by Erik M Roth

Jupiter is currently in retrograde and about to move back into the Goat Fish Constellation (or Sea Goat), before looping back in direct motion on the Sea Goat’s tail. Shamanic Astrology interprets Jupiter as an expansive archetypal agent in motion, helping to cultivate our vision quest or spiritual path.

As this planet danced between the signs of Aquarius and Pisces this spring and summer, Jupiter is spending a little over three months at the tail of the Sea Goat. The star, Deneb Algedi is listed as one of the Behenian stars, a list of 15 magical stars, originally credited from Hermes Trismegistus or Thoth.

Aquarius is the grand experimenter, an avant-garde on the leading edge of cosmic thought itself. This sign is directed as a novel idea generator, meaning it thrives beyond conventional ideas, sciences, philosophies and structures.

Being the most revolutionary archetype as well, Aquarius can seed the thoughts of breaking through old structures and systems that no longer work for the collective. It is a free-electron of thought-form that goes beyond the mundane rules of what is already in place.  This is where Jupiter currently is and is where Sea Goat constellation holds court.

Jupiter conjuncts Deneb Algedi (magnitude +2.85), the star at the tip of the tail of the Goat-Fish, three times at 23˚50’ Aquarius on these dates:

April 3, 2021

Sept 17, 2021 (with the Moon!)

Nov 17, 2021

In addition, Jupiter stays within 2 degrees of Deneb Algedi (to a large degree also the star Nashira) between Aug 30 and Dec 3, a period of 96 days along with these alignments:

Sept 7-30 – within 1 degree

Oct 17, Jupiter stations direct at 22˚19’ Aquarius (less than 2 degrees from this star) – nearly exact on the star Nashira (part of the Sea Goat’s tai).

Nov 4-26 – within 1 degree

Deneb Algedi means “the tail of the goat” and the other star in the tail called Nashira (magnitude +3.6) at 22˚05’ Aquarius means, “the Fortunate One” or “Bringer of Good Tidings”. Both of these stars connect us to the celestial waters being poured forth by the Water-Bearer (astronomers still call it Aquarius) constellation.

The Sea Goat connects the alchemy between the elements of water and earth. Earth guides the flow waters while water carves out new directions for earth. Each of the classic four elements represent a powerful necessity on the physical and spiritual levels. The tail exists in the emergence of Sea Goat upon the land. Those born with personal planets or points in the later degrees of Aquarius are connected to this source of unorthodox wisdom and innovative adaptation.

Exploring the origins of the Goat-Fish constellation takes us thousands of years into the past when it began its entrance into the sign of Aquarius over two millennia ago. The tail of the Goat-Fish will begin it’s ingress into the sign of Pisces in the year 2459, over four centuries from now.

The Goat-Fish is one of the original recorded constellations of the zodiac, going back thousands years or more as the ancient Sumerians were creating dynamic civilizations. Researcher Greg Crossen (published in Sky & Telescope magazine) writes that it is known from at least 2100 BC that this constellation appeared in ancient Sumerian works.

The Goat-Fish was originally a “Goat-Carp”, which is known as the “The Magur Boat”, a type of boat (with a Goat’s Head) with a highly raised stern and prow. When looking at the constellation, it bears the same shape as the boat. This boat was sacred to the god Enki (aka Saturn/Kronos) as were the symbols of the Goat and Fish.

The magur boat is a powerful manifestation of integrating earth and water together to gain not only mobility with water but new insights from the ancient teachings of Enki who was strongly connected to the waters of wisdom. It also celebrated the merging of the mind with the nourishing of the mother waters in exploring new frontiers of consciousness and liberation.

Adaptation to rapidly changing conditions around us can be seen as an expanding strength and focus for this transit of Jupiter with these stars. With the great number of crises taking place around the world, especially those grown from the climate change effects, human beings can shine amidst the numerous tragedies, rising to the challenge through adaptation.

After Jupiter’s passage through the Goat-Fish, the vision quest planet re-enters the constellation of the Water-Bearer by early December and the sign of Pisces at the end of December.  The hope of this transit back into Pisces is that it can foster more compassion and empathy to help dissolve the resistance to heart and spirit.

This intriguing transit is an example of how the stars and constellations can inform the transiting planet and archetypeal sign associated with it.  Many of the constellations are ancient in origin and the projections upon them equally so. The constellations and stars show us humanity’s stories, OUR stories and all we have to do is be open to learning in our fundamental quest of understanding who we are and our role in the world.