ASTROLOGY
“Genius unrefined resembles a flash of lightning, but wisdom is like the Sun.”
Franz Grillparzer J
upiter is the largest planet in our solar system; eleven Earths could fit side by side across the face of the gas giant. Jupiter is fifth from the Sun, and its orbit is five times farther than Earth’s orbit. Jupiter spins on its axis in ten hours, less than half the time it takes Earth to rotate once. Jupiter’s atmosphere is composed mostly of hydrogen (86%) and helium (14%), and the atmosphere also has giant lightning storms in its upper clouds. The colorful cloud bands are actually layers. Darker clouds are deeper in Jupiter’s atmosphere, while the lighter clouds are higher. The Great Red Spot is a gargantuan high pressure storm, similar to a hurricane on Earth, that rotates counterclockwise in Ju- piter’s southern hemisphere in about six day’s time. The famous storm has swirled for at least 400 years that humans have been ob- serving it through telescopes. Jupiter has sixty-three known moons, named for the mythical god’s romantic liaisons. The four largest moons, the so-called Galilean Moons, after Galileo who discovered them, are among the most studied objects in the Solar System.
Jupiter’s composition is more like a star than a planet, with an internal energy source and enormous magnetic fields, and if it has any solid surface it’s hidden deep at the center. Jupiter is twice as massive as all the other planets combined; and if it had been 100 times more massive at birth, it would have ignited. Our solar system would have become a double star system, and our plane- tary family might have evolved quite differ- ently. Life as we know it on Earth might never have emerged.
Mythology
The Roman Jupiter was the earlier Greek Zeus and the even earlier Egyptian Min- Amon. King of the gods, Zeus was the quin- tessential “sky father.” Zeus/Jupiter was con- sidered to be a god of light and therefore wisdom. As a god of light, it’s intriguing to consider that he might have become a star if circumstances had been different in the early stages of our solar system. According to myth, the infant Jupiter was raised on the milk of a goat whose horns continually over- flowed with food and drink. This is the origin of the cornucopia, the horn of plenty, and mythically encodes the symbolism that Ju- piter embodies abundance.
Mythically, with the help of his mother Rhea, the Greek Zeus overthrew his Titan fa- ther, Cronus/Saturn, to become king of heaven and begin the phase of the Olympian gods, who followed the earlier and more pow- erful Titans. The war of the Titans, lasting 10 years, preceded the ultimate victory of Zeus and the new order of Olympian gods. After the war, Zeus apportioned the Olympian uni-
48 ATLANTIS RISING • Number 84 • Number 85
The King of Heaven Begins a New Cycle Through the Zodiac
Jupiter in Aries January—June 2011 • BY JULIE LOAR
verse. Taking earth and sky for himself, he gave his brother Poseidon (Neptune), the sea, and he bequeathed the underworld, the realm of the dead, to his brother Hades (Pluto). Zeus ruled supreme over the Olym- pian gods, wielding three thunderbolts. The first bolt was a warning shot across the bow; the second, which required the approval of 12 gods known as comsentes, was hurled as a stronger warning. The third thunderbolt was thrown in punishment, but only after per- mission was granted from superior and hidden gods.
Aries, the Ram
Krios Khrysomallos was a mythical, flying golden ram. The cloud nymph Nephele (cloud in Greek) sent him to rescue her two children, Phrixos and Helle, as they were about to be sacrificed to the gods. The ram carried the children to Kolkhis, at the far end the Black Sea. He instructed the boy to sacrifice him to the gods in their place and take his fleece to the holy grove of Aries. Af- terward, as a reward for his heroism, Khryso- mallos was placed in the sky as the constella- tion of Aries, and his golden fleece became the prize in the subsequent quest of Jason and the Argonauts. This story provides a mythic clue about the potentially heroic na- ture of Aries that is often missing in descrip- tions of the astrological sign. It is, after all, Aries who begins the hero’s journey. Aries, which means ram in Greek, is the first sign of the zodiac and the symbolic point of beginnings, represented as the cy- clical resurgence of spring in the northern hemisphere. Aries is known as the pioneer of the zodiac, and true to his position in the wheel, Aries likes to be first. Aries is consid- ered a fire sign and is one of four cardinal
Montage of Jupiter and the Galilean satellites, Io, Europa,
Cameo of
Chartres, Jupiter and the eagle— given in 1367 by Charles V to the cathedral.
signs that coincide with the onset of the sea- sons, the cardinal points of the year. Aries energy is characterized by openness, enthusiasm and individualism. Those born in this sign usually rush head first into en- deavors that they find stimulating. They are fiercely independent, outspoken, alert and
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