“…If Jupiter and Saturn meet,
What a crop of mummy wheat!…” (i)
As regular readers of this blog will know by now, in my horoscope a third house Jupiter in Scorpio squares no less than six planets in Leo in the eleventh and twelfth houses. Whether I like it or not – and often I do not! – the Big Picture issues of why are we here, and what is it all for, and what can we do to inject meaning into it, have been a lifelong preoccupation.
With the above line-up, the shadowy borderland between life and death has always intrigued and fascinated me more than many other people, most of whom sensibly appear to prefer to dwell on more concrete and less threatening matters.
In my case, I have noticed over the years that significant events of an in-depth Scorpionic nature seem to bracket the beginning and ending of the 11-12 year Jupiter in Scorpio cycles. I would be most interested to hear from readers if this has also been the case for them!
At the start of my second Jupiter in Scorpio cycle, having been fascinated for a couple of years previously by Egyptian mythology (ii) and the question of where we went after death, both my beloved grandfathers died within a few months of each other when I was eleven years old. This was my first conscious encounter with grief and irredeemable loss, and the recognition of how fleeting human life really is.
And now yet another Jupiter in Scorpio cycle, the one which began in 2006, is coming to an end for us intense Scorpionic types. I have to confess that I am beginning to look forward to Jupiter’s ingress into fiery, optimistic Sagittarius in November 2018.
Early in September 2018, with another personal Jupiter in Scorpio cycle ending along with transiting Saturn in early Capricorn opposite 10th House Mars in Cancer, the sign of home, family and roots, I did something I have never done before, and will probably never do again. I returned to my native island – to visit and honour the graves of my ancestors.
On the 2.5 hour ferry crossing, as I gazed pensively out to sea, those lines from Yeats quoted at the beginning of this post came strongly into my mind, and stayed there…I’ve learned over the years not to question fragments floating up from the unconscious which refuse to leave until I have paid full attention to what they mean – although their full significance often takes some time to manifest.
Firstly I visited my sister’s grave – she died two years ago the day after my birthday. Then my parents’ grave. Then my Whitaker grandparents. I brought a beautiful simple bunch of purple and white, long-stemmed flowers, placing some from the same bunch on each grave – thus linking the generations. This simple ritual felt deeply meaningful.
Ardroil Cemetery, Uig
My husband and I then drove to the wild, beautiful Atlantic coast of my native island where my Maclean and Macleod ancestors are buried, being fortunate to have fine weather for this part of the pilgrimage. There at Ardroil is a stunning sweep of beach, above which the cemetery sits. I picked some wild flowers, including delicate purple harebells, laying a few flowers from the bunch on each family grave as we located it. My Macleod grandparents including beloved Grandpa Calum, and my mother’s brother and sister with their spouses, are all there.
It is quite something also to be able to view the burial stone of your great-grandparents; I especially honoured my psychic great-grandmother, known to all and sundry in our family as ‘Granny Uig’. My memoir “Wisps from the Dazzling Darkness” which gives an account of my own paranormal experiences, is dedicated to her.
It also occurred to me, as I contemplated all those graves, that one word encompasses two significant branches of the essence of Jupiter in Scorpio combined with Saturn in Capricorn: gravestone.
The day we were due to leave, I went with some cousins to visit an exhibition called ‘Blazing the Trail for Stornoway Women’, a celebration of island women held to commemorate the centenary of them getting the vote. A star of this show was my feisty grandmother Bella Whitaker, the first woman ( in 1907) to make the main speech at her own wedding, and one of the first two female town councillors ever elected in Stornoway – they were fearless in taking on the patriarchal dominance of local authority affairs at that time.
Then I left, feeling proud, realising something which felt very powerful: not only had I been honouring my ancestors, but had also been letting them know silently, symbolically, that I had done my best with what they had handed on.
Sitting gazing at the sea on the return journey, I understood why that Yeats quote had been inhabiting my mind for weeks: the ‘mummy wheat’ symbol of death and regeneration from ancient Egyptian myth is a powerful way of describing how we arise both physically and in spirit from the lives and deaths of our ancestors…
Endnotes
(i)
This quotation is from the first verse of ‘ Conjunctions’ from one of W. B. Yeats’s most obscure collections of poems, the “Supernatural Songs.”
And, for a definition of ‘mummy wheat’: from the Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary (2nd edition): ‘…mummy wheat — a variety of wheat, _Triticum compositum_, said to have been produced from grains found in Egyptian mummy cases…’ If anyone is sufficiently excited by the notion that wheat can indeed be grown from Ancient Egyptian tombs, here is the link to follow: http://stupidquestionarchives.blogspot.com/2008/03/mummy-wheat.html
(ii)
There is no complete text of the myth of the Ancient Egyptian god Osiris’s death and his restoration by his sister/wife the goddess Isis. However around 3000 years ago, ‘….In the early dynastic period Osiris became identified with new grain that rises from the earth, nourished by the waters of the Nile. He is pictured lying as a mummy beneath the grain which sprouts from his body, while a priest pours water on him. It’s interesting to note that at this time mats of earth with sprouting grain were placed in tombs of the dead, therefore making the connection between grain that rises yearly from the earth and immortal life…’
To read the full text of the article to which the above quote belongs, click HERE.
Zodiac
1100 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2018
Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page of Writing from the Twelfth House
Astrology: Questions and Answers 
Fascinating connections. Looking back, for my first Jupiter in Leo return, my own brush with death occurred within a month of the news that a good friend of my mother’s had been killed by a drunk driver, just in time for the first anniversary of September 11th. In my next Jupiter return, I was in the middle of a period of deep personal transformation. It would finish up just before going in Virgo the next year.
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Thanks, A M – it would be interesting to know if your Jupiter is linked to the 8th House/ Pluto given the nature of those events…
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Well as it happens, my Jupiter in Leo is in my 6H catty corner to my primary stellium in Scorpio/my 8H where it squares … all major hitters. Certainly death via Drunk Driving has to be a Shadow Side of habits and routine, I’d say. As for the second Jupiter Return, a major component was around healthy and body topics which I ultimately find positive.
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Ys, thought that might be the case given the detail you gave…and yes, can see how 6th/8th connections can also produce in-depth physical transformations on another occasion…consenting to working with those powerful energies can achieve much. Thanks again for the feedback!
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19.9.18:
Bob Ruth Hoole:
With four planets in Scorpio in 9th I am all too aware of the deep need to understand the roots of one’s humanity. I have kept a record of the journey and I am glad I have. I see this Jupiter cycle as like peeling the onion, working to access the reason for ones existence. It’s not comfortable and let’s face not exactly a high priority in this world. I have sun conjunct Neptune in the 8th, father disappeared into a fog. Mother cut herself off from Jewish roots and fled her family via migration. I’m slowly making my way back. Today is Yom Kippur and I wonder about my relationship to the Father principal. A dream of something back showed me these invincible hands weaving a magic carpet, the finely woven threads of life,no doubt. It’s hard to see close up but if you stand back a little it reveals itself.
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Many thanks for this deeply personal feedback, Ruth…it adds to our understanding of the many ways in which the essence of this deep and powerful placement of Jupiter in Scorpio can manifest in our lives…
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19.9.18:
Maureen LoCascio So odd, just yesterday a cousin posted a picture on FB of my grandparents grave in NY. It’s been floating in my news feed for two days. I’m also currently planing a trip to Ireland next year, my grandmother’s family came from there durning the potato famine. Nov should be interesting as I have several transiting conjunctions hitting at the same time. It seems something from the past is resurfacing for renewal.
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Many thanks, Maureen – isn’t this an interesting overlap? Especially since our backgrounds are both Celtic – maybe Jupiter in Scorpio is raising the famous Celtic melancholia in us! I can see a follow-up post with extracts from feedback to this one, beginning to shape up…
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19.9.18:
Elaine Seefeldt:
How wonderful for you to make that journey steeped in memories of your past of the people you loved and loved you. I too have been on a similar journey, have been for last year searching back my family tree, many of my ancestors born a long time ago and tracing where they went and have found on both my parents side, Scottish and German 2391 ancestors and people still living, my DNA was also done and it was fascinating but also pretty accurate on the map right back thousands of years to my 1% Nigerian DNA which would tie in with most of us since it seems life may have started in Africa and through the thousands and thousands of years crossing many continents, people with shared DNA spread across the world mixing DNA and for me, landing up predominately in Scotland and Germany or Prussia as it was known then.
A few months ago I visited the little village where I was born in Aberdeenshire, we moved to Fife when I was 1 year so had never been or visited the hospital which was still pretty much standing but with a modern front and is now a surgery…..I also visited Craigievar Castle where my Mum was cook in the 40s, my Dad was POW nearby and I presume this is where they met when he worked the farms and she lived over many weeks at a time at Castle, why is it sometimes we realise too late we should have asked our parents/grandparents more about their lives before our births eh. A few weeks ago, my son who lives in Moray took me to go look for my great grannie, she lived in Duffus and I was too young to go to her funeral. We had been given an idea where her stone was but I was also wanting to find my great grandad who died before I was born, we found the stone with both of them and my Great Aunt. We took a wee walk to my childhood memories of visiting her at her wee cottage which still stood and had same name.
I have felt this strong yearning for 2 years about my heritage, a feeling of wanting to know my family history going back to the 1700s, McGregors are part of my family and because Scottish history was mere basic at school, never knew much about clans other than names and battles. Did not realise McGregor name was banished for 100 years and anyone being found to use it was hanged, it was to do with battle with Colquhoun clan who was a favourite of Royalty. It has become stronger over this last year so is this what has been happening for a lot of us, a searching between life and death? Our ancestors and our future families though sadly my son 37, told me he and his partner don’t want any children and my 31 yrs old daughter is not much interested either…..who do I leave all this ancestry too eh! 😢
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My goodness, Elaine – thanks for all this brilliant detail. And yes – the question of who takes it forward can be quite a difficult one for many of us for a variety of complex reasons. I hope you find a solution….and children can and do change their minds, so may be you should write it all up anyway.
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19.9.18:
Jan Martin:
I have a story … I just need to see how all the pieces fit. But it does involve ancestors’ gravestones!
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That’s great Jan… If I get enough feedback, I may well do a follow-up post incorporating what my readers like yourself have to say. Just leave the essence of your story in a comment, and I will do the rest. Thanks!
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19.9.18:
Charlotte Comfort:
Sorry to butt in here! I just got excited, my parents/family are from Perth. I don’t know much about my fathers sides’ ancestry but my grandmother told my mother their family were MacGregors. 🤗
my Jupiter is in Scorpio also, it was my 3rd return, I am also 100% Celtic (Scottish/Irish)
Just saying “hi” 👋🏻
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Charlotte, welcome to the Jupiter in Scorpio Celtic club – and thanks for dropping by with your contribution – every bit is welcome!
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Hello Anne, thanks for another interesting article which, unsurprisingly, has prompted me to stand back for a moment and again contemplate Jupiter’s role in my life.
I am familiar with your description of the beginning and ending of your own Jupiter in Scorpio cycles. For me this cycle symbolises Jupiter as my spiritual mentor – profoundly visible – yet isolated in my twelfth house while powerful transformative energies are at work. These are non-negotiable energies, a cycle which begins with Plutonian potency – being forced to enter the dark and frightening watery caves of the twelfth. The entrance to these caves is guarded by natal Mars in early Scorpio, personified as the silent warrior with strong survival instincts.
Mars squares my third house Moon-Sun in Aquarius, the merging of illuminating energies which I personally identify as my soul. I (Sun), am intrinsically attuned to my past (Moon) and its empowering karmic influences (Balsamic Moon phase). Yet it is here at the crisis point of the square, that my Mars in action can feel fragmenting at a deep level of self-awareness, which at times speaks of the vulnerability of my Aquarian idealism at the hands of fear (Saturn rules 3rd).
Natal Jupiter in headstrong and impatient Aries rules my horoscope from the fifth house. The qualities expressed by this placement of the ‘supreme god of the Roman pantheon’ can manifest as creative living to the extreme – a significant player on the stage of my human experience – behavioural energies in extremis. Jupiter in Aries can be well-intentioned in its crusade, but we all know that wherever there’s Jupiter there can be a need to maintain one’s integrity.
My horoscope forms a signature cardinal grand cross between Chiron-Uranus-Jupiter-Saturn (with Venus conjunct Chiron and Neptune conjunct Saturn), connecting the 2nd/8th and 5th/11th opposing houses. When the Jupiter in Scorpio cycle is active, my 10th house MC (contribution to society) takes a big hit (natal Pluto in Leo conjoins MC), and by opposition directs this energy to the IC to demand an awareness of my roots and inner world. Here I should say that my Pluto in Leo generation, fondly or not so fondly known as the ‘me generation’, stand united in defending this popular recognition of our planetary status! Pluto works underground – privately – we absolutely need the courage of the leonine sign of the zodiac to face our struggles if we are to rise to the surface of the area of life Pluto occupies. The gods certainly planned that well.
I have found that the end of the cycle culminates in an event which represents the final challenge before I am set free to again return to the light (which I have recently experienced). This current cycle has been particularly difficult yet all that has been ‘opened up’ and suffered in the twelfth house is destined to allow me to move forward in a new direction. And I know that there is no going back (with Pluto as co-ruler of Scorpio).
Anne, as you have shared in this post, I also clearly remember the events of my youthful second Jupiter in Scorpio cycle which was all about a painful awareness of my perception of being imprisoned and isolated within the darkness of issues surrounding a disfunctional family. As I have matured in age it seems to me that these cycles are truly all about my transformation, yet the ferryman must be paid to deliver me safely across treacherous waters (Scorpio). As I look ahead to Jupiter’s ingress into the Sagittarian ethos in November 2018, I know I will once again carry the buried treasure excavated from the twelfth and I am inspired to finally cross this vast horizon. Already I can feel the wind in my hair as I prepare to step over the Ascendant of my Great Compass which defines my rite of passage to again roam free across new and unexplored territories in my eternal search for truth.
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Page, thank you! This is a wonderfully lucid exposition which I am sure will help both my readers and me to reflect on and gain a deeper understanding of what those powerful Jupiter in Scorpio cycles bring to our unfolding life paths…
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