Chiron turns retrograde today, June 8 – November 10,2011

June 8, 2011 By

Chiron retrograde 2011A retrograde lesson

We are most familiar with Mercury turning retrograde and the snafus that ensue, but all of the planets turn retrograde at one point or another.  When the planets in the sky are observed from Earth, they sometimes appear to move backwards because not all of the planets are moving at the same speed.  If you are driving in a car and pass another car that is moving more slowly, it may seem as though that car is moving backwards.

Using the same car analogy, as  planet prepares to turn retrograde it’s like a car making a U-turn.  It has to slow down in order to reverse direction, and then it is almost stationary until it reverses and then picks up speed again.  During that time the planetary influence is stronger than any other time as if a laser beam is focusing the energy that we associate with that planet into our lives.

It’s a mystery how this planetary influence works.  Is it a purely symbolic event that stimulates something that occurs only in our own psycho-emotional system?  Does the actual planetary body in the sky create a field of resonance to which our own psyche responds?  Does it actually send a beam of influence that instigates certain behaviors?  In any case, a retrograde planet urges us to retrace our steps, and the influence of that planet is emphasized in a more personal way.

Chiron

Chiron is best known as the “Wounded Healer,” but I’ve been calling it the “Soul Healer” instead.  In the early days of working with Chiron we used to say that Chironic wounds were the ones that cannot be healed, but I’ve discovered over the years that the wounds of the soul CAN heal.  Then the aspect of Chiron as mentor and wise guide comes into fruition.

During this alchemical process of transmuting the places of pain within us into wisdom, we are asked (and sometimes forced) to walk through the fire of the night of the soul.  In facing our deepest fears and sadness we are able to breathe through the emotion, observing with mindfulness as the sensation transforms into pure light.  This is how healing takes place.

What to expect

Chiron turns retrograde at 5 degrees Pisces and will travel only back to zero degrees Pisces before turning direct again, which means that the laser beam of Chiron’s healing force will resonate between zero and 5 degrees Pisces until February of 2012.  This means that if you have planets in this range of degrees in the mutable signs (Pisces, Sagittarius, Virgo, Gemini) Chiron will challenge you to open your heart to any painful places that are activated by this transit to facilitate their softening and release.

If you have planets between zero and 5 degrees Taurus, Scorpio, Capricorn, or Cancer, the process of release will be facilitated by harmonious aspects between Chiron and the planets in these signs in your chart.

While the healing and emergence process is most powerful for people whose charts are most specifically affected by Chiron, its influence will be stronger for all of us during the retrograde period and there is an opportunity for more personal guidance.  Chiron has just entered Pisces, where it seeks to instill in us the value of that deep inner resonance that comes when we allow the messages of the soul to emerge in all of their myriad forms, blissful or agonizing.  It’s that Truth of spiritual experience that brings us to the ultimate place of wisdom where Chiron resides.

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Astrology in my world: Saturn square my Chiron

September 27, 2010 By

At first I thought something was wrong with Rich, my husband.  Everything he did was bothering me.  He didn’t talk to me enough.  He talked to me too much.  He didn’t pay any attention to what I was doing.  He paid too much attention to what I was doing.  I felt like a raw nerve, and everything he did set me off.  And then I felt that there was something wrong with me – that I wasn’t good enough and it was probably my fault anyway.

I went for a walk and realized, “This feels like Chiron.”  You would think I would be more up on my own chart, but I long ago stopped tracking every little movement of the planets and anticipating what they might mean.  (I keep an eye on the larger cycles, but since Saturn will only make this square to my Chiron once I didn’t give it too much thought.  Next year when Pluto conjoins Chiron I will be singing a different tune!)

At any rate, once I realized that Saturn was squaring Chiron in my chart, it all began to make sense.  Chiron in our chart reveals where we are emotionally sensitive.  It’s the little places where if someone says something the wrong way we burst out in tears.  Transiting Saturn, being the noble Taskmaster that he is, wants to make sure that we are doing the hard work to heal old wounds and will make sure that those wounds pop up in our conscious mind so that we can attend to them.

Individuals with Saturn/Chiron alignments in their chart know this all too well.  I like to say to my Saturn/Chiron clients that  ”some people can hide from their wounds, but not you.”  This may seem like an unfair burden, but in the long run we are better off learning how to release these wounds as they arise, rather than walk around with them lurking under the surface for the rest of our lives where they can cause not only emotional problems, but physical ones as well.

Once I realized that Saturn was activating Chiron, I saw very clearly that this was old stuff for me, old feelings of worthlessness that are thankfully healed to a great extent, but still somewhat present.  I took some deep breaths, relaxing into the emotions as they passed through me.  And then I apologized to Rich for having blamed him for something that was going on in my own psyche.

It’s easy when we’re unhappy to find someone to blame those feelings on, and often it seems fair and legitimate to do so.  But one thing I have learned is that as long as we blame and accuse we remain stuck in our unhappiness.  Each of us is responsible for our own healing, and our own happiness.  But we can find soulmates on the path who will understand what we are going through, and forgive us when we make mistakes.

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Practice makes permanent

September 16, 2010 By

I heard this quote over the weekend at a hammered dulcimer workshop: “Practice doesn’t necessarily make perfect, but it does make permanent.”  Evidently Warren Buffett obtained this piece of wisdom from a golf pro, the point of which is that if you do the same thing over and over again, you will obtain the same results.

As an astrological counselor and guide I often have clients who want to know when their lives will get better.  Usually I can point to a particular planetary cycle that is activating a challenging place in their birthchart, and I can tell them that on such and such a date that cycle will ease up and they will start to feel better.  But sometimes, especially after a long slog of Saturn or Pluto cycles, habits of negativity and fear start to build up and it takes more than the movement of those planets off the natal chart to provide release.  It takes a complete change of perspective, and a new course of action.

If a musician practices a tune over and over, but practices it incorrectly, the mistakes will become habit and a part of his repertoire.  Tony Robbins used to say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.  Whether you play the piano, or golf, or tennis, or practice yoga, bad habits can lead to injury and a failure to accomplish the goal of the practice session.

If we want to change our lives, we have to shift our course and do things differently. Holding a vision is crucial to making this change, but the actions that we take must reflect that vision if change is to occur.

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Astrology in my world: Handling Jupiter/Uranus energy

June 19, 2010 By

Art by Alex Grey

Much has been written about the positive aspects of the combination of Jupiter and Uranus in the chart, and there is no doubt that when these planets come together it is a rockin’ opportunity to open doorways, both in our life and in our own being, that have been stuck closed.  Jupiter is the planet of expansion and good fortune – it can bring pinnacle experiences and a sense of unlimited opportunity.  Uranus is known as the planet of change and sudden surprise, but it is also the instigator of experiences that serve to liberate us from anything that is holding us back – even if it is a prison of our own making.

The first conjunction (joining) of Jupiter and Uranus occured last week  in Aries, and the rest of the cycle takes place in Pisces.   Typically the first phase of a planetary cycle is most intense, because we encounter a new energy which has not yet become assimilated into our experience.  The initial conjunction took place at zero degree Aries, in an exact square to Mars in my own chart.

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while may remember that my Mars has been hit repeatedly over the past couple of years.  It all began when Pluto entered Capricorn and hit my Mars at zero degrees Cap.  Then last fall, when Saturn entered Libra, it began a series of squares to my Mars.  Now, with Jupiter and Uranus both at zero degrees Aries, they are having a field day with my Mars!

From the comments on the Astrodynamics Facebook page it appears that I’m not the only one having some trouble with the energy of this conjunction.  Planetary cycles affect us all differently, and this one is no exception.  People who have a lot of fire and air in their charts – who embrace change and relish excitement – they will likely have an exhilarating process of release and enthusiasm under this planetary combination.  But for those of us for whom change is difficult, and whose charts contain lots of earth and water and are more security-oriented, this wild energy can be overwhelming and even frightening.

My own chart contains lots of fire and air, so I should really be in the first camp, but my chart is made up entirely of cardinal and fixed signs.  I am all action and stubbornness and have a lot of trouble relinquishing control.  This gives me a great deal of focus and an ability to work hard and accomplish a lot of things, but it also makes me somewhat inflexible (you wouldn’t know it to look at me though, because Gemini, the sign of adaptability, is rising in my chart).

I first noticed Jupiter approaching the square to my Mars because I became much more outspoken than I usually am.  In fact, I said just about everything that was on my mind, and it was fantastic.  With three planets in Libra and Saturn on the Sun, I am usually not that free and it felt very liberating.  Then one night, as the square culminated, I became terribly sick for about three hours in a huge release of energy that came through my body.  Afterwards I was fine – it was a purely energetic event that was really uncomfortable, but in the weeks since then I realize that something shifted within me that night and broke through my normal resistance.

However, the shift was evidently not complete because about two weeks later, when Uranus aligned in the exact square to my Mars, I experienced severe heart flutters when a huge force of energy became blocked at my solar plexus.  Mars is associated with the solar plexus, and astrologer Alan Oken says “The solar plexus is linked to self-preservation and the survival of the ego, the lower self. It is also the seat of the astral or desire energy field.”  Although this was a frightening event I wasn’t really afraid, because I knew that this was the very day that Uranus was aspecting my Mars and I was ready for something intense to happen.  Fortunately I work with a wonderful healer who helped to open up these blocks and release  some of the remnants of the difficult energies that still linger in my body and spirit.

For those of us on a healing journey, every challenging experience like this is an opportunity to clear some of the psychic and emotional debris of the past and emerge as a more whole and joyful human person.

If I can quote myself from the previous article on my Pluto story:

Someone asked me yesterday, “how do we know that we have worked through our issues so that we get to the higher manifestation of the planets?” Our personal issues and personality quirks create resistance within us to the unfolding progress of soul growth. As long as we identify with these issues and quirks and hold onto them instead of relaxing into the process of change, the difficult planetary transits create lessons and challenges for us in order to facilitate that process. Once we have stopped resisting and feel enough trust in the process so that we surrender each moment to the energies of the planetary gods as they work to deepen our evolutionary story.

I do have some tips for anyone going through intense energetic changes as a result of the current Jupiter/Uranus conjunction:

  • Yoga is one of the best ways to balance your energy system and release stuck emotions.  We often hold these blockages in our body, and by releasing them through a hatha yoga practice we can realign our energy fields and improve our experience.
  • Practicing mindful meditation.  Not a meditation that seeks to block thoughts and emotions, mindfulness is an awareness and a sense of being present in your experience.  Through a practice of mindful presence we awaken to the stirrings within the heart, and open the doors for blocked emotions and feelings to emerge and be welcomed and released with love.
  • Seek the help of healing professionals.  Sometimes we need talk therapy to work through situational difficulties.  Sometimes we need astrologers to help to give shape and explain the underlying nature of what we are experiencing.  Sometimes we need practitioners in the energy fields to help restore balance to the psycho-energetic systems.

As we delve more deeply into the more subtle realms, our need for healing and guidance becomes more subtle as well.  But if we approach these experiences with the awe and wonder they deserve, instead of being challenging they become an exciting adventure that will bring greater liberation and joy.

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