For Astrologers the headline news this month is the gathering together of Neptune, Jupiter and Chiron for a triple conjunction at 27 degrees of Aquarius on 27 May. This configuration has been building over the last several months and will continue in influence through to 2011. Strongly affecting people born between February 12 -16 who have their Sun placed there, it will also be particularly significant for anyone with planets at 27 degrees of Aquarius, Leo, Taurus and Scorpio.
Chiron, discovered in 1977 is actually thought to be a comet on a long term visit to our corner of the universe but manages to play a powerful role in Astrology nonetheless. Mythical Chiron was a centaur. Wounded accidentally by his fellows and despite being a talented healer, much sought after by the Gods, he was unable to heal himself and suffered immense pain. To alleviate him the Gods allowed him to sacrifice his immortality and become human so he could die. He was then gifted new immortality by being placed amongst the stars. Chiron in our natal charts signifies a personal lesson which teaches compassion and empathy via suffering. It is often from our most deeply wounding experiences that we learn what it means to be human.
Jupiter combined with Neptune occurs roughly every 12 years and can feel like a gift from the Gods. Idealistic, visionary Neptune together with benevolent, expansive Jupiter sounds like a recipe for our wildest dreams to be realised. But there can be an impracticable delusory side to Neptune and optimistic Jupiter can have us overreaching our capabilities. Historically this pair joined with Chiron in 1114 and in 1881and most recently in Libra in September 1945. These were years of massive social change but only after much conflict and hardship. The end of the World War followed the detonation of two atomic bombs. Perhaps it is only when things get taken to their extremes (Jupiter) that we come to our senses (Neptune).
This time round the planets are lining up in the altruistic sign of the social reformer, Aquarius. Positioned here we can expect to see situations where individual needs have been sacrificed for the greater good but also that things have gone too far and lost integrity. When Chiron is involved it implies a need to sacrifice one thing so something greater can be received. The planets suggest that through an empathy brought about by shared suffering we will seek new opportunities to fulfil our dreams and visions for more socially equal common future.
The next Full Moon is at 19° Scorpio on the 9 May at 6:02 am and the New Moon is at 3° Gemini on the 24 May at 2:12 pm