Jupiter Rising
on coyotes
For the past few months, we’ve seen Jupiter rising. I talked about it back in May when it started to catch my attention more consistently. Potentially confused with Mars, Jupiter does glow red and is visible with the naked eye. We’re frequently down in Palm Springs for prenatal appointments and drive back up to the hi desert once the sun has set; while crossing through Desert Hot Springs towards Morongo Valley, the sky is dark and gigantic. I track Jupiter all the way home. Come January, it will appear the biggest and the brightest all year.
Jupiter has played a significant role in my life this year as it’s been residing in Cancer, which rules my 5th house of creativity, joy, children and fertility. Jupiter signifies expansion and growth, luck, new opportunities. Sometimes chaotic energy. The stars don’t rule my life, until they do.
My sleep schedule is shifting and I wake up earlier than I’d like. I can feel the baby kicking - not in a disruptive way, but he likes to make his presence known. I wouldn’t expect anything less from my fire baby that at this point is likely to be an Aries. I lay on the couch and the cats walk all over my belly, their warm paws feeling around for what’s right under the surface.
I looked out the window as the sun started to rise, but the moon still present, and saw the fattest coyote I’ve ever laid eyes on. I couldn’t determine if it was one of our neighborhood regulars because of the size. What could it be eating? It’s cold enough that rabbits have been sleeping in their warrens and quails are few and far between. What was it up to?
One of the most popular stories of the coyote in indigenous lore is that the coyote stole fire for the humans. They don’t require fire themselves but could see humans suffering in the winter and knew the fire beings had the solution. Coyote, using its cunning nature, tracked the fire beings and stole fire at the optimal time to bring it down to humans. The fire beings chased after Coyote, grabbing for its tail (why their tail tips are white). Coyote tossed the fire to Chipmunk, and Frog, and the fire beings grabbed after them too (why chipmunks have white stripes on their backs and frogs have no tail at all). Finally, Coyote tossed fire to Wood and the fire beings didn’t know how to get it back. Coyote did, and taught the humans to rub wood together to produce fire again. I like this fire story especially now as we’re quickly approaching Yule, when we use fire to welcome back the light.
We drove down our dark road yesterday and a juvenile coyote was walking down towards the larger street. We are always nervous to drive behind them, especially the young ones, in fear they’ll dart into the busier traffic at the end of our block. We watched it sneak away under a large tree in front of a neighbor’s house as Tim, our neighbor, walked up to our car.
“Generations have lived under that tree,” he told us. He said before we moved in, he saw 3 coyote pups and their mom playing in our front yard. They have always been around us, watching out for us.
I realized the coyote I saw days before could be pregnant.
Coyote mating season is typically from January to March with a peak in February, but mating can occur earlier. They have their babies between March and May, only requiring 60 days of gestation.
I don’t think coyotes ever really die. They live on within the land and also amongst the stars. Their generations carry on and we are unable to tell one from the next. I feel comforted that the baby will be born in the birth window of the coyote. He’ll be in good company, joining all of the new Spring life that ends up feeling ethereal in the desert.
If coyotes represent the balance of wisdom and folly, adaptability, and the trusting of how we’re being guided, I see their connection to Jupiter. In both, there’s a leap of faith into the unknown within the pursuit of something greater. In both symbols, we hope everything turns out alright.
The coyote’s tarot card is The Fool (the hero), while Jupiter’s is the Wheel of Fortune. The Fool straddles spiritual and earthly existence and in most cases childlike excitement. He’s about to embark on a journey to reach enlightenment, represented via the rest of the deck. A Jungian interpretation of The Fool reminds us that the Fool, like the coyote, plays a very particular role in social order: the reminds us that the urge for anarchy exists in human nature. I think of this as the chance to surprise ourselves in potentially unconventional ways.
The Wheel of Fortune reminds us of life’s unpredictability and chance. There are many potential outcomes. In traditional Rider Waite decks, there are two animals attached to the wheel, one of which is dog-like in appearance (the other a monkey). These two animals are working in opposition, similar to the play of the coyote between delusion and wisdom. They also represent the interplay of birth and death and remind us of our humanness. Our inter-relatedness with the earth and the cosmos. The Jungian perspective here is accepting the paradox in any moment.
“With the revolution of the Tarot Wheel and the impact of its number 10, the hero, too, experiences a similar psychic revolution. For the first time, his ego, disengaging itself from the circular prison of endless trivia, stands aside to observe the pattern of his life as a whole - to view the unique mandala of his individual being against the infinitely expanding circle of the cosmos. He begins now to discover in the jumbled chaotic events of his life a thread of meaning - a consistent story line or dramatic pattern… As the hero contemplates its motion, he comes to feel that life is not a sphinx’s riddle to be solved but a cosmic process of mystery and wonder. For the first time, he stands humbly in awe of both the gods and his own humanity - struck dumb by the painful glory of being human.” 1
I haven’t been doing tarot readings while pregnant, mainly due to not feeling like I need a new lens of interpretation on this part of my life. But while in Cleveland for work last weekend, I went into a fabulous witches shop and felt called to sit down with a reader. The reading was comprehensive with the final card pulled being the Queen of Pentacles. A nurturing and protective guardian.
“Trust in your own abilities and embrace your unique ways of being in this world.”
The desert has taught me a lot of things. Most apparent to me now is the importance of listening to my place within the greater pattern of nature. And in most cases, taking all of the leaps nonetheless.
Love,
Lily
From Tarot and the Archetypal Journey: The Jungian Path from Darkness to Light by Sallie Nichols