Here are some thoughts by expert trend watcher, the writer and astrologer Philip Brown. He is the author of Cosmic Trends: Astrology Connects the Dots.
Throughout 2009, Jupiter’s twelve-year cycle brings this generous benefic—the planet of luck and expansion—into Aquarius, an air sign associated with ideas, society, communities, and technology. Aquarius is also very concerned with the future and seeks to understand how current events affect our local and global communities.
Technology, especially the Internet, is Aquarian, and major advances in connectivity can be expected in 2009. One can look back through Jupiter’s recent Aquarian sojourns and see how technology has gone into major overdrive during these transits. In the course of Jupiter’s previous one year trip through Aquarius (1997), for example, Google was introduced and cell phones were first connected to the Internet. We can expect to see a similar technological boost during the ensuing year.
One way this acceleration may occur is through Jupiter’s ability to gain perspective, coupled with a strong Aquarian sense of detachment. This detached perspective could result in growing popular interest in “global positioning” (a perfect phrase for Jupiter in Aquarius) devices that will enable more and more individuals to map their personal lives. GPS devices, smart phones, iPhones, and similar gadgets are also expanding the connections to and between virtual communities. Although these are trends which stretch much further than a year, they will grow more pronounced as Jupiter moves through Aquarius.
Jupiter rules the publishing and media worlds, which are in the process of being transformed by the Aquarian Internet—another trend which will increase during Jupiter’s time in Aquarius. There is an explosion in self-published books, made possible through Internet publishers and digital print-on-demand. Amazon’s Kindle reader has started to replace the age-old turning of a book’s paper pages with command buttons, and Japan is experiencing a great wave of cell phone novels—books published and distributed over cell phones. These are examples of a more permanent transformation that will experience a growth spurt while Jupiter is in Aquarius.
Jupiter will join imaginative Neptune in the heavens in May, July, and December, 2009, and the influence of this celestial pairing will be felt throughout much of the year. Although there is a lot of positive energy in this pairing, the Jupiter-Neptune conjunction could manifest in some negative ways. For example, Jupiter has traditional rulership over birds. Recent news reports suggest that human infection from the deadly bird flu—which was first reported during the previous Jupiter-Neptune conjunction in 1997 (timeline according to the Centers for Disease Control)—has re-emerged in Asia.
One theme we can anticipate with Jupiter and Neptune together in Aquarius is large, imaginative visions about the future. This astrological pairing happens to coincide with growing anticipation over the 2012 Mayan calendar end-date. Neptune rules films and a movie about 2012, directed by Roland Emmerich (Independence Day), is scheduled to be released during the Jupiter-Neptune conjunction in July, 2009. A remake of Alfred Hithcock’s The Birds is also set to be released just as Jupiter and Neptune have a cosmic meet-and-greet.
Jupiter and Neptune are co-rulers of Pisces (Jupiter is the traditional ruler of Pisces and Neptune the modern ruler). We might therefore anticipate a lot of artistic Piscean energy this year, played out in Aquarian ways. This will be further amplified by Uranus’ (the modern ruler of Aquarius) current passage through Pisces.
Jupiter in Aquarius should be a year of collective hopes, as we experience a growing awareness of our place in the global community.
