Puget Sound in late January. © Pat Paquette, 2011.

Chiron is peculiar celestial body, a planetoid in a class of objects discovered in the 1970s that eventually were called “centaurs.” In the beginning, no one knew what they were. Sometimes they behaved like comets, other times they were more like asteroids. Thus the name of the mythological half-man, half-horse.

In Greek mythology, Chiron became a powerful healer as a result of his tortured past. Astrologers often refer to him as the Wounded Healer and, as far as we’re concerned, it’s no coincidence that alternative medicine began to blossom in the West right around the time of his discovery.

Chiron also is special in that he has an erratic orbit. At his closest to the Sun, he is just inside the orbit of Saturn. At his farthest, he orbits just beyond Uranus. His path is highly symbolic, as he travels between the last of the planets visible on earth and the first of the outer planets that can’t be seen without a telescope. He is therefore seen as a sort of “bridge” between the known and the unknown, what can be seen and what is hidden. Astronomers believe he may have originated in the Kuiper Belt, a region beyond Neptune.

Chiron ventured into Pisces last spring, then went retrograde and returned to Aquarius in July. When he returns to Pisces this Tuesday, he’ll remain there until February 2019.

In many ways, Chiron in Pisces won’t be new. I say that because he has been tracking for the past several years with Neptune, the planetary ruler of Pisces. I see Chiron’s movement into Pisces territory as the next step in the collective healing begun under the Neptune-Chiron conjunction, about which I have written quite a bit.

Neptune and Pisces are associated with the deep psyche, the collective unconscious, and the mind of God. Like Cancer and Scorpio, Pisces is a water sign, but it has no “container.” There are no boundaries. It is where illusions of separateness disappear and we become one with the All, manifest and unmanifest. As a result, we’re in vague and constantly shifting territory – if you can even call it that. It defies description and can only be sensed through feelings and images. Of course, that’s what makes it such a dangerous place, and it’s why many people lose their sanity if they hang out there too long.

The last time Chiron was in Pisces, from 1960 to 1969, a whole generation turned on, tuned in, and dropped out. For many, using psychedelic drugs brought about a level of awareness they might never have achieved without the pharmacological aid. Of course, they many had bad trips, too.

This time around, we’ll be able to reach those levels of awareness without the use of drugs. It’s likely we’ll see the rise of new forms of psychic and spiritual healing that bring about deep shifts in awareness, allowing us to integrate the parts of ourselves that we’ve closed off. These processes can be painful. Like Pluto, Chiron represents releasing and healing, but first you have to dig into the old wounds and dredge up a lot of messy feelings.

Then, perhaps new techniques in the next ten years will find a way to circumvent these difficult processes and heal instantly. Sounds kind of far-fetched, but why not? In the beginning, few believed alternative medicine would work, either. Perhaps these new spiritual healing techniques even will replace psychiatry and an over-reliance on psychoactive drugs.

Maybe we’ll also see new generations of drugs that are gentler and don’t have so many unwanted side effects. That could end up being a double-edged sword, however. Once Neptune enters Pisces next year, we will be in murky psycho-spiritual territory where it’s difficult to tell the difference between reality and illusion. Mass escapism through drugs and other addictions may become too tempting to resist. Rather than waking up, many people may tune out completely.

Whatever comes to pass, we are on a crash course in healing, and Chiron in Pisces is a major indicator that human consciousness is about to play a part once again in socio-political movements.

Back to this week, there are only two other days I want to alert you to. First, the Moon on Monday zips through the early degrees of Aries, possibly triggering events related to the 2010 cardinal T-square and its 2011 sequel, which hasn’t happened yet. Be on the lookout for clues and perhaps even concrete developments related to those larger trends. You should know by now where it’s hitting your chart.

Also, Venus conjoins Pluto on Wednesday. This is supposed to be one of the passionate, sexy aspects, but I don’t see it in this pairing, unless you’re into bondage. It may relate to the other kind of bonds, though. Pluto is about money and power, and Venus is associated with finances, especially in Capricorn.

Still another possibility is that many of you will become more aware of the karmic bonds between you and another person. These ties sometimes feel more like handcuffs or chains. This is one area I didn’t mention above in my interpretation of Chiron in Pisces, but it’s something I’ll explore more in future posts. As more people open up to higher dimensions of reality, we’ll be more aware of “other-life” connections. Severing those ties may be necessary to heal age-old wounds, and there’s no doubt it will be a painful process.

Moon in Taurus from Wednesday through Friday brings us a brief respite, topped with chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and a cherry. The weekend’s Gemini Moon is sociable and light-hearted, especially on Sunday. Make a date for brunch with friends or siblings.

Wishing you all love, courage, and deep healing,
Pat

P.S. This is just a reminder that I’m on hiatus for a while so that I can catch up with my backlog of client work. I’ll continue to write the weekly forecast and will publish guest posts periodically. If you want to get posts as they’re published, I suggest subscribing to my feed.