Retrograde! But, Make It Fashion: Jupiter
Welcome back, friends, and welcome to the fashion show... sort of.
SIDE NOTE HERE: Most of what you are about to read, below, will be repeated in each of the mini blogs about this series. I chose to do this because not everyone reads each individual blog and it is important to discuss some of the general information in each post. This way, if someone only reads one post, they still gain the benefit of the knowledge below. So, if you plan to read all the posts about this series, please forgive the repetition in some of them.
I call this mini illustration series: Retrograde, but Make it Fashion. It's a strange title for a strange idea. However, the origins of my idea for this series concept does have a grounding in the logical world. I'm not completely in the clouds with this one... well, not entirely. lol
Last December, Venus was stationed retrograde and I had the idea for an illustration. Venus is the planet that governs pleasure, beauty, and attraction (among other things) in astrology. I was thinking a fun way to personify Venus was to transform her into a kind of Supermodel walking down the runway, or posing at the end of it, or just about to turn... I hadn't planned out all the details, because I ended up not working on it within the time frame of when Venus was in retrograde. So, I shelved the idea, until now. With so many planets currently in retrograde right now, I thought, "why don't I pull that Venus retrograde illustration idea out of the morgue and modify it to these other planets?" Thus the pursuit of making a little illustration series on the subject ensued.
I remember making a note on the Venus Illustration entry in my Idea Journal. The title was originally Venus, Sashay Away. It is a reference to the very popular drag competition show Ru Paul's Drag Race. Ru Paul, when she is eliminating a contestant, uses the signature phrase (modified/based on her hit song Supermodel) "Sashay, Away!" There's an animated GIF of it that I like to use sometimes and it ALWAYS gives me a private chuckle. I thought it an appropriate way to conceptualize a planet's astrological retrograde period.
I'm sure you have been asking this question to yourself (and to me) since you started reading this post. Probably you were wondering, in your mind, "What on earth is he even talking about?" Well, funny you should think that. Our position and view here on earth have EVERYTHING to do with explaining what a retrograde is. A retrograde (or planetary retrograde) is when a planet seems to be moving backward in the sky from our perspective here on Earth. In reality: No, planets don’t actually move backward. It’s an optical illusion due to the speed of the Earth’s rotation. But what ancient people realized is that when a planet changes direction or shifts in speed, what it rules will see challenges or confusion in our lives during that specific time.
Astrology is a science that utilizes the placement of the planets to make insightful predictions about how life on Earth is going to develop. It has been around for centuries and that is why we have been able to notice patterns throughout time, refining itself, to figure out that when the planets move, something here on Earth will be affected. You may or may not believe in Astrology, or you might think that it's just a cute part of your daily morning news feed. You may only think it's an amusing thing to discuss on a first date. It isn't my job or inclination to convince you of its validity. I will, however, say this: The waves in our Ocean are created by the gravity of our orbiting moon. The powerful gravity of Jupiter is what protects asteroids and other debris from crashing constantly into Earth (Thank you, Jupiter.) These are both invisible forces. And if this is what they can do to large masses in this universe, what do you think these invisible forces are doing to us or the environment we live in. We are, after all, 70% water. What "waves" is our Moon producing within us? Something to think about. I will leave defending the merits of Astrology as a science to the Astrologers, themselves. I'm just a weekend tourist. They actually live in that building.
Let's get back to talking about the retrograde.
A planetary retrograde is broken down into 3 phases: Pre-Shadow, Retrograde, and Post-Shadow.
In the pre-shadow phase, when the planet starts to slow down from our viewpoint on Earth, we start to see problems crop up and realize some current situations might be on rocky ground. This can last for weeks or months prior, depending on which planet it is.
The actual retrograde phase is when you see the problems that started to announce themselves in the pre-shadow blow-up in front of you. This is when the planet is taking control and moving backward in the sky. In reality, new information regarding what the planet rules are emerging in our lives — something we probably had overlooked originally. The universe is bringing it out dramatically in your face now to show you that you must pay attention to this before you proceed.
The post-shadow phase is when the planet is finally moving forward in the sky again but is still gaining speed to catch up with where it originally fell behind. Once a planet moves past this point in the sky, life should move along much more easily. The post-shadow phase is especially important because it helps us to resolve whatever popped up during the previous two periods so that we are on a better track moving forward.
The Sun, the Moon, and the Earth (because we are standing on it) don't retrograde. Sun and Moon are referred to as "The Luminaries." All planets retrograde at different times depending on their distance from us in the Solar System. A simple rule of thumb that you can follow is: the closer the planet is to us, the shorter the retrograde. The further away it is from us, the longer the retrograde is. How this affects us depends on the planet, what phase of the retrograde it is in, and the zodiacal sign that it is transiting (retrograding/traveling) through. Not to get too specific, depending on what house the zodiac sign is placed in your chart can also determine how a particular plant's retrograde affects you personally.
Most of the time a planet transits through retrograde alone or with one or two other planets at a time. However, there are sometimes years when we get large clusters of planet retrogrades. 2022 is one of them. We have 8 of the 9 planets in retrograde this year. 6 are clustered together right now.
So, Let's talk about them, shall we. This illustration is devoted to Jupiter.
What does Jupiter govern in our lives? It governs our faith, spirituality, philosophy, good fortune, and luck. It is the planet of expansion. In astrology, it is called the greater benefic. Benefic planets are considered to have helpful and positive impacts on our lives. Jupiter is the fastest-spinning planet in the solar system. It is also the largest of all the planets. Its job in astrology is to push out of our comfort zones. Expand. Expand our horizons. The astrological leaps of faith we all take in our lives. However, when Jupiter is retrograde, it goes from expansion into retraction. This doesn't mean all the good fortune you have had recently when Jupiter spins forward will all of a sudden transform into bad luck. No. This retraction reflects us inward into ourselves. Instead of pushing out, we are pulling back in; allowing us to process all of the new changes this most recent outward expansion has brought into our lives.
This year, Jupiter spends four months (from July 28th - November 23rd) spinning backward from Aries back into Pisces. Jupiter goes retrograde annually for roughly four months out of the year. On October 28th, Jupiter will "station direct" and begin to move forward through Pisces towards Aries again. So, what does it actually mean for it to be retrograde in Pisces as opposed to some other zodiac sign. The 12th sign of the belt, Pisces, flavors this retrograde by guiding our inward reflection from Jupiter into our most spiritual areas of ourselves. We will reflect on our greater purpose in life and our connections to everything around us. It would do well to meditate on your spirituality during this particular transit. But, be warned. Obtaining a higher sense of consciousness and spirituality comes at a price. Pisces also represents sacrifice and losses. So, we must sacrifice in order to achieve enlightenment. But what exactly should we sacrifice? Meditating upon this question is definitely something we should all be doing during this transit. Luckily (as in normal Jupiterian fashion) Saturn is also retrograde in Capricorn and can help give us clues as to what we should be releasing from our lives (See RBMIF: Saturn Post.) These among other larger life/existential questions are what we ponder when Jupiter is retrograde within the sign of Pisces. You may want to look up how your sign will be affected by this particular Jupiter retrograde. (Helpful Hint: look up how it affects your Ascendant/Rising sign, not your Sun sign. This will more accurately guide you.)
Before we go, let's talk a little bit about the art.
I explained the concept behind these odd but fun little illustrations. One of the things I wanted to pay homage to was the 1902 French film Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon.) I have always been impressed and inspired by that iconic image of the moon with that face in it. I'm certain that this image has inspired so many other artists and each has paid tribute to this treasure of cinema history. In my case, conceptually, I wouldn't be able to center a face within my illustrated planets. They are in retrograde, and they are sashaying away from us. So we would only see their "dark sides of" or the back of their "heads" if you will. I still wanted to see a face on them in some way. I really wanted to superimpose the faces of real supermodels onto them. So, I came up with the idea of them looking back; serving us one last lewk before continuing on their retrograded ways.
I wanted to play with the proportions of head size because not all planets are equal (in size) and I wanted to convey that within this series. So some "heads" will appear large on their bodies. Some "heads" will appear small. These aesthetic choices are largely determined by the literal astronomical relation of planetary size to Earth and to each other. I should probably do a "police line-up" of them once they are all completed. lol.
I will say creating the surface or recreating it in my illustrated form of it, was quite challenging. The literal surface of the planet is so texturally nuanced and diverse. Its bands of colors are like molten slabs of marble that swirl around the planet like hurricanes. Large and little "eyes" look in all directions as the planet spins and orbits around the Sun. All I can say are that there are ALOT of layers involved in its creation. lol. Even with simplifying the "patterns" and "motifs" that you can see in photos of Jupiter, it still involved roughly 4 to 5 different textured handmade papers/fabrics/textiles and estimated near 30 layers to create the Jupiter "Head" and "body." And this was swimwear. So, there was ALOT of skin showing. lol.
One of my favorite details within the surface of Jupiter is all the "eyes." I couldn't help but see all the unblinking/open eyes as I looked and studied photos for this illustration. Some of the larger ones are obvious, but perhaps some of the smaller ones may not be. Can you count how many I drew? :0P I dare you to try! (For those brave and ambitious souls, leave your count guess below in the comments.) I also wanted them to sort of read as "tattoos" in a way, especially when we get to the lower body and legs. Since I was drawing Jupiter in their traditional gender of male, I thought maybe some "tattoos" might be n order. Spiritual, but edgy. As if Jupiter has eyes on us at all times because He has eyes everywhere and all over him.
I chose swimwear as the garment/fashion choice for Jupiter as he is retrograding through Pisces, a water sign. I felt a swimsuit meant to bathe in the ocean was an appropriate and conceptually perfect choice for him. The swimsuit itself is actually based on 2 separate swimsuits that I combined into one because I felt that would make the garment more visually interesting as we were only seeing it from "behind." The first of the two is a Badgley Mischka Swimsuit from the 2020 Paraiso Miami Beach Runway Show Collection.
The second swimsuit I used to base Jupiter's garment on was a Bfyne Swimsuit from the 2022 Paraiso Miami Beach Runway Show Collection. Since Pisces is a water sign, it was important for me to include a "flowing" element to the garment that reminded me of flowing waters. The sleeves in the Mischka swimsuit define this quality so nicely. I love the way the flow is in contrast to the tightly formfitting torso piece of the swimsuit. I chose the cutouts from the Byfne swimsuit: One: because they really were visually striking and I knew that they would translate well to a nice back piece of this swimsuit. Two: they remind me of rays of light peeping over the rippling waves of the ocean.
You may notice another visual motif being used. Neither of my sourced swimsuits had a print/pattern on them. They are both solid colors. However, I KNEW that I wanted to have a pattern on Jupiter's swimsuit even before I found/sourced my reference for the swimsuit. In my early concept notes for this illustration, I wanted to make a "fashionable" pattern out of the Pisces Icon. and this is the symbol that you see repeated on Jupiter's swimsuit. The icon is meant to represent a pair of fish (another visual representation of the sign of Pisces.) I use this visual motif once more within the background. The shape of the background is a loosely and very (intentionally) crudely drawn pair of fish that are swimming in a circular-cyclical motion (chasing their tails like we tend to do in a retrograde.) The handmade paper I chose always reminds me of the vast and infinite dark universe in large swatches. It always looks like nebulae floating in Outerspace to me.
That pretty much sums up this blog entry for Jupiter and my little illustration of him. Stay tuned for the rest of this illustrated mini-series coming soon. Weather the Jupiter retrograde as best as you can and look fabulous while doing it. Too bad it's a little too cold for swimming at this time of year. lol.
Until next time, friends...
Keep dreaming, keep sketching, keep thinking, keep laughing, and most important of all, keep making art.
*Some of the retrograde information cited from:
Here’s what a retrograde in astrology means and how it affects you by Kyle Thomas @ New York Post.
Here’s When Every Planet Is Retrograde in 2022 by AstroTwins @ Astrostyle
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