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Chiron Wants to Speak

6.7.09

Chiron, the 'wounded healer' planetoid, presently stands in close conjunction to both Jupiter and Neptune. He has a few things to add to the conversation.

We've already spoken once so far about 2009's Jupiter-Neptune conjunction in Aquarius, an aspect with the potential to fuel great collective hope, in terms of what we might accomplish by uniting our group efforts behind common goals.

On the flipside of this coin, it also holds the power to gloss over our problems with idealistic imaginings, inspiring us to grin and bear our pains… perhaps in solidarity with those who have it worse than we, or maybe because we're too busy high-mindedly conceptualizing future solutions to feel the present discontent all the way into our bones.

Chiron, presently in the same degree of Aquarius as both Jupiter and Neptune, plays another integral part in this aspect, turning it into a close-orbed triple conjunction.

I have been personally sparing in my usage and mention of Chiron, a body with an eccentric orbit bridging Saturn and Uranus, first discovered in 1977. I tend to take a 'keep it simple' approach to astrology, not typically including points beyond the traditional modern planets we all learned in grade-school (Pluto debate notwithstanding), mainly because I find all these additional asteroids, dwarf planets or what-not impair my ability to provide clear meaningful interpretations. (That's not to say there aren't many other astrologers who draw wonderful results from using these points… or that I might not change my tune at some later time.) When I do expand my cast of celestial characters, however, Chiron is number-one on my list. That choice is based primarily on the synchronistic sense I get of its importance, based upon it being more commonly adopted by my astro-peers than any other 'extra' points.

Chiron's growing popularity suggests to me that the archetype it represents is something we as a community desperately desire to address. Chiron, a great centaur in Greek mythology, sacrificed his own immortality to save Prometheus and thus bring fire to humanity. Like the arrow wound on the centaur's thigh which never heals, the astrological Chiron symbolizes that which we consider eternally flawed… a categorization which, due to its disavowal of a certain part of ourselves ('this over here is BAD!'), keeps the wound in a perpetually festering state. However, once we realize we are always already perfect as we are, wound and all, we integrate this disavowed piece back into the wholeness of ourselves—and, in the 'sacrifice' of unashamedly owning and accepting our flaw, it becomes a powerful tool of healing through lived example. Chiron, as such, has often been associated with holistic healing among other qualities.

Chiron, in conjunction with Jupiter and Neptune in Aquarius, speaks:

Our social institutions are wounded. Wherever we go, we see people in need… and we see institutions whose official spokespeople, cloaked in the safe velvet of bureaucratic red-tape, look outward at those in need with little or no emotional connection. They are not people, but numbers in columns. Those not personally affected (this week at least) rock comfortably in their padded desk chairs, dictating crafted statements for their secretaries to type up, essentially opening their hands for the continuance of more corporate loophole tax dollars, at the same time slicing apart public services ("down with socialism!"), essentially snubbing their noses at the collective pain crying out in their faces. "Can't you do something? Can't you please help us?"

Where is the baseline, heartfelt, in-your-body compassion for all this suffering?

From my vantage point, I witness my regional lawmakers threatening to cut off the citizens' basic rights to enjoy a healthy holistic connection with our environment, the beautiful state of California. When Californian voters did not agree to give our overpaid and undereager politicians more leeway to fuck with our budget, our governor threatened to close most of the state parks. Who are you, governor or anyone else in office, to think you have the right to shutter the coastline, the deserts and meadows and redwoods. Will you spend the money we do not have to erect fences around our mother Nature? Will you arrest us for bathing in the Pacific? These things do not belong to you, and you will be overthrown by a higher force, dare you forget that, arrogant humans.

The health-insurance company has raised my rate (for the second time this year!) by 20%, then has the audacity to write in their marketing materials that I should focus on 'preventive care' to decrease my medical costs. Well, I tried to do that. But you made me pay for my recent panel of bloodwork (healthy on every count) out of my own pocket since such screenings aren't covered by my already enormous out-of-pocket monthly expense. How the hell am I supposed to prevent things? Why am I being punished because your business model is faulty?

Chiron says: When I see suffering, I do what I can. I draw attention to that which has historically made me feel weak, disadvantaged, handicapped, incomplete. Only a chorus of voices of individual 'injured misfits' comprises a wave of inspiration. No one ought to be ashamed of embracing that which most concerns us about our own holistic well-being.

Barry: I am angry that I, a law-abiding and taxpaying member of society, am receiving less and less from the disintegrating terms of the social contract while I dole out more and more. Every agreement I'm essentially forced to sign contains small print that exempts me from most possible benefits. I'm treated like a criminal at the airport, then charged five bucks to use a crappy pillow on the two-hour flight. Checking luggage is no longer included. Bloodwork is extra. You'd better pay your taxes on time, but when we run out of money, we'll just issue you an IOU. By the way, your interest rate will quadruple three months from now. Your account will be cancelled without notification. The warranty doesn't cover damage to the following parts: the top, the bottom, the insides in-between, the LED screen. Certain exceptions may—and most likely will—apply. Thank you for using Robotic Customer Service Corporation International. Your call is important to us, which is why we will record it for security purposes. Press '1' to talk to another recording of a person who doesn't give a crap about you.

Chiron, however, is not angry. He sees this anger as an opportunity for us to speak out about our own heartbreak at the breakdown of this social contract. He dares us to engage the person who just cut us off in line, due to their self-absorption, with kindness. 'Please consider how your actions affect me, and I will consider you.' If we could stop seeing other people as impediments to our own self-possessed notions of 'progress' and start asking them how we can all make progress together, there would suddenly cease to be so many impediments in our path. The very obstacles standing in our way would be the very sources of connection with other humans who will stand with us, once they have been given the due respect and time to get to us know us and our concerns, and for us to get to know them.

Alongside Jupiter and Neptune, Chiron symbolizes mercy. Can we grant ourselves the mercy we wish others to hold for us? Are we willing to say, loudly and proudly, we are doing the best we can… and because the larger forces do seem stacked us against us, to some degree, that our best, frightfully, doesn't seem to be quite good enough right now? That we need mercy from above, from next to us, from the pits of our stomachs and out through our heart chakras, before we start yelling at another stranger?

These are amazing times in which to be alive, thanks to innumerable opportunities to connect with souls from all over this globe with nothing more than the glowing box and its wire-optional link to this world wide web of oneness. They are also thanklessly complicated, asking us (if we so choose) to stay on the pulse of a million different details all at once… to hold the space of career and family and home and friends and love and wishes and creative hope all at the same time, and dare we drop a single plate while trying to clear the table of today's heavy load, the bank will show up to collect its usury-level interest on our innocent mistake. No wonder we all silently sob at the pervasive injustice. We probably ought to be sobbing.