Jupiter

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the solar system, more than eleven times the diameter of Earth. It is a gas giant, and it is named for the Roman king of the gods.

What it stands for

• luck
• growth
• optimism
• belief

In the birth chart

In the birth chart Jupiter shows where a person tends to find opportunity and generosity. It stands for growth, expansion, optimism and the search for meaning, and its sign and house describe where that expansion is most likely.

The name and the myth

Jupiter, or Jove, was the Roman king of the gods, the Greek Zeus. The planet's size gave it the role of the greater benefic in older astrology, the planet most associated with good fortune.

How astrology reads it

Astrology links Jupiter with luck, travel, higher education, law, religion, philosophy and charity. It rules Sagittarius. Its warning is excess: an optimistic Jupiter can promise more than reality will deliver, and tradition says Saturn is the planet that balances it.

Signs: Sagittarius, Pisces (older scheme).

In tarot

In the Golden Dawn scheme, Jupiter goes with Wheel of Fortune, Six of Wands, Nine of Cups, Four of Swords, Eight of Swords and Two of Pentacles.

Planets other than the Sun and Moon seem to move backwards at times. How retrograde planets are read.

Tarot, astrology and numerology are traditions of symbolism. This page says what the tradition associates with its subject. It does not predict anything and it is not advice.