Total solar eclipse on 8 Apr 2024 - Chiron times
I’ve been thinking about the upcoming eclipse and the thinking prompted me to re-read the Declaration of Independence (as one does). Astrologers generally say that the United States was “born” at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. When we cast the birth chart for the U.S., that’s our date – we have the time, even, 5:10 pm based on eyewitness accounts, and we know the location was Philadelphia. The upcoming total solar eclipse in Aries will have sun, moon, and Chiron all conjunct, within a minute of the U.S.’s natal Chiron in Aries.
Chiron says your wound is your gift, but first, it’s your wound.
I re-read the Declaration looking for the wound, and it leaps off the pages – I am angry. You don’t respect me. You treat me like a child. You’re unfair. You make my life harder. I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore. I’m going to make my own decisions from now on.
The colonists were speaking to George III, of course. And well-steeped U.S. historians will clutch their chests at the over-simplification in my interpretation of what the colonists were mad about, but, like, go read it again. Who’s got teenagers at home? Who remembers being a teenager? What does this sound like? Maybe it’s inevitable that the colony-colonizer relationship has that child-parent vibe, but man does this sound like a kid. You don’t understand me at all. You don’t even WANT to understand me. I’m old enough that your rules shouldn’t apply to me anymore. I can figure out my own life, I don’t want your help.
I’m not a British apologist, I swear. It is capital-I Important that kids separate emotionally, psychologically, from their families of origin, so that they can start working on their own blueprints and not just plod along their parents’ paths – this is called individuation. And we lack rituals or rites of passage anymore that give kids clear locations in spacetime to make those breaks, so instead we do it messily. (Before you say “but high school/college graduation,” no. How many kids remain enmeshed with their families for years after, and what a sock in the eye for the kids who don’t graduate. Graduation says “you have finished being a kid,” but it does not say “and we recognize you as an adult.” Kids need to be recognized as full and contributing members of society. Don’t get me started on marriage either :D).
So the Declaration of Independence was the U.S. separating from its family of origin – saying “I’m an adult, god damn it” and England saying “I’ll show you ‘adult,’ kid,” and then everyone being surprised when the U.S. knocked England down and ran out.
(Remember that the U.S.’s Chiron is in Aries – sign of independence – and in the 4th house – house of family – so actually wow this both fits pretty well and should have surprised no one. Oh well.)
So what happened next, did we learn to adult? You may disagree, but for my part, I think…we’re still talking about the wound, right? The wound is that feeling of I’m an adult, god damn it. If your inner voice (no matter how deeply buried) is constantly quietly repeating to itself I’m an adult, god damn it, then part of you is maybe not totally convinced.
But the gift, isn’t there a gift? Yes, and not like “every cloud has a silver lining,” more like “it takes heat and pressure beyond your understanding to make diamonds.” Someone who is needing to prove (or believe) that they’re an adult will be quick, will be decisive, will be experimental, will be wanting to show that they can do it better – whatever it is. They will strive to prove themselves.
With Chiron in Aries 4th, maybe they will build their own weird family based on principles of independence – here all dwell free. How powerful is that?
Most astrologers would probably agree that even though there’s a gift in the wound, the Chiron wound remains a wound. You learn to work around it. You learn to accept it for what it is. You learn that it’s part of you and it’s not going anywhere and so you’re going to make the best of it. Or you don’t learn, and the gift doesn’t materialize, or doesn’t materialize cleanly. Maybe you keep spiraling through similar situations that trigger the wound over and over until your kids are standing in your kitchen swearing at you and you realize the words coming out of your mouth are your parents’ words and you have to grab the chair in front of you because suddenly the room is spinning a little.
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one group of people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them…when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government….
I’m an adult, god damn it!
This isn’t the first U.S. Chiron Return, it’s happened other times in the 1970s and 1920s (it happens every 46-53 years), but (1) this is a total solar eclipse + (2) the U.S. Pluto Return + (3) the U.S. Uranus Return + (4) the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in Taurus = idk folks but I think the kids are screaming at us in the kitchen. But if you’re here, you probably agree that astrology is not a stone tablet so much as it’s a beam of light on certain possible outcomes. I tend to think about it like, the planets are pulling on us, what can we do that respects what they’re asking for in the way that’s most beneficial? Chiron asks us to find the gift in the wound.
Can we believe that each of us has a right to be here and to live as we please, as long as we’re not hurting each other? And can we try to listen with slightly more open ears about what “hurting” means? If we can’t agree on what hurting means, can we declare our independence peaceably and go get our own place? Because it is capital-I Important that kids individuate.
With love in our hearts, may we all here dwell free.
(This is the prayer that will go into our bonfire for the eclipse. Maybe if others join it, we’ve got a shot.)
(If you want to learn more about Chiron, I love the book “Chiron – Healing Body and Soul” by Martin Lass. If you want to talk about how Chiron pulls on you, drop me a line and let’s talk!)
