What a strange few days it has been.
I was thinking about a topic for this blog and Neptune and Chiron kept coming into my mind. Although their ongoing conjunction is in orb between 2008 – 2011, they are now both retrograde at 27º Aquarius. Since Chiron was only discovered in 1977, this is the first series of conjunctions we’ve had the opportunity to experience.
In my personal life, the presence of these planets has been strong: These last few days I’ve been contemplating impermanence, as an old family friend is in a coma and near death.
I also have someone in my close extended family with 27º Aquarius on the Ascendant. She has Neptune conjunct the Midheaven in the natal chart — unsurprisingly, she has dealt with addictions, but the deeper issue may be about acknowledging and grounding her spiritual gifts and heightened sensitivities.
She is in a powerful moment in her healing journey now as the wounded healer is on the Ascendant — the wisest of the centaurs has come right to her awareness and into her life directly. Chiron conjunct Neptune is so literal in this case: healing her natal Neptune. Neptune has heretofore been difficult for her, as it can be for all of us. This is a multidimensional process — subtle, powerful, potentially life changing, and also very delicate. I can feel the presence of the invisible worlds around her. Chiron is also the shaman, the bridger of worlds; she is surrounded now by people who can guide and hold her into a new state of being.
So, I knew I was being drawn to the archetypes of Chiron and Neptune in my personal life, and I wanted to try to find examples from the global sphere to capture this illusive pair. I knew I was feeling this combination, but putting it into coherent words is another matter.
I had a few obvious ideas as a starting point: The Moon, of course, signifies the public in a national horoscope, and the U.S. Sibly Moon is 27º Aquarius, so somehow the U.S. public is experiencing a long spell of confusion. We are symbolically going through an extended healing crisis. Everyone is feeling confused and that we’ve lost our way — the Tea Partiers, the progressives, all of us on “main street” are feeling some version of anxiety and lack of direction. The latest wave of home foreclosures is a sign of the basic insecurity that people across the nation are experiencing.
President Obama’s South Node is at 27º Aquarius; he is going through some sort of (temporary) diminishment or loss of energy and we are all feeling something similar.
A politically-minded friend (not an astrologer) described her sense of disillusionment with the president yesterday. She said, “What seemed at first like the triumph of the little guy has started to feel like the slickest move yet.”
Transiting Neptune and Chiron on the national Moon: We are all somehow delicate and easily wounded. I was thinking about all of this on Sunday as I took my usual walk (too late to swim) at the lake. (The lake! Ah Neptune, who doesn’t love to be by large bodies of water?)
I was in some sort of Chiron-Neptune trance for my walk. It was an exquisite day and the air felt still and perfect. When I got back to the car, it had been broken into and my purse had been stolen. Quite a lot of cash, credit cards, my Rescue Remedy, etc — all the necessities of modern life.
It took awhile for me to register what had happened. I went through the necessary motions of calling the police and canceling the cards. But my mind had been so far away, in contemplation of greater matters (i.e., thinking about Neptune and Chiron and feeling connected to my friends in their acute healing crises), that it took until this morning to notice that I was in a bit of shock. I was vulnerable. I had been violated and wounded (Chiron). My boundaries were too porous (Neptune).
Transiting Saturn is strong now, too; at 7º Libra, it is at the bending, that is, squaring the nodal axis, now at 7º Cancer and Capricorn. A planet square the nodes is at a critical point and must be integrated into our awareness. With Saturn, we have to look at our own responsibility for what is happening. In this car episode, I have to wonder why I was so foolish as to leave a crack in the window and so much cash in the car?
As I was writing this, a friend called to tell me about an acute violation. A clear agreement in her closest partnership had been broken and she is dealing with a deep sense of betrayal and renegotiation of boundaries. (Again, Chiron wounds and Neptune allows permeability.)
True to this pair, I’m not sure what my main point is here in this blog. I do have a sense that what I was thinking about is also arising in my life, and that it is somehow connected to the magical boundary-less display I can associate with Chiron and Neptune. Although I wanted to focus on examples of Chiron and Neptune in the broader sphere of world events, somehow it all got very personal and close at hand.
As another astrological note, I have the South Node conjunct my solar return Ascendant (19º25’ Cancer) this year. This is the degree of the total solar eclipse on July 11 at 19º23’, so the experience of loss suggested by the South Node is an ongoing theme for me this year.
I’m glad the Moon is in Taurus today and I have no clients. I need to tend to the practical matters of getting a new wallet, driver’s license, etc.
I’ll look forward to your comments and insights.
Have a good week, one and all.
23 Comments
Hard to write about Neptune. A very slippery subject indeed – always seems to be just over the horizon.
Sorry to hear about your recent difficulties. And we are heading into the venus retro. Hold onto your socks!
I so enjoyed your personal sharing and insights. I have my north node at 29 degrees Aquarius…and my natal Saturn is 9 Libra in the ninth with Neptune at 11….having a second Saturn return. With three Aries planets, Sun/Mercury/Jupiter….lots going on here. I feel like my astro counseling is about to really take off. And sooooo much more….!
Regarding the National Moon….our collective healing is at hand, as we see what we’ve created from our unconscious addictions. Time to break the loop and step into a new collective dream. The chance to wake up is now! Saturn in Libra requires a balancing of our national consciousness…in every way; economically, politically, educationally, ect…we have lots of work to do, which begins with a new way of thinking, and starts with each one individually.
I feel for your woundedness and invasion of your privacy. My houses here on Koh Samui, in Thailand, over the last three months were broken into 9 times! With Venus and Jupiter conjunct at 28 degrees Aquarius in the 5th, things like necklaces, earings and cell phones were all taken by hungry thieves looking for whatever could feed their drug habit. . . Lots going on here in the way of thefts with the economy down. . Having realized that if I had to leave tomorrow what would I take. All the rest is not important. . . Safety, survival and peace are.
Hillary
Hillary,
Thanks for sharing that.I completely agree..as I mentioned, I was contemplating impermenance when this happened..
Even here, the thefts are up I think…hard times and many more people unemployed, etc..
On a lighter note, I will get (hopefully) a better picture on my new driver’s license..
Thanks Carl for your kindness..and yes, Venus about to disappear in the night sky at the end of Oct and reappear as the morning star (Nov 4)..what will she take away? what will she bring back?
And Janet, yes I’m thinking about Chiron as the guide, mentor, teacher…guided us to a new understanding of Neptune…
and I do feel that there are many new dreamers and clusters and pockets of dreamers weaving a new dream…lots of parallel realities being lived now.
Thanks to you all for sharing my dream
Chiron and Neptune together are like the characters on NCIS. Tony behaves in his typically arrogant, opinionated, misogynistic way and the Boss has to give him a knock over the head every now and then to get him to acknowledge that he’s done or said something socially unacceptable and needs to reconsider his mouth and behavior. So Chiron knocks us over the head with some appropriate wounding, and if we’re not on Neptune’s drugs or in its fog of delusions, we might get the message. I think Tony seldom gets the message of his inappropriate behavior. Bigger Chiron-style knocks for him maybe? How big are the knocks that America and the world need to wake up to our awesome financial dilemma? What are Chiron and Neptune cooking up for us during their lengthy close conjunction, 2008-2011?
Mary, I’ve been puzzling over an incredible series of serious family illnesses, all in the last four or five days. A perfect storm, one would say. I was putting them off to Sun Saturn square Pluto just as she goes forward again….1) former husband in ICU for a week for internal bleeding after taking pain pills for spinal problems and having heart attacks for loss of blood. 2) Nephew in ICU after surgery on throat cancer 3) His wife, my niece, back in hospital for emergency surgery required for adhesions after prior surgery 4) His daughter in law in hospital with spinal meningitus 5) my brother in law (related to all of the above people) with inflamation of liver after kidney transplant a year ago. I have not looked at the individual charts, and I think Chiron Neptune could be as much involved as Pluto Sun. But then let’s not forget the three planet (Moon, Uranus, Jupiter) conjunction last week. Any or all of these could have triggered one or all of these events. I like the Chiron application, as perhaps we are seeing in at least a couple of my family situations a revisiting of old illnesses for a healing crescendo.
Chiron is too small (160 km) to have any influence.
Jim
Hi, firstly it’s great to find you all ‘astrobabbling’on this website. Both Neptune and Chiron feature strongly in my chart being square to each other and Chiron sandwiched between my Sun and Mercury conjunction. So you may understand that I feel qualified to comment… Chiron may be ‘small’ but it is potent and although the astronomers have demoted Pluto from planetary status, astrolgers still feel its energy. I think it’s important to remember the healing qualities of Chiron. I understood that he ‘was’ wounded not that he wounds and that his placement in the chart indicates where you may be wounded and subsequently, healed. I hope that’s true or I need to re-group!!
Hi Maggie,
Yes, I agree that Chiron signifies healing..in this case specifically opening the doors to Neptune’s grace and ability to perceive unity and interdependence..but perhaps some illusion or cherished belief (Neptune) is shattered for that to happen.
Chiron also can suggest”the wound” that takes us through that gateway..Chiron is the bridge builder between Saturn (which we can see as ego defenses) and the outer planets…the guide, the teacher and mentor that shows us the way to the great beyond..
my 7 yr old (Aug. 11, 2003) must really be feeling these planetary pulls as she has just recently been exhibiting Obsessive Compulsive patterns hard…! Washing hands, repeating movements, counting… I am not sure what to do other than find her a counselor…. (hopefully will mature enough later in life to recognize and solve or seek help in adulthood)… ?????
I’m enjoying this discussion, while feeling a bit sad for all the misfortunes related here. I see Neptune as being like a beautiful work of art: I love it, but don’t know why! Beauty and addiction are hard to explain in mere words. It’s a transit that makes it difficult to see clearly and only when we look back will we be able to have that “ah-ha” moment – a turning point perhaps. I think this is especially true for the USA chart. Thanks Mary for a wonderful article that we can all relate to.
Hi Mary, well, my son in law has 24 Aquarius rising, and in 2009 ended up around his birthday (Aug 25) undergoing two operation for melanoma, both the excision of the mole and the removal of the lymph nodes. I did a chart and found that, of course, transiting Neptune/Chiron were right on his Natal ascendant….and not only that, Jupiter/Uranus by transit were on his natal Chiron. I see that for him he will do his own healing, that this was a gift of spirit (wake up call) in many ways, but that he has to examine his patterns of life experiences around Neptune. I believe in this case there actually is a family dynamic, as his mother has MS and has had for probably close to 40 years.
His Jupiter in the sixth is conjuncting my daughter’s rising/sun in Leo…and she is the one who found the mole and hounded him to take himself to the doctor. Now as a result she is involved in the International Melanoma foundation and very passionate about all that she can give to the cause. It is as if they are both on this path together, giving to each other in the process, growing way beyond where people with crisis would grown in a marriage. I guess it all comes down to how we use our energies.
Mary, so many people are disillusioned politically right now. But….can you imagine how Obama is feeling about it all with these kind of transits? He’s just come out of difficult Saturn aspects…so with this combo on his south node, with the entire world watching and wondering what is going on, it is a little like being naked on stage, don’t you think? I think, as angry as I’ve been as a real left liberal, that number one, we don’t have the whole picture now….and can’t have, with that Neptune/chiron energy. It is better to support now than to tear down. At least I hope people will appeal to their own healing with such feelings of support rather than disappointment.
I agree with Judith Wood.
Thanks Mary, you’re right. It wasn’t until I’d had my dreams shattered that I began to focus my energies on spiritual development. I felt very wounded which can reach me still-Chiron- but I see my part in it plus the responsibility, or ‘my ability to respond’. It all served to bring me round to meditation and astrology so I am eternally grateful. Through both these mediums I am able to help/teach others so the story has healing in it both for me and others. Hope you got your documents and cards sorted. Nice astrology in the comments. I am an early Aquarian but T Neptune and Chiron sitting on my IC: I’m not working for the first time in years so that fits and have time to go on line!!!
PS:my ‘cherished belief/illusion’ was that love conquered all. It does of course but not at the cost of all practicality going out the window! No Earth in the chart but thankfully a strong Saturn.
Hi Judith,
I agree about Mr Obama..his progressions have been very difficult too..(some recent improvements: the progressed Sun just moved into Libra which I think will be significant in terms of his visibility and potency; also, progressed Mars ruler of prog Asc is at the prog Desc and just passed the square to Saturn and now will move to square Jupiter)
But Neptune is always just a fleeting moment in time and part of the overall challenge is to keep being part of the solution, keep visioning and acting towards a better life for all, in spite of (temporary) feelings of discouragement..
I think that facing or acknowledging disillusionment or discouragement (Neptune) can be a potent motivator…
If you all wonder why I am so passionate about Chiron and woundings, it is because I have Chiron in my 12th house signed by Gemini as a singleton, but could-be-considered widely 180° to Jupiter in my 6th house.
My former husband and daughter are both Geminis, and it finally occurred to me several years ago that maybe I was supposed to do some Chironic healing for them. Later I decided that it would be impossible to do any healing for them, and that Chiron was in my 12th house to talk to me about unhealed and unhealable wounds. My former husband and daughter have been determined on their own courses of attack-behavior.
Finally I read Melanie Reinhart’s book CHIRON AND THE HEALING JOURNEY: AN ASTROLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE (1989) and discovered on page 313 the statement that the 12th house “is the deep past, the timeless archetypal world, the raw material of accumulated human existence which underpins individual life.”
So I consulted a shaman who has the gift of tuning into past lives and seeing all of a life’s scenario. What he found was that we three had been interacting with each other over several millennia and that they had a long-standing vendetta against me, looking to take me down and out. I am surviving, contrary to their expectations, and they are suffering karmic payback to them for all their evil behavior against me. My former husband’s health is not good; he’s falling apart. And our daughter is in a rehabilitation facility after a debilitating stroke in 2005. What goes around comes around!
Don’t discount Chiron. It may be small, but it is a powerful indicator of wounding and potential healings. I am the one being healed of them! My advice is to read Reinhart!
Hi, Mary
A hopeful story concerning this Chiron-Neptune conjunction: my 80-year old mother has her sun at 29 degrees Aquarius. She would probably consider Chiron to be an old buddy, after spending her career working with developmentally disabled adults and now spending her retirement teaching English to newly arrived immigrants. Over the past few months, she has had cataracts surgically removed from both eyes; an apt team project for the Sun, Neptune, and Chiron. Now she enthuses, “The world is so beautiful! I can’t believe I settled for seeing it blurry for so long!” I cling to this wisdom as my practical Capricorn nature searches for solutions to the many problems in the world. Best of luck with your ongoing journey, Mary!
As an avid astrology buff (I use it every day of my life), I am being bombarded with Neptune/ Chiron experiences. The solar eclipse that was mentioned this past July was the beginning of a new life for me as I plummeted to material /emotional depths I had never imagined happening to me. My natal Chiron is 2 Taurus conjunct IC and Mercury. The Aquarian superconjunction last year and earlier this year tightly squared my natal sun at 23 Taurus. Also, Pluto is trining my natal Chiron and Mercury right now. All of these influences have brought to light that I have neglected my emotional needs since childhood with drastic and almost deadly consequences. My natal Ascendant is 14 Capricorn (ambition) and I have an Aries (impulse) stellium (Moon, Mars, Venus, s.node) in the 3rd. What all of this means for me is that my stellium and ascendant have produced such ambition in me with little thought of others, their feelings, or even mine (even though I thought I was considering others, I really wasn’t). On the exact day that Pluto entered Capricorn for the 2nd time, it trined my MC and that was the beginning of the end until this past July solar eclipse. The full moon before the eclipse was at 4 Capricorn (conjunct my Solar Return Ascendant) and on that evening I was in a ditch with only a backpack next to roaring trains and in a town I had no idea I’d be in, all alone I might add). After losing everything from a nice apartment, to people and nice friends, to career to family the list goes on, I finally am at a place to heal and deal with that which I’ve been neglecting (Pluto trine Chiron). I’m seeing a counselor (Chiron), group therapy (Neptune), lots of rest (Neptune), lots of meditation and praying (Neptune) and reading; and starting to learn how to ask for help and to trust (Chiron trine 0 Scorpio MC for 8 months). Once this healing process is over, Neptune will be trining my MC at which time my TRUE dreams (not ego) will be revealed and manifested. I am sure of that. However, Neptune has taken such a toll on me physically, mentally, and emotionally these past few years with its tight ongoing square to my Sun. And when Jupiter and Chiron joined Neptune, they all opposed transiting Venus. I know the exact people that these influences represent (astrology, namely aspects and houses, are so REAL). Neptune started that opposition and then enlisted others. It has shown no mercy, but part of that was my lack of forethought/care (Aries stellium). I can see now that it was trying to tell me that it is not just ME in this world and to not only consider others around me, but to consider that they may want to help. Chiron and Neptune are powerful indeed. What a great article that I can identify with fully at this time. Thank you.
Joey.
Hi Joey,
What a great heartfelt and very deep comment!
Thank you very much for telling your story…it certainly feels like you are absolutely to the depths that Chiron invites. And your wisdom, self-responsibility and graciousness abound throughout your words.
Many blessings on your healing journey..and thank you again for posting..
Mary
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