Translating the intuitive knowing that “there’s more to find” with wisdom VS the recklessness of seeking
The Aries archetype often reflects a strong insecurity within the soul relative to the need to make a new choice, to step into a new field of life experience. With Jupiter in Aries there can be a sense of needing to go out into new territory, go somewhere new, cross thresholds of insecurity and challenge oneself beyond the known. To remain in indecision and over-thinking would create a great amount of dis-ease, however there is another possibility with this signature: the compulsive need to push oneself beyond one’s fears and limitations.
A scene from the wonderful move Fearless (1993), starring Jeff Bridges reminds me of this. After surviving a plane crash, the protagonist overcame a general fear of death, and to some extent just became fearless. Yet, at a certain point, he felt that he needed to prove to himself that he was in fact completely unafraid of death. So, he got on the ledge of a very high building in a city and stood there, pushing himself to overcome his fear of falling. Luckily (and also it’s a movie) he didn’t fall.
The need to prove one’s ability to “break through” beyond fear can express in so many ways. Imagine Jupiter in Aries is transiting your 2nd house and you decide that you will drive your car on a nearly empty tank of gas to the middle of the dessert, with no communication devices, just to prove that you can survive and find your way back on your own. This isn’t a bad thing, it just might not end very well. What’s going on here? What's the reason for this reckless pushing beyond limits?
This need to push oneself beyond one’s security threshold is based on a very basic principle: that life is designed to cyclically push us beyond our comfort and that we grow as a result. It’s always happening. We are, at various stages of life experience, constantly entering into something new. Something unknown, unfamiliar. And we are stretched to realize greater strength, self-leadership, self-capacity. Life will break us down, tear us a part, and then we will rebuild and find ourselves stronger. This is why as a general rule, people who work out regularly or regularly push themselves to pass physical or psychological limitations demonstrate a greater capacity to be productive and succeed in life; they regularly entrain the pattern of overcoming limitations. This Jupiter in Aries impulse to push beyond limitations is linked to an intuitive sense that there are inner thresholds to cross and an urgency/ angst to cross them.
I’ve always been very into what some people may call cold therapy. For most of my adult life I have been drawn to immerse in cold flowing bodies of water. Recently I’ve been listening to YouTube videos about the health benefits of cold showers, cryotherapy, and of extending one's capacity to sustain cold temperatures for longer and longer periods of time. There’s a lot of research happening on the benefits of “cold therapy”. One interesting thing I learned is that when we create a short, intense and controlled state of stress it actually helps the body to build greater immunity, reduce inflammation and apparently release all kinds of hormones that are actually incredibly relaxing. High doses of intentional stress actually has the effect of helping us cope better with future stress and stay more relaxed.
There IS a great need for us to consciously experience our capacity to overcome challenges and make it. With Jupiter in Aries, we will be sensing that life is calling us to more! Yet the warning here is not to read this email and then go and jump in the cold ocean without having prepared yourself adequately for that. We can create situations beyond our capacity to grow, and this will only set us back (but be a great learning experience, so in that sense, maybe it won’t set us back).
So, what does it mean to translate this impulse for growth and overcoming obstacles with wisdom? It’s to really connect with your own nature, with your own personal sense of purpose and destiny. Try something new, go for it! But what do you really want to live for? What is your greater goal? Having a connection with that is the key, otherwise the pitfall of Aries is to act for it’s own sake, to be in a constant “chicken without a head” forward moving motion towards more experience but without really knowing why. With Jupiter involved, the “why” might be just to prove that I can do it.
I believe the wisdom here is to recognize that everything in one’s life serves a central purpose. We might think we have many different purposes, but our soul evolution is actually all encompassing, and all facets of our life point back to that. In this sense, the specific thresholds we are trying to cross are not taken as seriously. We can recognize that in theory, there’s always the possibility or “more”, but “more” in and of itself is meaningless. Rather, it’s our own personal transformation relative to what is most important to us that matters most.
There might be some level of randomness and just the need to learn from experience with Jupiter in Aries. We will cultivate greater wisdom as we come back to reflect upon how we want to translate this powerful feeling of “more”. What do I want to do with this? What truly calls me from within me soul?
When Jupiter completes it’s time in Aries and moves into Taurus, we will quickly start to recognize the difference between the flashy and exciting goals we told ourselves to be important and that which we truly value. Making more money, building more muscle, achieving this or that goal. All fine, but what for? What is this life for and who is it that we want to become? This is the point.