Jupiter retrogrades every year. Its retrograde period lasts between 115 and 120 days. 

That’s around a third of the year every year. 

So, Jupiter’s retrogradation is not as big of a deal as when Mars or Venus retrograde. 

Still, the retrogradation of planets is one of my favorite astrological topics. That’s why I’m writing about it here. 

But I’m not alone. I do it with the help of Erin Sullivan’s book Retrograde Planets: Traversing the Inner Landscape.

Here’s what you can expect from this post: 

1. 10 Keywords Associated With Jupiter 
2. Jupiter Retrograde Cycle As a Superior Planet 
3. Possible Manifestations In The First Part Of Jupiter’s Retrograde Phase
4. Possible Manifestations In The Second Part Of Jupiter’s Retrograde Phase
5. What Happens When Jupiter Turns Direct?
6. The House Where Jupiter Is Retrograding 

Let’s go. 

10 Keywords Associated With Jupiter 

• Expansion
• Abundance
• Philosophy
• Adventure
• Luck 
• Generosity
• Vision
• Enthusiasm
• Trust
• Faith

I like to see every astrological placement and transit in fifty shades of gray. Therefore, I offer you some extra keywords. 

The one on the left depicts Jupiter most positively. Meanwhile, the one on the right offers a negative expression of this planet. 

Here we go: 

• Optimism >>> Exaggeration
• Confidence >>> Arrogance
• Courage >>> Risky behavior
• Enjoyment >>> Over-indulgence
• Abundance >>> Excess
• Generosity >>> Waste 
• Vision >>> Gullibility 
• Wisdom >>> Grandiosity
• Authority >>> Hubris
• Luck >>> Entitlement

Related: My Philosophy About Astrology

Jupiter Retrograde Cycle As a Superior Planet 

In astronomy, planets are separated into inferior and superior planets. 

Inferior planets are those whose orbits are between the Earth and the Sun. Only Mercury and Venus fall into this category. 

Superior planets orbit farther from the Sun than the Earth. These planets are Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Chiron, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. 

The inferior planets Mercury and Venus always remain close to the Sun. This is why, in your birth chart, Mercury and Venus’ signs will be the same as your Sun sign. Or, at least, a very close sign in the zodiac. 

Superior planets have individual paths along the ecliptic and aren’t necessarily close to the Sun. 

However, there are some differences between all the superior planets and Mars. These differences occur because they have different relationships to the Sun. 

When the other superior planets are retrograde, they make a trine to the Sun. But not Mars. 

The other difference between Mars and the other superior planets is associated with the nature of the retrograde periods. 

Superior planets, Jupiter included, spend many months a year in their retrograde phase. We are used, at least unconsciously, to this cycle. Therefore, we won’t significantly feel those retrogradations. 

With Mars, things are not like that. You WILL notice that it is retrograde. 

We are so used to Mars’ steady state that we are shocked when the planet goes retrograde every two years. 

Those 80 days are definitely memorable. 

If you want to read about Mars’ unique retrograde cycle, check this post: Mars Retrograde: Effects and Insights

Every planet’s retrograde phase can be divided into two parts. These two parts are marked by an opposition of the retrograde planet to the Sun.  

Right now, I’ll focus on Jupiter’s two retrograde phases and their specific characteristics. 

Possible Manifestations In The First Part Of Jupiter’s Retrograde Phase

• Your personal decisions about growth seem impotent or insignificant. A bigger power is operating in the background, blocking your expansion. 
• You realize you need more time to evolve the idea or relationship you focused on before Jupiter turned retrograde.
• You may lose perspective on your ability to follow through with your goals or plans. Self-confidence is not as potent as it used to be. 
• You have the opportunity to contemplate upon aspects of your life in which you must explore your code of ethics. What’s your profound and personal sense of justice trying to tell you? 
• It’s not the best time to pressure yourself to complete a situation or achieve a specific end. It’s more appropriate to withdraw from that situation to reflect before moving forward.
• Accepting flexibility in your overall affairs or long-term planning could allow projects to mature more naturally. Less hustle, more flow. 
• There could be a conflict between what you wanted to happen and the actual results manifested. In the long run, this can be a lesson in humility and the limits of personal power.
• It offers a period to contemplate the source, or hidden cause, of your need for social acceptance. Who hurt you and why do you still want to convince that person or situation of your importance? 

Possible Manifestations In The Second Part Of Jupiter’s Retrograde Phase

• Plans may automatically begin to take shape, often with some surprising new possibilities.
• There’s an intensification of all the situations in which creative issues have been suppressed or swallowed. 
• The removal or loss of confidence in the initial half of the cycle resurges with highly charged intensity. This could be explosive if you have wanted to achieve something with ardent desire.  
• You come face to face with all the hopes and dreams that may have been suppressed during the first half. Now, those hopes and dreams could be released in an inflated and overdramatic display. Drama can clear the air in a cathartic fashion. 
• You can spiral into a pit of mourning. Faith in yourself is required even if the horizon is unclear. 
• After you release your frustrations and the circumstances have settled, the purge allows you to revise your plans gradually.
• Many adjustments are required. It tends to be a busy period outlining prospective plans but with an increasing sense of waiting and suspense.
• The week before Jupiter turns direct harbors tension and excitement simultaneously. You may experience unrest that can be mirrored by chaos in your environment.  There can be a sense of anticipation and possible apprehension about what is building to climax. You may feel some sort of mania in terms of acting. But, at the same time, you could also feel paralyzed. You lack the clarity needed to move forward with decisiveness.  

What Happens When Jupiter Turns Direct?

• Once Jupiter begins forward motion again, the clarification of where to go will gradually come.
• It’s an excellent time to initiate new ventures because the eight months of direct motion allow for stability and growth. 
• The plans, ideas, and projects curtailed during the retrograde period will emerge with more direction and stamina. More often than not, they will also possess a new twist. 
• The expansiveness dreamed of before the retrograde period is likely to have undergone a dramatic change. That change modified its original grandeur. You may still have big plans, but they may be more realistic now.  
• On an unconscious level, a compromise might be struck during the ending of the retrograde phase. This compromise allows for a graceful change in plans or direction. 
• What you thought you wanted at the beginning of Jupiter’s retrogradation might not be what you want now. But that’s OK. 
• You can establish a solid base of operations in the house where transiting Jupiter is found. 
• There’s a way of knowing the specific topics that will get activated during Jupiter’s retrograde period. To learn about them, you must analyze your birth chart to see the house Jupiter will go through. 

Related: The House of Your Natal Saturn And Its Role During Your Saturn Return

The House Where Jupiter Is Retrograding 

• Any sense of future or growth within matters connected to this house appears to become stagnant. 
• A moral tone underlies the issues of the house that come to the surface. This period is best spent exploring the source of your morality.
• On the one hand, your interior life becomes dramatic. Conversely, the external world appears dull or uncooperative in the areas affected by the house where Jupiter is transiting. 
• Check two extra houses: The natal house occupied by Sagittarius and the one in which your natal Jupiter resides. They indirectly indicate where you might find answers to questions about your future once the retrogradation is completed.

I invite you to grab your birth chart and find these three houses: 

• The house where Jupiter was retrograde
• The Sagittarius house
• The natal house of Jupiter 

Do some journaling about the topics of those houses. These are the issues that have been prominent during Jupiter’s cycle. 

This journaling exercise can also suggest where to direct your energy once Jupiter turns direct. 

Thanks for reading, and until next time!