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Extraordinary Times
We live in extraordinary times. I call them Outerplanetary Times, marked by the discovery in
1977 of a new outer planet, Chiron. Chiron is trans-Saturnian. It acts like any other outer planet
with a similar level of impact.
Chirons discovery heralded a helping hand for human consciousness. (Hand is what the chir in
Chiron means. I love that someone whose birth name is Hand introduced me to this fact. As
Barbara Hand Clow declared in her book title, Chiron is the Rainbow Bridge Between the Inner
and Outer Planets. [1] In its orbit between Saturn and Uranus, Chiron signifies transitions and the
process of evolution, both as individuals and as a collective. The rainbow refers to the seven
colors of our invisible energy centers or chakras. Evolution at the personal level takes place in the
etheric or energy body. As the kundalini life force rises, it causes amplification of energy. As we
grow, we literally get a "tune Up." We vibrate on a higher frequency. The goal, ultimately, is to be
on the same frequency with All That Iswhy people have chanted Om for millennia. Chirons
discovery, complemented by other major planetary alignments in the years since, kicked off a
major evolutionary cycle in human consciousness.
Chirons transitional role is marked further by a common thread in its mythology and astronomy.
For years, astronomers could not definitively classify Chiron as either a comet or a small planet
(asteroid/planetoid). They kept changing their minds. Eventually, Chiron was determined to be
both. Like the mythical centaur after which it was named, Chiron the planet was half-comet and
half-asteroid. This dual nature parallels mythical Chirons makeup as half-man and half-horse.
During the what-is-it period, some of us used the composite term cometoid. Ultimately, the
American Astronomical Union came up with a new classification for Chiron and objects like it. The
AAU called them centaurs in mythical Chirons honor. (I call Chiron a planet when speaking of it in
generic terms, since planet means wanderer.)
Astronomers subsequently discovered that Chiron is the first of perhaps thousands of similar
centaurs beyond Neptune, previously unknown to us, thus the need for a completely new class of
planetary objects. Clearly, Chiron became the precursor of what was beyond our grasp and
astronomical knowledge at the time of its discovery. Chiron gave us a glimmer of deeper space,
literally and metaphorically, in terms of our own capacity for inner growth and evolution.
Prophets like Nostradamus and Edgar Cayce foretold that the cusp of the Third Millennium would
be a major turning point. Since the outer planets are traditionally linked with major cultural shifts,
understanding the planets beyond Saturn has never been more important. As a huge hint of the
important role Chiron would play in these turning-point times, there was an exact conjunction of
Chiron and Pluto at the Turn of the Millennium. Symbols of pain, healing, death, and rebirth
merged like conjoined twins at 11+ Sagittarius on January 1, 2000. The conjunction took place on
the Sabian symbol for 12 Sag: A flag turns into an eagle, the eagle into a chanticleer
saluting the dawn.
After much study of this Sabian, I feel the flag refers to our traditional allegiances to country and
intimates, those people were willing to fight to defend. The eagle is known for its larger view, its
ability to see the big picture from high up. The eagle expands the scope of our loyalty to all
humanity. The chanticleer is a kind of medieval rooster whose loud cry heralds a new day. This
Sabian and the powerful pair of Pluto and Chiron on it portended a new and larger perspective,
the evolving Oneness consciousness. (For more on this planetary pair and their similarities, read
Chiron and Pluto: The Comet Brothers)
Most recently in 2010 Pluto and Uranus have aligned in a T-square including Saturn. And outside
the T-, Chiron and Neptune have been traveling as a pair, essentially making all the outer planets
and their ambassador Chiron prominent in the sky shouting, Change!)
For the past several decades, there has been one agendarapid evolution. Chiron was
discovered, and we became aware of it, when the time was ripe for us to see the personal
influence of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, the outer planets for which Chiron is a go-between.
Chiron came to our consciousness to give us the heads-up on how the outer planets will change
us at a cellular level to become, quite literally, a new species. This is why I call Chiron the
harbinger of homo improvement. The improvement were called to make is to mirror Chirons
composite natureto merge our intellect and instincts, which Chirons human and horse halves
respectively symbolize.
Saturn is a heavy energy, and, therefore, represents dense substances, like the Earth and the
physical body. If Chiron is the Bridge to the Beyond and its discovery heralded our readiness for
change, the Neptune/Uranus conjunctions of the early 1990s further signaled the time for a
quantum leap in consciousness, as the Earthbound crossed the Bridge to new dimensions.
While Neptune and Uranus were in Capricorn (1988-95), we were preparing for this change of
consciousness in our institutions and day-to-day reality. When the Saturn/Pluto square
overlapped during this period, added to Chirons decade-long dance of opposition with Saturn,
this brought all the trans-Saturnian planets into some form of dialogue with Saturn, Capricorn, or
Scorpio. Symbolically, structural transfiguration was being set up on a grand scale. When
everything familiar is yanked out from underneath us (the economy, the American dream, the
family as weve known it, old encrusted forms of government, the patriarchal health care
Extraordinary People
I finally realized "why I am the way I am" and the source of my own complexity the day I got the
implications of having a close square between each of the outer planets and my Big Three: Pluto
square Ascendant, Neptune square Moon, and Uranus square Sun. Add to the configuration
Chirons sextile to my Moon and square to Pluto. In astrological circles, I am hardly alone with
this type of contact with outer space. More likely than not, if you are reading this article, you
have intimate natal chart contacts with these planets. We are what I call outerplanetary people.
We channel change.
Not long after my own epiphany about the outer planets, I heard a woman with Uranus conjunct
Ascendant say that the outer planets were personal to her. She couldn't understand her Sun,
Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars until she studied Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. This makes sense,
for people with these planets prominent are the ambassadors for the collective to these exotic
places. (They go where others dare not tread.) Outerplanetary people are the ones who directly
experience and take Chiron, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto personally. They are not only in constant
change, unlike their normal change-resistant counterparts; they are also messengers, running
ahead to get information. People with strong outerplanetary emphasis bring news from the fringe,
back to the rest of the community. They also hold out their hand to others as they cross from Old
to New over the deep abyss of the Unknown.
Being outerplanetary is not an easy job (it's lonely out-front), but someone has to do it. The good
news for OPP types: Our time has come and our lifes purpose is to act now on the knowledge we
have gained by constantly interacting with tomorrow. If we do, we will literally change the world.
My sense of humor revolves around word play. For years, Ive was unable to resist calling myself
and others who share a powerful and close relationship with the outer planets PUN people
(Plutonian, Uranian, and Neptunian). Once I got into Chiron, outerplanetary people became
PUNCs with both a healing and healer dimension. Considering how Saturnian fogeys often criticize
young punks with their far-out ideas, and the PUNC pun has always seemed perfect to me.
Of course, evolutionary consciousness can happen for anyone who is one outer planet prominent,
but my observation is that the PUNCspeople with close aspects to them allare hanging off the
leading edge out on a limb.
PUNCs have the strong accent on change and an assignment to catalyze it.
Any close aspect to Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto could mean a tendency to sense the tide of the
times. I am sure that trines, sextiles, and minor aspects "count," but the tension of squares, the
awareness (like it or not) of oppositions, and the sometimes overwhelming power of a conjunction
between the inner planets and the outers tend to produce the most extreme cases.
What's it like to live on the edge when the whole world's on edge and on the brink of change?
Just what are we precursor types to homo improvement supposed to be doing to ease these
transitional times and offer that helping hand?
The Best of the Outer Planets: What We Can Learn and Share About Them?
Since Chiron, by its astronomical position, is a bridge between the inner and outer planets, lets
start on the Bridgeand come back to it later, in the concluding article in this seriesfull circle.
As I share what Ive learned from channeling the outer planets, I will focus on what Ive found to
be their most positive expression, while contrasting the pluses to the pitfalls, the pits being the
part most of us know very well.
ChironMentor, Wounded Healer, and a New Astrology
Many people stay stuck in the wounded healer dimension of the Chiron mythas stuck as
Chiron was by his wound itself. We forget that Chiron had a big job he continued to perform and
take seriously, after and in spite of his lingering wound. Chiron was an astrologer who mentored
countless heroes, among them Jason, Hercules, and Asclepius. His students included some of the
strongest, most talented, and most altruistic human beings in Greek mythology.
We can reasonably assume that Chiron knew how to accomplish the formidable task of turning his
young punks into heroes (presumably most of them came to him as adolescents) by casting
their charts and creating the equivalent of individual development plans. As a mentor, Chiron is
known for his well-rounded educationeverything from the martial arts and warrior training to
the fine arts, including music. (He mesmerized others by playing the kithara, an early lyre that is
the predecessor to the guitar.) [3] In the gamut between the more Martian and Venusian
pursuits, clearly encompassing the full range of what we consider yin and yang or masculine and
feminine, the right dose of teaching had to match the talents and interests of each wound-be
hero. The right blend of training was customized to round them out as individuals.
One implication to us as human beings and astrologers is that we are to mentor the hero, within
others and ourselves. Heroism is not a selfish role, although heroes obviously become heroes
doing what they love and do best. My definition:
A hero is someone who acts unselfishly from his or her Higher Self in urgent circumstances.
Today, everything is urgent. Time is running out to heal our ecological crisis. The New American
Heritage Dictionary defines mentor as a wise and trusted counselor or teacher. Our job is to bring
out the best in people. Here are some examples of how to do it and how not to do it.
Positive Chiron: This person gives to the collective (helps others) despite his or her own pain.
By being vulnerable and serving others despite lingering wounds, the Chironic individual
demonstrates, by example, that healing comes first from acknowledging pain and offering up to
the community both the suffering and the learning that comes from it.
This is one meaning of Chirons offer in the myth to trade places with Prometheus, who
represents Uranus or the collective. Without being egocentric or an emotional exhibitionist, the
most positive expression of Chiron is to admit openly to being a work in progress and to help
others on their own quest for self-fulfillment. They say the best teachers are just a few steps
ahead of their students in their learning. Positive Chiron represents the epitome of this
nonhierarchical way of helping others. In her book, Chiron and the Healing Journey, Melanie
Reinhart conveys the concept that a shaman is not a really a shaman unless the community
accepts that s/he has gone to the underworld and survived. [4] Unless a Chironic healer, the
modern-day version of a tribal shaman archetype, can overtly convey to others having been
there, he or she will not be well accepted in this role. This also has to be done in a way that
doesnt focus too much on the personal drama of the astrologer or healer, taking the spotlight off
the clients concerns. Chironic astrologers recognize this healing, process-oriented, eye-to-eye,
mentoring style of helping others.
Chironic astrologers realize that astrology is simply a head-trip unless intuition and practical
application is part of their practice. Chart reading is customized and in the moment with the real
person behind the chart.
The Chironic astrologer not only empowers but also offers tools and teachings, so that in any of
lifes emergencies, the skills to handle them have been fostered. Finally, this breed of astrologer
has little ego. S/he thinks of him/ herself more as a midwife than an authority (a position that
slips so easily into know-it-all). This astrologer knows s/hes as much a learner as a teacher in a
privileged positionsharing anothers intimate struggles with being successfully human. By their
very nature, astrology consultations give entre to a tremendous amount of intimacy. The
Chironic astrologer handles this emotional intimacy as gently as tenderly as his or her first time
with a new lover.
Negative Chiron. Gail Fairfield does a wonderful job of describing the other side of Chiron in her
book, Choice Centered Astrology. [5] She says Chiron likes to fix things and people, and negative
Chiron fixes people and things that arent really broken. For negative Chiron, the need to fix-it is
so strong; they create dramas or dilemmas to keep themselves in the repair business. Negative
Chiron applies Band-Aids or administers major surgery, often without permission and/or welcome.
(If you are a positive Chiron type now, you can probably remember a time in your life when it felt
like your phone number was 911.)
Perhaps better named, not just for political correctness but also for leaving a metaphysical
opening for improvement, evolving Chiron stays stuck in woundedness and woe is me to the
point of near nausea. Those around him start avoiding himor they just dont call her anymore.
There is another important cue for spotting a negative use of Chiron in the anti-hero. This person
can assemble a group of misfits and put them up to no good, like the militia movement or other
anti-social heroes. (In the 90s, both Timothy McVeigh, accused in the Oklahoma City bombing,
and David Koresh, leader of the Branch Davidians, had prominent Chirons.)
Synthesis: On balance, the greatest thing we can hope to achieve as astrologers is to give our
clients a different perspective on their lives, a Chironic key phrase, and to help them learn how to
express and clear feelings rather then suppress them, since the latter can lead to pain, illness,
and disempowerment.
Chiron teaches us to go on despite our pain, to keep working on healing it, and ultimately, to
realize that a certain measure of pain goes with the territory of bringing our spirits into a body.
To be human is to run the full gamut of experience that Chiron tapped when mentoring his
students. We have to expect a little pain mixed in with pleasure here.
It takes all the heroism and guts we can muster to deal with the emotional trauma of bringing our
spirit into this dense dimension and living here, with all the ongoing challenges of our hybrid
lives, carrying our soul in body.
Imagine the loss of freedom (to float around, for one thing) and why freeing Prometheus Bound is
a key part of the Chiron story. Chiron was relieved from his immortality and got to die and go
back to pure spirit only after this altruistic act. The Chiron for Prometheus exchange implies that
as long as we are here, we must serve humanity, for Prometheus/Uranus represents society, the
collective or the tribe. This is the price we pay to come to a place where we can grow so fully. (If
you can be spiritual on Earth, you can be spiritual anywhere.) We can learn to release paina
glorious goalbut to eliminate it completely is incongruous with being human, which is to feel.
Feeling badly is the appropriate reaction to many things that happen here on Earth, especially
lately.
When we cant do something, when we are the most immobilized, we say, I just dont feel like
it. Doing it, whatever it is, doesnt feel good. Often, the blockage is from old feelings never
released that the current event activatesour Chironic wound. Unless we learn the technique of
releasing emotions and emotional blockages, we are as stuck as Chiron was by that arrow and
just as helpless, short of dying, to do anything about it.
On the other hand, when were willing to let that helpless part of us die, to offer our pain and
suffering to others for what we can all learn from it, the gods are impressed. We are released.
Then we get our first glimmer that the door Chirons skeleton key glyph opens is the home away
from Home.
Om sweet Om.
Uranians Spread Stolen Fire with Their Fingers
1992 2010 by Joyce Mason
All Rights Reserved
The reality is that the Gods no longer control the sacred firewe control it, now, as shown by
Prometheus. It is simply power, and what we do with it will determine our fate. [1]
Barbara Hand Clow
Astrology is Prometheus fire. [2] We carry the torch now. So now what?
In Part 1, we explored the unique role of evolutionary pioneerspeople who have the outer
planets prominent. (That means one or moreand especially all of the outer planetsin close
aspect to personal planets and/or placed near the angles.) [3] We started with Chiron, the
bridge between the inner and outer planets; now well stop to explore Uranus. Of all the outerto-inner planetary contacts that make a person astrologically unusual, those to Uranus often
keep an individual the most committed to the process of inner growth and spreading their
enlightenment outward to the world. (If the end result were not freedom and heaven on earth
two of the choicest gifts of Uranuswhy bother?)
What on earth it does it mean to carry a torch for the collective? For starters, just what that
expression impliesto be in love people in generalto look to group needs, and paradoxically,
individual freedom.
Its not really such a convoluted concept. Uranus rules Aquarius, by modern rulershipbut
Saturn is its traditional ruler. Before Chiron was on hand to
planets, positioned between them, there was already a dual flame heating up the Promethean
torch. (Prometheus was bound to be free.) Puns aside, there is no freedom (Uranus) without
restriction (Saturn), or what is there to be free from?
intertwined. They do an endless dance, like light and dark. Each is meaningless without the
other.
Freedom within societyor any quality, for that matterexists only to the degree that it exists
for the least of our brethren. Police, ruled by Saturn, must uphold the law, the foundation for
all freedom. When basic rights and equal treatment are legislated, then society is free, at least in
theory, if not always in practice. This is a simple demonstration of the relationship between
microcosm and macrocosm and the fact that we live in ecosystems, where the actions or
restrictions of one individual affect everyone else.
The Age of Aquarius and Chirons Perihelion: The Uranians Time Has Come
The Age of Pisces is giving way to the Age of Aquarius. The controversy is still raging about just
when this earth-shaking change will take place, if it hasnt already. Because astrology is ruled by
Uranus, we need to know, love, and use Uranian energy with great reverence, for as Barbara
Clow states so well, it is power; and how we handle it will determine our future. As astrologers,
we are in a position to access that power on behalf of others. We must do it with the highest code
of ethics or reap the karmic consequences.
This was no accident: As Uranus finally moved forward into its home sign of
month retrograde on January 12, 1996, the Internet was catching fire at breakneck speed,
doubling annually, showing signs of growing faster than the system could handle. [4] Now a
couple of Saturn cycles later, can any outerplanetary person or proper PUNC [5] imagine how
they lived without it?
What could be more Uranian than an electronic forum where people can network with the whole
world without a formal hierarchy? This is the Promethean fire at our fingertips. The Information
Revolution promises to have more impact than the last major paradigm shift, the Industrial
Revolution.
The
Uranians time has come, and s/he touches the power to change the world every time s/he
strokes the keyboard.
Heres where Chiron comes in. As the go-between Saturn and the outer planets, Uranus being
the first, the one it figuratively touches on one side of the bridge, there is a close relationship
between Chiron and Uranus. Before Chiron, the extremes of Saturn/Uranus were without an
archetype to blend or mitigate them. Since Chiron, we have a hot pad to handle the Uranian fire
to absorb its intensity, so its not too hot to handle. It is also no accident that less than a month
after Uranus went forward into Aquarius came Chirons perihelion on Valentines Day 1996. The
events were not only momentous in the cycle of each planet, but their proximity tells us of an
important relationship between these energies at this turning point in history.
While we have long held Uranus as the ruler of astrology, I believe Chiron rules the astrologer,
just as it does the Tarot reader. [6] The astrologer is the Chironic bridge, the go-between the
Uranian wisdom, insight, and brilliance and the Saturn (Earth)-bound being in the counseling
room. Chiron is the lead planet, the synthesizer, of the intense energies lived daily by all
outerplanetary people. In one way or another, these extraordinary people channel change.
The close proximity of the Uranus ingress into Aquarius and Chirons perihelion has incredible
implications on how we do astrology from now on. Chiron rules channeling and those who channel
information through their physical vehicle, particularly through their hands. The root of Cheiron
(ancient spelling), cheir, means hand. Astrologers have always worked with their hands.
Before computers, we drew charts by hand and interacted with them in a very tactile way before
meeting the client behind the chart. We still do, but now, the primary tool is very Uranianour
computers. (I do charts with a program called Solar Fire. If the Uranian information is the fire
and the power, think of the metaphor for personal empowerment at the heart of this well-named
software! [7] I believe rather than requiring hand-drawn charts in their testing procedures (at
least the skill comes in handy during power outages!), schools and organizations that certify
astrologers should assess computer literacy. To refuse to recognize the composite strength of our
hands (Chiron) and electronics (Uranus) is to remain in the Astrological Dark Ages. Its to
relinquish our power and potentialworse yet; its to refuse being a conduit to the cosmic energy
and information flow. Fortunately, the role of electronics in astrology has been more fully
embraced now, compared to when I wrote the original version of this article. Still, theres still
room for growth. Id vote for increased educational opportunities for the everyday astrologer to
make the best choices and use of the astrology software that fits his or her needs for touching
and transmitting the Uranian fire.
dramatic resolution of the storyPrometheus Unbound. It was Chiron who traded places with
Prometheus, who was chained to a rock for stealing fire from the gods. Chiron put poor
Prometheus out of his misery, whose liver was pecked out nightly by an eagle and grew back
daily for an indeterminate sentence of suffering. As a reward for his act, Chiron was released
from his immortality, died, and was raised to the heavens in a constellation. [8] This was a winwin solution. Chiron and Prometheus were both miserable, and Chirons trade released them both
from pain and suffering.
Chiron, then, is the keythe shape of its glyph, actually a skeleton key, the kind of key that
opens all doors.
progress, and win-win solutions. This is whats behind Door #1, the amazing door we have
opened in these Years before and after the Millennial Shift.
If Chiron represents the astrologer, how do we figuratively trade places with Prometheus and
get to Heaven?
professionally.)
(You are an astrologer whenever you use the fire, either personally or
The secret is in the Potholder
Chirons mentoring skills. Chiron was a composite being and he suggests compound solutions.
The following discussion of the extremes of Uranian expression pivots on tempering Uranus with
Chiron and focuses on Uranus in todays world where information is power.
Some astrologers say Uranus is the higher octave of Mercury. Yet, there is a low-down way of
conveying Uranian information. The delivery is Fire with Ice. The style is bolts of so-called
wisdom given without the context of the persons life experienceor delivered without personal
warmth and openness to the full range of possibility.
There are thousands, maybe millions of ways any astrological metaphor can play out in a persons
life. Although the meanings are related, there is no way short of becoming God to know which
one belongs to a given individual at a specific time. If we didif life were 100% predictable
wed not only be stealing peoples fire, but taking away the magic in their lives. Astrology is both
a science and an art, and when we err on the side of science, we steal their fire and peoples
most precious giftfreedom to choosewhat we Uranians are supposed to be all about. Oddly,
this is one of those areas where the other extreme Saturncan slip in. Its authoritarian
astrology.
Astrologers are linguists who translate celestial metaphors. Not only can sky poems lose in the
translation; they are also highly archetypal with multilayered meanings like dreams. We must
check ourselves constantly for the Sin of Pronouncementpresuming to have the ultimate
interpretation of the image. The exaggerated scenario: A cloud hangs over the client, darkening,
and with a bolt of Uranian lightning, the astrologer declares, Saturn is in your 1st house. You
might start to feel your age or lack self-confidence. These are possibilities, but some others are a
time when the client restructures an ailing self-image; a period she lays new foundations for the
way she interfaces with the world; or becomes her own authority for the first time in her life.
I dont believe we should give overly Neptunian, upbeat and glossy readings with no regard for
the possible hurdles in any given transit or natal configuration. But it is unconscionable to wield
such power without showing the client at least some representative examples of the universe of
possibilities. Talking in ranges of meanings helps, then asking, Which of these seems to be
happeningor has happened most for you? Put the client in the drivers seat. (Whose life is it,
anyway?) Let him or her tell you his or her experience with this Pluto Square or that Venus
conjunction. You are together to dialogue about action and archetypes in the Play of Life. You are
not a critic. (Critics talk about how they interpret a playwhat they get out of it. Whats more
important here is what the client gets out of it or could get out of it with a broader perspective
the astrologer can hopefully offer.)
Granted, this approach makes you less of a guru and more of a guide. Back to Outerplanetary
(Extraordinary) People, Part 1: You are Chiron mentoring this hero and freeing the Uranian fire to
be expressed in its full potential. The penalty for ignoring this most basic tenet of conscious
practice for keepers of the Uranian fire is the self-fulfilling prophecy. You put the idea in your
clients mind that he or she is doomed in some way, and s/he lives to tell you about it. This is
scary stuffmind rape at its worst. The power we yield is the life force itself, and we must treat
it with extreme respect. Prepare people to deal with challenges, but better to err on the side of
the potential positive outcomes than the other way around. Then your worse self-fulfilling
prophecy will be a happy ending. The first rule of mentoring people toward all they can be is to
cheer them on toward making a home run or a touchdownor finishing the race first, choose
your favorite sports metaphor.
The hardest part of avoiding negative Uranus is constant self-vigilance. After all, channeling
lightning bolts of information from the sky, we sound omniscientsometimes even to ourselves.
For many people, all this goes without saying, but knowing the ideal and living it are often two
different things. When you see eight out of ten Saturn transits to the 1st House expressing in a
variety of difficult ways, it is easy to emphasize the trend and not the tremendous variables,
including the positive possibilities. (Besides, its shorter and easier, and you only have an hour or
so.)
If we are truly to mentor clients to fulfill themselves, they need a lot more than the negative
implications of an astrological energy. They need to know the most positive expression they are
aiming for. This also goes for ourselves as when were acting as astrologers to ourselves.
The positive expression of Uranus is the flip side of the previous discussion, where an individuals
freedom and potential are at the heart of applying astrological information.
It is astrology
reached via Chiron, the bridge between Saturn and Uranus. Chiron was discovered at a time
when we were ready to shift to a more humanistic astrology, championed by Dane Rudhyar and
others.
Chirons naming for the mythical, wise centaur suggests a composite approach where the parts of
the centaur merge: head (the human half) and instincts (the horse half). The practical application
of this merger is an intuitive astrology. We sense how astrological metaphors work for people and
share data from both heart and head, admitting we dont always get our signals right, even if
openness and humility combine to make us on target more often than not. We rely on the clients
experience as the ultimate authority. This is astrology from a fallible mentor, one who is not yet
completely healed him- or herself, like Chiron.
It is the astrologers humanity combined with wisdom (having been there) that makes him or her
so believable and helpful. If one expression of Uranus involves erratic blasts of enlightenment,
we also need Chirons earthiness to ground the charge. As already hinted, this astrology is,
above all, practical. It uses the Uranian talent for networking to refer people to all sorts of
resourcesacupuncturists, psychologists, past life regressionistsand so on. The astrologer who
expresses Uranus positively isnt into competition, but rather lives by cooperation. S/he knows
theres more than enough work to go around, and s/he knows that each actualized individual
increases the quality of his or her community. S/he supports other astrologers and practitioners
of the helping arts and is willing to contribute to the collective by writing, speaking, referring, and
generally making a good impression for astrology in the world.
The Internet is distributed by nature . . . no single entity is in control, and its pieces run
themselves, cooperating to form the network of networks that is the Internet. [9]
--Robert Orenstein
The Internet is the most Uranian thing on Earth. All you need is a computer and an e-mail
address, and you can write directly to anyone, anywhere in the world, from the powers-that-be to
unknown new friends who share a common interest who find you on a bulletin board or social
networking site. The Internet has expanded my world beyond description. It would be easier to
say where The Radical Virgo blog does not have readers (Greenland, China and much of Africa,
but just about everywhere else!). I have cyber friends all over the globe and often wake up with a
message from Australia, where its already tomorrow. How leading edge is that?
Astrology magazines and organizations have joined the Information Revolution communicating
with their readers and members online in the form of web sites, blogs, and e-mail marketing.
There are hundreds of astrology bloggers, and we talk amongst ourselves constantly on
Facebook and Twitter. The day I was updating this article, I was invited to an astrology bloggers
group on Facebook.
This is our opportunity to spread the freedom fire all over the world and personal empowerment
we have gained through astrology. There is no time like the present for putting our best foot
(fingers?) forward and hot-wiring our knowledge and integrity to the global communications
highway. How we do astrology is no longer strictly private. Word has never gotten around
faster!
Our time has come, and the tool is here to make astrology so accessible, in a few years, the
Astrological Report could be on CNN with planetary positions cited just like atmospheric conditions
in the Weather Report. (Can you envision it on the scrolling text at the bottom of the screen?
Glyphs and positions?) As much as we complain about Sun sign columns not being real
astrology, thanks to them, nearly everyone on Earth knows his or her Sun sign and some basic
key words about it. Imagine something a million times more powerful than the old newspaper
horoscope column, accessible by the touch of a finger all over the world and growing rapidly. My
latest vision is a cable network that runs astrology classes, talk shows, astro-drama and astrocomedy 24/7. If youre a Jeff Dunham fan, imagine a ventriloquist with 12 puppets representing
the signs and their interactions. The Sesame Street puppets did so much to teach kids; why not
use them to teach astrology to the inner kid in newcomers to the subject?
In this series, I emphasize that outerplanetary types have been groomed to lead global change.
It is up to each one of us to join the Revolution, tempered by Chiron to be Rapid Evolution
(slightly less scary). We need to jump in whatever way we can, and to make sure that someday
soon, astrology magazines, websites and TV shows will be read and understood by the general
public. Imagine this material as faithfully watched and read as your neighbor checks his
horoscope in the paper.
And by the way, wed better hurry up. Newspapers are going the way of the dinosaur, as are
paper books. Amazon sold more e-books than hardbacks for the first time this year! Its predicted
that e-books will outsell paperbacks, too, by years end. Start putting those program proposals
together for TZN, The Zodiac Network.
Your link to Chiron is your compassionate kindness, but you retain the shadow of the wild
centaurs. You want ecstatic unity, but unfortunately, you can be sucked into undertow of
Neptunes murky waters. Neptune, Pisces ruler, also can lure you into substances and addictions
that go with his realm: alcohol, drugs, sex, and a desire to avoid lifes harsher realities. Your
wound may come from an overly spiritual upbringing where you had ecstatic, mystical
experiences that were a bit advanced for your tender years and neurological system. Wounds
could be caused by parents, siblings, or other family members with bad boundariesinvading
your personal space (privacy) or your physical space (incest).
When Chiron is in Pisces, expect the issue of setting healthy boundaries to be up big time. My
Boundaries 101 post was also excerpted on Donna Cunninghams Sky Writer,where tips from the
trenches and depth insights on the subject are still being shared. Visit these posts, especially the
comments, for more on this issue. Look for a Boundaries 102 follow-up post in the near future.
Boundary issues light up the part of the Chiron myth where the wild centaurs think anything and
everybody is theirs for the takingand somehow, you have been taken. In my article, High Signs
3: Living on the Upside of the Zodiac, I talk about the sign of Pisces need for devotion and a
willingness to come back from the ecstatic state to bring the Oneness experienced down to earth
for others to share. When you are willing to be that rainbow bridge, you have mastered the Fish
swimming in opposite directions. You see yourself coming and going!
To bring heaven to earth in this ecstatic way, Chiron in Pisces make great musicians, speaking
the universal language that unites the world. You can be a dancer whose movements teach others
the path to ecstasy, a gifted psychic, or a poet. If it involves bringing that sense of bliss to earth,
its for you. Spiritual leadership, artistic talent, facility with dreams and other tools of
psychological exploration are other possible vocations. Chiron in Pisces knows the heaven side of
bringing heaven to earth. You know your gifts are solid when you begin, figuratively, to buy
round-trip tickets from earth to sky and back.
History Lessons
I reviewed the headlines for the last Chiron in Pisces cycle, year by year, and the themes were
stunning. They include racial integration in society and musicsuddenly, white people singing and
listening to traditionally black musicand the integration of other polarities, such as male/female
in the feminist movement. Racial integration and feminism both came of age during the 60s.
Heres a Chiron in Pisces giggle: Beach and surf music also dominated, a tribute to the Fish water
sign! Another amusing, Chironic if not Piscean symbol: The Ford Mustang was the most popular
car of the era, merging a drivers wits and top half with a horse-named vehicle underneath. The
Mustang allowed people in the 60s to become a sort of modern centaur, half-human and halfmechanical horse. Since mustangs are wild horses, even the wild centaurs of Chirons mythology
are represented in the eras favorite choice of wheels. I consider the American love of Mustangs
to be a precursor of the centaur planets discovery in the next decade.
Because of Chirons connection to health, healingand the fact that surgeon was one of his many
talents, I wanted to know what happened in the area of health and medicine. Health care was the
fastest growing industry and became more business-like as it grew. [5] By 1969, the average net
profit of a medical practitioner was $32,000 or four times the net income of the average worker.
One of the most revolutionary changes under Chiron in Pisces was the initiation of the Medicare
and Medicaid programs under President Lyndon B. Johnson. These programs routinely extended
good medical care to the poor and elderly for the first time in historycertainly in keeping with
the compassionate side of Pisces and Chiron as healer. On the downside, Medicare ended up
costing far more than even the most conservative planners ever imagined, a price thats still
climbingand were still wondering how well keep paying as baby boomers come of retirement
age, flooding the system with new recipients.
To hit just a few more highlights in Chirons realm of health and healing:
Implantation surgery was revolutionized with the first human liver and lung transplants in 1963.
The first heart transplant followed in 1964, using a chimpanzee heart while awaiting a more
suitable donor. While these early patients did not fare well, their surgeries were the beginning of
the commonplace organ transplants of today. (I cant imagine anything more Piscean than organ
donation, to merge a part of ones self into another literally. The recipient also becomes a
Chironic, composite being.)
In 1964, the Surgeon General first warned the public of the dangers of smoking.
Women were afforded unprecedented reproductive and sexual choices as the pill and IUD
became readily available.
As more drugs became widely available to combat a variety of diseases, rigorous FDA testing
began to prove some of those drugs to be unsafe, such as thalidomide, a morning sickness
medication that caused widespread birth defects. (Chiron was the original mythical being born
with a birth defect as a horse/man.)
The biggest, Chironic headline of all in the health care field? In the 1960s, interest in alternative
forms of health care strengthened, and it has continued ever since. [6] (Mythical Chiron was a
surgeon who used herbs and other natural methods, the original practitioner of complementary
medicine.)
Last time Chiron was in Pisces, compassion and the good of all were reflected in providing major
medical services to the elderly and the monitoring health care impacts on the public.
Black and White, Male and Female
In Wholeness and the Inner Marriage, I discuss the concept that astrological Chiron is about the
psychological integration of all polarities within us. Racial injustice is still a painful reality to many
Afro-Americans, but the dichotomy of black versus white touches everyone at an archetypal level.
Racial integration is the outer expression of the inner integration we need to make with our own
shadows and the things inside us that seem to be at odds with one another. These are the
opposing parts of us that seem, at first, too different for us to come to terms with them. The
feminist revolution pits male and female in the same way, and we all have the recessive opposite
gender inside us, the anima or animus, begging to be blended into a balanced wholeness.
The cultural shifts that occurred during Chiron in Pisces in the 1960s punctuate the role of Pisces
as the consummate sign in the cycle of twelve, the place where it all comes together. Chiron in
Pisces is the part of the cycle where we see our oneness with the Otherboth inner (our
disparate parts of Self) and outer (people different from us).
According to the opening quote by Stephen Levine, that which is unhealed is held in judgment
and fear. Nothing could be truer historically about white societys attitude toward blacks or other
people of color; and mens fear about women claiming their own power. Even the animus
(recessive male) in some women cringed at the Womens Movement. I remember a street-smart
mom of a friend who was a feminist before there was a word for it. She was a single mother who
made her way in a mans world. She thought womens lib was for the birds. Go figure. Still,
we are fortunate to see how far we have come while not denying the distance we have yet to go:
an Afro-American President (with a prominent Chiron who is actually half-black and half-white),
three women Secretaries of State (including one black woman) and most recently our first Oscarwinning woman producer. The sign of Pisces rules film, so I couldnt exclude this category,
especially given how much film influences our culture.
Barack Obama, with his prominent Chiron in Pisces in the 1st House, will experience his Chiron
Return in 2011-2012 with exact hits on May 21, June 25, and February 26. I suspect well learn
much about the archetype of Chiron and Chiron in Pisces as the leader of the free world
experiences this major midlife transit in plain public view. Ill be watching those turning-point
dates for both personal and political changes experienced by President Chiron.
Whats the Outlook? Chiron in Pisces, 2010-19
From my typing fingers to Gods ear: I hope we see more integrationracial, political,
sociological, and culturaland individual. Most of all, I hope we see the rebirth of integrity as a
paramount virtue. The words integration and integrity are interrelated.
When we are fully integratedwhen weve come to terms with the different parts of Self and no
longer judge or fear themwe are a person of integrity. We act from this whole self. What we
believe and do is one in the same.
The United States of America has not been in integrity regarding race relations, women, gays,
financial and medical equalityjust to name a few realms of society that have major gaps
between what we say we stand for and what we do. Reflecting on our Constitution and the ideals
of all men are created equal and the so-called guarantee of the pursuit of happiness, I have
sometimes wondered what country the Founding Fathers were talking about.
Even at those times I have been most depressed about how far we have to go, I am still
encouraged by our progress toward racial and gender integration made since the pivotal decade
of the 1960s. The USA is hardly the only wounded society on the face of the earth when it comes
to these things; yet, we have more resources and know-how than most to do something about
them.
A concept thats truly Chiron in Pisces is the fact that the whole is equal to the sum of its parts.
We are each other. That cosmic soup where Chiron in Pisces is so comfortable is the answer to
the dilemma. Some say the synergy created among people is greater than the sum of its parts.
Heal one and you heal the wholeand then some. If it spills across the globe, what a legacy.
Mend your own hurts, find your own missing parts, and your special gifts only you can giveyour
vocation. The resultant you in integrity is the beginning of a society thats the same. I call it a
divine domino effect.
Be the best, most unified you. Youll know just what to do to make a difference over this decade
while Chiron in Pisces sensitizes us, once more, to the issues of integration, integrityand our
obligation to love and care for one another.
boundary 101
his post is timely, now that both Jupiter and the Sun are in Pisces, the sign ruled by Neptune. The
subject of this post isnt just boundaries, a topic most Neptunians need to learn more about; its
about boundaries and humor (Jupiter).
I have the blessing/curse of a strong Neptune. If you have several planets in Pisces, the 12th
house, or numerous aspects to Neptunecome to my class! While I relish my intuitive abilities,
artistic eye, and think compassion is one of my best characteristics, theres the downside.
At times in my life, I really knew how to spell victim (J-o-y-c-e). Since I also have a fairly large
dose of Pluto, you can only imagine the high drama that was my daily fare until I matured enough
to handle this astrological load.
All Dreams Are Neptunian But This One Takes the Fog
Recently I had a dream that almost made my hair stand on end. Without going into all the gory
details, heres the short version.
I was given the bums rush by a man I met at my dads dentist office. Mr. Rush followed us
home and was acting too familiar with me from the moment he crossed the thresholdwhere I
would have stopped him in waking life. After 24 hours of being charmed, I was alarmed when he
crossed my invisible line--blatantly. I told him, Too much, too fast, too soon. There was much
more to it, including a later scene where I learned he had a hidden identity. He was not what he
seemed at all, and he was stalking me. In the finale, he made an actual attempt to harm me
physically. He set me up by fogging my house with dry ice, like people do when theyre making
a Halloween spook house. I ran to the nearest (I thought) safe place where he was lying in wait,
weapon in hand.
Although it ended well (my brother arrived, ran to call the police, and I knew Id be saved), this
dream scared me into a review of where I stand with boundary issues.
In all honesty, I can only give myself a C+/B-. Ive gotten much better with chronic offenders and
their behavior I usually let go on too long without calling them on crossing the line. My tolerance
time is shorter, and Im more attuned to things not feeling right. When I state my boundaries
clearly and people continue to cross them, I sever the relationship. It takes too much life force to
fight energy theft which goes on under the table, when the other person is either in denial or
oblivious to the transaction. These encounters remind me of a line from The Desiderata: Avoid
loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
Aggression is not always loud. It is sometimes quiet and so subtle, it slips all notice until you are
in a state of advanced vexation. I do not deserve to be vexed by people who bite my neck and
suck my energy. Neither do you.
Close Encounters of the Icky Kind
The same morning I woke up with this dream, I had a close encounter of the negative Neptunian
kind, although it was a much milder one compared to my dramatic dream. These are one-act
plays in real life. Im still trying to figure out the best way to handle them.
It happened at the grocery store. The bag clerk was a young woman who made some teasing
remarks that didnt sit right with me. I didnt think her banter was funny. Anyone who has ever
encountered a bully knows that teasing can be cruel. It is only sweet if done with great affection,
care, and knowledge of the recipient.
Teasing humor is only appropriate between intimates. To kid somebody without hurting them,
you have to know their buttons, touch them, but love them enough not to push.
I didnt know this kid in the grocery store from Adam. I figure, to allow entre for that kind of
ribbing, I should at least know her name. She could have tromped all over my buttons and left
me bloody. On an energetic level, I felt like Id just been slimed.
When the older checkout clerk picked up that her sidekicks remarks didnt land well, she said,
Shes just messin with ya.
Whatever, I said, not sweetly.
In the best possible way, the older, wiser one tried to intervene.
Intervention should have not been necessary. This young womans mother, sister, teacher
someone should have taught her that certain kinds of humor are not for strangers you just met in
the grocery store. Or am I being too Virgo/ hypersensitive? I dont think any regular reader of
this blog would question that I have a sense of humor.
One of the ironies in this encounter is that I did not hear completely what the young woman said
to me, but I definitely got the vibe. The older womans comment that her workmate was messin
with me confirmed that my radar was working even if the noise level blurred some of the
particulars. Im relieved that Ive stopped doubting my intuition in these instances. I cant count
the times in the past I have been fogged and convinced myself it was just me. Later, after
unwitting participation in prolonged, anguished, and underground game-playing, Id discover that
Id read the situation clearly in the first place. I just buried the truth in self-doubt.
I find the assumption of instant intimacy to be very passive-aggressive. There used to be a
euphemism for unwanted sexual advancesgetting too familiar. Presumed intimacy, whether
sexual or psychic, feels like a violation.
Theres a woman I encounter regularly who got off on the wrong foot with me by this kind of
joking from the first day I met her. I watch her do it to others and wince. I can barely stand to be
around her and avoid her like the plague. She also does the other thing I cant abide that I
consider so passive-aggressive. She tells on you. If theres something you do that annoys her,
shell be sure to announce it with thinly veiled sarcastic humor, only when she has an audience.
Of course, she can always claimand usually does, that she was just kidding.
Apparently you dont know how to kid properly. We arent both laughing. ~Ellen DeGeneres
Lets Hear Your Tips on Busting Negative Neptune
I am really at a loss how to deal with some of these folks. Do I have to be willing to make a
scene? Be snotty, that thing my Mom couldnt stand in me when I was a mouthy kid who didnt
know any better? The possibility of being utterly honest reminds me of a tagline for a long
defunct Sacramento-area weekly newspaper.
Tell the truth and shame the devil. ~ Slogan, Suttertown News
Maybe I just have to state my truth politely. If bad feelings follow, join the party. I already feel
bad! I hate to risk a confrontation in the grocery store or at a meeting. Is there a more elegant
way? Is it worth the potential discomfort with a stranger or mere acquaintance?
In the same way I dont know some of these women well enough for their teasing humor; I
wonder if I know them well enough to tell them how much their behavior offends me. If I did,
would it fall on deaf ears and cost me a large, worrying energy expenditure that would, once
again, leave me feeling sucked dry?
Living in integrity is not as easy as it sounds. Neither is living with a chunk of chalk where you
have to keep drawing your line, especially in the nebulous, intuitive, energy realms.
Neptunian types, by our very nature, are more open at subtle energy levels and draw
inappropriate advances. For our own mental health, we simply have to learn how to identify and
deflect them.
A coda to the story: Before I took offense to the bag clerk, we had a conversation about my
bring-along bags and how the insulated one was great for all frozen foods or those that need
refrigeration. After I had drawn my line, she put all those kinds of items in the flimsiest, noninsulated bag I had brought. I laughed internally but chose not to react. More accurately, I was
rolling my eyes to myself but refused take the bait. If only I had been quick enough on the
uptake to do that the first timeor had heard that great line by Ellen DeGeneres before, instead
of after this encounter. Ellen showed me yet another optionfight Jupiter with Jupiter, "humor"
with humor.
The Radical Virgo knows theres no right answer on this one, but she welcomes a conversation
in the Comments about how you handle boundaries and interactions that go too far into your
psychic space without permission. Together, we can create the classand with our synergy,
maybe well come up with some classy solutions.
major
test
for
all
things
Saturnian:
part-2
A Planetary Picture
When we look at this astrologically, we can see the
seeming contradictions clearly. The generation of
the anti-war protesters was made up of a
constituency of people born with Pluto in Leo
(1939 to 1957). Pluto in any given sign can bestow
as many of the attributes of that sign as does the
Sun, Rising Sign or Moon, only it affects millions
of people over a full generation or more, and can,
at least in part, define a period in history. And it
does so in a Plutonian way: with obsession, and a
subconscious drive, and what you might call
evolutionary urgency. Pluto in Leo people have a
reputation for being able to take care of
themselves. But, bless them, not much else, though
consistent with cats there have been some devoted
parents in the lot. But man, these people get
divorced like they had a subscription.
Pluto in Leo is also known as the Baby Boom;
with the war over, sperm and money began to
flow. The years in which these folks were born and
bred were pretty wild, and the hysteria of the era is
summed up nicely in a film called The Atomic
Caf. They were raised, simply, in a time when the
end of the world was said to be imminent. There
was a "Cold War," America and the USSR were
both hoping to be number one (and it was going to
be one or the other, damn it), and little kids were
practicing hiding under school desks in honor of
their parents' generation's lust for supremacy and
outrageous paranoia. We put Ethel and Julius
Rosenberg in the electric chair and felt good about
it. We "took care of #1," as my surrogate father
Barry used to say.
Many of these kids grew up and became some
shade of Hippie, Yippie or Freak.
When the Sixties came around, the planetary
emphasis had shifted to Virgo and, increasingly, to
Pisces as well. Together, these two signs have a
very different feeling, and different social themes,
than does Leo. First of all, they take us beyond
there
has
been
significant,
successful
could
buy
homeopathic
remedies
in
could
buy
homeopathic
remedies
in
An Overview of Chiron
By Eric Francis
for
healing,
transformation,
service,
discovery
after
Pluto
in
1930.
creative
eruptions
and
cultural
of
Munich,
provides
the
name
and
astronomers
are
working
research
findings
of
astrologers
as
psychologist,
her
compassion
as
comprehensive
published,
Jeffrey
book
on
Wolf
Green's
Pluto
was
Pluto:
to
scientific
and
psychological
immortal,
Chiron
was
mortally
what
is
often
not-so-happy
what
is
often
not-so-happy
selective
observations
and
intuitive
the
current
models
of
medicine
and
cosmos,
both
internally
(the
in
court).
Without
Saturn
functioning
less
wholesome
and
most
common
less
wholesome
and
most
common
delusion,
Unfortunately,
the
deception
sprit
we
and
denial.
call
alcohol
nutrition
and
nurturing
one
another.
Finally, in 1930, we have the outermost
conventional planet, Pluto, discovered at the
Lowell Observatory in the United States. My
Zimmerman mythology dictionary tells me that
Pluto is, "The Greek name for the king of hell, or
for hell itself; his other names are Ades, Aides,
Aidoneus, Hades and Pluton." It's clear that this
was hardly an inviting or tempting energy for
astrologers to want to dabble in casually. And,
and
relationships,
often
in
some
there
are
nearly
two-dozen
planets
Illustration, "GenEx
Star," artist unknown.
I started with a question: "What was
going on when you were about ten
months old?" Perhaps this seems like a
strange question for a career reading.
Here is the story she told.
At that time, Orca was a toddler and
could not walk on two feet but could
amble along the wall using her hands.
She was the first child and was home
alone with her mother. One day, Orca
smelled some blueberry muffins baking
in the oven. She wanted a muffin, so
she toddled along the wall toward the
oven and, arriving there, pressed her
hands against it. Her hands burned
visible scarring.
I had asked her about that time in her
life because she has Chiron retrograde
in the 6th house, five degrees from the
7th-house cusp. When she was ten
months old, Chiron crossed the 7thhouse angle, and that seemed
interesting and possibly important; I
was guided to ask about this mainly by
my curiosity, which is intuitive. This
transit had turned out to be a lifeshaping event, a miracle that she
would remember and acknowledge all
her days.
Had I not asked Orca this question,
our experience of working together
would have been rather different.
The Charting of Experience
Even if two people had the same chart,
we know that they would still
experience the same astrology in
significantly different ways. Using the
chart to ask questions and then
engaging in an active listening process
gives both the astrologer and the client
clues about the particular way the
client is experiencing and expressing
the energy of their astrology -- but
without the prejudice of telling the
client who they are or what they were
supposed to have experienced. This
allows clients to be themselves and to
open up, enabling them to actively
develop trust in the process, because
they are being heard.
This process gives the astrologer a
chance to see how the theoretical and
static device of the natal chart works
when you add the energy dynamics of
moving time, real-life circumstances,
and apparent destiny. It affords an
opportunity to plot the trajectory of an
individual's lifetime. Most important, it
establishes a situation where the
astrologer does not have to make
speculative statements about a client's
life based only on their chart. Rather,
the important information comes from
the client's history, ideas, and
is
associated
with
body
with
the
hands;