by Lynn Hayes
Throughout this year, with Chiron and Neptune traveling together, many of my clients have called me with overwhelming feelings of grief. Often there is an event that appears to have caused these intense emotions, but sometimes the feelings appear to stem from events that occurred long ago. A client who had mourned the loss of her mother that happened nine years ago. Another who grieved the loss of her first marriage many years ago. Suddenly, after many years, the emotions welled up seemingly from nowhere to take over their lives.
When Chiron and Neptune are working together, they combine to assist with the work of the soul. The body, the mind, and the ego are all most interested in living a life well-grounded in the material world that offers the maximum of pleasure and the minimum of pain. The soul does not pursue pleasure and avoid pain; instead, there is an embrace of experiences that will assist us at the deepest level to completely learn the lessons that are presented to us so that we can release the past and move forward with greater wisdom.
Chiron facilitates this aspect of soul work by uncovering any wounded places that have been left unresolved so that we can be freed of the blocked energy that our unreleased wounds hold within the body/mind/spirit system. Neptune assists by reminding us that there is a world of experience that lies beyond the boundaries of the material world. Under the influence of Neptune we either open up to experiences of a powerful mystical nature, or else we become confused and deluded as the nature of our personal reality is blurred and we have nothing to replace it with. Neptune bestows creative genius and a spiritual connection to our Divine self as the physical world is transcended, or it can cause us to indulge in escapist and addictive behavior in an effort to escape the prison of our own mind.
Challenging astrological cycles do often coincide with painful events in our life, but whether the grief we feel is over a current loss or an old one, the feelings are the same. Psychiatrists know that grief and emotional pain are stored in the psyche with the same intensity that they held during the original event.
Chiron has been a great teacher and guide for astrologers’ understanding about the nature of grief, but Saturn and Pluto play a role as well.
Under Saturn transits we are painfully aware of our faults, our loneliness, and the blocks that keep us from our happiness. Saturn is associated with depression which has a different tonal quality than grief.
Under Pluto transits we often find ourselves facing unpleasant truths and frightening memories from our past, and Pluto can bring up deep and dark emotions that unlock doors to emotional pain. But it’s Chiron that opens the doorways for the emotional pain that we store in our psyche to spring forth into the conscious mind where it can, with conscious focus and attention, be processed and released.
Often a client will ask me, “When will this be over? Will I ever be happy again?” They will say “I don’t want to ever feel this again.” We spend our lives running from our pain, but the problem with that is as long as we run, the pain remains stored in our psyche and our bodies. Later it may erupt in physical pain and nondiagnosable illness.
What is required is the courage to look into our own soul and open the doorway to the feelings, to see what they have to tell us and to teach us. It’s not an easy path, but it’s the only way to wholeness.
posted October 9, 2009 at 11:27 am
Hi Lynn,
Strange that when I opened up your blog, I was really looking to connect regarding my own grief this morning. I am conviced this transit is working on my soul through and through, like rinsing it all out. I am grieving the old griefs of my family life, of being the invisible member, who never spoke up for what she needed. And now, as I am, I am experiencing the rejection I always shielded myself from. Neptune is conjunct my sun,both in Sagittarius, so it seems like there is a particular emphasis on nourishing my spirit, and finding ways to get beyond this. To shoot my arrow into the cosmos and reclaim hope. But before that can happen Chiron is revealing what it is that is holding me back. Thank you for this blog, and thank the heavens for its impeccable timing. Grace
posted October 9, 2009 at 2:56 pm
I think Rumi said this well:
This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of it’s furniture, still, treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.
posted October 9, 2009 at 3:51 pm
IF I DO NOT DO IT BY CHOICE, IT IS USUALLY DONE TO ME BY FORCE
posted October 10, 2009 at 12:16 am
Lynn -
Spot on, as always. My Sun is at 26.46 Aquarius and moon at 0 Libra. So the Neptune/Chiron conjunction is approaching my sun while Saturn approaches the moon. Lovely. A six-month relationship that felt far deeper than the brief time it lasted ended in August and the level of sadness I’ve felt would have rocked my world had I not had astrology to help me explain why I feel so glum. Your article further elucidated Chiron – thanks as I’ve found the chiron energy hard to fathom. I guess i’m getting it now…
Thanks, as always,
Diane
posted October 10, 2009 at 10:39 am
Grace – thank you so much for sharing this experience. I love the poetry that you use to describe what you have been feeling, and the synchronicity of the use of the post to you.
And speaking of poetry, thank you Kat for Rumi’s wisdom! He has such a magical way of describing the sacred in ways that we can easily understand.
Diane, I’ll be talking more about Chiron on the radio show this weekend. When we have a Chiron transit we often find ourselves feeling more deeply than situations may warrant. The feelings are the wounding, and the healing as well.
posted October 10, 2009 at 11:35 am
Hi Lynn- Thank you for your article. You hit it bullseye. For whatever reason the planets are doing this to all of us, I know that it is for the good. I dont think these emotions will resurface to me now, but it did. I just hope that this wont take long as I am really really looking forward for the time that I will be able to breathe again and smile.
posted October 10, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Dear Lynn, I was born with Asc./Jupiter/Chiron/Neptune conj. on August 17, 1945, 8:28 A.M.CWT ( ASC. 22 VIRGO 05)in Chicago, Illinois
ASC: 22 VIRGO 05
Jupiter: 28 Virgo
Chiron: 02 Libra
Neptune: 04 Libra
NOW I have the AQUARIUS Triple Conj. opposite my SUN: 24 LEO 16
and soon my MERC: 29 LEO 50 RX
There is much more to all of my chart and I really do not want to write it BUT I do hope to connect with you on your radio show tomorrow morning…..the journey has been VERY INTENSE and I have received much help from you…….THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!
Any insight will help.
LOVE, JOAN XO
posted October 15, 2009 at 1:09 am
Wow, I wish I could grasp what all this means for me! I know I am coming to the end of some very hard years/aspects and surprised I’ve made it. But now what’s left is not much. I am so worn and weary I have little gumption or stamina to forge ahead in search of a new life. Any help on the type of astrology/counseling that I should seek for guidance would be appreciated more than you know. Blessings to you.
Thanks,
Sara
posted October 15, 2009 at 5:44 am
Sara, an astrological reading can help you to see the dynamics behind the experiences that you have been faced with. That can be extremely helpful in itself, and then we can work on strategies to help you to move forward. Just contact me using the links in the blogroll.
posted October 15, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Sara, I hear you! My life has been in self destruct mode since 1998 when Saturn began transiting my first house. I lost my happy marriage, watched beloved relatives die young, my family threw me under the bus, most of my friends betrayed me, went from one bad job/ boss to another, always thinking things would get better. Now I’m unemployed for the first time in my life! If it wasn’t for Bach’s Floral Essences I think I’d have thrown myself off an overpass by now. And yes, DO talk to an astrologer (like Lynn) to see what’s going on.