Comet Shoemaker/Levy 9 Impacts Jupiter, By Robin Armstrong
Jupiter represents the principles and morals of life. It is the guiding light of life. Action without morals can lead to severe repercussions and even war. Regulations without justice can lead to can lead to revolt and war. In life responsibilities develop out of actions. Those who are aware of this process are usually successful and considered lucky, as if the gods, or perhaps Jupiter himself, were watching over them. You can do anything you want, but it helps to be prepared! The understanding of the need for laws and self-restraint is the manifestation of a good Jupiter.
It is worth a little wondering that just when the world is descending into divisions and war, caused by linguistic, racial, and religious intolerance, the forces that be saw fit to strike Jupiter on its backside. Just when it looks like Jupiter has abandoned us. Perhaps it is a cosmic wake up call. Unfortunately Jupiter when angered is prone to make rash and exaggerated judgment calls. Has the world become more peaceful since the comet hit? It could be argued yes, but life is certainly strange. There have been great movements promising peace like Israel and Ireland, but in actual areas of combat like Bosnia or Rwanda, peace seems to be far away. Many misunderstandings have been increased this year. It will take many centuries to remove some of the hate and fear created. In time wisdom will prevail. Let’s hope that wisdom will prevail sooner. In the meantime it will help to let principles guide your actions. Every journey starts with the first step. Make yours wisely!
Jupiter is supposed to be the planet of wisdom. It rules philosophy and morality. True, we often think of Jupiter as bringing opportunity, luck, abundance and joviality. However, Jupiter has a more integral role in life, a role fraught with danger. Jupiter in India is called “Guru”. It means simply the teacher.
Horoscope of Jupiter Impact
Mars represents the desire for experience, and the manner in which we obtain it. What happens when you are prevented from doing what you want to do? What happens when you do not stop activity when it is time to stop? Usually some misfortune results. Misfortune is as much a part of Jupiter as fortune is. It is not about whether you succeed or not, but rather about how you play the game. There are right ways and wrong ways. Jupiter through the accumulation of experience can develop into wisdom, but it is not guaranteed.
There are repercussions to actions and experience. There is also a limit to how much force or energy we have and how much we can use. Jupiter assimilates or at least tries to assimilate, the results and implications of what you have done or have not done. Saturn represents karma and discipline. You reap what you sow. Jupiter represents your comprehension of the process. You can do anything you want but it helps to be prepared. It also helps if your actions are healing rather than hurting.
Jupiter seems to mediate between Mars and Saturn, between desire for experience and the responsibilities and limitations demanded of us. If too much force is encouraged trouble will result and often laws will be broken. If too much restriction is embraced then strength and courage will be restrained and life will become too severe. In acting there is value in restraint. In enforcing rules there is value in wisdom.
In short, Jupiter when it gets out of control will usually err on the side of Saturn or of Mars. When it stands in the middle and mediates between the two, wisdom develops.
Starting on July 16, 1994 at 20:01 Universal Time, or 8:01 PM GMT, pieces of the fragmenting Comet Shoemaker/Levy 9 began to hit the backside of Jupiter. For the following six days there was a series of major collisions on the surface of Jupiter. Aside from revealing to scientists the composition of Jupiter’s atmosphere and surface, there is rampant speculation as to the astrological and spiritual implications of this phenomena.
It seems to be an excellent opportunity for applying the degree meanings. We could studying the degrees of the Sun and each planet at the time of impact, however, the impacts were not singular and lasted for almost a week. This means that there are several degrees to study for each of the inner planets and close to 90 degrees for the Moon’s movement. So we chose Jupiter’s own degree.
This degree will be radically relevant in the natal horoscope of children born in this period. This degree will have a most significant effect via the secondary progressions in the lives of those children born between April 16, 1994 and July 16, 1994. The time that any of their progressions, especially the progressed sun, moves through the 6th degree of Scorpio, their lives will register a significant moral impact.
This degree will not be the same again. It has accumulated new memory tracts. The 6th degree of Scorpio will now hold this experience as part of its essence. A celestial catalyst has sparked this degree. It is not likely to diminish the amount of aggression in the degree but it will issue an intimidating challenge to understanding and morality.
At first impact on July 16, 1994 at 8:01pm GMT, Jupiter was at 5°05’ Scorpio. By the last major impact on July 22, at 8:19 am GMT, Jupiter was at 5°22’ Scorpio. Let us now see what the degree meanings for the 6th degree of Scorpio have to say.
06° DEGREES OF SCORPIO: The Jupiter Impact
SC 06° (CHARUBEL) A monster with two faces, like the ancient Janus. Denotes duplicity and deception; a slanderer.
Editor’s note: Comets have throughout history been called monsters and if they split up they are called monsters with numerous heads. Hitting Jupiter from the back seems to reinforce the implications.
SC 06° (SEPHARIEL) A great mound of earth and stones, on the summit of which there is a single flowering shrub. It is the index of a mind that is given to carefulness in small things and attention to detail; whose heart is in his task; and whose soul is content with the simple fruits thereof. Such a one will build up a name and position for himself by dint of patient and laborious toil, whether in natural science or in the ordinary avocation of a commercial life, and in the end he will be sure of his due reward. It is a degree of CONTINUITY.
Editor’s note: The great mound of earth and stones again seems rather relevant. The flowering shrub could be the spots created by the impacts, or the blossoming of understanding developing from this phenomena.
SC 06° (A. LEO) Dualistic, emotional temperament: alternately inclined to spirituality and sensualism.
Editor’s note: Again we see a reference to duality, also to a struggle possibly between the influence of Mars and Saturn on Jupiter.
SC 06° (MUIR) A very dualistic nature, battling between the extremes of spirituality and sensuality. Suffering alone decides his course.
Editor’s note: Muir as usual seems to follow Leo’s image but she adds a curious comment that could literally apply to Jupiter’s reaction to the comet. This could go further and suggest that we must live with the pangs of our own conscience as we meet life’s challenges.
SC 06 (CHANDRA) A DANCER WITH EIGHT ARMS. Ability to coordinate divergent energies, diverting the attention of others as a defence. This symbol is reminiscent of Tibetan sculpture and painting.
Editor’s note: Once again we have a very appropriate symbol. The comet did split into more than eight pieces. The dancer with eight arms dances the dance of life and death, often on the very fires of desire. Our body appears to burn in our development of spiritual understanding. Wisdom comes at a cost.
SC 06° (JONES) A gold rush. This is a symbol of the exploitation of natural resources through personal initiative or intelligence, and of every individual’s essential independence of the commonplace limitations or superficial inadequacies of life. There are always high rewards awaiting any genuine enterprise, and as man dramatizes the opportunities of the world at large he is able to improve his own immediate condition in all possible directions. Human skills are forever challenged to their own good fortune. The keyword is AMBITION. When positive, the degree is instinctive self-dedication to the unseen potentials of everyday existence, and when negative, a lack of practical discrimination and an irresistible desire for easy money.
Editor’s note: There is an obvious reference to mankind’s ability to profit from every experience. On television, astronomers and astrologers were certainly cashing in on the phenomena. Astronomers were gaining from the disruption of Jupiter’s natural resources and the recording of it. Astrologers’ are also being challenged to comprehend. Talk is cheap but words are a-plenty. Action here is obviously louder than words, but what are the implications?
SC 05°-06° (P.ALEXANDRINUS): § Saturn
Editor’s note: The Saturn rulership here seems to bring the need for restraint and patience in developing a new understanding. Caution is required to avoid any escalation of force or folly.
SC 06° (RUDHYAR) Phase 216: THE GOLD RUSH TEARS MEN AWAY FROM THEIR NATIVE SOIL.
KEYNOTE: The passionate search for new values which, at any level, promise a more abundant life.
The greatness of man is that he can always be greater; likewise, at a national level, man’s “greed” can more easily be aroused by whatever promises more wealth, more power, and even-greater achievements at all levels, spiritual as well as material. Beyond this arousal of greed is the deep-seated desire to play a more important or spectacular role in one’s society or community. Greed is the perverse intensification of the social sense, just as lust is the perverse intensification of the longing for love. Always at this Scorpio level the yearning is for an ever more intense and all-absorbing union with a person or a community—a yearning which motivates a search for more effectual means to achieve as total a feeling experience as is possible.
This is the first stage of the forty-fourth sequence of symbolic phases in the cycle of existence. It dramatizes the capacity in man to tear himself away from the known and the familiar, gambling everything on a vision or dream. A Keyword could be AVIDITY.
Editor’s note: Who knows what metals a comet can carry. Certainly Jupiter
has had its surface torn away. Perhaps this makes it easier to see though people and situations. The idea of tearing away and then of gambling is quite vivid. It
can apply to Palestine (Arafat), Bosnia, Rwanda, Ireland (IRA)…. When there is nothing to lose, a gamble looks inviting. There seems to be a warning about excessive expansion for wrong reasons.
SC 06° (CARELLI): A real worker, the native will easily put up with hardships and think little of himself. In spite of a great sense of duty, there is an inner split, which could result into gossipy duplicity or even pervert modesty into dissembling servility. Though patient enough, the native will rather carry out his task bluntly than further it actively and steadily; he does not put enough zest in his work. An appropriate training will have to supply him with the necessary share of steadfastness, or he will risk to stop in the middle of any undertaking.
If the will power can be educated at all, the native’s limitation will not exclude success, as his painstaking care of details will be appreciated. Ups and downs can be expected in his social status, but if he is liable to fall, he is as well apt to rise again.
Editor’s note: Without principles motivation suffers. The mention of an inner split again strikes a gong of recognition.
SC 06° (KOZMINSKY). UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE PLANET JUPITER. An eagle with a snake in its beak. Denotes a forceful, deter mined character who will not be easily imposed on. A hater of deceit and mean actions, he silences the deception by crushing the deceiver. With himself he is continually at war, being swayed by two emotions, one uplifting, the other degrading. What he wishes to remain in mastery will remain. It is a symbol of Watchfulness.
Editor’s note: Certainly watchfulness was acted out as far as humanly possible. Everyone who could was watching. If Jupiter or wisdom is the eagle and the comet is the snake the comet was crushed! True wisdom can survive even the most dastardly of attacks.
06°SC (EBERTIN) Right epididymis (Uterine cavity)
Editor’s note: There is no clearly apparent meaning here, however the
comet did create cavities or explosions on Jupiter. Perhaps there is a reference here to the understanding of femininity being attacked. Abortions are a hot issue and doctors are being killed for performing it
SC 06° (BARDON) Sarasi is the original initiator of all human ideals, no matter whether ideals of the physical, astral or mental world are concerned. Depending on the maturity and development of mankind, this head of intelligence controls, by his subordinates, the most diverse ideals of each individual and causes situations and possibilities for the realization of an ideal in the mental, astral or physical world to a small or large extent. Sarasi supplies man with the appropriate enthusiasm and the endurance for the realization of the ideal in question in accordance with one’s maturity and fate. This head, too, may teach the magician a great deal: for instance, how various ideals are born in our world and how they decay again; furthermore, Sarasi will tell him about ideals which will not come up until the distant future.
Editor’s note: This is a degree system based on the magical invocation of a special spirit or head of intelligence that live in the zone girdling the Earth. It reveals what a magician can learn from the spirit of this degree. The implication appears to be that through enthusiasm, consistency and a right attitude, any ideal can be realized. This shows the way for wisdom or Jupiter to assimilate these impacts and challenges.
SC 05°-06° (IC-level 1) OBSTRUCTION: Hx.39, L 6:Passive.
05° 00’-05° 10’ Sc (IC-1v1 2) OBSTRUCTION: Hx. 39, Line 1: Yielding.
(IC-level 3) Retreat: Hx. 33
05° 10’-05° 20’ Sc (IC-lvl 2) OBSTRUCTION: Hx. 39, Line 2: Yielding.
(IC-level 3) Influence, Wooing: Hx. 31
05° 20’-05° 30’ Sc (IC-1v1 2) OBSTRUCTION: Hx. 39, Line 3: Firm.
(IC-level 3) The Wanderer: Hx. 56
Editor’s note: Within any first level hexagram there is a subtheme or subhexagram that further elaborates the nature of the line (or degree) involved. Each line of this subhexagram applies to 10 min utes of the degree. Within this second level hexagram or subtheme there is another subsubhexagram that applies to 10 minutes of a degree and it elaborates the meaning of the line of the second level hexagram. This is the first reference or introduction to a much deeper level of degree symbolism. The first level hexagram is the Main Theme, The second level hexagram is a Special Focus, and the third level hexagram is an Intimate Detail. A similar triple-level association would be National governments, State or Provincial governments, and Municipal governments.
The first level hexagram or Main Theme is OBSTRUCTION: Hx. 39, Line 6.
The second level hexagram or Special Focus is OBSTRUCTION: Hx.39,Line 1,2,&3.
The third level hexagrams or Intimate Detail are: (There are three third level hexagrams, one for each line in level two. They provide a sequential focus.)
Here we have a doubling of the hexagram Obstruction. We have impact with Jupiter in Obstruction upon or within Obstruction. There is a repetition here also. The hexagram appropriately deals with how to handle obstructions. In this case it would be obstructions to understanding. The three third level hexagrams are called: Retreat: Hx. 33; Influence, Wooing: Hx. 31; and The Wanderer: Hx. 56. The amount of information in all these hexagrams goes beyond the length of this journal so please accept what I consider the most relevant quotes. This is not a replacement for studying these hexagrams yourself. It is more of an encouragement.
Hx. 39. OBSTRUCTION: above THE ABYSMAL, WATER, below KEEPING STILL, MOUNTAIN
This hexagram pictures a dangerous abyss lying before us and a steep, inaccessible mountain rising behind us. We are surrounded by obstacles; at the same time, since the mountain has the attribute of keeping still, there is implicit a hint as to how we can extricate ourselves. The hexagram represents obstructions that appear in the course of time but that can and should be overcome. Therefore all the instruction given is directed to overcoming them.
THE JUDGMENT
OBSTRUCTION. The southwest furthers.
The northeast does not further.
It furthers one to see the great man.
Perseverance brings good fortune.
The southwest is the region of retreat, the northeast that of advance. here an individual is confronted by obstacles that cannot be overcome directly. In such a situation it is wise to pause in view of the danger and to retreat. However, this is merely a preparation for overcoming the obstructions. One must join forces with friends of like mind and put himself under the leadership of a man equal to the situation: then one
Worlds In Collision: Jupiter Impact will succeed in removing the obstacles. This requires the will to perse vere just when one apparently must do something that leads away from his goal. This unswerving inner purpose brings good fortune in the end. An obstruction that lasts only for a time is useful for self-development. This is the value of adversity.
Editor’s note: Firstly the comet struck Jupiter in the south west or south east that is where we first witnessed the impact results. These ideas should impact on Bosnia, Palestine, and Kuwait … the three countries artificially created at the end of World War 2. What are the obstacles to understanding here?
THE IMAGE
Water on the mountain:
The image of OBSTRUCTION.
Thus the superior man turns his attention to himself
And molds his character.
Difficulties and obstructions throw a man back upon himself. While the inferior man seeks to put the blame on other persons, bewailing his fate,the superior man seeks the error within himself, and through this introspection the external obstacle becomes for him an occasion for inner enrichment and education.
Editor’s note: This is relevant advice that is especially applicable in this electronic era.
THE LINES:
The first place implies:
Going leads to obstructions, Coming meets with praise.
When one encounters an obstruction, the important thing is to reflect on how best to deal with it. When threatened with danger, one should not strive blindly to go ahead, for this only leads to complications. The correct thing is, on the contrary, to retreat for the time being, not in order to give up the struggle but to await the right moment for action.
This meaning in this line is elaborated further by the hexagram
RETREAT, Hx. 33.
Retreat. Success. Perseverance furthers in what is small. Hostile forces are advancing. Retreat is the way to success. It is important to retreat at the right moment. This helps to avoid a desperate life and death struggle.
The superior person keeps inferior people at a distance, with reserve, but without anger.
The second place implies:
The king’s servant is beset by obstruction upon obstruction,
But it is not his own fault.
Ordinarily it is best to go around an obstacle and try to overcome it along the line of least resistance. But there is one instance in which a man must go out to meet the trouble, even though difficulty piles upon difficulty: this is when the path of duty leads directly to it—in other words, when he cannot act of his own volition but is duty bound to go and seek out danger in the service of a higher cause. Then he may do it without compunction, because it is not through any fault of his that he is putting himself in this difficult situation.
The meaning in this line is elaborated further by the hexagram
INFLUENCE,WOOING, Hx. 31.
To take a maiden to wife brings good fortune. Influence.
Success. It furthers to persevere.
Success depends upon the power of mutual attraction
Heaven and Earth attract each other and thus all creatures come into being. Through such an attraction the sage influences people’s hearts and the world can attain peace. From the attractions they exert we can learn the nature of all beings in heaven and on earth.
The third place implies:
Going leads to obstructions
Hence he comes back.
While the preceding line shows the official compelled by duty to follow the way of danger, this line shows the man who must act as father of a family or as head of his kin. If he were to plunge recklessly into danger, it would be a useless act, because those entrusted to his care cannot get along by themselves. But if he withdraws and turns back to his own, they welcome him with great joy.
The meaning in this line is elaborated further by the hexagram
The WANDERER, Hx. 56.
The wanderer is a stranger in a strange land. He must be clear minded and cautious. It is important to avoid lawsuits. Penalties and lawsuits should be of short duration. Prisons should not become homes. Too much partying attracts bad company and one can lose what one has.
The sixth place implies:
Going leads to obstructions,
Coming leads to great good fortune.
It furthers one to see the great man.
This refers to a man who has already left the world and its tumult behind him. When the time of obstructions arrives, it might seem that the simplest thing for him to do would be to turn his back upon the world and take refuge in the beyond. But this road is barred to him. He must not seek his own salvation and abandon the world to its adversity. Duty calls him back once more into the turmoil of life. Precisely because of his experience and inner freedom, he is able to create something both great and complete that brings good fortune. And it is favourable to see the great man in alliance with whom one can achieve the work of rescue.
The meaning in this line is elaborated further by the hexagram
OBSTRUCTION, Hx. 39.