Lunar Eclipse July 5 and Chiron Return

As promised, the last week was very eventful. The 2nd Jupiter-Pluto conjunction this year has resurrected the issues we dealt with in April when the planet first made contact. In the U.S. the Covid-19 cases returned and even surpassed their levels in April with 40 out of the 50 states reporting a surge. We still have to deal with the last of these conjunction taking place mid November. The drama is not over until the 3rd act. It is enough to scroll through news item to see how the conjunction manifested:

• China enforced the new security rules in Hong Kong.
• Israel is threatening to annex the Jordan Valley.
• Putin declared himself Tsar until 2036 .
• In the U.S. the New York Times exposed the Russian bounty on American soldiers in Afghanistan program. That might just be the iceberg since the story broke between eclipses. 

50 Years Cycle
Last week I came across an article about Professor Peter Turchin from the University of Connecticut, who researches cultural evolution.  In 2010 he published a paper in the journal Nature, where he writes that “America will suffer a period of major social upheaval beginning around 2020.” He said that some people were skeptical because “people did not understand that I was making scientific predictions, not prophecies.” Using computer models Turchin looked into cycles in American history and discovered a pattern, every 50 years the U.S. goes through a period of social unrest.

For thousands of years astrologers were doing the same not with computer models but rather with astrolabes and scrolls. They have identified cycles and traced their correspondence in human behavior. For this reason, one cannot be an astrologer without being fascinated by history. Some people say I am being political in my articles and I should not talk about the news or current event but rather “stick to my craft of astrology.” But I remind them that today’s news is tomorrow’s history and to understand astrological cycles and how they might shape our future we first must be comprehend what they have done in the past as well as how they manifest in the present. 

Astrology was born out of the womb of the goddess Necessity. As we domesticated plants and animals, astrology came to be as a mean to identify and track the seasons. As time passed and astrology became more sophisticated, it started calculating orbits within orbits, conjunctions, oppositions and other geometrical relationships between planets and signs. Borrowing from Ezekiel 1:15 “and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel within a wheel.” Astrology is the chariot, the spacecraft that helps us travel space and time. 

It takes about 29 1/2 years for Saturn to go around the sun therefore, your Saturn return takes place when you are 29 and 58. The moon returns to her spot every 27 days and 8 hours therefore, we have a new moon every 4 weeks etc. Reading the article and the cycle of 50 years identified by Turchin, one heavenly body popped into my mind that coincidentally takes 50 years to travel around the sun. His name is Chiron, the Wounded Healer, the teacher and therapist of the gods and their offspring. Chiron was abandoned by his mother at birth since she was disgusted by his appearance. He was a centaur, a hybrid of a man and a horse. He was adopted by Apollo and Artemis, the twins gods of Sun and Moon and raised into one of the most respected character in Greek myths. In 1977 an asteroid that orbits between Saturn and Uranus  was discovered and named after Chiron, the asteroid that takes half a century to gallop around the sun. 

The etymology of Chiron comes from the Ancient Greek word “hands,” he was the first surgeon. In fact the word for surgery and surgeon comes from the same source: based on Latin chirurgia, from Greek kheirourgia ‘handiwork, surgery’, from kheir ‘hand’ + ergon ‘work’. While it is true that Chiron is associated with healing mental, physical, emotional and spiritual afflictions, he was also a mighty warrior, the mentor of Achilles, Hercules, and Jason, to name a few. This means that Chiron heals but it involves a surgery, a fight, and a struggle. Chiron was also famous for studying and teaching medicine and herbalism, astrology, music, and art, which means that all these are tools for healing. Since Chrion is located between Saturn (tradition) and Uranus (revolution) he is a bridge between the past and the future, the old and the new. 

From 2018 until 2027 Chiron transits in Aries, the sign of liberation, leadership, war, and initiation. Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad are believed to have been Aries, they were all wounded healers, liberating their people but not getting to live long enough to see the fruit of their effort. Chiron is in Aries every 50 years, so all I needed to do is the check to see where he is located in the birth cart of the U.S.  And yes! Chiron was in Aries when the U.S. declared its independence. And indeed every 50 years since then, when Chiron returned to Aries in the 4th house (home and family), there was a major change and an open heart surgery to the country. This means that the U.S. is going through a Chiron Return. No wonder issues of racism, white supremacy, sexual abuse, are all surfacing like never before. Chiron is bringing us in contact with what needs to be healed.  
 
Short History Tour of Chiron in Aries:

1770s

• British Parliament passes Tea Act.
• American Revolutionary War: The United Kingdom’s East India Company tea ships’ cargo are burned at Annapolis, Maryland.
• VOTE: No taxation without representation. 
• Boston tea party incident.
• Rhode Island becomes first colony to prohibit importation of slaves.
• 1st abolitionist society in US organizes in Philadelphia.
• Declaration of Independence and the birth of the United States.
• New Orleans businessman Oliver Pollock creates the “$” symbol.

1820s

• Joseph Smith creates the Mormon Church.
• Liberia, a west Africa country founded by freed American slaves is established. 
• First African American newspaper is founded.
• Democratic Party created.

1870s

• Salves are freed in the South.
• VOTE: 15th Amendment of the Constitution asserting that African American (men) “shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
• 3rd Force Act or the KKK Act, penalties against the KKK.
• Great Sioux Wars.  

Late 1910s and 1920s

• VIRUS: Spanish Flu.
• WWI ends.
• 1919 prohibition laws.
• VOTE:1919 19th Amendment – Women’s right to vote. 
• Indian Citizen Act

Late 1960s early 1970s

• Woodstock and Flower Power Revolution.
• VIRUS: 1968 Flu pandemic.
• Dr Martin Luther king Jr assassinated.
• Summer of Love with student demonstrations all around the globe.
• VOTE: Voting lowered from 21 to 18. 
• Pentagon Papers published by New York Time, same newspaper that investigated the current Russia bounty on American soldiers. 
• Roe versus Wade, abortion is legal.
• Vietnam war ends.  

2018 – 2027

• VIRUS: Covid – 19 Pandemic.
• Black Lives Matter and police reforms.
• VOTE: Vote-by-mail becoming a necessity due to Covid-19. 

As you can see, there are a few trends that repeat. Liberation, freedom, and most repetitive and by default the result of the first two is the right to vote. The U.S. inciting incidence and its drive for independence was the slogan of “No Taxation without Representation” that spread in the colonies throughout the 1770s. After the salves were finally freed, the voting issues turned towards the right for black men to vote and soon after the right for women to be represented. Then came the turn of young adults (from 21 to 18 yo) to vote and now most likely the focus will be in absentee voting and vote by mail that again could increase dramatically the amount of people who could vote. We also see there is a pattern of diseases that caused fever (Aries is associated with fevers and inflammation) manifested as the Spanish Flu, the 1968 Flue and the Covid-19.

Chiron in Aries
I am excited about Chiron in Aries, by the way, disclosure, I am sponsored by Chiron in Aries because I was born when Chiron galloped in the sign of the Ram. I am looking forward to increasing amounts of voters in the coming election, excited about the prospect of a musical revolution (think rock in the 70s and jazz in the roaring 20s and the sexual revolution of the 1820s). However, the surgery (Chiron) can be bloody (Aries). And it is an interesting synchronicity that on this year’s U.S. birthday we have a lunar eclipse, opposite to the fixed star Sirius. It means a time of reckoning. Sirius is located in Canis Major, and is the brightest star in the heavens. A double star, he represents the higher-self of our sun. He sees everything and unveils hidden corruptions. You can expect a great deal of truth coming out the next few weeks. 

In Mundane astrology, that is the astrology of nations, the moon in a country’s chart represents the people. A lunar eclipse in the U.S. chart means sickness on all levels being exposed in order for it to heal. No wonder the U.S. is experiencing a worse surge of Covid-19 than it did in April and why the E.U. and other countries are blocking Americans from visiting. But since this is happening under the watchful eye of Chiron, mentor to heroes, we will prevail and will have a chance in the next 6 months to fix our physical as well as mental and spiritual wounds. 

Chron’s Story
Chiron, in the Greek Mythology, was fatally wounded by a wound made from an incurable poison. He was immortal thus destined to feel the pain and side effects of the affliction forever. Being who he was, he offered to take the place of Prometheus, the benevolent titan that gave us fire and was punished for it by Zeus. Chiron agreed to replace Prometheus and be chained on the rock having an eagle eat his liver during the day only to see it regenerate at night. However, the gods and goddess were touched by his sacrifice and instead transformed him into a spirit and he became a constellation. If one thinks of the Western myth of the sacrificial lamb, a baby Aries, if you like, and the combination of Chiron’s sacrifice, we see a repetitive story, a chorus in this song of symbols. Sacrifice. In Hebrew it is called Korban, which has the same root as the word “closeness or vicinity.” A true sacrifice brings us closer to oneness and that is what we need now. For everyone to make a sacrifice, an offering. Just like Chiron replaced Prometheus, we too must step into the shoes of others, replace our needs with their’s, see life through different lens. For if not, alas, the wrath of Mars, the ruler of Aries, the god of war, will be upon us all. Especially when he passes on top of Chiron middle of July and when he retrogrades Sep 9 – Nov 14. 

happy eclipse!
gahl