Last Updated on July 30, 2020 by astrologerbydefault

Jupiter is considered the best possible natural benefic and most astrologers will say that Jupiter covers your chart at so-and-so houses so it’s all going to be great there. Such sweeping statements are illogical. Jyotish is about maths, logic, patterns and intuition to get at the best possible option in life. I always look into Jupiter’s placements in the horoscope with a bit of scepticism. He is no doubt a gem of a planet, his placement can resolve issues. But in this modern world, Jupiter faces a few problems. Best be aware of them,

Expansion – he will expand, no limits on this. Jupiter tends to expand everything that he is touch with. His signs placed in whichever houses. His own placement, the sign and the house. The planets whom he aspects will be made to expand. But expansion needs to be supported by practical logic. His tendency of philosophical, hopeful, benevolent expansion can backfire. Plus if he gets associated with the dushamsthan, 6th house, 8th house or 12th house, he will expand the turmoils of your life. Then you suffer philosophically, but yes you do suffer on the material levels.

Hope – he is hopeful that auspicious things will happen. He is a philosopher himself, not very practical about things most of the time. Our missing bits are seen from our opposites, the 7^th across. Jupiter’s mirror is Mercury. Sagittarius – Gemini and Pisces–Virgo are paired signs. Jupiter does not have the analytical skills nor the critical thinking to logically choose and act on options. Work and service is not his thing. Misguided hope and faith in others is a very dangerous thing. You hear stories of kindly ladies being cheated out of their life-savings, this is an effect of misguided hope and kindness.

Benevolent – he will help others. He is rather kind-hearted, if he sees someone in trouble his first instinct is to go, help and make better. But charity and help should be provided only to the deserving. You cannot shelter a scorpion in your coat and then wonder when it stings you.  Knowing whom to help and when, is something he does not understand. All humans are not equal, some are actually bad individuals. Jupiter cannot discriminate and even if he realises something is wrong he trusts the higher spirit to be on his side. This sort of trusting benevolence does not fit in this modern world. (A classic example is the current refugee crisis wracking or rather wrecking Europe.)

Doctor – Doctors give you advise on proper exercise but won’t go with you to the gym. So does Jupiter, he will give you the correct advise but if you are lazy about it, he will not come to your aid actively. You are in a tight spot and want some proactive action, he can’t do it. But yes he will doctor you, bandage you, feed you tonics and help you get well sooner. So if you have already hurt yourself and want to recover he is the one to go to.

No resistance – he is too kind hearted to protect himself properly. A dog runs up to bite him, someone kicks the dog away, he will be in agony that the dog must be hurt! People can easily take advantage of him and he won’t mind it either. He sees the others as small, young, having less resources himself as the permanent elder. He feels that he is the elder one, the bigger one and he can afford giving away stuff. Too much of this makes him an easy target.

Know-it-all – Jupiter is the deep philosopher so you cannot teach him anything. Try to explain something important to him and he will tell you 10 different things. Can be pompous. Accepting that he needs to learn something or listen to someone else can hurt his ego. Teaching him practical skills can be difficult as he does not appreciate their use. Philosophy does not run this world, practicality does. A difficult lesson for him to appreciate. (I know someone who owns 4 cars, a couple of bikes, a scooter, but can’t drive! She has a licence but can’t be bothered to drive on the actual roads. Too lazy to bother practicing, I think.) Jupiter can get too lazy, or perhaps too comfortable or complacent.

Insulation – He rules the fat in your body, it is insulation! But he does soften the blows, or perhaps his philosophical touch reduces the impact. But too much of this stops you from accepting the realities of life. Life can be harsh at times. And if you go through a transit or dasha where suddenly problems are thrust on you, he can get helpless. Agility and quickness are not his forte. He is the Devguru, the teacher of the demi-gods. These are generally nice people, with satvik and rajasik energies mix, they respect him and listen to his advice most of the times. As per the story-allegory, his father recommended him for the job because he was his son (though Shukracharya Venus was more qualified!). So a cushy job, nice students, insulated from the vagaries of life, his father/ Guru/ peers/ patrons to promote him. If the entire life goes like this it is great. But a transit or a dasha change triggers active events and then he won’t know what to do.

Kendra-adhi-pati – If Jupiter put in charge of important houses he cannot secure them and neither can he defend them. He is not aggressive. So the four ascendants, Gemini, Sagittarius, Virgo and Pisces should evaluate Jupiter and his position in your chart very carefully. I have written on this earlier. Being too gentle and unresisting is a very real problem for these ascendant signs.

A functional malefic – Functional malefics are those planets in your chart who own the 3^rd, 6^th, 8^th or 12^th houses. If your ascendant sign is Taurus, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn the Jupiter is a functional malefic for your chart. So these 4 ascendant charts should not overly rely on their Jupiter to come to their aid. Jupiter owns Sagittarius and Pisces both but Sagittarius is extra-comfortable for him thus called his Mooltrikon sign.

• For Taurus ascendant, he owns the 8^th and 11^th houses, but his Mooltrikon is in the 8^th house so functional malefic
• For Cancer ascendant, he owns the 6^th and 9^th but his Mooltrikon sign goes in the 6^th house so functional malefic
• For Libra ascendant he is the biggest malefic owning the 3^rd and 6^th houses.
• For Capricorn ascendant, he directly owns the 3^rd and 12^th houses thus a functional malefic.

So out of the 12 signs, if your ascendant is one of these 8 signs, you should be careful about the Jupiter things in your individual life. Do analyse them carefully and practically. Do not rely on your peers and patrons to push you through, do work for it yourself. Take their help but learn the skills yourself. Try to be student too. Do not be too dreamy and selfless either. It is not that Jupiter will harm you. Jupiter can never harm anyone actively. He is extremely benign and gentle. Harm comes from being too trusting, too kind, too lazy, too dependant, too philosophical, too dreamy. Being too gentle is not a good thing for the material life. So the best solution is to marry someone with Mercury skills, that mirror will be your own fill-in-the-blanks and will help you on the practical side of life. Or get some friends having Mercury placed well in their horoscopes whom you can rely on. Opposites attract is correct here. And do take their opinion before committing to a course of action.

On the other hand Jupiter wherever placed will contribute to spiritual growth. In fact, all planets wherever placed give only beneficial results on the internal spiritual karmic front. Every planet is perfectly placed so that you can grow internally whether you consciously appreciate it or not.

For the remaining 4 ascendant signs, Aries, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius, Jupiter is a benefic for your chart. So if he is well placed, use his energies with a clear and logical mind, he will give great gains on the material as well as spiritual arena.

And the last point, transits. Jupiter transits one sign per year approx. In this one year, he will be retrograde for about 3-4 months. In addition he will move in all the 8 types of movements available, vikala, vakra, anuvakra, manda, mandatara, sama, chara and atichara throughout the year. And you know by now that the results of the planet are directly linked to the movement, speed and direction both. Then in about 22% of people Jupiter will be retrograde at birth, so this factor needs to be studied too as retrograde planets have different results.

If you’d like to do a long term study, check out the gold prices and the movement of Jupiter over a few years. This year was a good example of Jupiter affecting the markets, gold price and health of the economy.

In addition he goes combust for about 1 month per year. This drastically affects everyone as one of the two heavenly teachers has evaporated from the skies! So about 8% of us will have combust Jupiter in our birth charts. Again this needs to be studied to get the correct interpretation.

So to sum up, analyse every planet in your individual chart for you specifically. Even if Jupiter is said to be the best benefic he may not be so for your chart. Or even if he is, learning more about the way he operates is all good, you can anticipate and make the best of the opportunities he offers. Don’t get caught in stereotypes and skip studying.