June 2019
Fire in the Fog
Since 2019 began, existential dilemmas have been buzzing around the mass mind. On June 16th Jupiter and Neptune are exactly 90 degrees apart, for the second time this cycle.
The conflict between these two aspirational planets colors the entire calendar year. Restlessness of body, mind and spirit pervades the airwaves. Groups everywhere have been destabilized.
There has been soul-searching in individuals and ethical quandaries in societies, which must now be confronted.
Jupiter (our belief system of choice) is maximally strong in Sagittarius. Neptune (our unconscious sense of universal truth) is maximally strong in Pisces. Both planets have to do with visions and ideals. Right now, the tension between them is creating a hunger to ask big questions.
Mutable cross
The first major hit of the square was in January and February; the third set of hits will be in September. This month’s exactitude is at the 19th degree of mutable signs. Check your chart to see what houses are triggered by that degree of Gemini, Virgo, 
Sagittarius and Pisces.
All four points of the mutable cross will be shimmering, inciting you to take some kind of a leap. A part of you wants to grow, in a deeply fulfilling way.
Where is Jupiter passing in your chart? Here is where you may be feeling a crisis of faith. Jupiter represents the search for truth; that is, the kind of truth that can be codified into a religion or ideology. Our natal Jupiter placement often shows up in our identification with this or that societal/political movement.
Especially in Sagittarius (Nov. 8, 2018 – Dec. 2, 2019), Jupiter is fiery and rousing. Under its collective influence, high-minded speakers and charismatic leaders have had a good run, as have fear-mongering ideologues and manipulative bible-thumpers.
Soul vs. personality
Neptune, by contrast, represents the kind of truth-seeking that is private and internal. Especially in Pisces, where it is now, Neptune inspires deep feeling whose origin is the soul, not the personality (discussed in depth here).
Subtle and all-encompassing, these impulses are not so much emotions as yearnings, difficult to put into conceptual form. At best, Neptune encourages altruism and spiritual knowing. Less optimally, it fosters delusion and escapism.
Hunger for truth
Neptune fogs in whatever it touches, but this can serve to keep Jupiter honest. If your beliefs have been robust and emphatic up to this point, this month’s square is likely to diffuse them. If doubts are arising, this doesn’t necessarily mean your goals are wrong. It may simply be a teaching about the elusive nature of all worldly goals.
The shadow side of Jupiter is arrogance and righteousness. Any such hubris is likely to be undermined by Neptune, whose watery influence is like a mist surrounding the fire of our opinions. Our beliefs about right and wrong may be starting to sputter.
Our best bet in any such contest is to remember that the yearning to experience higher truth (Neptune) is more powerful than our beliefs about it (Jupiter).
Cardinal conflict
Around the middle of the month (6/14-19), Mars and Mercury will oppose the Saturn-Pluto conjunction, whose current 3 1/2 – degree orb is effectively shrunk by this month’s transit.
This gives us a preview of one of the most important transits of the next three decades: the looming Capricorn stellium (discussed in detail here).
In the week before the Solstice (6/21), Mars (the ego) may trigger an event involving imposing impersonal forces (Saturn/Pluto). We may have to confront powers beyond our control. Mercury (communication) will challenge us to assert ourselves effectively, while being realistic about the authority (Saturn) and power (Pluto) of what we’re up against.
Whatever arises, we must play it out with integrity. Any attempts to duck our responsibilities will not bode well, once the 2020 transits come into their own.