Table of Contents

• Jupiter - The Optimist

• Tarot for March

• Reiki’s Embrace and Comforting Ourselves Through Pain

  • Lessons from Philosophy in a Time of Ignorance Wri …

  • Seven Days of Jupiter - A Week-Long Ritual

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In hard times, we hold on to hope.

We see earthly realities, and envision how things can be different. We’re here to heal and expand the scope of humanity. We take the wisdom from past experiences and transmute it to visions of a better humanity. We evolve. For better or worse, The Wheel always turns.

Philosophy and dreaming.

Each of us in our every day actions shape the world around us.

While Saturn helps us manifest and endure reality, Jupiter helps us dream of a better one. We need both planetary energies together to function. Saturn is duty. Jupiter is hope.

Jupiter comes from the Latin Iuppiter, which comes from combining Proto-Indo European Dyew- meaning “Sky, to shine” and pater meaning “father.” Literally Sky Father. In Vedic astrology, he less the father and more a Guru. Shining one. Guide. Either way, he holds the energy of someone you put your faith in to take care of you.

Jupiter is the ruling planet to two signs: Sagittarius and Pisces. Both dreamers, both optimistic energies, both interested in expansion of the human mind. One through adventure and direct learning, and the other through expanding the subconscious.

All of the themes of every planet exist within you. Specifically, Jupiter asks:

“How can you prioritize kindness, uplifting energy, and generosity?”

“How are you living your life philosophy?”

“How are you channeling your dreams into reality?”

“What are you doing today to find joy?”

If Saturn is density and the long term, Jupiter is levity and living for today.

Philosophy and Faith. When in balance, Jupiter is the planet of education and leads us by expanding our awareness. The arts of learning, wisdom, and philosophy are all sacred fires that have been handed down for centuries. We have been collectively building the pyre of intelligence since the dawn of time, and Jupiter is the fire-keeper within.

Our inner Jupiter rules over faith and the trust that things will work out for the best. It is the energy that carries us though dark times as the divine protector. He is a steward and the planet you want to work with when calling in blessings, wealth, and abundance. He grows things through fortune and luck. The state of being “jovial” comes from the word Jove, an alternative Roman name for Jupiter. The link being, through faith you receive blessings.

Dreams and Aspiration. The part of your soul that holds on to the dream of a more moral and ethical world. The part of you that reaches for something bigger. The part of you that seeks the answers to the great mysteries and takes interest in mysticism comes from the same place of wanting to expand and experience more.

Aspirations are what drive us forward. They are the energies and goals that motivate us, and hold us through dark times. The light at the end of the tunnel. The trip you have planned later this year. The version of you that you long to live up to. The love and light of the world. The power of manifestation and the efficacy of prayer.

We’re building a collective dream. The work we do within stabilizes our living dream. The more we project healing in the world, the more compassion we emit, the closer we get to a timeline of health, freedom, and joy for all.

Yet, aspirations do little without discipline and actions.

Balancing Jupiter and Saturn. Adding to what we learned last month, Jupiter is the balance to Saturnian energies. Imagine a world where there is only duty and no joy. Reality as it is, with no hope. It’s a struggle right? Now imagine a world where everyone is lost in the clouds and aren’t actually doing anything to achieve their dreams. Same result, different frequency.

Visualization without concrete action gets us nowhere. It is an addictive spirit that leaves you suspended in time.

Jupiter is the energy that expands, and is pleasurable and joyous. It takes up space and makes life worth living. If you know anything about Zeus, the Greek equivalent of this energy, you know he loves pleasure, but sometimes this can be an irresponsible pleasure—and can even be hedonistic, or escapist.

When out of balance, Jupiter can have issues with gambling, addiction, and being faithful. What’s wrong with that? He’s just trying to have fun. He’s embodying his highest life!

No comment.

Being lost in hope is a gamble. Dreaming of a world where we are saved by a miraculous alien intervention is fun. Numbing through substances to escape for a little is joyful —alcohol, drugs, pills, weed, entertainment, addictive spiritual distractions — but living there is problematic.

At the same time, succumbing to hopelessness is equally as bad. Feeling the heaviness of reality is suffocating without an ember of light to navigate the grueling depths of incarnation.

Jupiter helps us keep the light on.

Trusting that everything is going to work itself out on its own is like spinning the wheel of fortune. Sure, we could land on any number of positive timelines, but a spinning wheel is just as likely to land on bankrupt, and we lose it all. A balance must be struck between rising in frequency and doing the work. Hallucinogenic escapism, on its own, does not create anything.

In all things, moderation.

My intent with this writing is for you to keep hope alive in your heart. We can get through this, but I am also not a spiritual bypassing teacher. Hoping and praying and manifesting alone doesn’t get the job done.

We need Jupiter and Saturn together to create something truly beautiful. Something real, and something expansive. Purposeful. A manifested wheel that touches grass and pulls on the earth to build momentum to drive us forward.

And these actions don’t have to be big! Even the simple act of kindness and openness is an actionable step towards healing this world. But it will take more than that to thrive.

It is interesting that in this time in history, we have an exalted Jupiter, and a debilitated Saturn. So many people, especially the spiritual community, are in the clouds. And yes, like we have said before, that is important. Hope for something better is crucial. But there is a fine line between The Visionary and The Escapist.

But I have hope.

I do.

If I didn’t have hope, I would not be writing this. Enter, Jupiter — The Optimist.

Now, more than ever, we need visionaries, philosophers, healers, guides, and dreamers.

But we also need them to be grounded in this reality. Unfortunately, the algorithms cater toward unhinged, conspiracy takes that drive engagement. This is on purpose, and I won’t get into all that (yet).

My call to action? Start engaging more with grounded spiritual content. It’s the only way to change the feed. This includes creating space for philosophers that lead by example, and sharing posts that stir something in you that is both hopeful and real.

At this point in time, I’d recommend you start blocking AI content from your feeds. If you need help figuring out what is AI, please reach out. But part of honoring the sanctity of humanity and discerning who has earned a platform will be editing out the noise inundating our collective mind. AI makes grifters look like teachers. Look for sources. Maintain discernment.

Zeus (Jupiter) overcoming Cronus (Saturn) in myth asks us to look the current world in the eye and with hope in our hearts, conquer the past, learn from it, and create a better future.

Jupiter Stations Direct. This month, Jupiter is stationing direct on March 10. It has been retrograde since November and has led to an internal journey of our values. Between this date and June 30th will be the best time to work Jupiter magic for the next twelve years due to it being in the sign of Cancer, it’s exaltation. Lucky for you, we have some tips at the end of this newsletter on working with the planet Jupiter.

After the brief summary of this planet, can you see the connections between these themes and Sagittarius and Pisces?

Sagittarius: Mutable Fire Sign. Exploration, Expansion, Philosophy, Freedom.
Rules over: Hips, Thighs, Liver (the purifier of the body, think of the connection to processing escapist poisons).

Pisces: Mutable Water Sign. The subconscious mind. Intuition. Compassion. Surrender.
Rules over: Feet, toes, lymphatic system.

Feature Story

Lessons from Philosophy in a Time of Ignorance
Written by Vesper

As you may know, I’m an academic philosopher. I was that weirdo who decided on a major freshman year of high school and then stuck with it for seven years, through two degrees, and I’m that weirdo who still daydreams about going back to get my PhD. Long story short, philosophy—literally, the love of wisdom—is one of the great loves of my life.

But the last decade has made it increasingly hard to hold onto the foundational principles of that pursuit. Faith that truth is possible, or strong enough to confront this era’s dangers. Faith that it matters at all.

Anti-intellectualism, disinformation, seductive conspiracy theories, the rising tide of fascism that relies on keeping us ignorant and scared—it’s been like an all-out attack, and from every side of our society. In this environment, how can we still believe in the truth? How can we believe it’s possible to share the truth with others? How can we believe that wisdom will lead to a better world?

I used to believe that if you made a strong enough argument, based on robust enough facts, that you could convince anyone of the truth of how things are and what we ought to do to make a better world. Now, I know it’s not so simple. Now, I sometimes despair that we all even live in a shared reality.

But at the core of these very real fears, and the necessary acknowledgement of the forces keeping us divided and ignorant, is still the knowledge that there is truth. That it matters. Facts matter. Critical thinking and asking good questions and approaching this world with curiosity still matter. At the end of the day, we know that might does not make right, even if the powerful manage to cosplay their victory over the truth for a while.

So knowing that, and knowing how important the love and pursuit of wisdom is no matter how difficult the current world makes it, I’ve gathered a few lessons from my time studying philosophy that I think can still help us move forward through a world of distortions.

Approach With Curiosity

When I first started studying philosophy, it was because I wanted answers. But the intervening decades haven’t really brought me too many of those. It even took away quite a few easy answers I thought I had already figured out. But pursuing philosophy taught me something more valuable than answers: How to ask good questions.

Approach the world around you with curiosity. Examine multiple perspectives on every topic, big and small. Practice considering the other “side” without losing yourself and your own viewpoint. Recognize that most topics have more than two “sides.” Ask questions, then find some answers and ask even more questions about them. Ask questions especially that you think you already know the answers to.

Not only will this approach to life expand your own wisdom and teach you more than you can imagine, but it’s a more open and joyous way of greeting the world. Instead of “This thing is annoying,” try “Why is it this way?” Instead of, “Of course it’s that way,” try “What if it wasn’t?” Instead of “I can’t believe this horrible thing I saw on Instagram!”, try “Should I believe it? Who is telling me this, and why?”

It won’t always make everything better. The answer to many questions is, “Humans can be cruel and greedy and short-sighted.” Sometimes the horrible thing will be worse than you thought. But sometimes you’ll learn about reasons and experiences and lives you never imagined. And more information, both the hopeful and the tragic, is more ammunition against those who want to control what you think.

Learn to meet those you disagree with in good faith—but also recognize when others are not discoursing in good faith. And, as my grandmother loves to say (quoting I’m sure some horrific politician), don’t open your mind so much that your brain falls out. You might think that strange advice from a group that encourages psychedelic exploration, but that’s not the ecstatic experience this advice applies to. It’s the logical realm.

When you’re reasoning, when you consider the evidence before you, when you evaluate arguments presented by others, you must have a mind open to new conclusions … but you must also keep one foot in shared reality. In reason, in your experience of the world, in observable facts and well-tested theories. We need discernment and a knowledge of history to help us strike this balance.

Evaluate Logically

Your mind is a muscle. It needs to be worked out to maintain its strength. Finding little ways to learn and think throughout your day will keep your mind active and nimble. This means practicing your critical thinking skills. Learn about logical fallacies to strengthen your own thinking and help you judge the strength of arguments presented to you. Practice evaluating sources and keep digging beyond the easy headline.

Ask the hard questions even—especially—when it’s something you immediately agree with.

Not only do you owe it to yourself and your mind to keep your skills sharp, but it’s one of the best ways you can resist fascism. Consolidating state power relies on a docile population, unable to think critically and draw conclusions for themselves. Authoritarians want you not just uninformed, but lacking the skills and resources to learn. And in an increasingly digital world that has made it harder to tell good information from bad in the constant fire-hose of online noise, you do not want to give up on this essential tool of resistance.

Consider the Ethical Angle

One useful lens that philosophy brings to other disciplines is that of ethics. Science can tell you what is, but ethics can tell you what should be. Not just what is pragmatic or easy or best for me at the moment, but what is right. What one ought to do in order to do right by others, to bring about a better world. No matter what theory of ethics you study, it is a lens that recognizes that we are inherently social creatures, bound up in a web of community connections. We ought to consider these connections, and what we owe to each other, as we decide how to move through this world.

Read Well

There’s no getting around it: You must read. Our modern era is blessed with many forms of communication, with their own strengths and weaknesses, and we are constantly surrounded by information in thousands of forms. But the written word holds a special power to slow us down and force us to grapple with detail and nuance. The development of reading and writing is relatively recent on a geological timescale, but it enabled uncountable wonders of human discovery and achievement and connection. It’s a miraculous gift—and one we are slowly losing.

Learn to read closely and critically. Carve out time intentionally to spend with difficult text. And alongside it, practice writing and expressing your thoughts clearly. Both skills take lifetimes to fully master, but you can steadily get better at each with just a little time each day. In learning to read and learning to write, we are also learning to think, and vice versa. These skills are thinking in motion, and they will only become more essential as we find ourselves inundated with AI slop and a deepening literacy crisis.

Truth is Real

This should be a tautology, but a glance at the news these days will certainly make you question it. The ground beneath our feet feels more and more unstable each day, and that is by design. But even when we acknowledge there is often room for interpretation and different perspectives and ways of knowing, at the end of the day, there are still facts we can know. There is truth we can agree on. There are things that happened, and there are lies. Do not let the powers that be or the social media bots gaslight you into distrusting that most basic fact. 

It is seductively easy to give up. To throw up your hands and say who can know what the truth is? And certainly, often it is complicated. Sometimes it will not be clear until later. But it is always worth pursuing the truth, and almost always possible to arrive there with enough tenacity. And when you find the truth, learn to move like water: flexible enough to consider new information and perspectives, but strong enough to push past bad-faith manipulations.

Wisdom is Knowing What You Don’t Know

Which brings us to what I would argue is the central tenet of philosophy: Knowing what you don’t know. It is very rare to stumble on an capital-T Truths—the kind that are absolute and universal and unquestionable. We often have to make do with many small-t truths. Partial truths. Truths for now. Truths we act on until we have more information. Truths we question and test and remain open to revising.

It’s this awareness that lets us keep learning and growing and admitting when we’re wrong, without merely believing each new story we come across. This is the journey we started on when Prometheus stole the fire of reason and gifted it to humanity. It is the way we love and honor the world. It is as much our purpose in this century as in any era more clear.

Where to start?

So, where should you start on this journey to loving wisdom in an age of confusion?

Read!

This is always the first step. A few suggestions to get you started (these are affiliate links to Bookshop.org, which benefits your local bookstore and may give us a small commission if you purchase):

• Absolute beginner philosophy:

  • Sophie’s World

  • Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance 

  • The Philosopher’s Toolkit

• On Critical Thinking:

  • Thinking, Fast and Slow

  • The Art of Thinking Clearly

  • The Demon-Haunted World

• My favorite accessible philosophy:

  • Dialogues of Plato

  • The Republic

  • Descartes: Meditations on Philosophy

Question Your Content

Ask more questions of the content you consume. What is the source? Is it reliable? Is it missing key information? Is it presented in a way to elicit a certain emotion from you? Can you independently verify the claims? Take a pause a think critically before you share or respond. A resource for developing more media literacy: https://infodemic.blog/.

Go Analogue

Go analogue where you can. Our digital landscape is designed to steal our attention, flood us with questionable information and turn off our brains. You will literally need to touch grass (and paper) to get breaks from this soporific effect of the infinite scroll. Try reading a physical book, taking notes by hand, journaling your thoughts on pen and paper, and taking breaks from your screens.

Go Long

Replace short form content and doom-scrolling with long form content where you can. Start small; every little change counts.

Personal Curriculum

Consider creating a personal curriculum. Learning never stops! Here’s a great article describing the personal curriculum trend and how to get started on one.

Bonus Content

Seven Days of Jupiter - A Week-Long Ritual

Written by Aster

The community enjoyed the Saturn week activities so much that we decided to continue this format for each planet. While there are entire books on these types of activities, we thought a short one-week challenge could be both productive and attainable to anyone who wishes to grow and learn more about themselves. This week is repeatable any time you feel out of control, and is designed to help you evaluate what most needs your attention.

For our paid subscribers, you can get to know Jupiter through multiple aspects and allow this week to get you back on track. You will be challenged with a different task each day that helps you understand the key themes of this planet.

Rules:

• This container explores many aspects of Jupiter.

• Consistency is more important than depth or intensity.

• This container will have you explore a different aspect of Jupiter each day.

• In Jupiter fashion, if you miss a day, that’s ok, but come back to it in good faith.

Paid subscribers scroll below, and thank you for continuing to support the page!

If you want to join in on this, click the link below.

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