By Jove! The Meaning of the Astrological Jupiter

Liz Greene is one of the most respected voices in contemporary astrology. With a doctorate in psychology and credentials as a Jungian analyst, she has authored numerous influential books and continues to write for astro.com. Her latest publication, By Jove! (published by The Wessex Astrologer) is based on three seminars she presented at the Centre for Psychological Astrology in 2021. Transcribing lectures into book form has become more common in recent years. It ensures that the wisdom of seasoned astrologers doesn’t remain limited to the attendees of a particular time or place. Instead, the teachings are preserved and shared with a wider audience of students and enthusiasts. Greene’s text is so well-edited that it rarely feels like a transcript. Rather, it reads as though she were sitting across from you, sharing her vast knowledge.

This is not a light or casual read, and nor should it be. Each page is dense with meaning, filled with insights that demand slow, thoughtful engagement. Greene encourages the reader to linger, reflect, and truly absorb her words. Jupiter may be widely celebrated as astrology’s ‘greater benefic,’ but Greene highlights the complexities and contradictions within this archetype. She explores how unchecked expansion and optimism can sometimes become a liability. How Jupiter can, paradoxically, be too good to be true at times. Drawing on mythology, she illustrates Jupiter’s shape-shifting nature, his eternal youth (puer aeternus), and his restlessness, weaving these ideas seamlessly into psychological and astrological contexts.

The book unfolds across three parts. The first seminar grounds the reader in Jupiter’s astronomy, mythology, psychology, and astrological symbolism. The second focuses on Jupiter’s returns, transits, and role in synastry and progressions. The final part examines Jupiter’s synodic cycles in relation to the transpersonal planets, including Chiron. Throughout, Greene makes use of birth charts from figures such as Elvis Presley, Mick Jagger, Winston Churchill, Benito Mussolini, and Adolf Hitler. With these examples, Liz reminds us that “no planet ‘makes’ anyone behave in a particular way.” Instead, each planet is a symbol of psychological dynamics interwoven with countless others in the chart.

By Jove! is a remarkable contribution to our astrological libraries. Rich, challenging, and profoundly rewarding. Greene writes with depth, authority, and imagination, revealing Jupiter not just as a benefic force but as a multifaceted archetype full of possibility. As Liz puts it, “Jupiter … could reveal undiscovered doors into the future.” This book certainly opened new doors for me, deepening my appreciation for this complex and fascinating planet.

Georgina Sierra for the FAA Journal

The Wessex Astrologer has published a not-to-be-missed new tome about Jupiter by the pre-eminent Jungian astrologer Liz Greene. It’s based on three seminars Greene gave to the Centre for Psychological Astrology in 2021, but it reads like Greene’s writing, not a set of lecture transcripts.

The book treats the mythology, psychology, and astrology of Jupiter, including Jupiter in natal charts, Jupiter returns, transits to and from Jupiter, progressed Jupiter and Jupiter’s cycles with outer planets and with Chiron. The book’s key takeaway is Jupiter’s complexity. On page 1, Greene takes aim at calling Jupiter the “Greater Benefic” or saying its worst quality is “excess.” Jupiter’s “expression,” Greene contends, is “rarely simple and sometimes anything but benefic.” She’s clear, though, that Jupiter is not just a “cleverly disguised malefic.” Jupiter, she writes, “reflects archetypal themes that move fluidly along a spectrum from very dark to very light, often with both paradoxically mixed together.” Jupiter is the mythic ruler of heaven, known by the Greeks as Zeus. He had what Greene calls an “endangered childhood” because his father Kronos would have eaten him alive upon birth had his mother Hera not successfully hidden him in a cave. “If this were a human child,” Greene quips, “we wouldn’t expect him to be especially trusting or well-adjusted.”

Zeus grew up to become “immensely fertile as well as immensely promiscuous,” to put it politely. Zeus was a lover of romantic drama and conquest, an “archetypal absent father,” producing many children with many different women. Greene’s concise rendition of the mythical Zeus informs the heart of the book, the psychological and astrological meanings of Jupiter. She begins with a discussion of the puer aeternus, the “eternal youth,” a personality type often associated with Hermes-Mercury. For Greene, Jupiter is “as relevant as Mercury in understanding the psychology of the puer.” There’s the puer’s notorious difficulty in sustaining commitments, but also “the joy and potential of youth, the inspired pursuit of future possibilities, and the endless fertility of the creative imagination.” Greene also links Jupiter to the complexes of narcissism, the hubris of entitlement, and the nemesis of overstepping our own boundaries. No astrological symbol causes a psychological pattern, Greene insists. “But if we’re wounded deeply enough and early enough, Jupiter—especially if it dominates the natal chart through its signs or a conjunction with an angle or strong aspects to other planets, especially Sun and Moon— may be mobilized as a defence against the corrosive feeling of being worthless and unlovable.”

Jupiter’s also intrinsically tied to themes of faith and optimism, with what Jung called the “religious instinct,” the intuitive sense that the “universe is meaningful and infused with pattern and design.” Astrology’s “working hypothesis,” Greene writes, is that “Jupiter symbolizes our quest for meaning… Through Jupiter we somehow ‘know’ we’re connected to a bigger pattern.” Whereas “the astrological Sun is concerned with the individual self, the core of the personality,” Jupiter is more concerned with one’s life purpose and social contributions, for better or worse. Greene’s chart examples include Florence Nightingale, Mick Jagger, Hitler, Mata Hari, and Jung himself.

“Jupiter on the move” is the subject of about half of the book. A Jupiter return every twelve years constellates all the natal planets in aspect with Jupiter. Greene encourages readers to track their Jupiter returns and Jupiter transits to natal planets from birth onward as they “can occur with both joyful and painful experiences.” Paradoxically, a Jupiter transit in hard aspect to natal Saturn may come with great rewards, emotional and material, while transiting Jupiter trine to natal Venus may accompany a relationship breakup. “The only consistent rule is that Jupiter tends to free us, one way or another, from the ties that bind so the meaning of our own journey becomes clearer.” One of the book’s celebrity charts is that of Elvis Presley, born with Sagittarius rising and Jupiter in Scorpio, in the 11th house, and in sextile to the Sun, Mercury, and Venus. “Elvis’ sense of meaning came from expressing his complex personal feelings through his music, but he was also a mouthpiece for a collective need.” On February 6, 1955, when transiting Jupiter conjoined his natal Pluto and transiting Saturn conjoined natal Jupiter, Elvis met Tom Parker, an older Saturnian man. Parker got Elvis his first recording contract, launching his career as the King of rock n’ roll. When Elvis died at 42 years young on August 16, 1977, transiting Jupiter was exactly quincunx to natal Venus, and transiting Venus was exactly trine to natal Jupiter. It’s not uncommon for Jupiter to figure prominently at the time of death.

The last part of the book covers Jupiter’s cycles with Saturn, Chiron and the outer planets; how these cycles have played out historically; and how the cycles may interact with our individual charts. Nothing’s foreordained because “the ultimate expression of [a] cycle, and the changes it might effect, are as much up to each of us as the inevitable unfolding of an impersonal archetypal drama.”

I’ve told you all the ground this book covers. Now I’ll let you know what I think: This book’s a page-turner. I couldn’t put it down. I believe this book will revolutionize the way astrologers study and understand Jupiter. I think this book ranks as Liz Greene’s best work, which is saying a great deal, considering she is one of astrology’s greatest masters. Don’t miss By Jove!

Sara R. Diamond for The Evolving Astrologer

Liz Greene continues her work into the 21^st century complete with her brand of wisdom, dry wit, and clarity of teaching.  She begins this book, which is a transcription of three seminars she gave in 2021, stating that Jupiter is not the “Great Benefic” that the textbooks tell us. She moves on to discuss Jupiter in his many roles and facets. By the end of the book, the reader has a deep understanding of this planet, which Liz calls “the most enigmatic of all the heavenly bodies”.

She begins with the mythology of Jupiter, aka Zeus. The word Zeus/Jupiter means “father of light” or “shining father”. She weaves the myths and stories of Zeus as she shows how they connect to the planet and the signs he rules, Sagittarius and Pisces.

“ …myths about the planetary gods, especially older versions of the stories, can reveal dimensions of a sign that we might tend to overlook…Stories are always more powerful in conveying deeper internal truths that didactic explanations”

The text is illuminated with classical pictures of each story.

The next chapter explores the psychology of Jupiter. There is fascinating material on the connection between Jupiter and the archetype of the puer aeternus. The joy of this book comes from reading her deep level of scholarship combined with her comprehensive psychological knowledge. She states that: “Humans of any age, background, and situation need a good dose of the puer in some shape or form to feel life is worth living”. And follows that thought with a detailed discussion of Jupiter and narcissism. This chapter is so complete and so educational that it is worth buying the book just for the information in this one chapter.

After this thorough introduction, Liz gives us the astrology of Jupiter, Sagittarius, and Pisces. She also gives us tidbits of her knowledge like the fact that she uses large orbs, or, a new perspective on the 3^rd house. The reader learns astrology from her chart delineations in this chapter. Her examples range from Florence Nightingale to Adolf Hitler, along with Mick Jagger, Mata Hari, and Carl Jung. She reminds us that : “Jupiter’s natal house, sign, and aspects can help us to understand where we might experience both joy and the impulse to rejoice”

The second section focuses on Jupiter in motion.  She covers Jupiter returns and transits both to and from Jupiter. Looking at Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria, she compares how Jupiter functions differently in those charts.

She then discusses Jupiter in synastry, Jupiter in the composite chart, and Jupiter in the progressed chart. Liz covers everything to be known about how to understand Jupiter when looking at a chart. “Even though the Jupiterian temperament possesses the gift of optimism about the future, concrete expectations seem to annoy Jupiter”

The chapter includes questions from the students in the seminar. They ask Liz to speak on the issue of transits versus progressions and how she uses them.

The third seminar in the series is on Jupiter’s cycles in history. It is a full, detailed look at Jupiter with the outer planets. The theme is that Jupiter brings something meaningful and a sense of a deeper purpose to the cycle. She backs up what she says with dates and historical events.  It brings an added understanding of your personal life journey to see which cycle was happening around your time of birth.

This book is inspiring and leads to self-examination along with increasing your understanding of astrology. It gives you an opportunity to feel that you are a student sitting in her class. Her work has become clearer, more defined than in her earliest books. She speaks with more humor, more wisdom:

…the way each of us treats the other people in our lives each day actually does change something, and it would be a mistake to assume it’s too small an effort to matter…change like charity, has to begin at home in our own psyches if we want to work with Jupiter cycles in a creative way.”

Buy this book. It is a worthy addition to your collection of Liz Greene books. If you are not familiar with her work, this is an excellent way to start to know one of the important astrologers of our time.

Arlan Wise for the Organisation for Professional Astrologers

By Jove! is based on three seminars given by Liz Greene for students from the Centre for Psychological Astrology and the Mercury Internet School of Psychological Astrology’s seminar programme, during 2021. Practically, the book is divided into three parts which include: an in-depth foundational background; the cycles and transits of Jupiter – exploring the relationship to the individual natal chart as well as synastry and composite charts; and, the broader scope, reflecting on Jupiter’s cycles in history.

Part One brings to light the many facets of Jupiter as the author skillfully weaves together elements of astronomy, mythology, psychology, and astrology. Greene points out, ‘Jupiter’s expression in an individual life and on a collective level, is rarely simple and sometimes anything but benefic.’ In an artful presentation of the varied myths and monikers representing the archetype, we are offered a level of clarity and context around Jupiterian influences enabling us to assimilate the myth with real-life examples and individual experience. I was engrossed in the stories and imagery!

From the foundation of myth, Greene’s discussion on the psychology of Jupiter is both fascinating and illuminating. Psychological concepts and their manifestations are related back to mythical figures and stories, offering a depth of understanding and perspective that few books or authors can evoke. For me, elements of Jupiter’s influence that previously lacked an essential clarity, were crystalized and anchored.

Part Two, is more astrologically technical with a focus on cycles and transits. Using detailed examples, the archetypes of Jupiter come to life. The progression of four Jupiter returns, in the case of Carl G. Jung, and the Jupiter transits reflected in the life and times of Elvis Presley, are particularly illustrative. Additional examples include Jupiter’s significance within relationships through synastry and composite charts. Sufficiently detailed, this material offers a valuable leaping off point for independent contemplation or research.

Looking at Jupiter’s cycles in combination with the slower-moving planets, the scope is broadened in Part Three as the discussion shifts into the collective sphere. Historical references provide context as we continue to contemplate the Jupiterian ‘search for meaning’…within ourselves and the outer world. The significance of the individual’s relationship to changes in the collective psyche and our response to those dynamics is summarized by Greene as she states, ‘The astrological Jupiter symbolises our capacity to grasp [the] eagle’s-eye view of the process of human development and the importance of the role individual consciousness plays.’ A topical statement to be sure!

‘By Jove!’ is essential reading. Liz Greene’s treatise highlights both the splendour and the darkness of the ‘great planet’ in ways we may not have previously considered. I cannot imagine a more complete work to facilitate understanding the many faces of Jupiter. As Greene observes, ‘we all experience Jupiter’s joy and Jupiter’s cravings differently, and we’re inspired by different triggers.’ Regardless of one’s own Jupiter placement, these pages are rife with insight and inspiration.

Jayne Logan for www.astrobookclub.com