - Part 1

Jupiter returns to its direct motion in Virgo on May 5 and will remain in Virgo until September 26, 2004.

Jupiter (Sagittarius) rules Natural Law, intuition, cosmologies, philosophy, religion, metaphysics, higher learning and truth, among other things. In India, Jupiter is called Guru.

Everyone has intuition, but there are degrees, or forms, of intuition. Intuition (Sagittarius) is the bridge between intellectual knowledge (Gemini) and realization of the divine Self and the essence of the Eternal Substance/God/Goddess (Pisces). It is through methods such as meditation (Virgo) that development of intuition, the spiritualization of consciousness, takes place.

In his translation and interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita, Paramahansa Yogananda tells us that "the conscious awakening of intuition expresses itself in five forms." The first form is called the intuition of the annamaya kosha, or "the consciousness of existence in the gross or matter plane." It is the inner knowledge that one exists. Every human being has this form of intuition; they must develop the other forms.

The second form of intuition is that of the pranic energy and is the immediate knowledge of the pranamaya kosha, the plane of the life force that creates and sustains the body." This form of intuition enables the yogi to hear subtle sounds, see subtle lights, feel subtle sensations, smell subtle fragrances and taste subtle flavors. At this stage the yogi has at least partially or wholly "withdrawn his/her consciousness from the matter plane of annamaya kosha."

In the third form of intuition, called manomaya kosha, or mind place, the yogi experiences direct knowledge of the mind (manas). Depending on the depth of meditation, the yogi in this state or form of intuition is either a very little or not at all conscious of the outside world. While some action of "prana may be involved in the experiences of this state," one's attention is not much on the pranic plane, or the plane of the body, or matter.

The fourth form of intuition, jnanamaya kosha, or intellect plane, reveals direct knowledge of the operation of buddhi, or "discriminative intellect along with knowledge of the ego." One feels his or her existence above the mind, prana and the body. Called cognitive meditation when fully developed, the intuition of jnanamaya kosha results in "keen discernment of truth, manifesting as Wisdom."

Anandamaya kosha , the fifth form of intuition, depends on no object, mediary or condition and is direct knowledge of bliss. As in the previous states, the yogi has almost or totally withdrawn her or his consciousness from the body plane. Anandamaya kosha "bestows all-fulfilling joy, crowning divine experiences with ultimate satisfaction." It is this form of intuition, pure intuition of the soul, that the yogi knows the soul by the soul. S/he is fully conscious of the true Self. This form is also known as God-consciousness, and it is only the very highest of spiritual beings in this world, of which there are very few, who have this pure soul intuition.

Jupiter, our inner Guru that teaches us how to access the Divine, takes approximately 12 years (11.86 months), to journey through the entire zodiac, and it is within these 12-year cycles that each of us slowly advances in our spiritual evolution.

When we look at the grand mutable cross, Gemini and its ruler Mercury gather information about and for the self, and then through Virgo (Mercury) self-analysis and introspection the self discerns the meaning of that information. It is a process of thinking and reasoning. Through Sagittarius (Jupiter), the consciousness realizes information through the impartial, clear, calm intuition, which eventually leads to Self-Realization of the Self as the Microcosm (Virgo) of the Macrocosm (Pisces). Jupiter/Sagittarius provides the bridge between Virgo and Pisces through experiential learning of the knowledge of the Soul. As the ruler of long-distance travel, Jupiter/Sagittarius provides us with the way to travel the longest and most rewarding journey we make: the one back to God, Goddess, the Source.

Jupiter in Virgo offers us the opportunity to use methods such as meditation (Virgo) to enhance and increase our intuition (Sagittarius/Jupiter) so that we can discern(Virgo) and experience (Sagittarius) 'ultimate truth' (Pisces, co-ruled by Neptune and Jupiter). "The Spirit (Krishna) expresses itself through the instrumentality of the intuition of the soul, Spirit's individualized reflection in man." (Bhagavad Gita: God Talks to Arjuna). It takes many, many, many lifetimes to develop our intuition from being able to ascertain relative truths to where we are finally anchored fully and totally in the soul and can recognize/ascertain "Absolute Truth," as Masters such as Jesus, Paramahansa Yogananda, Krishna, and Buddha did.

Currently, transiting Jupiter in Virgo is also opposite Uranus in Pisces, giving us an expanded opportunity (Jupiter) to tap into the collective unconscious (Uranus/Pisces) and to feel a deeper connection to all of humanity, and then to serve (Virgo) humanity in ways each of us as an individual is guided by God/dess (Pisces) to do so.

~To Be Continued~