When Jupiter Goes Bad
In my last article I wrote about Jupiter in the horoscope of the British songstress, Adele. Previous to that article I had mentioned the importance of Jupiter in the horoscope of Pope Benedict XVI. Jupiter can play a variety of roles in the horoscope. It can give us big talents and big rewards, as it has for Adele. It is also the planet we associate with institutional religion. In this guise Jupiter represents faith in a benevolent force beyond the personal.
But, along with all these good things, Jupiter can also bring us troubles. An example of this is the comedian Chris Farley, a star on Saturday Night Live and of several movies during the 1990s. Farley had Jupiter very close to his Midheaven (click here to see the horoscope) so that planet was important to both his career and the role he played in society.
Farley has the horoscope of a natural comedian. His Leo Ascendant gave him an outer personality that demanded attention. He loved having an audience and had good instincts about how to please that audience. Farley had Mercury strongly placed on his Descendant providing him with a quick wit and knack for mimicry. His Sun in Aquarius was conjunct Mars so his humor was physical and required a degree of athleticism. Saturn was also conjunct his Sun so he understood the structure, planning and hard work that was required to make people laugh.
Jupiter was also an important factor in Farley’s comedic style and anyone who recalls his classic performances on SNL has seen it. Farley held nothing back in his comedy. He committed himself completely, both mentally and physically, to every bit he did. Even before Farley began his professional career in Chicago with the Second City group, when he was just clowning for his fraternity brothers in college, he was known for his over-the-top antics and boisterous sense of fun.
What Jupiter also added to Farley’s personality was an inability to handle the word “no”, and this was a problem. Just as Farley couldn’t say no to a joke or a chance to make somebody laugh, he couldn’t say no to food, or alcohol, or drugs. By the time he reached the peak of his fame the rotund comedian was hopelessly addicted to just about every type of excess.
Farley struggled with his addictions for the rest of his life and eventually they brought about his premature death. There are several other factors in Chris Farley’s horoscope that contributed to his problems but at the center of everything there was Jupiter. At its worst, Jupiter makes it easy for us to behave badly. It seems as if we are just having fun and that everyone around us is joining in the party. It’s only when the party ends that our misery and our mistakes becomes evident.
