The Melbourne Astrology Walk

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The Melbourne Astrology Walk

The best way to take The Melbourne Astrology Walk ( a self-guided stroll past some of the most important planets in astrology) is at sunset. You’ll be walking from sculptures of Jupiter to the Sun, so watching the sun disappear is timely.

You’ll be starting The Melbourne Astrology Walk at St. Kilda, famous for Luna Park and its impossibly high rollercoaster rides (pictured), but also its white, sandy beach.

If you’re feeling really energetic you can go for a swim when you talk the Melbourne Astrology Walk or try St. Kilda Sea Baths, just a stone’s throw from Jupiter, the first planet on the walk. You could also try the extended walk, which takes you all the way to Pluto at the farthest end of the beach.

In this version of the walk for summer 2019-2020, you’ll be covering Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Venus and the Sun. You’ll also hear from Stephanie Johnson and Penny Thornton.

Start at Beachcomber With a Sundowner

Start The Melbourne Astrology Walk at Beachcomber, the cafe, bar and restaurant on the beach at St. Kilda Sea Baths – as the sun goes down. You are going to walk part of  The Melbourne Solar System sculptures on the beach, all the way down to the Sun, and hopefully start to get a feel for the way the astronomy lines up with the astrology.

After you begin with a sundowner at Beachcomber Sunset Bar, stroll left (facing the beach) to Jupiter. The model size is about 14 centimetres, but the real planet is a gas giant – 142,000 kilometres wide. Jupiter is 778 million kilometres from the Sun you are looking at now. It’s interesting that the sculpture of Jupiter, overlooking the beach, lines up with Luna Park. Luna Park was obviously named after the Moon (lunar/luna) but it is known around the world for its over-the-top adventure. That’s definitely in tune with Jupiter, the first planet on the walk.

 Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury and the Sun

On this shorter version of the full walk (which takes you as far as Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto if you have the energy) you’ll be taking a stroll from Jupiter to Mars, past the Earth, onto Venus, Mercury and the Sun and seeing how these planets all work together in your horoscope.

Once you’ve finished your ‘sundowner’ at The Sunset Bar at Beachcomber, follow the beach path to your West, facing the water, and you’ll soon come across the first sculpture of Jupiter, placed on a plinth on the grass.

What happens when Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury and the Sun all line up in the same zodiac sign and how does this horoscope traffic affect your chart? What do these planets and lights mean, in your personal birth horoscope? If you’re lucky enough to be in Melbourne for a sunset stroll, this is a good way to find out.

Jupiter in Capricorn in 2020 – Stephanie Johnson Explains

If you’re taking the walk in December 2019 or January-December 2020, you’ll be doing so, with Jupiter in the zodiac sign of Capricorn. Here, Stephanie Johnson talks you through this cycle and the nature of the planet itself. 

This is a podcast exclusive to The Sun Sign School, available free for a limited time on this website. Stephanie Johnson is the face behind Solar Fire astrology software, and also a qualified professional astrologer, writer, broadcast and author. With a background in Australian media and a huge knowledge of horoscopes, she is the ideal tour guide. Listen here, as you sit on the grass or enjoy a glass of wine at the Sunset Bar. Jupiter will be in the zodiac sign of Capricorn from December 2019 until December 2020. What does it mean and what will it bring?

Jupiter in Depth – When Everything is Bigger and Better in Your Horoscope

Your Jupiter sign and house shows you where you are born lucky and can afford to be generous with other people. Even if you go through a tough cycle in this same house of your chart, Jupiter will protect you.

Watch for the times when Jupiter is in the same zodiac sign (in 2020 this will be Capricorn) alongside the others – Mercury, the Sun, Mars, Venus. That activates Jupiter in your horoscope and you gain. In the year 2021 it will happen when Jupiter in Aquarius is joined by the other lights and planets you see – the sculptures on the beach.

I took this photograph to show a couple of things about Jupiter, the first sculpture on The Melbourne Astrology Walk. First of all, from the right angle, it seems enormous (even though the bronze planet is relatively small). This illustrates the connection between Jupiter and size. Everything seems ‘big’ on a Jupiter transit. In your own personal birth chart, your Jupiter sign shows where you ‘go large’. I am sure you can see the recycling rubbish bin, parked on the golden sand, just to the right of Jupiter. This reminds us that Jupiter is a great recycler. If something is toxic, bad, dangerous and so on – Jupiter recycles and renews.  In the Roman myth of Jupiter, he took his father Saturn’s scythe (with which Saturn had castrated his own father) and encouraged him to use it for a different purpose – to teach the Italians agriculture. Italy thrived.  Jupiter transforms.

Jupiter and Good Luck – Planet of Detox and Recycling

This old association between Jupiter and natural good luck, comes from the Roman myth. He was Saturn’s son, doomed to be eaten by his father. His mother Ops saved him. He was raised on milk and honey, then when he became a man, he took over from Saturn and ruled the world. He could have castrated Saturn or killed him, but he set him free to invent Italian agriculture.

Jupiter is the win-win in any situation. Often, when Jupiter arrives in a new sign, in a new house of your chart, there will be an immediate problem to solve. A detox and clean-up. Jupiter is all about growth and nothing can blossom in your life until the weeding is done or the muck comes to the surface for removal. Here’s something else about Jupiter – thunder. You usually see him holding a thunderbolt, in museums and art galleries. Thunder brings rain, which washes away soil pollution so new growth can begin. This idea of a clean-up (a big clean-up) is part of Jupiter’s story in your life, as he transits or travels through.

What’s Your Jupiter Sign?

Your Jupiter Sign tells you your Jupiter House. That’s where you push, push, push your luck. Even if nothing happens immediately, one day the seeds you planted will turn into a fabulous orchard.

I know a brilliant headmistress who has Jupiter in Leo in her Fifth House, ruling the ‘heirs’ to her ‘throne’ and she has raised generations of other people’s children, as well as her own, to super success. She has no idea what her astrological chart looks like.

A lot of people ‘do’ their Jupiter sign and house quite instinctively, because it comes naturally. You tend to find that around age 12, 24, 36 and so on (the Jupiter Returns) you are given opportunities which help you to pursue the areas of life described by your Jupiter sign.

Tips, Tricks and Secrets With Jupiter on The Melbourne Astrology Walk

Your Jupiter Return, when Jupiter goes back to the same sign and exact degree/number it occupied at your birth, is extremely fortunate. It’s an opportunity to make more of an opportunity that you were already born with. An ability, skill set, talent or approach to life that works beautifully for you and always will.

People whose horoscope factors are ‘on’ your Jupiter (conjunct it at the same sign and within one degree) benefit from you a lot.

If your Jupiter is at the same sign and degree as your colleague’s, you will be lucky for them. You will come on like Santa Claus to them.

I once worked on a very successful series of books in aid of a global charity for children in war zones. My ‘Santa Claus’ on the project was a woman whose Jupiter pinged my money chart. None of this was orchestrated. She did not believe in astrology. We made millions. Astrology is a mysterious thing. Exploring The Melbourne Astrology Walk should give you a feeling for that.

Something to Watch – Sun, Mercury, Venus Mars

On this walk you will stroll past the faster-moving inner planets. What happens when they pass through the same zodiac sign that your own Jupiter, happens to be in? Just what you might think. 

Your natural Jupiter luck and protection is triggered. So, for example, if you have Jupiter in Aries, when you experience the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Mars also pass through Aries – say yes.

The kind of luck or protection you receive is in accordance with the zodiac sign that Jupiter happens to be in, in your chart. If you have Jupiter in Cancer (property) and Mercury goes through Cancer, that’s the time to negotiate a purchase or sale.

Mars the Planet of Action

Mars was the Roman god of war. He is the red planet (appearing red in the distance) and is associated with blood, but also the red traffic light that warns you to stop. Red is also associated with fire engines and emergencies. Mars is associated with heat and speed. Energy and action. Without Mars, you don’t try anything or defend  anything! Yet, Mars (like all the factors in your astrology chart) can be in overdrive. If you are an angry person, it may be that Mars has a number of patterns in your birth chart and so is connected to everything else.

If you have trouble defending yourself or your interests, or ‘going for it’ in life – your Mars may be blocked by squares, oppositions or even a conjunction, depending on the other planet involved. Even this plaque on St. Kilda beach tells us – Mars is the red planet. Yet, if it is obstructed in your horoscope, you may have difficulty with it. Mars has the largest volcano in the Solar System on its surface. It’s remarkable that in Roman myth, long before the Italians ever had a telescope, Mars’s sworn enemy was Vulcanus/Vulcano – who ruled volcanic emotions. He was a blacksmith who worked with fire!

What Happens When Mars and Jupiter Transit Together?

If you have Mars and Jupiter travelling through the same sign at the same time, life opens up very quickly, as you might imagine. If you have Venus and Jupiter transiting together in the same sign, at the same time, opportunities will be linked to complex relationships. Mars and Mercury together can indicate a heated time online. 

Astrology is alchemy and the planets work together, making a different kind of chemistry each time. Mars is always easy to spot because the temperature goes up in the laboratory. People literally have a red face when angry, as the blood rushes to their vital organs ready for attack or defence. We ‘see red’ when we feel annoyed. This is is pure synchronicity. In astronomy, the red planet has quite a different meaning. Yet, for over 2000 years, Mars has also been associated with ‘seeing red’ as a symbol of anger. This shows Mars overlooking St. Kilda beach – tiny in relation to the rest of the Solar System – powerful in astrology!

Venus on the Melbourne Astrology Walk

Venus is the old Roman goddess of seduction, passion, vanity and possessiveness. She is sometimes called the goddess of love, but it really depends what kind of love you’re talking about. Venus was an adulterer who betrayed her husband Vulcan for her lover Mars. 

She had a sense of ownership over her son Cupid and resented his love for Psyche. Venus was also jealous of Psyche’s beauty. She’s complicated!

Complicated relationships are par for the course with Venus. When you see Venus in the same sign as Jupiter, passing through, the usual expansion, solutions, optimism, growth, exploration, hope, opportunity and luck will be there – plus, perhaps, a mother-son relationship, or an affair, or a difficult marriage and so on.

The Venus symbol is a hand-mirror, reduced to a glyph (a cross with a circle on top). This is very close to the shape of an original Roman hand mirror. It’s a reminder that Venus needs to see her reflection in the eyes of others and although she is a symbol of beauty, fashion and sex appeal – she is also about insecurity.

Where is Venus in your horoscope by sign and house? That’s where you seduce, and are seduced. Keep walking, to find Mercury. He’s tucked away behind a wall, as you keep walking left (west) facing the sand.

Mercury – Symbol of Phones, Computers and Media in Astrology

Famous for being retrograde, or appearing to move backwards, three times a year – Mercury is a symbol of communication. Mercury used to represent messengers in Ancient Rome who would take scrolls on horseback on the old Roman ‘post office’ system. This was actually a relay system of various riders, stationed at points along the path from one Roman outpost to another. 

Today we associate Mercury with email, Twitter, computers and, to a lesser degree, our own postal system. Horses and riders 2000+ years ago were a Mercury symbol. Today it is electric cars, but the broad meaning is the same.

If you take this walk on Mercury Retrograde you might accidentally start back-to-front! Something to look out for on your walk at sunset – real life may imitate astrology.

Many of us have taken this walk in St. Kilda and experienced Mercury people/events near the Mercury sculpture. A woman on the phone. A man racing past on a bicycle holding a newspaper…

The Sun – What Part Does it Play in Your Horoscope?

The last sculpture in The Melbourne Astrology Walk is The Sun. You can either end the walk here and wander back onto the main shopping and cafe/bar street in St. Kilda (Acland Street) past Luna Park – or retrace your steps.

The whole walk from the Sun past Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, Jupiter – and onto Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto – will take you 5.9 kilometres back the way you came, past Beachcomber cafe, bar and restaurant.

Or – you might want to end it here. Just under a one-kilometre stroll.

The Sun is the most famous ‘planet’ (though actually a light) in astrology. It is at the heart of Sun Sign astrology and the most popular kind of horoscopes in the world, based on your date of birth. 

The Sun on the Melbourne Astrology Walk – Last Stop

In your birth chart the Sun highlights what you become well-known or prominent for. Perhaps, even famous. What you might be renowned for, or notorious for! At your brilliant best, you embody the zodiac sign the Sun is in, and all its meaning. 

The Sun is rather like a spotlight in that it needs an electricity supply or batteries. It needs to be maintained, perhaps repaired from time to time. It can become outdated and needs to be updated, over the years. As you finish your walk along St. Kilda Beach and its wonderful astronomical/astrological sculptures, appreciate the sunset for the last time today.

Walking back along the beach where you began, it may be time for another sundowner! There are some great little bars, restaurants and cafes strung out between the planets. Republica (pictured) is a good place for an astrology discussion with friends, if you’re in the mood.

Walking at sunset on the Melbourne Astrology trail – and seeing the light fade –  also a reminder of how quickly the Sun moves – it spends about three weeks in each of the twelve zodiac signs, then it’s gone. While it is there it dazzles, exposes, highlights, draws attention to – singles out – and throws on a spotlight. Yet, when a solar transit is over, it really is over very quickly.

This is you, in astrology. And your Sun sign. On your Solar Return you have a day or two to shine, as the Sun returns to the same zodiac sign and degree it occupied when you were born. Remember, when the Sun is in the same sign as Jupiter, passing through, we tend to get an enhanced Jupiter Effect. More opportunities and solutions. An upbeat, optimistic, positive mood and atmosphere.

In 2019 this happens from the fourth week of December to the third week of January as the Sun and Jupiter are together in Capricorn (though note: Saturn and Pluto will be there too, which turns down the voltage a little!)

In 2020 this happens from the fourth week of January to the third week of February as Jupiter and the Sun are together in Aquarius. In 2021, you’ll be watching the Sun join Jupiter in Pisces. In 2022, the Sun and Jupiter will be in Aries together.

The Sun is often dismissed in astrology as Sun Sign Astrology has a fair amount of bias against it! It is seen as too simple, too general and so on. Actually, if you know your Sun sign very well, the aspects the Sun makes in your chart, and the way it triggers particular transits – you’re ahead. Thank you for taking the Melbourne Astrology Walk. I hope you’ve enjoyed it. There’s more…

What Happens When Jupiter Meets Pluto?
The Pluto sculpture is far away on the other side of The Melbourne Astrology Walk. In this shorter version, you’ll only meet Jupiter. Yet – in 2020 these two planets will actually be in the same zodiac sign (Capricorn) at the same time. Your natal horoscope may be affected.

In 2020 we will see these two planets at the same degree, in Capricorn, on Sunday 29th, Monday 30th, Tuesday 31st March – through to Monday 6th April (24 Capricorn). The pattern then repeats from Tuesday June 23rd to Tuesday June 30th (24 Capricorn) and Wednesday 1st July. Finally, Pluto and Jupiter catch up again from Sunday 8th November until Friday 13th November at 22 Capricorn. Check your personal birth chart to see if you have anything at 22 or 24 degrees, of any sign, as the Jupiter-Pluto conjunctions (opportunity and empowerment) are coming your way.

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Penny Thornton – Exclusive Podcast on Pluto

To understand Pluto in more detail, here is Penny Thornton talking about this planet in your astrology chart and his impact as he passes through the zodiac sign of Capricorn.

The Solar System Self Guided Walk (PDF Guide) is provided free by the local council – download if you want to know more.

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