Apollon - Issue 3

7/23/2019 Apollon - Issue 3

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Apollon

Wounding & The Will To Live ~ Liz GreeneSpirit Child - Melanie Reinhart & Isabella KirtonThe Saturn-Uranus Duet ~ Charles Harvey

Wilderness Transformation Trails ~ Marilyn McDowell & Philomena ByrneA Fatal Vocation To Witness ~ Suzi Harvey

Issue 3

August 1999

6

The Journal of Psychological Astrology


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Issue One - Creativity

Issue Two - Relationships

See centre pages

to order back issues

Apollon

Brother-Sister Marriage ~ Brian ClarkThe Eternal Triangle ~ Liz Greene

The Sacred Marriage & The Geometry of Time ~ Robin HeathEros & Aphrodite, Love & Creation ~ Erin Sullivan

Neptune and Pluto: Romance in the Underworld ~ Sophia Young

Issue 2April 1999

6


Apollon

The Sun-god and the Astrological Sun - Liz GreeneCreativity, Spontaneity, Independence: Three Children Of The Devil - Adolf Guggenbhl-Craig

Whom doth the grail serve? - Anne WhitakerFire and the imagination - Darby Costello

Leonard Cohens "Secret Chart" - John Etherington

Issue 1October 1998

6


Fromth

ecoverofChironandtheHealingJourneybyMelanieReinhart

God grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot changeThe courage to change the things I canAnd the wisdom to know the difference

Cover Picture

Apollo Victorious over the Serpent PythonGustave MoreauNational Gallery of Canada, Ottowa

Gustave Moreau was born on the 6th April, 1826, in Paris - Sun conjunct Chiron andVenus, and Moon conjunct Pluto, all in Aries. Uranus and Neptune square the first threefrom Capricorn.I am dominated by one thing, an irresistible, burning attraction towards the abstract. Theexpression of human feelings and the passions of man certainly interest me deeply, but Iam less concerned with expressing the motions of the soul and mind than to render vis-ible, so to speak, the inner flashes of intuition which have something divine in their appar-ent insignificance and reveal magic, even divine horizons, when they are transposed intothe marvellous effects of pure plastic art.

quoted by Jean Peladilhe, Gustave Moreau, p. 32No one could have less faith in the absolute and definitive importance of the work cre-ated by man, because I believe that this world is nothing but a dream...

quoted by Jean Peladilhe, Gustave Moreau, p. 62


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Published by:The Centre for Psychological

Astrology

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[email protected]

Directors: Dr Liz GreeneCharles Harvey

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396 Caledonian RoadLondon N1 1DNEnglandTel: +44-20-7607 4133Fax: +44-20-7700 [email protected]

Edited and Designed by:

Dermod Moore

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Suggestions are welcome, butplease do not send unsolicitedarticles. Put your proposal in aparagraph, and send it to theEditor., by post, email or fax.

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Copyright: 1999Centre for Psychological Astrology

All rights reserved

ApollonThe Journal of Psychological Astrology

Apollon

polon he who causes the heavenly bodies to move together in harmonyhaploun the simple, a euphemism for the complexity of the oracle, which is also honestiepaieon to heal, also to throw or strike (with consciousness)

from Greek and Egyptian Mythologies, compiled by Yves Bonnefoy, transl. Wendy DonigerUniversity of Chicago Press, 1992

CPA Seminar Schedule and CPA Press Order Form - centre pages

Contents

Editorial 4

Dermod Moore

Astrology as a Healing and a Wounding Art 5

Anne Whitaker

Wounding and the Will to Live 12

Liz Greene

Spirit Child 20

Melanie Reinhart and Isabella Kirton

Anima Mundi 28

Hymns Ancient and Modern: The Saturn-Uranus DuetCharles Harvey

A Time to Heal 41

Erin Sullivan

Astrological Enlightenment and the Way to Well-Being 47

Pat HarrisWilderness Transformation Trails

The Beast Within 51

Marilyn McDowellAncestral Healing for a Westerner 55

Philomena Byrne

Death and The Star in the Tarot 58

Juliet Sharman-Burke

A Fatal Vocation to Witness 60

Some thoughts on Scorpio problems and passionsSuzi Harvey

Reflections 66

Healing, a Sacred MysteryBrian Clark


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Dermod Moore is aDubliner. A former actorwith Irelands NationalTheatre, the Abbey, he is awriter and columnist, andspends a lot of time staringat a computer screen goingblind. He is in training as a

Psychosynthesis therapist,and practices as a psycho-logical astrologer inLondons Neals YardTherapy Rooms. He moder-ates the discussion group onthe Internet on psychologi-cal astrology.

As I was putting the finishing touches to thisissue, which takes healing as its theme, Ihad a telephone conversation with one of thecontributors. We were talking about life, theuniverse, and everything, the way you do. Itstays the same, you know, you cant change it,she said, and she sighed. A world-weary sigh.

Yes, it stays the same. After all the healingwork, the conscious intent, the poring overchart wheels on our computer screens, thepsychotherapy, the support groups, the herbalteas and crystals - the part that hurts stays thesame. Thats not to say that we have to be amartyr about it. We can be more honest about

our pain, and rid ourselves of the corrosive poi-son of shame. We can change the way werelate to it, over time, with help and supportfrom others; it can bring compassion to ourlives, deepening our sense of spirituality. Wecan focus our energy on scientific research, orpolitical activism, or teaching, in the admirableendeavour to ensure that no-one else hurts inquite the same way again. What hurts us candrive us to inspired heights of creativity, touch-ing the hearts of those who witness it. Or itcan, of course, drive us to madness and despair.

Or, and this is the tricky one, we can becomehealers, and help everyone else get better.

As you may expect, Chiron makes his pres-ence strongly felt in this issue; both LizGreene and Melanie Reinhart explore thearchetypal Wounded Healer, deepening ourunderstanding of the principle that seems tostrike a chord with so many of us working inthe healing professions. In her elegant excoriat-ing way, Liz urges us to abandon sentimentalitywhen dealing with Chiron, reminding us that itwas his animal half that was wounded, suggest-

ing an image, not so much of a thoughtfulteacher with a pained frown, but a frightenedferal beast in a trap. She points out how easy itis to project this wound on to others, andexamines the chart of Slobodan Milosevic. Inher piece, Melanie introduces us to otherCentaur myths, and, working with authorIsabella Kirton, shares with us her wonder atthe astonishingly literal way they make theirpresence felt in the horoscope.

Landscape, raw and peerless nature, features

strongly here; Anne Whitaker, in her piecethat explores how astrology has impacted onher clients and students, writes how importanther contact with nature is in her life. MarilynMcDowell, writing from South Africa, takes us

on a journey to the Drakensberg Mountains inNatal, in which nature itself is consciously usedto facilitate the healing of some deep tribal andnational wounds, in ten war-scarred youngmen. Philomena Byrne adds her own gracenoteto the story, describing how powerfully theexperience affected her, and how it broughther new insight into her own ancestry.

Wilfred Owens war poetry starts off SuziHarveys article, a sensitive and compas-sionate exposition of the battleground of oneScorpio womans life, and what it was like toaccompany her along the way for a while, a wit-ness to her grief. Although the work was psy-

chodynamic counselling, Suzi explains how herclients appreciation of astrological symbolismhelped place her suffering in context. PatHarris, currently researching her doctorate onthe Applicat ions of Astrology to HealthPsychology, gives us an introduction to herwork with chronic pain sufferers, showing howthe split between the scientific academicestablishment and the world of astrology maybe narrowing. Speaking of chronic pain, ErinSullivan offers her courageous story, of howshe dealt, and is dealing with, the frightening

prospect of radical surgery, to alleviate herpainful condition; and describes how she chosethe date.

Taking a broader view, Charles Harvey, inanother one of his fascinating ruminationson the macroscopic metaphysics of worldaffairs, takes a look at the relationship betweenSaturn and Uranus, and how the theme of theirconflict resonates in so many different ways,politically, financially, culturally and intellectually.

The ferryman must be paid, writes Juliet

Sharman-Burke, writing about the Deathcard in the Tarot. There is no way of cheatinghim. We can invent many ways of avoiding pain,indeed, human ingenuity knows no boundswhen it comes to devising them. But they onlyend up hurting us more. In the end, healing is asacred mystery, as Brian Clark writes, to finishthis issue, in his piece describing the ancientAsclepiads, or healing sanctuaries. That it hap-pens every day, is not in doubt. But, in our heartof hearts, we know that its not about gettingsomeone else to fix us, or finding the right guru

to bless us, or taking the right medicine to cureus. Or even about reading the right magazine toinspire us. Its about accepting ourselves forwho we are; no more, and certainly no less.

page 4 Apollon Issue 3 August 1999

Editorial

This wont hurt a bit


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Anne Whitaker is anastrologer, astrology teacherand writer based in Glasgowin Scotland. She has hadmany articles published inrecent years, in a range ofpublications including TheAstrological Journal, Self and

Society, The Astrology

Quarterly, The Mountain

Astro loger (USA)Considerations (USA)Astrolore, and Apollon. Sheobtained her Diploma fromthe Centre for Psychological

Astrology in November1998, and will be teachingthere in October 1999. Youcan contact her by email [email protected]

Teach me your mood, o patient starswho climb each night the ancient sky.Leaving no space, no shade, no scars,no trace of age, no fear to die.

R.W. Emerson

Introduction

We do not know why we are here. This

could be said to be the primary woundof humankind. In order to assuage it, and inattempting to heal it, we have spun around our-selves a web of wonderful richness and intrica-cy, woven of many bright threads of myth,poetry, religious belief, art, sacred architecture,storytelling, music, adventurous quests of mind,body and spirit. Wars have been fought, andcountless millions of lives destroyed, in the clashof differing religious beliefs and socio-politicaltheories, which have been created in ourattempts to heal that primary wound by creat-

ing a sense of meaning and order.

However, despite the best efforts of thegreatest minds throughout the whole of ourhistory, we still dont even know what conscious-ness is. Far less do we know why we tiny crea-tures, wonderfully creative and terrifyinglydestructive, cling to planet Earth, an insignificantspeck of planetary gravel hurtling through thevastness of infinite space.

C

hiron entered Sagittarius at the start of 1999,moving to join Pluto, and remains there until

the end of 2001, thus midwifing our transitioninto the new millennium. At a time of unprece-dented turbulence and change, its presence inthat sign poignantly signifies our primary wound,and the urgency of our current need for the salveof some form of sustaining belief which will pro-tect us from the crumbling of old certaintieswhich seem increasingly unable to sustain us.

Genetic engineering and cloning technologiesare currently advancing with a rapidity that isleaving ordinary mortals reeling, unable to

process the physical, spiritual, ethical and moralimplications of the recent Promethean strides ofscience with anything like the speed with whichsuch developments seem to be taking place.

One alternates between being awestruck andwondering at our dazzling cleverness as aspecies, and feeling repelled and deeply disturbedby the hubristic way in which the most intricateand subtle mechanisms, at the core of both phys-ical and spiritual life, are being dismantled andrecombined, as though they were so manylengths of builders scaffolding.

As Man takes the first steps towards assumingthe mantle of the Divine, in presuming theright to begin re-weaving the very fabric of life tono particularily evident pattern, we need teleo-logical frameworks more than ever. This need isreflected in the proliferation of paths on the questfor meaning which seem to be opening up as thismillennium ends. The longest trodden of them all,about to enter its seventh millennium, is astrolo-gy. Not only has it survived the onslaught of con-temporary science - but it may even be seen in

some quarters to be making alliances with it!Wounding, healing and the art of astrology

Living out the contemporary context, I toohave been reflecting deeply on what I believein, what sustains me in coping with the primarywound identified in the previous section. Aftereighteen years as a student, then practitioner andteacher of astrology, the North Node returningto a 12th House Sun, and Chiron transiting theIC/South Node, has invited me toward reap-praisal of my involvement with our great symbol-ic art. What healing has it brought, and what

wounding, both for myself, my clients, and mystudents?

It is important, at this point, to stress that astrol-ogy itself neither heals nor wounds. Havingarisen aeons ago from attempts to create ameaningful context to human life through obser-vation of the physical movements of the planetsin the heavens, whether such a framework isexperienced as wounding or healing is heavilypredicated upon the attitude of the individualswho choose to use it:

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,

But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

W. Shakespeare,Julius Caesar, Act1, Scene 2

Apollon Issue 3 August 1999 page 5

Astrology as a Healing and a Wounding Art

Anne Whitaker

Once upon a time, a brave astrologer took a risk, and asked her clients and students what

they thought of her work. She even invited them to consider the wounding aspects of hercraft. Luckily for them, their astrologer is Anne Whitaker; luckily for us, shes here to tellus what they said...


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It is easy enough to talk about the positive heal-ing benefits of an astrological framework, pro-viding as it does a major defence against mean-inglessness and insignificance. Feeling connectedat a personal level to loved ones and friends isrecognised as a major factor in promoting andmaintaining physical, emotional and mental healthand happiness. Feeling connected at a more cos-mic level lets us see that we are not random acci-dents in time and space, but threads in the weaveof a greater pattern - very small threads perhaps,but contributors nevertheless. This awarenesspromotes a sense of spiritual well-being. There isalso the sheer fun, excitement and intellectual dis-covery which the study of astrology brings.

The sense of wonder and significance whichcomes with realising, for example, that onetransiting aspect can, and does, produce a rangeof observable manifestations, all apparently differ-ent, which spring from the same core, never quite

stops being thrilling, no matter how long youvebeen a practitioner. Saturn in Scorpio squared myMoon during the Eighties. I dont especially recallwhat the emotional challenges of the time were.But I still vividly remember that my favourite silverchain turned almost black, for no reason, at thestart of the transit, resisting several jewellersattempts to clean it up. It was dumped at theback of a drawer. Just after the transit was over, Icame across it again - as sparkling bright as theday I got it.

Every bright light, however, has a dark shadow;in the Promethean nature of our art lies itsshadow too. It is all very well to steal the godsfire, with the noble intention of liberating human-ity from some of its bonds with the powerfulenlightenment which that fire brings. But fireburns. It is impossible to light up the darkness ofour human limitations of perception, without thehand that holds the illuminating fire being burnedby it. Its not so easy to talk about that. But it doesless than justice, in exploring the impact of theastrological model on human consciousness, toconcentrate on the healing aspects of the inter-

action, whilst glossing over the wounding dimen-sions. Exposure to the model brings both.

From art to actual life - the clients view

Impetus in translating this essay, from innerreflection to grounding in the actual world ofpeoples lives, came, fittingly enough, from arecent chance encounter with a former client,Lisa, now aged thirty-three. She was very excitedabout her imminent departure to live and workin California, and we talked about that. But then,quite unexpectedly, she brought up the subject of

the one-off reading I had done for her, eight yearspreviously. In common with most astrologers, Iam always interested in feedback from formerclients, especially those with whom one only hasa one-off encounter, and, usually, no idea of what

the impact of the experience over time has beenfor them.

What she had to say was so clearlyexpressed that I invited her to email mewith her comments, which she did. Here theyare:

It must be about eight years since I came toyou for a reading, but there are one or two

things that stand out in my memory about thatvisit. The first was how accurately you were ableto describe aspects of my character - I cant pre-tend to understand it, but, for some reason, see-ing it laid out in front of me was very reassuring.Perhaps, because it gave validity to my personali-ty.That was who I was, and you encouraged meto feel good and confident about that.

However, I think that the main benefit of that visitwas the discussion relating to my decision-making

process. You said you imagined that I would findthis quite difficult, as there were three equallyvalid, and contradictory, aspects to my character.The outcome of that discussion was that I nolonger got caught up in my inability to make adecision, something that used to cause meunnecessary stress. What I do now is to alloweach of the viewpoints to surface, until such timeas the decision has to be made. It might seem likea simple thing, but it has had an enormousimpact. Overall, I am less critical of myself. Thatsgot to be a good thing!

Lisas feedback was pleasing and illuminating tohave. If compared with feedback which otherastrologers receive on the effect of their one-offsessions, I feel pretty confident that the core of itwould be similar, although of course individualclients as Lisa did, would also emphasise individ-ual themes peculiar to their own horoscope.Competent and sensitive astrological work, onehopes, has an impact on clients lives where thehealing dimensions are very much to the fore-front of their experience.

In trying to establish a general guideline for theinterplay of healing and wounding in peoplesresponse to exposure to the astrological model,one could use the simple image of light for heal-ing, and dark for wounding, quite effectively. Myfeeling is, if we take a broad spectrum from verybright at one end to very dark at the other, thatone-off consultations, well handled, with clientswho are at the right point of readiness for theexperience, would occupy a position very closeto the brightest end of that spectrum.

Where individuals find themselves, of course,depends on a number of factors such asage, experience, maturity, sensitivity or otherwise,degree of stoicism, capacity for joy and faith in life,predisposition to depression, and so on. There is

page 6 Apollon Issue 3 August 1999


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Marie

Birth details for all Annes

clients are withheld byrequest. All charts areTropical, Placidus, and usethe True Node.

also movement up and down the spectrum,depending on the same range of factors, com-bined with what life chooses to dish up at variouspoints. So this image is only meant as a generalreference tool!

However, experience and observation tell methat the more exposure there is to theastrological model, the more peoples positionbegins to shift from bright to darker, as thePromethean implications of involvement begin toemerge. As I write this, I am thinking of a verybright and gifted male client, now in his mid-for-ties, who has been coming for astrologicalreviews every year or two, for over a decade. Hishoroscope is rich and complex; at its heart lies agrand cross involving the Sun, Saturn, Neptune,Uranus and the Nodes. This complex patternlinks in with both his brightest gifts and his deep-est pains, and we have worked with that patternon sufficient occasions now for him to have

developed a clear understanding of the paradox-es it brings.

On balance, he feels that having the frame-work which astrology provides is morehealing than wounding. But it doesnt stop him,for example, fearing his Saturn transits, at thesame time as he knows, intellectually, that theupcoming challenge of each one is to define whohe is in the world more clearly, whilst jettisoningever more of the painful old baggage which slowshim down. He now knows that the problem with

accepting Prometheus gift is that, under no cir-cumstances, can one give it back, even if one feelstoo vulnerable at times to be able to cope with itvery well...

From art to actual life -the student / practitioner s view

In further pursuing the exploration which mychance encounter with Lisa had begun, I askedmy ongoing students for their comments. I wasparticularily keen to receive feedback from thosein my monthly study/supervision group who havebeen students and practitioners for seven to eight

years or more, feeling that they would have amore rounded perspective to offer, based ongoing through many different stages in their rela-tionship with astrology.

They were asked to reflect on the healing andwounding aspects of working within theastrological model, from the viewpoint of theimpact their involvement had had on their per-sonal lives. Here is their feedback, which I foundrich, eloquent and varied.

1 Marie (52)

Icame to astrology when you read my chart inMay 1987. Suddenly, after twenty-one years,old pain I had partly buried and, partly, learned to

live with, resurfaced. I had to come to terms withit, heal it, if I were to live with myself. I had had adifficult time when I was nineteen. At the time ofthe consultation, Uranus was squaring the Uranusof those events in 1966, and Pluto was conjunctmy Chiron - for me, astrology has always been ahealing tool.

More recently, it helped me through the peri-od of my fathers death in 1993, by enabling

me to detach and accept by understanding theprocess.The Uranus/Neptune conjunction wasexact, squaring his 19 Libra sun. At the momentof his heart attack, the Ascendant was exactlyconjunct my natal Chiron; Mercury was squaringmy Chiron when he died.

For me, astrology is an invaluable tool. I trustmore, now, in my own intuition, especiallywhen the timing of events is concerned. I thinkwe all subconsciously know when the time is right

to take a decision, make a phonecall, accept anoffer or whatever. I regularly run up charts for sig-nificant moments, and find the Ascendant revealsthe flavour of the moment, the Moon the timingof the event, Mars the motivating force underly-ing it, and Mercury, often literally, brings the mes-sage.

An interesting example of this is when I beganto realise that the house I lived in was play-ing a part in my healing process. Being convincedof the significance of certain moments in time, I

ran up a chart for the exact moment my husbandand I entered the house for the first time as own-ers. It was Halloween 1984, and the Sun was at8 Scorpio conjunct my Chiron. Not only that,



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Andrea the houses Chiron was conjunct my Moon andNode at 7 Gemini, the Moon was on myAscendant, and Venus on my MC. Even more

incredibly, the Ascendant of the house chart was29 Cancer 27, which turned out to be theJupiter of W.G. Morton, the artist who had had itbuilt in 1912 - his Jupiter was 29 Cancer 30!Mortons ghost haunted the house; I felt I couldhelp him let go and move on. My Pluto, at 11Leo, is exactly conjunct his Moon and IC, at 10and 11 Leo.

These amazing synchronicities prove to mehow finely tuned our lives are, and what a giftastrology is in helping me interpret the meaning

of my life, face up to the dark side of my nature,and co-operate, as best I can, with transits as theyebb and flow.

We dont always get what we expect. MyMums Sun, Venus and Mars are at 2, 6and 10 Sagittarius, respectively. With Plutocrossing these degrees, and also opposing myMoon-Node conjunction at 7 Gemini, I wasscared I was going to lose her. She is 84; when Ilooked ahead to these Pluto transits, it seemed alikely outcome. Im sure you would agree thatprojecting fear onto upcoming transits is one of

the most obvious facets of the wounding side ofastrology...

However, as Pluto stripped away all that wasunnecessary in her life, she began to giveaway her money and her jewelry and to talkabout her death in a very matter-of-fact way.How could she see us enjoy our inheritance ifshed gone? Better still, she began, for the firsttime in my life, to tell me she loved me and wasproud of me, words I had waited for all my life. Ino longer live in fear of her death, but accept all

our time together now as a bonus. During thisperiod, Chiron was also busy. On the day shegave me, out of the blue, a large sum of money,Chiron was 2 Sagittarius, conjunct her Sun, andthe IC of the moment!

Ican only sum up by saying that, whenever I feelIm stumbling around in the dark, astrologyrestores my faith in life, by reconnecting me to asense of meaning and purpose.

2 Andrea (39)

On the whole, Ive been very lucky with theastrologers Ive met. Almost all havebeen good people, good astrologers, and havedefinitely helped me on my way. From a person-al viewpoint, astrology has helped me to open myheart and my soul to a way of being centred onself-acceptance and love; Im not sure I wouldhave managed that otherwise. Ive learned totreat myself with a bit more sympathy and under-standing - and hopefully treat other people thesame way. My experience of astrology hasopened me to the deeper mysteries of life - evenif I cant put that into words or fully understand it,I know its there. Thats such a healing experience,because the sense of awe makes me want to try

harder to be responsible for my life, to live it in apositive way.

Having said all that, for a while I didnt look atthe Ephemeris, or any astrology. Partly, thereason is that astrology can turn me away frommy own life. That seems a complete contradic-tion to what Ive just said. Maybe, for me, this isthe wounded/wounding side of astrology - beingso busy reading astrology, looking at charts, think-ing about aspects, looking at planets, transits, pro-gressions, or midpoints, meant I was too busy to

live my life in the present - I would be thinkingabout the past or looking to the future.

Recently, when looking at my transits, (which Ihadnt looked at for months) I had a sharpintake of breath as I saw Saturn, Chiron, Uranus,Neptune, Pluto and progressed Moon all trigger-ing off planets in my natal chart.The sense of trep-idation was almost overwhelming. I have to workhard to just meet life as it comes. For me, thats areal challenge - astrology can help me to be moreaware, but I have to resist the urge to think Iknow what it means before I get there.

3 Charlotte (35)

Ive never really been asked to consider thewounding aspects of astrology in such a directway before. I did have a bit of a job focusing onthe question, without the more positive aspectscoming up all the time! I think the serious study ofastrology knocked me out of the idyllic vision Ihad had of my family background. I had to acceptthat my parents werent perfect, and the overalleffect of this was enlightening, but, also, disap-pointing. It kind of knocked me into the real

world, and showed me things as they were,which I found quite hard to come to terms with.

Seeing things in black and white on the astro-logical chart led to a lot of resentment on mypage 8 Apollon Issue 3 August 1999


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Charlotte

part , raising a lot of difficult questions, which Imstill working hard to understand. I think this cansometimes sidetrack me, and stop me getting onwith things, and lead to some disasters whichmight not have occurred otherwise - although Iwould say I do have a natural tendency to analysethings anyway. Astrology just provides morescope for this.

T

here is also the question Why me? Why

did I have to have this chart? which may bequite childish, but did lead, at one time, to someresentment at the apparent unfairness of it all.Especially when you are grappling with hardPluto and Saturn aspects. You know you haveyour work cut out for you, and that life is notgoing to be easy. The prospect of living your lifewith these aspects can be quite daunting anddepressing, and lead to a lot of despondency attimes.

A

nother factor thats hard to take on boardis that you are responsible for yourself.

You cant go around blaming other people foryour misfortunes all the time. You have to takeresponsibility for your part in the drama. Itsyour stuff, and youre the only one who candeal with it. This can lead to a lot of self-criti-cism on my part, and a good deal of depressionif things arent working out.

Looking at it from a Promethean point ofview, Prometheus stole fire from the gods.He knew he would suffer for it, but he also, Ithink, knew on some intuitive level that he was

doing the right thing. And in the end he wasreleased from his suffering. Personally, I couldntnot know. Otherwise I wouldnt have pursued

the subject as long as I have. I just hope it worksout for me in the end too.

4 Alice (35)

My first experience with real asopposed to Sun Sign astrology wasat night school. My birth chart was notwhat I had expected. I was a trueSagittarian, adventurous, lucky, fun lovingand optimistic, wasnt I ? Oh yes - I was

pleased with my grand trine in fire.That made sense; but a meek,

mild, service-seeking Virgoascendant was not exactly

me. Oh well, I suppose Icould come across thatway to some people.

Then I see it - asmall black glyphsitting right on topof my Ascendant. Itmust be a mistake. I

feel like scrubbing itout. I dont want

Pluto there on mylovely chart. Im noth-

ing like a Scorpion type- moody, emotional,

secretive, jealous, control-ling. My Venus sitting smugly in

Capricorn does not enhance myframe of mind. I take small consola-

tion from hear ing it is Earthy and loyal. Ifeel cheated, and continue to long for

Venus in Taurus.

G radually over the term, astrologystripped me of my pre-conceptionsof myself, and left me exposed to thefacts. I could no longer carry on in blissfuldenial of the deeper, darker side of mynature.

A significant turning point came when Iwas asked to explain the types ofth ings which had been happen ing to me ,since I was experiencing my Saturn return

at that point. I couldnt explain. I hadnt aclue what was going on. Where did I start?My teacher then summarised, in a coupleof minutes, the way I had been feeling andhow it was all part of a process. The lighthad been switched on. It was an amazingexperience. I felt understood, accepted,and not alone.

The more I learned about the interact-ing energies within my chart, the moreI could accept myself, and stop having to

put on an act. The energy I had previouslybeen using to keep Pluto well at bay, couldnow be directed towards more construc-tive pursuits . I felt freed. The heal ing hadbegun.



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Alice

page 10Apollon Issue 3 August 1999

Healing and wounding - a close and intricate

weave

The big picture

Ihad hoped, in asking for feedback from long-term students, that they would provide a rangeof responses, illustrating the main themes regard-ing both the healing and the wounding dimen-sions of astrology - they did not disappoint me.Andreas sense of awe, which inspires her to tryharder to take responsibility for her life and live itin a positive way, is typical of the spiritual and soul

healing which the study and practice of astrologycan bring. This is well illustrated also by Mariesconcluding comment, that whenever I feel Imstumbling around in the dark, astrology restoresmy faith in life, by reconnecting me to a sense ofmeaning and purpose.

However, there are also wounding dimen-sions to setting ones small individual life inthe context of the big picture. The planetaryenergies are archetypal, and the further out yougo, especially to the great collective powers ofUranus, Neptune and Pluto, the harder it is to

hold onto any sense of personal identity oruniqueness. There is a cold inexorability to theunfolding of the planetary pattern through spaceand time, an utter impersonality. Being given aslice of that time and space as an image of onesall-too-fallible humanness, can be less than com-forting; in fact, can be very threatening.

Isometimes get a gut sense of this whilst outwalking in the Scottish hills, something I amaddicted to doing, and will do under almost anyweather conditions. Go to wild, remote places,

and you will become aware of the archetypalforces of nature, their potentially destructivepower, even as your soul is being uplifted bymarvellous landscape and the utter peace ofbeing, where the only sound is of the wind and

of birdsong. In these beautiful, peaceful places Ihave occasionally had fear descend on me, evenon sunny days, accompanying an awareness ofhow implacably indifferent the landscape is tomy existence. Its power could sweep my lifeaway, given a sudden change of weather, or oneslip on a hillside could turn me into yet anotherfatality statistic. As Shakespeare put it in KingLear:

As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods;They kill us for their sport.

Act 4, Scene 1

At times of personal bleakness, which afflictus all on occasion, looking at the horoscopedoesnt always bring a sense of comforting con-nection to higher powers.

The individual chart

One of the most potent pieces of healingthat astrology has to offer was, I felt, wellsummed up by Lisa, the one-off client:

...how accurately you were able to describeaspects of my character - I cant pretend tounderstand it, but for some reason seeing it laidout in front of me was very reassuring. Perhapsbecause it gave validity to my personality. Thatwas who I was...

Over and over again, I have heard fromclients that the most valuable thing abouttheir astrology reading was just that validation

commented on by Lisa.

But Charlottes question Why me? Why didI have to have this chart? clearly illustrateswhere all but the most blithe of us have surelybeen, as the harder realities of certain chart con-figurations began to dawn with our moresophisticated understanding of the implicationsof the natal horoscope. Certain natal chart con-figurations may be wonderful opportunities forgrowth, but its usually going to be bloodypainful when theyre triggered, and this is a life-times reality which even the sturdiest of us find

hard to face and accept, especially in times ofvulnerability. If theres anyone reading this whofeels joyous at having been given an exactSaturn-Pluto conjunction, linked with most oftheir personal planets, could they please phoneme, and reverse the charges!

The contrasts provided so humorously byAlice, who celebrated her Sagittarian ener-gies as adventurous, lucky, fun-loving and opti-mistic but wanted to scrub out Pluto when shesaw it sitting right on top of her Ascendant; who

longed for Venus in Taurus, whilst being decid-edly lukewarm about her actual Venus inCapricorn, is so typical of most students reactionto initial exposure to their natal chart!


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Ithink its also fairly typical of most astrologersstarting position in their developing relationshipwith their own horoscopes over time. Ideally, onecomes to the point of enjoying and utilising, forexample, ones Sun-Moon-Jupiter grand trine in fire,without being too immodest about it, or too obvi-ously pitying those lesser mortals not fortunateenough to have had this divine gift bestowed uponthem. If it is also possible to come to an acceptanceof difficult energies such as Uranus-Pluto rising -notice that Alice forebore even to mention Plutosclose companion on her Ascendant! - combinedwith finding some positive outward channel for itsdisruptive, wayward and potentially destructivepower, then one is well on the way to living, in areasonably positive way, with the unique challengesof the individual birth chart.

The unfolding pattern

The intricate weave of healing and wounding isvery obvious in considering the responses to tran-sits and progressions of those of us who have trod-

den the astrological path for a while. Trying to secondguess the universes response to our presence in it,seems to be a favourite occupation of astrologers.This is trenchantly summed up by Andrea: I have towork hard to just meet life as it comes. For me, thatsa real challenge - astrology can help me to be moreaware, but I have to resist the urge to think I knowwhat it means before I get there.

Astrologers can be hubristic, arrogant and justplain wrong in their attempts to know what itmeans, before they get there - damaging to their

clients as well as themselves. Astrology is a verypowerful aid to awareness. It is also very useful inmapping out the terrain in broad terms, and inoffering accurate timings. But life reminds us oftenenough, through our mistakes and errors of judge-ment of the planetary pattern, that the unconscious,by definition, is precisely that. It is not notable for aninclination to reveal deeper intentions beyond theegos access, just because some astrologer is stand-ing somewhere near the entrance cave to its mys-terious terrain waving an ephemeris, shouting Impretty sure this Venus/Uranus transit means...

Alices and Maries differing feedback on theirresponse to transits, I think, also sums up bothends of the healing/wounding continuum well, froma somewhat different perspective to that of Andrea.On the one hand, we have Alice describing herteachers clarification of what was going on at AlicesSaturn return:

...The light had been switched on. It was an amaz-ing experience. I felt understood, accepted, andnot alone...

Maries reaction to recent transits affecting herelderly mother was a lot less positive:

... I was scared I was going to lose her. She is 84;when I looked ahead, to these Pluto transits, it

seemed a likely outcome. Im sure you would agreethat projecting fear onto upcoming transits is one ofthe most obvious facets of the wounding side ofastrology...

Yes, I certainly do agree! And weve all done it,no matter how spiritual, actualised, wise ormature we think we are. Most beginning studentsfind their introduction to transits and progressionsenlightening, evoking a powerful sense of meaning-ful connection to something greater than them-selves, exhilerating - and scary. As a teacher, I find Ihave to work hard to strike the right balance:between giving information, setting a constructivecontext, offering honesty and realism, always tryingto be aware of my own permanent and serious lim-itations by virtue of being human, avoiding project-ing my own particular fears, and bringing in the tem-pering influence of humour. I also have to realisethat students must negotiate for themseves, after allthat, what the balance is going to be for thembetween the healing and wounding facets of the

study and practice of astrology.

Ialways point out to them when they start express-ing fears about upcoming transits - Saturn andPluto being the favourite raisers of fear - that nine-ty nine point nine five percent of the human racehas got through the whole of our collective historywithout knowing anything about astrology, despitethe fact that one hundred per cent of us havealways had every kind of transit from the start of lifetill its end. This usually helps! It is very important notto give the impression that astrological knowledge

can protect us from life. Its great healing gift is thatit can help us greatly to make some sense of it.

Conclusion

I would like to conclude this essay by wonderingwhy so few people, having penetrated such a com-plex subject to the stage of acquiring a reasonabledegree of fluency, seem to give up the practice ofastrology, despite its having a wounding as well as ahealing dimension. I suspect a major reason is thatonce virginity has been lost, it cannot be regained.For most of us, the price paid for that loss of inno-cence is worth it, for the more complex and full,

albeit more difficult, life that is opened up as a result.Once the gods fire has been stolen, it cannot bereturned. Futhermore, as Charlotte put it:Personally, I couldnt not know. Otherwise Iwouldnt have pursued the subject as long as Ihave.

Trust a multiple Sagittarian to put that into wordsfor the rest of us! There is an incurable curiosi-ty in human beings, and a relentless drive to createmeaning, perhaps in the hope that one day we willbe able to heal the primary wound of not knowing

why we are here. Once we have held the godsstolen fire overhead, and seen the intriguing, flicker-ing, chimeric shadows it throws up for us, webecome addicted to the quest to find what theshapes behind those shadows might be...



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The will to live is a great mystery. Every med-ical practitioner, with any experience of life-threatening illness, knows that the will to livecan affect physical as well as psychological well-being, and survival often depends upon the sickpersons desire for life, rather than on the doc-

tors ministrations. Nor is the will to live neces-sarily what we claim we feel. We may cry outthat we want life; but somewhere inside, wewant to go home, and this longing for oblivionmay be more powerful than any conscious dec-laration of intent to get better. Some peoplereact to conflict, pain and disappointment witha creative response that transforms their per-spective and even their circumstances. Otherpeople become bitter and hopeless and live ina grey twilight world, or entirely lose their willto live. There are not only active suicides

amongst those who have inwardly given up, butalso those self-architected accidental deathswhich, although unconscious, are neverthelessfuelled by a powerful yearning to bring an endto suffering and unhappiness. Self-destructivebehaviour does not always involve the obviousgesture of the bottle of pills or the knife slash tothe wrist. There is no easy formula to deter-mine why some individuals rise to lifes chal-lenges, despite severe misfortunes and handi-caps, while others turn their backs on thefuture, even if fortune favours them. Moreover,loss of the will to live may not always result in

self-destruction. It may be expressed as theurge to destroy others, as though, on somedeep and inaccessible level, the projection ofhopelessness and victimisation onto anothergives the suffering individual the illusion that heor she is strong and in control of life. Thus theindividual who has, secretly, lost the will to livemay, in extremis, try to deprive others of joy -and perhaps even of life - by finding a scapegoatwho can be burdened with all the despair thatis felt within.

This mystery may have its origin, as so manymysteries do, in the enigma of inherentindividual character, and the birth chart canprovide us with many insights into the patterns

which underpin that character. With any polar-ity in life, we, as astrologers, always need tolook at a polarity of planets; and the polarity ofhope versus despair, the will to live versushopelessness, may be illuminated - at least inpart - through the symbolism of the polarity of

the Sun and Chiron.

Ido not believe we can really understand eitherof these planets without considering themeaning of the other one. Although they arenot in actual aspect in every individuals chart,nevertheless they are both present in everychart, and they form an energy dynamic withinthe personality. A direct aspect sharpens thisdynamic and often becomes the focus of theindividuals journey, but the polarity exists ineach of us regardless. All the planets, up to and

including Saturn, serve the development of theindividual ego, best symbolised by the Sun itself ;in fact, we might even say that the personalplanets serve the Sun as the centre of individ-uality. But Chiron lies at the interface betweenSaturn and the outer planets, and thereforemediates collective issues which impinge on andwound the individual.

1

By its nature, Chironscollective implications signify something collec-tively unhealable, because the wound exists inthe collective and is ancestral. By its nature, theSun reflects each individuals sense of purposeand meaning in life, and these are intimately

bound up with the will to live and to becomeoneself. Each of these planets needs the other;but if the balance tips too far to one or theother, certain psychological difficulties mayensue.

Following are a list of keywords which maybe helpful in understanding the relationshipbetween the Sun and Chiron. I would like toexplore these in more detail first, and then lookat what can happen when the Sun worksagainst Chiron, and what can happen when

they work together. After this brief assessmentof the two planets, an example chart may helpto illustrate the mysterious dynamic betweenthe Sun and Chiron.


Since Chirons discovery in 1977, astrologers have been experiencing and exploring histhemes, listening to new tales that resound to his ancient myth, and coming to some under-standing of his archetypal impact. Now, over twenty years later, Liz Greene sees Chiron asessential in deepening our understanding of solar consciousness; for in order to choose to livelife to the full, we have to face that part in us that would rather seek death.

Liz Greene holds aDoctorate in Psychologyand the Diploma of theFaculty of Astrological

Studies, and is a qualifiedJungian analyst. She works asa professional astrologerand analyst, and teaches andlectures extensivelythroughout Europe. She is aPatron of the Faculty ofAstrological Studies. She isthe author of many bookson astrological and psycho-logical themes, includingSaturn, Relating, Astrology for

Lovers, The Astrology of Fate,

and The Astrological Neptuneand the Quest for

Redemption. She lives inSwitzerland.

Wounding and the Will to Live

Liz Greene


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1 see Melanie Reinhart, Tothe Edge and Beyond, CPAPress, 1997, and also p. 20of this journal2 See my article, The SunGod and the Sun, inApollon, Issue 1.

The meaning of the Sun

Iwill not spend too much time on describingthe meaning of the Sun, as I have done thiselsewhere.

2

In short, the Sun represents theessence of the living individual - godhead (or, ifa less spiritual term is preferred, the life force)incarnated in human form for a particular life-span, and expressing itself with a specific natureand purpose. Through the Sun we experienceourselves as unique, special, and born withsomething to contribute to life. To paraphrasea statement Charles Harvey once made in a

conference lecture, the Sun within us makes usfeel connected with the macrocosm, and weexperience ourselves as part of something eter-nal. This inner experience conveys, not happi-ness in the ordinary colloquial sense, but theprofound serenity and hopefulness which arisefrom a feeling of living a useful and meaningfullife. We could call this an experience of indi-vidual destiny, because the Sun reflects that inus which knows we are here to live a specificpurpose. Apollo was, in Greek myth, the deitywho dispelled the darkness of the family curse,

and freed the individual from the burden ofancestral sin. A sense of individual meaningand purpose can indeed free us from the feel-ing of entrapment in the family past. The Sun

also gives us a sense of an individual future, afaith in our purpose, and an inner convictionthat we are going somewhere. It is the Sunwhich allows us to fight free of feelings of futili-ty and pointlessness, and which affirms ourunique value even if our circumstances arepainful.

The inner experience of individual destiny,meaning and hope, in turn, gives us confi-dence in ourselves and a belief in the essentialgoodness of life, and this can be a powerfulhealing force on both physical and psychological

levels. If the expression of the Sun is blocked,stifled, or undeveloped for any reason - throughchildhood wounds, for example, or throughinternal conflicts reflected in the birth chart -the individual may find it more difficult to con-nect with this sense of having the right to bealive as oneself. Lifes difficulties may then beamplified because there is no inner sense ofspecialness and hope on which to draw. Thepower to create depends on the Sun in thechart, because when we create anything wegive ourselves over to something other inside

us which we trust will bring forth fruit.Creativity requires an act of trust. So too doesplay, where we give ourselves over to a flow ofimaginative power which makes us feel joyful.

Key Themes

The Sun Chiron

Individual destiny Collective failings and flawsSense of meaning DisillusionmentHope for the future Failed idealsSelf-confidence Inescapable wounding

Generosity Bitterness and cynicismIndividual identity apart from family Physical and psychological damage

and collective Acceptance of mortal limitsThe power to create Quest for understandingThe ability to play CompassionThe divine child

The Sun working against Chiron The Sun working with Chiron

Depression WisdomLoss of confidence Patience in the face of that whichSense of permanent damage cannot be changed

Cynicism Toughness and gritExpectation of failure Understanding of deeper patternsSense of victimisation or scapegoating Melancholy which leadsDesire to victimise or scapegoat others to depth of thought and feelingProjection of inferiority on others Determination to make a contributionLoss of the will to live to the welfare of others

CompassionFeelings of specialness tempered by

an acceptance of human limitsActivation of the will to live


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The most ancient symbol of this creative andplayful solar power is the image of the divinechild, which personifies something eternallyyouthful and indestructible within us.

The meaning of Chiron

In Greco-Roman art, Chiron is almost alwaysshown carrying a child on his back. But despitethis emblem of hope, the figure of the King ofthe Centaurs is a tragic one. It is worth reiter-ating the myth, which is often distorted orwrongly told because it is such a painful one.

In myth, Chiron did not become a healerbecause he was wounded. That is an opti-mistic reinterpretation which attempts to makesense of lifes pain by assigning it a specific pur-pose and meaning - to develop the compassionand wisdom to heal others because of onesown pain. This reinterpretation of the myth isvalid as a way of working with ones own

wounds. But Chirons pain serves no such noblepurpose in the story. He is already a teacherand a healer, before he is wounded. It could beassumed that he is already wounded becausehe suffers isolation; although he is a Centaur,and therefore one of a tribe of creatures whosymbolise natural instinctual powers, he is him-self civilised, and has thus separated himselffrom his tribe. Chiron in this context representsthe wise animal, a natural power which of itsown volition has chosen to serve human evolu-tion and consciousness, rather than remain

blindly subject to the instinctual compulsions ofthe animal kingdom. Like the helpful animal infairy tales, Chiron turns his back on the savageryof his instinctual nature, in order to serve theevolutionary pattern which he deems to be theway forward for the whole of life.

But Chiron is in the wrong place at thewrong time. He is caught betweenHerakles, the solar hero who personifies thestrength of the human ego, and the wild,untamed Centaurs whom Chiron himself hasleft behind. While the battle rages, Chiron takes

no part; he has sympathy for both. Perhapsbecause of this mediating role, which depriveshim of his natural aggression, he is accidentallywounded by a poisoned arrow aimed at anoth-er Centaur, and the wound does not heal, nomatter what healing methods he applies to it.Ultimately he retires to his cave howling inanguish, begging for death. Zeus andPrometheus take pity on him, and grant him theboon of mortality, allowing him to die in peacelike any mortal, although once he was a god.

This terrible story implies a state of unfair-ness in life which is hard for any individual,and perhaps even harder for the idealistic indi-vidual involved in studies such as astrology, to

countenance. We want to believe that life isfair, and that goodness is rewarded and evilpunished, at least in some other incarnation ifnot in this one. Here is a good creature whosuffers through no fault of his own, a victim ofthe inevitable battle between evolution andinertia, consciousness and blind instinctuality.Chiron is an image of that in us which has beenwounded unfairly by life, and by inescapableconditions which reflect failings and flaws in acollective psyche which is unfailingly clumsy inits efforts to progress. Because human beingsare both solar hero and wild animal, andbecause our efforts to civilise ourselves overhistory have so often produced disastrousresults, we have a legacy of unfairly inflicted painwhich produces repercussions through the gen-erations. Physical and psychological damagewhose causes lie, not in any individual or evenparental failing, but in genetic inheritance, orcollective disasters such as the Holocaust and

the present nightmare in Kosovo, belong to therealm of Chiron. In these spheres our individualstrivings, fired by the Sun, refined and focusedby the inner planets, and given form andstrength by Saturn, are thwarted or damagedby forces in life, in history, in society, and in thecollective psyche over which we have no con-trol and for which, as individuals, we cannot beblamed.

Such collisions with the inescapable flaws ofthe collective can leave us full of bitternessand cynicism. We may punish others becausewe feel maimed, wounded and irredeemable.Or we may punish ourselves. But if we canprogress beyond this black bile of bitterness,and if we are persistent enough in our searchfor answers, we may indeed find an answer -even if the answer is that there is no answer,and that we must accept the limits of mortalexistence. Acceptance is one of Chirons gifts,and it is different from self-pitying resignation.Chirons boon of death may be understood asa symbol of the acceptance of being mortal, andit constitutes a transformation which, even if it

cannot heal the unhealable or alter the past, canradically change our perspective on life.Through it we learn compassion, albeit of a lim-ited kind. Chirons compassion is the compas-sion of one lame person for another. We mayfeel deep empathy for those who are woundedlike ourselves. But without the Suns warmthand light, we may not find the generosity tomove beyond the narrow circle of those whosespecific pain mirrors our own, and see that lifehurts us all, in one way or another.

Chiron as scapegoater: the wounded

becomes the wounder

There are many stages in the process whichChiron represents, beginning with his


In myth, Chiron didnot become a healerbecause he waswounded. That is anoptimistic reinter-p r e t a t i o n ,wh i chattempts to make

sense of lifes painby assigning it a spe-cific purpose andmeaning ... Chironspain serves no suchnoble purpose inthe story


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wounding, and ending with his transformationinto mortality and his release from suffering.These stages encompass rage, fury, the desireto injure others, bitter resignation, self-pity, feel-ings of victimisation, and, at last, the dawning ofa wish to understand the universal patterns thatlie beyond ones personal pain. At any of thesestages, if we fail to face and comprehend whatis happening to us, we may become stuck andact out some of Chirons less attractive features.Chiron is, after all, wounded in his animal half,and animals are not known for their philosphi-cal attitude when injured. Those which have thestrength tend to bite back.

As it is so relevant to the present world sit-uation, I have chosen to briefly review therelationship between the Sun and Chiron in thechart of Slobodan Milosevic, who, at the time ofwriting this article, bears the dubious honour ofpersonifying all we find most abhorrent in

human nature. Not long ago, Adolf Hitler hadthis honour; no doubt others, equally qualified,will follow in the future. Whether or notMilosevic is truly evil as some claim, or a humanbeing damaged unbearably and thus trans-formed into a destructive force, is not a ques-tion I can answer. This question forms the sub-ject of endless debate in the healing profes-sions, and raises the impossible conundrum ofwhether the will to destroy is a matter of inher-ent character or a matter of childhood damagetaken to appalling extremes. As with all such

conundrums, the answer probably lies in a com-bination of both. But it seems to me, viewingthis chart in the context of the present situationin Yugoslavia, that we can learn a great dealfrom it about what happens if the wounds ofChiron are not dealt with on an inner level.Milosevic has exhibited no obvious loss of thewill to live. He is, apparently, quite the opposite:a tough survivor who will find any way to retainhis position of power whatever the cost to oth-ers. It is others who, at his hands, have lost notonly the will to live, but their actual lives. Yetthe inner picture is rather different.

In this chart Chiron is not aspecting the Sun. Itis, however, powerful through its conjunctionswith the Moon and Pluto in Leo; all these plan-ets are placed in the 4th house and square theTaurus Ascendant. The Sun is in the 5th house,in its own sign of Leo, and is therefore the dis-positor of Chiron. The dynamic relationshipbetween the Sun and Chiron in this birth chartis not through direct aspect, but through thepolarisation of the self-expressive, self-mytholo-gising 5th house Sun in Leo and the shadowed,

injured Moon in the 4th, with its inheritance notonly of death and destruction in the immediatefamily, but also of the ancient memory of griev-ances in the collective psyche into which

Mi lo sev i cwas born.

Many Serbs nursea centuries-old angertoward the Muslim worldbecause of the occupation of theirland by the Ottoman Turks in the 13th centu-ry. The Muslim Albanian community is per-ceived as merely a continuation of this ancientoutrage. 4th house Moons feel such things per-sonally, as though they have ingested thesearchaic memories through their mothers milk.

T

he oppression of Titos communist regime

is also relevant here, with its repudiation ofLeonine individuality. Milosevic himself is, ofcourse, a communist, and the only outlet for adouble Leo with such a political agenda ispower. But although power might satisfy theSuns drive to create, it cannot heal the hurt ofthe Moon in Leo, longing to be special andloved. This individual, with no water in the birthchart and the harsh internal discipline of aSaturn-Uranus conjunction square the Sun andMercury, is not likely to recognise or acknowl-edge the source of his suffering, because anyemotions, especially those of the vulnerable vic-

tim, are frightening. One does not survive if onefeels. One survives if one fights; the Sun is trinea dignified Mars in Aries in the 12th, itself achannel for a dream of collective ancestralheroism. The Pluto-Chiron power which injuresthe Moon is perceived outside, in a vulnerablepeople who are seen as a powerful enemy. Asalways when one projects bits of oneself out-side, Milosevic lives in a hall of mirrors.

Analysing the motives of an individual likeMilosevic can teach us a great deal aboutourselves. It is, of course, easy, with hindsight, tosay, Ah, naturally he behaved like this, becausehis whatnot is in thingey aspecting ding-ding.This is a game all astrologers play, especially


Slobodan Milosevic

Aug 20 1941, 22.00 MET,Pozarevac, Yugoslavia

Placidus

True Node

Source: Hans HinrichTaeger, InternationalesHoroscope Lexikon, Band 4,

Verlag Hermann Bauer,Freiburg im Breisgau, 1998.Taeger classes this chart asGroup 2P, meaning it isfairly reliable and derivedfrom autobiographicalstatements.


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when it allows us to feel superior. However, theconjunction in Milosevics 4th house speaks notof inevitable behaviour, but of a deep ancestralwound, transmitted and enacted through theimmediate family. Milosevics parents both com-mitted suicide, a fact which has no doubt exac-erbated, or played into, the dark flavour of thisconjunction. This man confronted death andtotal abandonment in very early life, and survivalcannot therefore ever be taken for granted.Chiron-Pluto is also a generation marker, as is

the Saturn-Uranus conjunction, and bothoccurred during, and reflected, the chaos andhorror of the Second World War.

Those children born with this pair of con-junctions know well, in their blood andbones, that life is not safe, and that innocenceand goodness are no guarantee for survival. Thisapplies even if one has been born in a relativelysafe environment, outside the arena of war.Beyond the Saturnian skin of individuality, thecollective psyche ensures that all of us partici-pate in and embody, on some level - dark orlight - the times into which we are born. ThatMilosevic is a deeply, savagely, perhaps irrevoca-bly wounded man is beyond doubt. That he hasalways had a choice in how to deal with thatwound is also beyond doubt; and we all knowhow he chose to express it. The savagery of the

inner wound is proportionate to the wound hehas inflicted on hundreds of thousands of inno-cent people. Chiron, its pain inflamed by Plutossavage fight for survival, here suggests a pro-found conviction that only through the deaths ofthose perceived as destroyers can the individ-uals own survival be ensured. Hopefully thereaders of this article are not inclined to takeMilosevics path. He is easy to despise and evenhate. Yet we may be more like him than wethink - in little ways which we deem unimpor-tant yet which reveal the painful struggle we

experience in facing our own wounds honestly,and bearing them, rather than finding someoneelse to whom we can feel superior and inwhose suffering we can secretly take delight.

Struggle and synthesis

The psychoanalyst Michael Balint3

wrote that,at the core of every illness, physical as well

as psychological, there is a fundamental wound- a struggle or inner conflict which seems insur-mountable and which can generate bitternessand rage, and the loss of the will to live. Whilethere is no implication in this statement of anyindividual culpability, there is a suggestion that,if the conflict could be brought into conscious-ness, there is a good chance that the course ofmany physical and psychological illnesses couldbe altered, or faced in a different and morepositive spirit.

If Chiron works against and overwhelms theSun, the result can be depression, loss of con-fidence, and a sense of permanent damage orwounding. One becomes cynical - as GoethesMephistopheles says, I am the spirit of nega-

tion. One expects failure, and because oneexpects it, one may very likely find it. A sense ofbeing victimised or scapegoated can be veryintense; or one may project ones wounded-ness on others and victimise or scapegoatthem. If we fail to acknowledge this inner senseof bitterness and wounding, we may becomearrogant and bask in our greater spiritualachievement, looking down on those whom wedeem to be less evolved than ourselves. Wemay also become intolerant, and even cruel,toward those who inadvertently remind us that

we are hurting. And so the wound festers in thedarkness.

Yet the Greco-Roman image of Chiron bear-ing the divine child on his back also tells usthat these two antithetical symbols can worktogether. Chiron is the childs teacher in myth -the one to whom is given the care and educa-tion of the prince who will become king. This isa rich and hopeful image of the role our unheal-able hurts can play in the education of the indi-vidual we are in process of becoming. We mayfind a quality of serenity and wisdom, which

emerge from patience in the face of that whichcannot be changed. We may also developtoughness and grit, and lose the sentimentalitythat makes so many idealists so utterly ineffec-tual in realising their dreams. We may also geta glimpse of bigger, deeper patterns - the slow,painful evolution of the collective, of which weare a part, and with which we have to shareresponsibility. Collective disasters and mistakesare not their fault - human messes belong tous all. We may revile Milosevic, and rightly so,yet each time we sneer with contempt at any

racial, religious, or social minority group, or slylytry to make life more difficult for those individ-uals who remind us of our own imperfections,we are displaying a little bit of him ourselves. I


Slobodan Milosevic

3 Michael BalintThe Basic Fault

Tavistock Publications,London, 1968


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have known some very vociferously politicallycorrect people who, when they retire behindthe closed doors of their own abodes, trans-form into little Adolfs and Slobos toward theirpartners and children. And it may be wise toremember that collectives choose their leaders,and when these little bits of the maimed scape-goater in each of us aggregate together, thenwe are inclined to put into power an individualwho will do the will of the wounded andwounder in all of us. Before we allocate thesource of all present evil to figures likeMilosevic, we would do well to look in the mir-ror.

The melancholy which Chiron can generate,warmed by the light of the Sun, may alsolead us to have depth of thought and feeling,and stir in us a determination to make a contri-bution to the welfare of others. We may find adifferent kind of compassion - not just for those

who have been hurt in the same way as our-selves, but for people whose experiences donot necessarily match our own, yet who meritcompassion merely because we are all human.If one has lost an eye, it is easy to feel sympa-thy for those half-blind like ourselves, and tohate those who are fortunate enough to enjoycomplete sight. The Sun working with Chironcan generate enough generosity of spirit torecognise that all human beings suffer merelybecause they are alone and mortal, and thatone specific kind of wound is not more special

or deserving of compassion than another.Those who are loudest in their declarations ofcompassion toward the Kosovo Albanians mayalso be those who have little compassion fortheir black or gay or Jewish or Pakistani neigh-bour, or who are prepared to kick the dogmerely to alleviate stress. The Sun working withChiron cuts through such hypocrisy to theshared essence of the human heart hiddenwithin. Most importantly, the Sun working withChiron can activate the will to live - not mere-ly on a blind organic or egotistical level, butbecause ones sense of individual purpose has

combined with a feeling of empathy for theslow and painful struggle toward the light whichexists in every living thing.

The Sun and Chiron in direct aspect

Those with the Sun in direct aspect toChiron may know on a profound level howthe unfairness of life can damage the spirit; andif they are able to take on the challenge of thiscombination of planets, they may also dedicatetheir considerable energy and strength towardleaving the world a much better place than it

was when they entered it. There are manyexamples of famous people with Sun-Chironaspects who illustrate this point; any compendi-um of birth charts, such as Taegers

Internationales Horoskope Lexikon, is worthperusing to this end. But rather than dwellingon the famous, I would like to briefly mentiontwo people personally known to me, bothchart clients, and both with the Sun conjunctChiron, who exemplify the very particular kindof pain Sun-Chiron may suffer. One of thesealso exemplifies the kind of creative resolutionwhich is possible.

The first, a woman with the Sun conjunctChiron in Capricorn in the 9th house, expe-rienced Chirons wounding first in the religioussphere (as might be expected with this 9thhouse placement), by being born into an ortho-dox Jewish family many of whose members haddied in the Holocaust. She had inherited a pro-found bitterness and distrust of people and life,based only partly on her own experience, butalso on an inherited perception of being ascapegoat in a hostile world. This wound also

encompassed a prevalent orthodox Jewish atti-tude about the inferiority of women, exhibitedin certain taboos about the body. An amalga-mation of experiences highlighting lifes unfair-ness had created in this woman a deep poisonand cynicism, and an apparently immovableconviction that she was worth nothing. As aresult, she victimised herself, through compul-sive eating and a chain of destructive relation-ships. Identification with the scapegoat, theoppression of a ferocious inner persecutor, andthe sense of a flawed and inferior body, were

the chief areas in which she worked in psy-chotherapy over several years, occasionallyreporting back to me for a chart update. Ittook a very long time before she could fight herway out from under Chirons injury, and expe-rience the self-respect and self-love of the Sun.Yet, clinging to the experience of victimisationcan sometimes be a way of feeling special. It isthe mute language of a secret, unacknowl-edged, unconscious Sun - which, if expressed inmore honest ways, can not only provide heal-ing for ones own own wounds, but can alsogenerate a deep recognition of the blindness

and pain of a collective which turns on anothercollective to alleviate its own sense of wound-edness. This lady has travelled a long road, andher innate grit, toughness, and lack of sentimen-tality about life have turned out to be not onlyamong her greatest resources, but also one ofthe great strengths she has begun to offer oth-ers suffering from eating disorders, similar tothat she herself once suffered from.

The second example is a failed writer, a manwho has all his life dreamed of publishingnovels yet who invariably shoots himself in thefoot by producing unpublishable work. He hasthe Sun conjunct Chiron in Leo in the 5thhouse. His writing style is very fine, and he has



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no discernible block in expressing his gift; buteverything he produces is always too long, tooshort, too dense, or too incomprehensible, orthe themes he chooses to write about are insome way politically incorrect and offensive tosome specific group the publisher has reason tofear. Behind these failures in the outer worldlies self-sabotage, and behind the self-sabotagelies a deep conviction that he is worth nothing,that he is stupid and inarticulate, and that ifever he does get a work into print it will bemocked, criticised, and dismissed as worth-less. To date, he has not been able to utilisethe insights a chart can offer, and has not fullyrecognised the real nature of his wound. Thedivine child within him was wounded by anearly social and educational environment thatperceived his vivid imagination as threateningand his intense self-preoccupation and self-expressiveness as selfish. His parents, so faras I can see, cannot not be held particularly

culpable; all parents blunder in one way oranother, and these were no worse than mostand better than many. But the educationalsystem in which he was raised did its best toturn the divine child into a socially acceptableautomaton. Many people experience suchpressures and frustrations. But those withSun-Chiron in Leo may be particularlyattuned to, and more readily injured by, thenarrowness and fear of originality so oftenfound in collective educational institutions,which may unwittingly destroy the very cre-

ative spirit they profess to encourage. Life, asChiron knows well, can be very unfair.

Aspects between the Sun and Chiron arenot guaranteed to offer a solution on aplate. Many individuals do not find their waythrough. Yet, although profoundly chal leng-ing, these contacts may also convey a specialsense of how to bring wounds into con-sciousness, and how to teach this conscious-ness to others. Hard aspects between thetwo no doubt helped to drive Jung (Sun inLeo out-of-sign square Chiron in Aries) into

formulating a psychology of the collective,and perhaps also helped to drive DaneRudhyar (Sun in Aries opposition Chiron inLibra) into making astrology human-centred,and a tool for insight and enlightenment,rather than mere prognostication. No doubtboth these men suffered, and both, on occa-sion, exhibited the less attractive sides of thewounded Centaur; I would not have liked tohave been married to either of them. But theyturned their wounds into creative power, andpartook of the mythic Centaurs gift for teach-

ing and healing. How did they get there? Howdo we avoid becoming a mini-Milosevic, andchoose instead the path which favours the willto live?

How do we get there?

The house and sign in which Chiron is placedtell us a great deal about where, and how,life has wounded us. This is the place where,no matter how hard we seek to find a specificobject for our blame, we eventually discoverthat the blame lies in the gap between idealand reality, and in the inevitable flawedness ofhuman nature. We may need to rail against life,but if we are not to sink into a corrosive bit-terness which can ultimately make us distortedand ill, we need to move beyond this phase ofChirons rage into the quest for understandingwhich takes us beyond identifying with thescapegoat and the victim, and beyond theattendant inclination to play the scapegoaterourselves. This understanding may require usto dispense with previous spiritual and moralconvictions, and find a broader base fromwhich to view life. We may need to give up the

idea that the good guys always ride white hors-es and the bad guys black ones, and we mayalso have to accept the fact that sometimesvery good, decent people suffer unfairly, andvery unpleasant, nasty ones manage very nice-ly and die in their beds rich, comfortable, andwell pleased with themselves. Chiron and WaltDisney do not make good bedfellows.

How do we find this kind of understanding?How do we learn to genuinely forgive andtolerate, without that vastly superior turn-the-

other-cheek smugness which masks deepunconscious resentment and rage? Chironneeds the Sun for this task. The Sun has thepower to affirm the individuals specialness andlovability, and this alone can counteract thepoison of self-pity. The house and sign in whichthe Sun is placed at birth ref lect what we needto become, if we wish to feel truly alive. If theSun is in Aries in the 5th, and we are busybeing self-sacrificing and devoting our lives toothers, then somewhere, something is notworking, and a deep disloyalty to self mayencourage Chirons bitterness, rather than his

understanding. If the Sun is in Sagittarius in the1st, and we are busy pretending we dont wishto be noticed by anyone, then somewhere,something is not working. If the Sun is in the10th in Taurus, and we claim we are uninter-ested in material security and collective recog-nition of our talents, then somewhere, some-thing is not working. If the Sun is in the 12th inCancer and we are busy pretending we do notbelieve in any mystical or invisible dimension oflife, psychological or spiritual, then somewhere,something is not working. I believe we need to

ask ourselves: Is the Sun shining in my life? AmI myself? Or is a fear of loneliness or notbelonging making me pretend to be what I amnot?



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The Centaur Chironinstructing the youngAchilles. Wall painting fromthe basilica ofHerculaneum Larousse

E

qually, we may also need to face Chiron,and ask ourselves: What is the nature of

my wound? How has life hurt me, and whomdo I secretly blame? What might I be doingto compensate, deny, indulge in, or projectthat wound? Can I feel compassion formyself, or only rage and self-pity? Where doI feel scapegoated, and where do I try toheal, or destroy, others in order to convincemyself that I am not wounded? Where do Isabotage or even destroy myself because ofbitterness? In order for the Sun and Chironto work together, we need to be consciousof both. There is a profound and mysterious

chemistry between these planets which, if itis working for us rather than against us,seems to mobilise the life-force, not only forour own expression, but also for the collec-tive of which we are a part. Chirons alien-

ation and damage keep the Sun frombecoming arrogant and insensitive; the Suns

warmth and joy keep Chiron from despair.As with all chart factors, the degree to whichthese dimensions of our own souls give oftheir best depends on how aware we are oftheir reality inside us. This is not a cure forlife. Life will still hurt us from time to time, inone way or another, and Chirons wounds,although we may make peace with them,inevitably rob us of our innocence. The willto live is not mobilised by a bel ief that life isall roses, that all we need is love, and thatsome kind father-mother-god will reward us

if we are good. It is constellated by tougherstuff, and needs realism as well as faith andvision, if we are to exit feeling we have doneour best with the gift of life, however tran-sient, which we have been given.


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Isabellas story is an extraordinary one, illus-trat ing in a powerful and poignant way thesymbolism, qualities and transit process ofChiron and the Centaurs. Although more tra-ditional planetary significators do providesome framework, it is by tracking the threenamed Centaurs that the interdimensional

quality of her process is revealed and hon-oured. In the horoscopes of people whohave suffered extreme and incomprehensibleexperiences, which may take years toprocess, heal or understand, the symbolismof the Centaurs often presents itself with adramatic and astonishing literalness.

Before Isabella tells her story, which pro-vides an eloquent illustration of theirqualities, I will try to describe some majorthemes of Chiron and the Centaurs. To begin

contemplating their meaning, the reader isinvited to allow the astronomical symbolismto speak for itself.. .

Centaurs in the sky

Chiron was discovered in 1977, andreclassified several times, as it did not fitneatly into any existing astronomical catego-ry. Since 1992, there have been discoveredthirteen more bodies simi lar to Chiron, andthe entire group now has the official designa-tion of Centaurs! At the time of writ ing,there is an exciting process underway in

cyberspace, where several astrologers are indialogue with the International AstronomicalUnion, who are responsible for naming andcataloguing newly discovered celestialobjects, and are currently taking suggestionsfrom astrologers for Centaur names. The sig-nificance of this does not need overstating. Itis breath-takingly congruent with the symbol-ism of the Centaur itself, half horse and halfhuman - a linking of disparate opposites intoone figure. The hoary old conflict betweenastrology and science is being laid aside, just

a little, for a moment! Isabellas story, too,illustrates this linking of opposites, where thepsychological perspective unfolds in tandemwith the shamanic.

And then there were three...

After Chiron, only two further Centaurshave been named so far - Pholus andNessus. All Centaurs have very elliptical andrather unstable orbits, which cross the orbits ofat least one planet, from Saturn to Neptune,but not Pluto. They are like the emissaries of

Pluto, inhabiting what is known as the KuiperBelt, a large disk of matter, also discovered inthe early 1990s, and now the focus of muchexcitement in the world of astronomical sci-ence. So we have an actual extra-terrestrialUnderworld out there, the planet Pluto pre-siding as its largest object, and the Centaursweaving their exquisite elliptical trajectories asthey journey towards the Sun, crossing theorbits of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, thenreturning to the cold dark reaches of outerspace. Thus they enlighten and integrate various

dimensions of the Plutonic process of descent,healing and rebirth; this fits poetically with Plutoin Sagittarius, as our view of the shape and con-tent of the far edge of the Solar System is beingtransformed.

The first three Centaurs - Chiron, Pholus andNessus - seem to deal with the interdimen-sional aspect of life, the link between the every-day physical and psychological world and thatwhich lies beyond it. Before life, they speak ofthe formative process in the womb, as thephysical and other bodies are forming, when

ancestral and personal karmic influences accrueto us via our genetic and energetic heritage onvarious levels. After death, when the body isreleased and the soul process continues else-where, the Centaur process may reflect thecoagulation and densification of that which isyet to be resolved, and pass it on to the nextgeneration. Like a relay race, the baton passesfrom runner to runner, until someone tran-scends the whole game through consciousness.

As all Centaurs cross the orbits of other

planets, they also symbolise that whichruptures, violates, crosses, invades or intercepts.Like the hole in the ozone layer surroundingthe Earth, or l ike the breaching of barriers, the


Inherited grief, emotional patterning handed down from generation to generation, is oftenthe most powerful, and least tangible, of wounds. Melanie Reinhart has been spending

time with Isabella Kirton, author of Spirit Child, a moving account of coming to terms withher experience of abortion, and has traced the intricate mythic paths that Centaurs havetrod through her chart and life, and down four generations of her family.

Melanie Reinhart BA, D. F.Astrol. S. has been a profes-sional astrologer since 1975,runs a busy practice, travelsinternationally, and tutors

for the CPA and the Facultyof Astrological Studies inLondon. She is the author ofseveral highly-acclaimedbooks, classics of carefulresearch, intuitive and inno-vative thinking.

Spirit Child

Melanie Reinhart and Isabella Kirton


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invasion of a host country by terrorists, virusesattacking computers, or indeed the humanimmune system... they are aliens, outsiders,exiles, mavericks. From another perspective,they are impulses bringing chaos, seeding newbeginnings, making innovation possible, shed-ding light. Insight dawns, energy is released, newpathways are taken.

Chirons wound

The sense of being wounded, that is oftenfelt where Chiron is located in the person-al horoscope, may have, at its core, somethingwhich is not resolvable by normal means, butrequires a radical shift in perspective for healingto occur. Chiron and the Centaurs, then, illus-trate the experiences which facilitate this open-ing... ranging from subtle to catastrophic,depending on our own unique journey. TheCentaurs cross the paths of other planets, andlikewise they symbolise experiences which cut

across our ordinary perceptions, preconcep-tions and sense of reality, to reveal a world ofnon-physical energies which appear chaotic butwhich have their own logic. The apparentlybizarre, disturbing, scary and incomprehensiblecross our path.

2

In Isabellas story, you will seethis process clearly.

Like their elliptical orbits, Centauric energyhas a driven quality, which swings us offcentre (eccentric), for the sake of self-realisa-tion, picking up what has been left behind,

unconsidered, unredeemed. Things are notwhat they seem, and we are not who wethought we were. Hence they speak of transi-tion: in the mythology all Centaurs must die,often killed by Hercules. They symbolise, then,the kind of consciousness that develops onlywith the recognition of the poignancy of tem-porality, and from which we are usually pro-tected by the rhythms, activities and pre-occu-pations of ordinary life. When this safety is rup-tured, initially we may be fear-driven, but withacceptance we may heal the deepest splits inourselves and thus our lives.

Very simply, there seems to be aSaturn/Uranus theme with Chiron, in thatthe wound of Chiron is one that may berelieved by the work of anchoring (Saturn)transpersonal insight and illumination (Uranus)in physical reality. In so doing, we may undergorepeated ego-death experiences, just asChirons suffering was resolved by him volun-tarily giving up his immortality and descendingto the Underworld. In astronomical terms, hewent home to the Kuiper Belt!

Pholus and the Sacred Jar

Like Chiron, Pholus was one of the fewCentaurs who served humanity, but unlike

Chiron, his story is not aboutthe experience of long-termsuffering. Pholus was adiviner, a seer, the priestof the gods, whowould arrange sacri-fices and read omens.He was also the cus-todian of the sacredjar of wine ofDionysus, which wasnot supposed to beopened for four gener-ations, or until the arrivalof Hercules. This wine -the Dionysian / Neptunianintoxicant - was the property ofall the Centaurs. So Pholus signifiesdivine inspiration, a capacity for seeing,which must not be appropriated for selfish pur-poses, but which needs a strong ego (Hercules)

in order to be contained and channelled. Whenthe jar was opened, chaos broke out as theunruly herd of Centaurs outside the cavesmelled the wine and wanted it. A battleensued, and Pholus accidentally dropped one ofHercules poisoned arrows on his foot. anddied instantly.

Like Chiron, Pholus may link us with ancestralprocesses, often very specifically involvingfour generations.

3

The jar being opened, thenchaos erupting, is a central image, and one that

can be readily seen with transits to or fromPholus.4

It moved slowly through Capricorn andAquarius so anyone born b

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