 Jupiter, the expansive god of Wisdom likes to see the bigger picture. Very much the philosopher, Jove paints the world of ideas with broad brushstrokes, sometimes at the expense of the final details! This is a synthesising intelligence that pulls things together from a wide range of sources, rather than a linear, analytical intellect. The men in the poem each have a part of the elephant and believe that they see the whole. So often we imagine that our limited perspective is the answer; Jupiter asks us to expand our perspectives, open our minds and keep looking.  Thor by Igor Ozhiganov It took me a while to see the connection between Jupiter and the Norse god Thor (as in Thursday). I would have naturally associated Thor with Mars. However, Thor’s role in Asgard is to protect the boundaries. He uses his famous hammer whenever there is an incursion of giants into a place where they ought not to be. He is the upholder and protector of natural laws. Like its partner and opposite, Mercury, Jupiter forces bring movement, yet with Jupiter it is very much controlled movement. If Saturn is the architect of creation, Jupiter is the sculptor. Wherever there are rounded forms in the human body, or in nature, that is the work of the Jupiter forces. In the human body the liver is the Jupiter organ – a veritable chemistry laboratory of vital functions necessary for life. It is the only organ that can regenerate itself to any significant extent – which was fortunate for Prometheus whose punishment for bringing fire to mankind was to be chained to a rock and have his liver torn out by a vulture every day.  Prometheus by Elsie Russell |  Blind Men and the Elephant by Pamela Zagarenski In many cultures the liver is seen as the seat of courage. And indeed, the Jupiter force is courageous, but a different kind of courage from the Mars forces. Jupiter’s courage is born out of the knowledge that all creation is one, and that all phenomena are short lived: “This too shall pass.” Of course the word Jovial comes from Jove, and Jupiter is also the god of humour. This is not the practical joking of Mercury, but an expansive humour that arises from lateral thinking. I have a feeling that the rhyme Old King Cole is about Jupiter, sitting on his throne and laughing heartily. Laughing perhaps at the folly of man! The Eightfold Path exercise for Thursday bids us to let the other six exercises become a habit: we are to look beyond our limited every day perspective and sculpt the exercises into a new way of being.  |