Rich in symbolism, astrology applies to the spheres of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual existence. The physical symbolism includes understanding of the body which contains illness but is not limited to illness. Astrology describes the relation between physical and mental/emotional/spiritual. In literature the heavy person was jolly – that’s Jupiter and Sagittarius. The thin, wizened taciturn character was mean or severe – that’s Saturn and Capricorn.

The body like the spiritual life can be ignored until something bad comes along then we want to eat healthy and perform spiritual practices. Like financial planning for retirement, the care of body and soul are best started when young.

Not a medical professional, I steer away from the health aspect of astrology. Yet the spiritual community and increasingly the traditional medical community are aware of the relationship between our mental, emotional and spiritual state and our physical state. Western medicine sees the relation between lack of social connection and ill health but not the lack of spiritual connection. It’s still a gap.

Spiritual health focuses on internal solutions and the physical health focuses on external solutions. Internal solutions are long and tedious but may be longer lasting. External solutions create immediate benefits but may not be long lasting and/or create dependencies and side effects.

Hypochondria, I believe, a Virgo trait that comes from overthinking. Hypochondriacs get ill, just like anyone else, but may have greater notice and response to the small ailments that more optimistic and jovial signs ignore. Lots of people ignore physical signs until it’s too late to cure or improve. Not Virgo.

Jupiter and Gemini

Jupiter just moved from earth sign Taurus to air sign Gemini on May 26.

The planet Jupiter rules the liver, the organ that processes toxins in the body. A naturopath once told me the liver rules “one thousand things” in the body. Listening to a Chinese acupuncturist recently, she described systems that might be called “liver” or “heart” but do not relate solely to that specific organ. Finding an abstract on The pan-liver network theory: From traditional Chinese medicine to Western medicine the liver is described as “the ‘general organ’ that is responsible for governing/maintaining the free flow of qi over the entire body and storing blood.”

Qi is the universal life force, a concept we don’t have in the West unless you’re a fan of Star Wars (“follow the force Luke”). Terms from other countries are prana (India) and ki (Japan – i.e., reiki).

Gemini as sign of the twins rules some “twin” body parts like the lungs and the nervous system (sympathetic and parasympathetic). Ruled by Mercury, Gemini is the sign of communication, learning, siblings, local environment and mental stimulation.

Jupiter moves quickly going through a sign in about a year – it represents things you remember at the end of the year as we celebrate a new year and reflect on the old. Yet what we’re seeing with Jupiter (and Saturn too) is that they transit a sign before the outer planets which a year or two later then move into those same signs. Jupiter and Saturn are like bridges into the large energy shifts that are occurring.

In a little over a year, Uranus will start moving into Gemini as Jupiter starts to move into Cancer. Pluto will be in air-sign Aquarius (and staying there) so that two of the outer planets are in air. Neptune will have moved into fire-sign Aries which trines the air signs.

In other words, the pandemic is over. Memories appear short in these times when we process more information in a day than our ancestors did in  . . .  a decade? A lifetime?

Healthwise the effects of those years reside in our livers and lungs. Liver – toxins physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Toxins in the liver create anger and in this small city on the globe, post pandemic there has been much flaunting of the rules if not the law (street racing, ignoring red lights, etc.).

On lungs, respiratory illnesses spread easily between the social human via kisses and hugs as well as speaking, sneezing and sharing food. As kids get the most kisses and hugs, it’s no wonder they are the spreaders of illness at daycare. And if you’ve ever been sober talking to someone drunk or paid extra to sit close to the stage on Broadway, you’ll notice a lot of spit.

During the pandemic, the outer planets were in earth (Pluto in Capricorn and Uranus in Taurus) and water (Neptune in Pisces). Earth and water are trine, they get along.

Now the energy is moving to the opposite – air (Pluto in Aquarius, Uranus in Gemini) and fire (Neptune in Aries) which are trine. Earth and water are introverted; air and fire are extroverted. The street racing has just begun.

La Vie Boheme

In the mid 1860s when Uranus was in Taurus and then Gemini, the lung illness tuberculosis was an epidemic. In the opera La Boheme (“the bohemians”) depicting that era we see the artistic life of painters, poets, musicians and philosophers. Creative existence is challenged by the realities of poverty and illness (tuberculosis) – air/fire vs earth/water. (The opera was adapted into the very popular Broadway play Rent and the song La Vie Boheme.)

Earth and water are most likely to pay the bills and stick to the family concerns for fear of loss of physical and emotional security.

Air and fire, in contrast, are less rooted in security and practical matters and follow ideas and dreams. They appear more faddish although in our social media age what were called fads are now common occurrences. Like air and fire, fads move and pass very quickly now. Who can even remember when kids were dumping buckets of ice on their heads? What was that popular diet everyone was on?

The movement from earth/water to air/fire can bring a new La Vie Boheme for a populace that has been taxed by too much earth fear and water heavy emotion.

And the pendulum swings.