Think big. Shrink to fit.

What do you make of a girl who has Jupiter rising? The astrology books say a lucky person, a generous, gregarious, jovial person. In Capricorn, these qualities may be toned down, and the person gains her luck by working hard. But oh, dear, Jupiter in Capricorn is in its fall! Any good fortune for this native will be difficult to come by!

Well, that's what the books may say. Jupiter, the gas giant, keyword "expansion", named after the ruler of all the gods, does confer its blessed spirit on me. It does it in a Capricornian way. It is subtle, it is revealed slowly, in time, and it stays with me, and the blessing is mostly about understanding the Capricornian (or Saturnian) side of the nature of God (or the gods): This life we lead in these bodies, limited or helped (your pick) by time and space, stuck on this Earth plane.

Except I don't feel stuck. I feel very much at home on this planet. Jupiter rising (approaching my Ascendant from the first house) literally lifts me, in its Capricornian way. I feel rewarded for all my efforts. I don't feel the rules (Saturn/Capricorn) work against me. Rather, they guide me.

Another "side-effect" of having the natural ruler of the areas of the horoscope that rule the spiritual and cosmic in such a personal place as the 1st house, is that the spiritual and cosmic become personal. They are important to me. I once spent a year as an atheist. Deliberately going about my life without once praying to God. By the end of that year, I could actually feel a physical pain from not connecting to the spiritual. I am one of those people who must believe in (a) God.

But not just any god! Neither my Sagittarius Sun, Scorpio Neptune or Capricorn Jupiter and Saturn will settle for something based on faith alone. There must be meaning and usefulness. What good is a god that makes you feel guilty? Or that seems available to you only in a church? I wanted a god-on-the-go, a deity I could pray to doing homework or at work or while driving or at a party. Not a stern father demanding Sunday behavior 7 days a week. The Christian God I was brought up with seemed too much of an accountant. I kept making mistakes and never got the feeling that God would relieve me of that debt.

While I was still in high school, I was introduced to an alternative view of God: To a Divine intelligence that was creative in all ways, whose sole expression was life and generosity, and whose highest expression of that is love. An intelligence that shares with all because all is created by It. The challenge no longer became "avoid making mistakes", it became "remember your source". Perhaps just playing with words, but words matter. All action springs from thought, and our thoughts are words.

Lately, what with my grandma in the nursing home mending a broken hip, and my own self feeling so scattered, I've come to discover another aspect of having Jupiter rising: It is a constant reminder of the spiritual. Everything in my life, every time I seek understanding, comes back to this: I am in God's hands. Seek the spiritual, focus on your own soul and its knowledge. You can't get more Jupiter-in-first-house than that.

I am truly blessed. Trusting myself and, more importantly, trusting life is always rewarded. I just need to keep remembering that. I do believe trusting life is a Jupiter thing. Trusting that the gods are not crazy, angry or vindictive, but are fun-loving and loving intelligence permeating everything and available everywhere and whenever.

In the year 2004, I hope you find this trust in life for yourself, and that that trust grows and strengthens for all of us.