The astrological highlight for this month is Chiron’s transit of Aries which begins on February 18. Chiron settles into Aries for the next 8 years, signalling a major shift in the collective energy.
February begins with NO planets retrograde.Note: All the dates below are for Australian Daylight Eastern Time.
February 4: Venus to Capricorn
February 5: New Moon in Aquarius
February 10: Mercury to Pisces
February 14: Mars to Taurus
February 18: Chiron to Aries
February 19: Sun to Pisces
February 20: Full Moon in Virgo
The New Moon on February 5 falls at close to 16 degrees of Aquarius and forms auspicious aspects with Mercury [conjunction] and Jupiter [sextile], suggesting it is a powerful time for expressing our ideas and beginning new projects. The New Moon in Aquarius is the marker for Chinese New Year and this year it heralds the Year of the Pig. Chinese New Year is traditionally time to honour the ancestors and let go the past year while giving thanks for safe passage to this time of new beginnings. It is also a time to ask for blessings for the year ahead. For those of you who have not set your intentions for the 2019, this New Moon can provide another opportunity to clear your clutter – physically, emotionally and mentally – and reflect on what you need to embrace to move forward in your life.
The New Moon in Aquarius always invites us to reflect on how we relate to the Aquarian archetype. It invites us to take a more detached perspective on our lives and to reflect on friendships, group involvements and community. What does all this mean for you? It may be time to join a group, reach out to your friends or get involved in something that has an altruistic or humanitarian motivation.
The Full Moon / Super Moon on February 20 falls at close to 1 degree of Virgo. The Virgo Full Moon always falls opposite the Sun in Pisces and asks us to ground our Piscean visions and find a practical application for them. Super Moons occur when the Full Moon occurs close to the lunar perigee, or the time in its cycle when it is at its closet to the Earth, creating the optical illusion of the Moon being bigger than usual. Super Moons can coincide with extreme weather patterns and phenomena such as earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. Energetically we can expect this to be an more emotionally charged full moon than usual due the super moon phenomenon.
This full moon forms what is called an ‘easy opposition’ as the Moon trines a Mars/Uranus conjunction while the Sun sextiles this point. Mars conjunct Uranus suggests the need to beware of angry reaction and flight or fight responses but the sextile to the Sun and the trine to the Moon suggest it may be a positive time to become aware of these patterns and find new ways of responding to conflict.
Virgo is the perfectionist and worrier of the zodiac so this lunation brings both these themes in focus and challenges us to find more gentleness and compassion for ourselves and others [functional Pisces]. It may require letting go destructive [self] criticism and judgements that generate anxiety and alienation [dysfunctional Virgo]. The Virgo Full Moon is also a call to re-balance body, mind and spirit: to see if we are lost in our dreams [Pisces] or lost in the everyday details and ‘busy-ness’ of our life [Virgo]. How can we create more balance between these realms? Both Virgo and Pisces have a strong desire to serve and can therefore tend to submerge their own identity through selfless care of others. This full moon invites us all to reflect on what service means to us and whether we have lost ourselves in the roles of carer and servant or perhaps become the martyr in some area of our life. This will be especially relevant for anyone with planets in Pisces and Virgo.
2. Chiron to Aries*: February 18 2019*This article is a reprint from May 2018. Chiron entered the sign of Aries for the first time on April 18 2018, retrograded back into Pisces on September 29 and re-enters Aries on February 18 2019 where it will stay until 2027. Chiron has a very elliptical orbit of 49 to 50 years and is at its slowest in the sign of Aries. It takes on average 8.33 years to transit Aries while only an average of 1.66 years to transit Libra.
Chiron represents the archetype of the Wounded Healer and as it symbolizes a part of the psyche that often feels different and unacceptable it is calling for acceptance and integration. Chiron often challenges us to own these wounded and rejected parts of self and risk rejection in order to claim our wholeness. Chiron’s wounds are therefore said to be sacred and soul making as they challenge us to stand in our truth and own our differences and perceived imperfections: physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. Therefore, Chiron’s transits are therefore often an invitation to see the ‘bigger picture’ - to separate from the ‘tribe’ and be true to the Self – a call to individuate.
Chiron’s transit of Aries calls us attend to the wounds we carry – personally and collectively - around the Aries archetype. This involves owning the wound[s], seeing the bigger picture, being willing to move beyond the ego and reconcile opposites regarding: • Being ourselves … ‘identity wound’ • Claiming our Inner Warrior, Hero & Pioneer • How we deal [or not] with anger and assertion …and • How we deal with competition and conflict.
My take on this transit is that it is a call to find new ways of managing conflict at both personal and collective levels as well as a call for SELF ACCEPTANCE. It is a call to heal the Warrior Archetype within ourselves and within the collective. As Chiron often works homoeopathically it will reveal our personal and collective wounds around anger, assertion and conflict and can [and is doing so already] activate the bully and the victim archetypes. It may sensitize us to feeling di-empowered and inadequate. We may experience frustration until we own our inadequacies / fears and look for new solutions.
The last time Chiron was in Aries was 1968 to 1977, a time of major change where the urge to find more peaceful solutions to conflict became a major concern. The Civil Rights movement was in full swing and there were mass demonstrations about the Vietnam War and in support of Black Rights and Equal Rights for Women.
The Vietnam War reached a crescendo and the images of burning children and the knowledge of massacres of civilians led to an international revulsion that was a catalyst for the ending of the war. The Middle East conflicts, especially the war in Syria are echoing these themes and hopefully we will see a similar desire for peace emerge sooner rather than later. The movement for gun control in the USA feels like an expression of this transit.
Other major events and themes from Chiron’s last transit of Aries include the assassination of Martin Luther King just after Chiron moved into Aries in 1968 and the assassination of Robert Kennedy soon after. The Northern Ireland conflict was also in full swing. It was a time of major tumult where the forces of justice were eventually heard.
What might we expect? If history repeats itself we might initially experience a polarization where the aggressors dig in but eventually leading to a shift that leads to major healing. This transit has been called the battle between the Hawks and the Doves which could be re-framed as a battle between the functional and dysfunctional expressions of Aries. The highest expression of Aries is the White Knight and Spiritual Warrior who fights with honour for a noble cause while the shadow Aries can be the Mercenary, Bully and Aggressor who is fighting for the love of bloodshed or for power and ego gratification.