John Lewis broke rules and made "good trouble." His life and example, Jon Batiste reminds us, are an invitation to our own greatness.
As Katharine Q. Seelye writes in The New York Times obituary for John Lewis (July 17, 2020),"Getting into 'good trouble' became his motto for life… He put it this way on Twitter in 2018: 'Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.'”
Lewis's exhortation is a beautiful example of Jupiter's role in our charts and our biographies. Jupiter is our optimism and faith. The ruler of Sagittarius, Jupiter urges us to make interesting mistakes and cultivate the kind of experiences that beget wisdom.
In John Lewis' chart, Jupiter is in Aries, so Lewis merged the optimist with a warrior's spirit, giving him the doggedness and courage under pressure so evident in his willingness to risk his life for racial equality. In fact, with a stellium (three or more planets) in Aries, the archetype of the warrior has a strong influence on Lewis's chart and biography. Venus in Aries gives a passionate edge to Lewis' intimate relationships and a need for adventures, dance, and physical activity to let off steam. With Saturn in Aries, Lewis brought the relentless determination of the spiritual warrior to his Great Work, the "struggle of a lifetime" against racial injustice. We hear this Aries influence when John Lewis says, “I have been in some kind of fight — for freedom, equality, basic human rights — for nearly my entire life."
As my beloved astrologer Steven Forrest says, Aries is not a comfortable energy, but in John Lewis we see that energy channeled into the Freedom Rider, who is committed to nonviolence and yet goes "full force into the fray."