Chiron and the Aries New Moon: Emerging from the Chrysalis

Art by Stephanie Law

The big deal this week is the new moon at 4 degrees Aries conjunct asteroid Chiron, the wounded healer, occurring in the predawn hours of Tuesday, March 24th.

Aries is a sign of self, assertion, protection, leadership, motivation, pioneering, and even anger, rage, and war.  Aries is also the first sign of the zodiac and the sign of new beginnings - it is the sign of spring - the energy that is embodied by all those determined green shoots pushing up through the dark soil to feel the warm sunlight for the first time in their existence.  

Chiron is an asteroid named after a Centaur in Greek mythology who was a healer, taught by Apollo himself, with unparalleled knowledge of herbs and plant remedies.  He was not only a healer, but a teacher, and well versed in the arts as well.  Chiron still, being a Centaur, was half animal.  His story goes that he was wounded by a stray arrow during a battle he was not actually fighting in, and that arrow struck him in the animal part of his body.  With all of his knowledge and skills, despite his great reputation as a healer and teacher, Chiron could never heal his own wound, and endured endless pain. 

But that was the second of Chiron's wounds - the physical one, the tangible one.  There was actually a deeper wound that Chiron sustained early on in life.  Chiron's father was the god Kronos (the Greek version of the Roman Saturn) and his mother was a nymph named Philyra.  As in many Greek myths, there is an underlying theme here of lust and sexual assault/abuse/rape.  Kronos pursued Philyra and she attempted to escape by turning herself into a mare, but it wasn't quite soon enough.  The result was giving birth to Chiron, a centaur, who was half immortal and half horse.  Kronos had already abandoned the pregnant Philyra, but upon seeing that she has given birth to a centaur, half human and half animal, she rejects and abandons the newborn in disgust.  Chiron is later adopted and raised by Apollo, the reason he becomes such an enlightened and masterful healer and teacher.  

Unable to find any relief from his pain (and at this point in the story, we see how in this myth as in life the second wounding is the catalyst that reopens the first and then the pain is compounded) Chiron retreats to a cave to remain forever in isolation, until he learns of the fate of Prometheus.  Prometheus is being punished by Zeus for giving the fire of the gods (knowledge) to mortals until an immortal voluntarily takes his place.  Prometheus is chained to a rock and every day a giant eagle comes and eats his liver and every night it grows back so he can endure the same suffering day after day.  Chiron, having surrendered to a fate of endless suffering already, volunteers to take the place of Prometheus, and in so doing, he finally can find relief in death (as an immortal with the god Kronos as his father, he endured the pain of a wound that would not heal, yet would never die) and is placed in the sky as the constellation Centaurus.  

Besides depicting the archetype of the shaman and wounded healer, the myth of Chiron speaks to the surrender and grace in living with that part of us that is wounded, that is only human, and also about knowledge and enlightenment - stealing the fire of the gods.  

Chiron, as an asteroid, orbits between Saturn and Uranus.  Saturn (Kronos) is the last planet visible to the human eye and known as a planet of the third dimension, time, limits, and boundaries.  Uranus, the first planet discovered with technology, is a planet of the fourth dimension, of the future, of innovation, of out-of-the-blue insight, and of liberation.  Chiron has been referred to in astrology as "the rainbow bridge" - the pathway of healing between Saturn and Uranus - between the inner and outer planets.  

With the Aries new moon conjunct Chiron, we are stepping into embodying the Aries energy of determination and fortitude - the energy of those bright green shoots of spring life thrusting for their first taste of the sun's warming rays.  They have only known the darkness of the soil as they prepared for this moment, much like the caterpillar while in its cocoon cannot know how or when it will break from the chrysalis or what that will feel like - but it will.  If we are in the transformation from caterpillars to butterflies, we cannot know what being a butterfly and gliding through the air on delicate wings will feel like, but would we trust in the safety of our cocoons and the process or spend the entire time in terror?

Chiron's orbit bridges Saturn, the last of the inner planets and planets of traditional astrology, with Uranus, the first of the outer planets and the first planet discovered with technology.  Saturn is the traditional ruler of both Capricorn and Aquarius.  Once Uranus was discovered, it became the modern ruler of Aquarius. 

At the time of this Aries new moon we have Chiron in play, with Saturn freshly out of Capricorn and into Aquarius, and Mars, ruler of Aries finishing in Capricorn (actually at the same degree of the Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn that was on January 12th) and about to head into Aquarius on the 30th, and promptly run into Saturn for a briefing on the 31st.  

~Kasey

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Taken from the Know to Flow Weekly Forecast for Consciously Creating Life, Vol. 50:  March 23rd - March 29th, 2020.  To receive this weekly newsletter, subscribe below.