Healing, Selfless Service and the September Full Moon Eclipse

The full moon eclipse coming up at 1:05 p.m. on Friday, September 16th, 2016 is at 24 degrees Pisces, on the Pisces/Virgo axis, and conjunct the planet Chiron.

This eclipse is the culmination of several cycles, one of which being that we have just finished almost a year of Neptune in his own sign of Pisces being challenged by Saturn in Sagittarius.  Saturn, the teacher and taskmaster, in the sign of truth and honesty and philosophy, has repeatedly demanded Neptune put his money where his daydream is and get his head out of the clouds and down to earth. Get real.

Now we have the full moon eclipse in Neptune's sign of Pisces. The sun shines its light of consciousness from practical Virgo onto the moon and Chiron who will be sitting together in the waters of Pisces.  

The Virgo/Pisces axis can be described as "selfless service".  Pisces is a water sign associated with emotions and spirit.  Pisces is compassionate and wants to help the underdog and save everyone but can lose its boundaries.  Pisces is quick to give itself up for others but then might develop a martyr complex. Virgo is the earth sign opposite Pisces.  Virgo is about service, routine, organization, focus and tending to the details.  Ultimately, we would strive to balance these energies in our lives to achieve "selfless service".  

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We ideally arrive at a place where being of service to others doesn't mean losing our boundaries of self or becoming a martyr.  When the plane is going down, we know we need to put on our oxygen mask before we can help others with theirs or we won't be of any good to anyone.  We don't hand our mask to someone else and then complain that we can't breathe. We don't lose ourselves in preoccupation with why we are having to put on the mask in the first place, wondering "why me?".

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This eclipse will highlight this theme in our lives, and with the moon, our emotions and subconscious, being soothed in the healing waters of Pisces, as it is warmed by the sun in practical (or critical?) Virgo, its time to heal some wounds.

The presence of Chiron with the moon in Pisces emphasizes this theme.

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The Myth of Chiron

Chiron is known as "the wounded healer".  His placement in our natal chart in astrology points to the place of this wounding we each carry.  

This association is illustrated by his myth.  Kronos (Saturn) was pursuing the nymph Philyra.  She changed into a horse to outrun him and he changed into a horse and caught her.  Hence Chiron was born a centaur, half man and half horse (Sagittarius).  Although he was half animal, because of his father, he was immortal. Because of the circumstances, he was abandoned by his mother, and neither did he know his father.  

Chiron is adopted by Apollo who teaches him, and Chiron then becomes a teacher.  He teaches Hercules.  When Hercules returns from slaying the Hydra, the bottle of Dionysus' wine is opened for him and a fight erupts, and Chiron is accidentally shot in the leg by Hercules with an arrow that has the poisonous blood of Hydra on it.  The animal part of him now bears "the wound he cannot heal" yet he is immortal so must suffer endlessly.  He isolates himself in a cave to live out the rest of his days.

But Hercules finds him and tells him of Prometheus.  Prometheus had stolen fire from the gods to give man intelligence.  He was sentenced by Zeus to being chained to a rock while a vulture feasted on his liver.  Chiron agrees to sacrifice himself in Prometheus' place for humanity.  After nine days, Zeus decides to place Chiron in the heavens in the constellation of Sagittarius, and so through his sacrifice he is liberated from his suffering.

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What does all of this have to do with this eclipse, or any of us for that matter?

Chiron's story is one of wounding and the process of becoming free of that initial wound.  

Not only was Chiron the product of a violent, abusive act, he was abandoned by both parents.  He was betrayed by the two people we expect in life to be able to trust.  If there is abandonment perceived by the psyche of a child, what type of beliefs then typically develop?  "I'm not wanted", "I'm not good enough", "I'm not enough", "I'm not lovable", "I'm not deserving", "I'm wrong"...and the list goes on.  These are the telltale slogans of the Chironic wounds we carry. 

Chiron was portrayed as part divine and part beast, portraying the the duality of ego and higher self that dwells in all of us.

He was redeemed by adoption, but then he was shot (accidentally) by Hercules, whom he trusted - another betrayal that then triggered the initial wound.

Now our healer is faced with a wound that not even he can heal. Because he never addressed the initial wound, the shadow now completely takes over and he isolates himself.  Because he still carries those negative beliefs he took on as a result of the initial wounding, he has abandoned himself. He is now at the mercy of his own shadows.  

Then Hercules shows up.  Chiron, in torment anyway, agrees to Hercules' proposition to take the place of Prometheus and help mankind.  But with this selfless sacrifice, he actually transcends and finds his freedom.

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Selfless Service and the Wounded Healer

And now we see how the Pisces/Virgo theme of "selfless service" and Chiron's myth of "the wounded healer" are intertwined on this full moon eclipse.

Chiron's placement in our natal chart tells us the nature of that initial wounding we each carry and points the way to healing it.  (There are other clues as well.)  At some point in life we may become conscious of it on our own, because of life experiences, or through therapy or all of the above.  The Chiron/Saturn elements in a natal chart describe this type of initial core wounding that causes us to take on negative beliefs about self and then create those circumstances time and time again until we can step out of the role of victim and into the role of creator and change the belief and break the pattern.  

Saturn challenges us to take back our power.  Chiron shows us that once we have done this, we can help others who have similar wounds and be of service to humanity.