Chiron Retrograde & Mercury Direct (July 11-12, 2020)---Delving Deeper into Shadows

Image by Valgerd Kossman, Pixabay

For many astrologers and astrology followers, Chiron isn't a big deal. However, for me, Chiron possesses the whopping power of any planet with its orbit between Saturn and Uranus. Perhaps, people don't want to acknowledge Chiron because this wounded healer takes us to places we'd rather not go.



Chiron in Aries Direct


If Chiron direct brings up childhood wounds for readdressing and resolution, then Chiron retrograde takes us deeper into the wounds. Whether or not people even realize the existence of this asteroid they still carry childhood wounds within them that disempowers them. To heal the shadow wounds is the quickest road to the mastership of the self and the quickest route to liberation. Until we heal those Chiron wounds we fall prey to old programming and we might as well become automatons instead of human beings.

As I mentioned in previous posts, Chiron is in Aries, which represents the infant, spring, and new beginnings. It's the wound when we lost our innocence or when we discovered the world wasn't what we originally thought. It's when wide-eyed innocence receives a dart between the eyes. It's the wound that hurts us the most because when we lose our innocence there's is no return to the way things were before. This is when our mom or dad falls off the pedestal and we realize they are only human, and failable humans at that. Our first wound comes in many forms but it becomes paradise lost, that is if we believed that Earth was a paradise. Old souls no better.

Everyone carries a Chiron wound based on the Zodiac Sign where Chiron falls in their Natal Chart. But for Aries, we all return to the wounds from our infancy to age 2. And for some people, this is the first time they were shamed and the sting of shame that eventually becomes shadows. I'm going to use the debate over wearing masks during a pandemic. Now, while Capricorn and the planets in Capricorn (Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto) would ask us to take responsibility for our own health and stay on our side of the road, Chiron wounds or shadows cause people to project their shame from childhood onto others in the form of projections. And this can turn into a witch hunt. What's next? Are we going to round up non-mask wearers into a town square and throw stones at them or just hurl insults?

Does that paragraph cause you to feel uncomfortable? Good. It's time to zoom into your wound so that you stop projecting your shame onto others. Here's the thing, that shame originally belonged to a parent or even further back passed along like a hot potato through lineage until it landed on you. Since you're the one in possession of the original shame, you also have the power to integrate that shadow into the light. That's powerful medicine. And that is the power of the wounded healer.

You see, it's easy for us astrologers to bandy around fancy terms like "the wounded healer" but unless we heal our own wounds then we are not walking our talk. With so many planets in Capricorn, our integrity with our profession is at stake. If we can't handle the fire then it's time to find another profession because the adage of healer heal thyself is more true than ever. Chiron is a lot like Pluto in that he takes no prisoners. But having said that, Chiron is a healer so he does believe in compassion and understanding.

Let me tell you my own story about integrating my own childhood shame. When I was a child, I wasn't only shamed for not complying with my parents' wishes, I was spanked on the buttocks and it stung and left bruises and welts my soul has never forgotten but still buried the shame deep within my psyche. The messages I heard were that I had no right to my desires and my desires were selfish anyway. How dare that I ever placed myself first in line.

In 2006, I responded to a Craigslist post for joining a writing group. But when I joined the group, the woman who started the group (a crappy narcissistic writer looking for fans), shamed me in front of the others. She guffawed as I read my work to the group. She sent me her stories every day and told me to proofread them (not that she was paying me). Then when I stood up for myself, she hurled narcissistic abuse my way and this is before I even knew what that was. Soon, after that, I developed psoriasis on my face, neck, and it spread to other parts of my body to remind me of the burning shame I experienced.

Over the years, psoriasis came and went but flared up when I witnessed people shaming each other or hurling their shadows of shame at me. Then, during the last eclipse (Capricorn Lunar Eclipse on July 4), a mosquito bit me and my arm flared up into a red rash. I tried everything to heal the bite, but nothing seemed to work. I decided to channel Reiki to it and I called on the Reiki masters and the archangels that bring healing. And they took me back to my early childhood when I was spanked for the first time and how that was my first Chiron wound. The Universe has been shouting at me through events I've witnessed including people not owning their shadows around shame. But as I did this work, I felt a release and forgiveness followed.

We are not selfish to have desires. We are not selfish to have wants and needs including the need to be loved and recognized or the other more important need to set boundaries with others. Now, I don't know what anyone else's wound is but if you go deep within you will find your wound. You have the power to heal that wound now with Chiron stationary and ready to retrograde. Then you have a window of from July 11 until December 15 to heal that wound.

Me in 2015 wearing my fleur de lis

Mercury Direct in Cancer

Mercury went retrograde in Cancer on June 17 and the planet goes direct on July 12 at 5 degrees Cancer. Normally, Mercury moves quickly but during this retrograde Mercury only moved 9 degrees (that's extremely slow for a personal planet) and in the sign of the nurturer. The positive side of the Water Sign Cancer is compassion and kindness that nurtures others. Mercury in Cancer also had the message of us staying at home and doing our inner work. Many people have even chosen to work from home as their next career move.

Mercury rules technology such as computers and many of us have been spending too much time on our computers. I even listen to meditation videos on my computer. But what will be the health problems related to spending too much time on our computers (breast cancer, poor posture, and pinched nerves in the chest)? And what happens when the Internet goes down or the dreaded 5G sneaks upon us? Radiation causes cancer.

Mercury going direct in Cancer is telling us to practice self-care. Step away from the computer and this idea that we have to communicate everything to everyone. Since Cancer is a Water Sign, we can keep our secrets to ourselves as well as, save our dreams until the right time to unveil to the world. This is a time of going inward and allowing our introverted side to run the show. It's a time of modifying our diet and curbing our consumption of comfort foods. It's a time of knowing when to hide in the shell and when to socialize. We are undergoing a transformation and it only makes sense to spend time in the cocoon while we grow our wings.  Time to take flight is when Mercury moves out of its shadow around July 27 when the Sun is in outward Leo.



Putting it All Together

The signs where Chiron and Mercury fall are both the cardinal quality and actually square each other. Aries is an outward Yang sign about adventure and asserting oneself. Cancer is an introverted Yin sign about returning to the hearth and healing wounds before moving forward again. And because of the two transits, we won't feel safe or ready to move forward until around July 27 when the Sun is in another Yang sign, Leo and we are in the height of the summer months in the northern hemisphere.

My hope is that people will experience a subconscious urge to heal wounds around shame. We'll know this has happened when people stop rounding others up to shame. It will be safe again to return to social media (Mercury, Gemini, Virgo). But since we're in the Aquarius Age, groupthink is still a problem so shaming can come to anyone who refuses to conform to the new normal. At least when Cancer is in Mercury, we practice compassion for ourselves and others.


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