by Robert Wilkinson
Yes, Chiron just went stationary retrograde, and Mars will conjunct it July 14, just as the Sun opposes Jupiter and Pluto! This implies that whatever awareness we come to between July 13 and July 16 will have a huge healing/mentoring quality related to the ability to see things and images from the past in a new light with new meaning.
As Chiron is not merely “the wandering, wounded healer” but also the first, best mentor and teacher we could ever have, it helps us to “heal into our Higher Self” by mastering whatever lessons of science, philosophy, logic, healing, and yes, astrology we are offered. As Mars is conjunct Chiron on its RX station, it implies that the next two years we’ll heal by learning how to take the initiative in healing ourselves or mentoring others in our own unique way.
Remember, Aries can only do what it does in its own way. As the first sign, it literally is inspired motion itself, moving on its own initiative toward whatever Light and/or heat it feels will bring the seed life to the surface, where it may acquire substance in Taurus. Chiron in Aries is healing and mentoring us in Aries ways; with Mars in its home sign of Aries conjuncting Chiron, it’s “flame on” to our healing, our learning, our teaching, and our journey from suffering in our woundedness to being a Master of breaking the link between the pain of life and the suffering of the lower ego.
At this point, Chiron begins its retrograde review of a span of degrees it’s occupied since mid-March. It will RX back to 5 Aries through December, when it will go stationary direct. That means we got our first look at 5-10 Aries between then and now, and will get our “look back” at the same emotional, social, and cultural span of the desire to differentiate through the end of the year.
It first occupied 5-6 Aries between late April and mid-September 2019. That period “primed the pump” for the Chironic healing energies we’re dealing with in 2020, which was activated by Spring transits and now enters an entirely new phase, since this Mars conjunct Chiron takes place on a degree marking Chiron’s “threshold of the future.”
The Sabian Symbol for Chiron’s Retrograde Station and Mars Conjunction
This retrograde station falls at 10 Aries. While I've given you a sense of this degree up to now, this is where we go into depth.
The symbol for 10 Aries is “A man teaching new forms for old symbols.” According to Rudhyar’s notes from the Marc Jones class, this degree is one of “Deep understanding, beyond normal means,” “abstract seership, integrating the inner and the outer,” and “interpretive gift.”
In The Astrological Mandala he states this degree is one of “revision of attitude at the beginning of a new cycle of experience,” involving “the problem of focusing one’s energies upon emotional drives and cultural values which exclude far more than they include.” This symbol is where we “reformulate at a new level much that had been taken for granted because it indeed originally had been an evolutionary necessity.”
He continues by stating “the very concrete emotional-arousing images of the past can now be reinterpreted as ‘symbols’ with a wider scope of meaning.” He says this is a stage where “a new dimension of consciousness is discovered, revealing higher possibilities of experience and mental development,” and is a stage of Abstraction. This symbol is said to be in the Span of Realization, Act of Differentiation, and the last degree of the Emotional-Cultural level of the Scene of Desire.
Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this degree symbolizes ”the continuous and necessary rectification of understanding through direct and everyday experience,” where “every factor of inner realization” is brought into “immediate and personal significance.” He states “here the wisdom of the race is revivified and made available for all through its recurrent and continual validation in human affairs.”
He continues that here many are served by those who can dramatize “each special phase of a total reality.” He offers us the keyword of INTERPRETATION, and states that when this degree works positively, it is “an exceptional capacity for putting every part of an individual’s heritage to work.” We are told it’s “manipulating, critical, original, specializing, and social-inspired.”
So we enter a time of reviewing how these qualities have mentored us, or helped us heal in recent months, getting a different angle of understanding these as active qualities we need to apply in our “attack on the problems of life” (Mars). It may be that some of us will heal by a taking a fearless stand on some basic principle requiring honesty and straightforward dealings.
So the next two years we will heal and be mentored by interpreting much of our past to give it new meaning through understanding it on a symbolic level. Open to unique ways to interpret what was and is, and revise your attitude away from past experience and move into new allegiances and BE the Light of the new identity revealing itself since 2013-2014 when Uranus danced on this degree.
Chiron In Aries Will Dominate the Decade
The cycle created by this Mars/Chiron cycle will last through their next conjunction at 16 Aries in June 2022. This begins a much larger Mars/Chiron dance at this time in history.
The last time they conjuncted, it was at 29 Pisces in late December 2018. That’s a degree of things “coming apart” at the end of cycles, and it’s easy to see how many things have ended in our world in 2019 and the first half of 2020. This conjunction initiates a long term Aries healing influence.
The 10 Aries themes will last through late May 2024, when the next Mars-Chiron conjunction will fall at 23 Aries. That influence lasts through their next conjunct at 29 Aries in May 2026. That means Aries is the way to heal for many years to come!
So Why Are Things So Edgy?
Mars always activates whatever it touches, as it is said to be “the exciting Intelligence.” Right now we have Mercury going stationary direct, square both Mars and Chiron, creating a powerful force to accomplish many things, as long as we are practical in our approach.
Even though there’s a Mercury square Mars and Chiron going on, this can yield extraordinarily beneficial effects if we know how to use Mercury in Cancer to express the powerful new “healing beginnings” marked by Mars conjunct Chiron. Whether through braking, turning corners, or releasing potential energies, I can’t see a square to Chiron being a bad thing.
It also implies we’ll have to invoke good early Cancer and early Libra energy to keep everything integrated and balanced. When provoked, plan your action with an eye to balance and self-protection. Be fair, be just in your proportional responses, and remember a soldier’s greatest weapon in the field is their shield, not their sword!
If You Want To Know More About Chiron
Chiron is a greater force within us than most understand. It is truly that part of us which mentors our personality traits so we can become integrated personalities expressing the Love, Wisdom, and Intelligence of our Higher Self. This article is a fairly good exploration of Chiron’s traits and powers, so please take a look if you want to know more about this amazing power within you to become more than you have ever dreamed of!
Chiron, the Wandering Wounded Healer and Metaphysician Guiding Our Hero's Journey
For more about Chiron in Aries specifically, I wrote this in April 2018 when Chiron first entered Aries. In it I gave you some personal anecdotes for what happened in my life the last time Chiron was in Aries, so if you’re interested in that take on this position, please revisit Chiron in Aries
© Copyright 2020 Robert Wilkinson
Thank you so much for this article. I was drinking every word of it like the finest nectar.
I've been on a spiritual path for some time, but felt lately a little bit lost. This morning I woke up (no pun intended) and had a powerful revelation. Everything became very clear. I could see the connections. Mars is currently activating important parts of my chart, conjuncting Nadir right now. I was expecting a tough week but as you said the Mercury square seems very benevolent.
Posted by: Mar | July 14, 2020 at 11:57 AM
Hi Mar - You're most welcome. The thing about our Path is that it is endless, winds through both familiar and unfamiliar realms, and sometimes we lose our bearings. That can be a good thing, since it means our rational mind is unexpectedly outside its references. Waking up to a revelation means something's been cooking in your subconscious mind for a while, and it finally bubbled up to the surface.
Yes, when we see connections we see patterns. Then we can choose what to say "yes" to, and what to say "no" to, which ways to go and which ways not to go. Mercury square Mars can be benevolent, if we know how to manage the expression of those energies as they apply in our lives.
Posted by: Robert | July 16, 2020 at 08:49 AM