There is an aspect happening right now. Tell me if you can feel it: Mars conjunct Chiron in Pisces. I don’t know if there’s any unusual suspense in the air or it’s just my imagination — but it seems to be going around. This is an aspect that involves awareness of and healing the male side of the psyche, and one’s experience of oneself as a man. In a girl or woman it’s also identified with her experience and perception of men. In an astonishing, to-the-day manifestation of this aspect, Pres. Obama on Thursday instructed the federal government to stop defending the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, opening the way for federal recognition of same-sex marriage.
Like just about everything that involves Chiron in Pisces, this is happening for the first time since the late 1960s. In case you’re following the other aspect I’ve been writing about that has a potent ’60s resonance, that is Uranus square Pluto; that is reminiscent of the Uranus-Pluto conjunction that happened to occur in the mid-1960s. Synchronously, that was the most recent time Chiron was in Pisces. So two longterm events are developing right now that have a direct line of energy back to approximately 1960 to 1968.
As for the current aspect, Mars conjunct Chiron: Both of these are warrior energies. Both are yang or male energies. They are set in a vibrational field (a sign) that is distinctly yin or female in nature — Pisces. Note that this conjunction can happen in any sign, though its location will be determined by where slower-moving Chiron is located. Just a few weeks ago Chiron entered Pisces to stay for the next eight years.
Even without Chiron’s influence, Mars is a challenged planet in our era, that is, in the modern world. Men are genetically prepared to be hunters and defenders of the brood, and instead they’re frequently turned into either office workers, or people who are paid to commit various forms of injustice. There is very little defending the brood that happens and there is nearly no hunting; one can purchase a sausage and egg sandwich. The wars that our brilliantly trained fighters are sent to do are the bidding of corporations in mercenary wars. Indeed, the war in Iraq started under a Mars-Chiron conjunction in Aquarius, which I wrote about at the time.
Here in the United States, we have a lot of guns, and a lot of gun deaths. I would call that some frustrated Mars energy. Apart from the deaths there is an obsession with possessing and carrying firearms. This year we’ve seen one glaring example of this problem with the mass shootings in Tucson in early January. Yet sadly this kind of incident has become something that happens on a fairly routine basis.
Meanwhile, wholly organic sexual desire is gradually being criminalized. We have a very, very serious rape problem in the world, and we have an even more serious problem with the extent to which that perpetuates distrust of the men who would never do such a thing. Still, sex is constantly conflated with violence, and pornography is the least of it. The most pervasive images come right on prime time cable television and in feature movies. Yet healthy desire can be treated like the bomb squad ought to be called in.
Many get this scenario projected at them with various forms of “men are pigs” and “all men want is sex,” accusations which always involve some form of self-denial on the part of the person making the accusation. All projections have an element of denial, which masks the real issues underneath. For example, anyone who says “men are pigs” has a level of gender rage they’re not addressing.
I could go on with examples of how Mars is under stress in our society, even without the influence of Chiron. We could talk about what happens to most desire: it’s turned to shopping. When we bring in Chiron, we start to focus the issues. Mars in aspect to Chiron can add an injured quality, and also begins to resolve the wounding by making it conscious and available for healing.
That is the nature of Chiron: to raise themes, issues and circumstances to consciousness so they can be addressed. While there is often a long struggle around situations involving Chiron, there is also the gradual focusing of power. I don’t mean the ‘sense of empowerment’ but rather the actual awareness that one can direct one’s energy and focus one’s life. In the case of Mars, that’s about focusing the will, the desire nature and shadow material involving desire.
By shadow material, I mean fear, guilt, shame, attack thoughts and any of the disturbances surrounding them. Denial, which often covers those emotions, is also shadow material and a defense against other painful emotions. One of the benefits (some would say drawbacks) of the awareness-raising property of Chiron is that it brings these things to the surface and they must be addressed in a way that is often accompanied by psychic pain. It is, however, productive pain in that it can describe the nature of what hurts, and why, and open the way for healing.
There are many ways an injury connected to Chiron can manifest, and often the person with the aspect will get to make some decisions about how to work with the energy. Mars-Chiron aspects, in any case, are about reconciliation with one’s desire nature. And that nature often is mired in shame, which is invoked when one outwardly expresses desire. As the shadow is processed, the underlying emotion becomes more available in a clear state.
Thursday’s aspect was the first meeting of these two planets while in Pisces. The most watery water sign brings in the emotional dimension. That’s where this is happening: it’s on the feeling level, and we all know how much shame many men have there. Pisces is an essentially feminine energy field, some say the most feminine of all. You could spin a lot of themes off of this, such as the sense of emasculation that so many men feel, and for which they feel compelled to overcompensate. We might consider the root of homophobia, which is a kind of shame around one’s feminine or passive side. This includes many potential situations and it certainly includes sexuality. Personally I think that male desire is being exhausted on the cultural mandate that men are, traditionally, the ones who must exert that desire as a conditioned response to equally conditioned female passivity.
Thursday — as I mentioned earlier — the Obama administration decided to stop defending the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, a law which essentially prohibits the federal recognition of same sex marriages. This is a step away from the obsessive homophobia of our society, much of which is projected by men at other at men. Homophobia has many roots, one of which is fear of self, and another of which is the fear of letting go of control in sexual situations.
I think that male desire needs a chance to relax, to accept the femininity inherent within its own nature. This aspect is an invitation for everyone to give men a chance to be themselves, rather than who they are ‘supposed to be’ or ‘made out to be’. Women need to be given space to express desire outwardly, but I think closer to the point, they need to give themselves that space and take the chances they typically expect men to take. And we all need to give ourselves room to ease off of our belief in, and our obsession with, weaponry and war as the solution to anything.
Remember that thing about ‘boys don’t cry’? That’s where it starts, and after enduring so many centuries of that — then being handed a gun — we surely do have our healing journey set out for us.
Related: The Onion enters discussion of Mars conjunct Chiron.
A note on war. I accept that sometimes, it’s not possible to negotiate with an aggressor, and in that case, we are sometimes forced to defend ourselves and our loved ones. Gentlemen, I stand side by side with you – brothers and sisters in arms. And to pierce the veil again, women too are magnificent creatures by and large – the warrior spirit flows through us. On a daily basis we for our existence, we defend and protect our families, and we love till it hurts.
Boys, we are are not marble-carved saints, or fragile pieces of glassware. Take what we offer you – and come and stand with us too, and stop turning us into your notions of what women are “supposed to be” – we are red-blooded, tough, courageous, sexual, passionate creatures. The mothers among us are wolfmothers – to protect what we love, we would kill – I know I would if I had to.
Step back and take another look at the feminine divine, and instead of fearing strong women (and I’ve NEVER met a weak woman yet – only women pretending to be weak so they weren’t rejected by male society as a “ball-breaker”) – think of us as the wind in your sails. But remember, we’re not limitless – and we need to be refreshed too, so give us a bit of ; the current in your ocean, the water that turns your mill-wheel. A little appreciation here, give a bit back. It’s easier than you think. I don’t need you go to war for me – I just need you to love me, and appreciate me a little, a “thank you”, a hug, a kiss at the right time. A smile maybe? How about just a bit of plain old garden-variety kindness?if I was an essential piece of machinery, you’d make sure I was properly maintained, wouldn’t you?
Well, I am an essential piece of “machinery”. We’re partners boys and girls – intricately connected, whether we’re gay, straight, or otherwise. A little kindness cherub – have mercy – there’s a person inside that woman, you know? And she does have feelings, so go easy; we’re on YOUR side here.
xx Indrani
Ah Eric. This article is one that reflects my heart. I am married to a man and I LOVE men and always have. I have been saying to anyone who would listen (for years!) that men are wonderful. They defend us, they go out and do things we need them to do that are often fearful to women but they do these because of their deep love for us. They risk rejection all the time because of how society has set things up.
My husband is a feminine man; he has deep feelings, loves and expresses that love, is sensitive, loves children and shopping and emotional stuff and what a turn on he is to my own masculine and linear thinking, shopping-hating side! I say these stereotypical things because he and I defy them by our very existence. We have all been fed a lot of bullshit about the sexes and that has to stop.
When each of our children were born, I watched in awe as their father held them with such great strength and gentleness; his smile and happiness were so great that people in the hospital said he “floated” in the halls and had a “shining happiness’ on his face. His patience with me in our early relationship was amazing; he was as wounded as I (by previous relationships) but far more patient and understanding than I.
Many other men in my life were caring, gentle human beings who genuinely wanted to please me; I keep their memory in my heart. Many other men are currently in my life and they, too, are caring, gentle human beings whom I love and admire.
I have a son now; he will be 9 next month. My husband and I never tell him “big boys don’t cry” because big boys DO cry and feel and love, and rage, and all that. As a society, as human beings, we have got to stop thinking of the sexes as opposing one another and start thinking of them as complementing one another. We NEED each other; why not honestly confess that need and come together in love because of it?
Thank you for putting this out there. And yes, I have felt Mars-Chiron this week…..it has me going back and forth between feelings of righteous anger (about Wisconsin and similar issues) and feelings of healing and coming together.
Glorify. Can I change that? It sounds like maybe the glory wasn’t already there shining like the sun. Glory would be better.
Like in ACIM speaks about the light being there all the time, just we can’t see it – our fear, prejudice, anger shadows it
(thank you)
Thanks, that’s real good to know.
Hey Kyla. Paypal reinstituted Courage to Resist’s account. http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/
oh lookie there! His mars, mercury and pluto all square my mercury 28 Aquarius. Which has sort of been a Hot Spot on the Astro Mandela for awhile now eh?
Sorry for the play by play folks. Isn’t this astro stuff fun?
😉
Hey — I’ve only recently begun to look over synastry charts to get a feel for things “differently”. So playing peek-a-boo on me’n’my son this way, I see his natal Venus opposes my moon (8 Aries exact conj Eris) among other things. Although today did not focus on Her, the Mars stuff going on might reflect on this opposition? Hm.
Kyla – too bad your person-of-friction isn’t interested in the conversation. I find even if I don’t “get it” like an astro-pro, at least astro can open up discussion. Good luck with all that!
Ooh, speaking of sons, here is a son turning to the rebels:
http://presstv.com/detail/166900.html
“According to the reports, Saif al-Arab, Gaddafi’s youngest son, who was sent by his father to cooperate with Libyan security forces in the massive crackdown on pro-democracy protesters joined forces with the demonstrators on Thursday, while hinting that his father would commit suicide or flee to Latin America.
According to reports, Saif al-Arab had the backing of combat troops and had military equipment that were dispatched to the eastern parts of turmoil-hit Libya.
As many as 1,000 Libyans have so far been killed by the Gaddafi’s forces, reports say.
A total of 130 Libyan soldiers have been executed for refusing to open fire on protesters…..”
A Word, hope things smooth out for you, and that we can all turn this great intensity to some creative use!
wait! that can’t be right. I pull up these charts from astro.com and sometimes somethings not right with the visual placement of the transits. My son’s Saturn is NOT on my natal sun, it’s at 23 Aquarius. Hm. Well, I shall burn some steam looking this over.
I’ve been chanelling my energy into projects – it’s all good but yesterday/today my 17yr.old son went into one of his really angry spells….and for the first time I can remember it has really gotten under my skin. Still working furiously on projects without seeing them, focusing on Not Reacting. Man is it hard. Hm. From the little I’ve managed to learn from the wealth of teaching here at PW I’m seeing transiting Mars and Chiron on Natal Sun opposing Natal Pluto. Wait! I’ve been living that for a few days eh? lol. My son has the same visitors (Mars and Chiron and entourage) gliding around his natal Saturn. And his moon at 18 Pisces probably doesn’t help him anyway. Well….I don’t know what else to look for for understanding – he’s got a difficult chart as it is……and me, well ha! I’ve just learned to laugh. (except today for some reason….even the cats are really pissing me off….)
Well, XO’s and all that!
Sorry to hear that, A Word……
I am definitely feeling suspenseful and edgy today….. waiting on the other shoe to drop, literally. Have to move, have chosen a situation to move to, all is well except one detail that has to be checked and that was supposed to be today and got postponed til Saturday….. Everything is on hold til this piece falls into place. Meanwhile where I am is kind of a toxic truce situation, very sadly….. so have a lot to do and can’t really do any of it yet…… Gah! 🙂 I’m hangin in there. The person with whom I have to part ways is natal Virgo and so I reckon all this Mars Chiron activity is opposing her and making her really unhappy. Unfortunately she does not “believe” in astro, so even if she were speaking to me I couldn’t share that relieving info that there is a cosmic weather going on that might just have to do with some of the pressures…… eh.
interesting life, that it is.
I am grateful for what I have, immensely so. Much abundance and grace in my life, just right now, this too. 🙂
nothing good going on here. i’ve experienced far more ‘personal’ rage directly focused at me than this, but can’t recall ever feeling anything “in the air” like this. Nope. There’s no stayin’ home from it.
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/02/24/205208/PayPal-Freezes-Support-Account-For-Bradley-Manning?from=rss
“An anonymous reader writes “The online payment provider PayPal has frozen the account of Courage to Resist, which in collaboration with the Bradley Manning Support Network is currently raising funds in support of US Army Pfc. Bradley Manning. ‘We’ve been in discussions with PayPal for weeks, and by their own admission there’s no legal obligation for them to close down our account,’ noted Loraine Reitman of the Bradley Manning Support Network (Support Network). ‘This was an internal policy decision by PayPal. … They said they would not unrestrict our account unless we authorized PayPal to withdraw funds from our organization’s checking account by default. While there may be no legal obligation to provide services, there is an ethical obligation. By shutting out legitimate nonprofit activity, PayPal shows itself to be morally bankrupt.'”
Hi Eric: I haven’t seen any comments on this week’s earthquake in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand (the largest city of the south island–about the size of Madision, Wisconsin). Both the TV/communications building and the steeple of the cathedral have been destroyed…
In light of your audio content yesterday, I was expecting this event to enter into your “in the moment” commentary….have I missed it?
This event, as a “natural disaster” (as opposed to the taking down of the World Trade buildings by angry and violent men) is infused with some obvious symbolism which, for me, points toward some more subtle healing possibilities. It looks very Mars/Chiron to me. I wonder if the earthquake cycle (the cathedral has been damaged by earthquakes 4 times since it was completed in 1888) bears any resemblance to Mars/Chiron…
thanks for your great work and insights….
This post brought tears to my eyes and to those of my dear friend who is visiting with me. Well done Eric for giving voice to something that needs to be shouted from every roof top and more especially, taught at every elementary school the world over. Our planet is chalk full of soft hearted males struggling to find expression, identity and love and we all suffer alongside them, when they turn it in on themselves to push the feminine away. That internal conflict needs to vent itself creatively and not destructively in order for us all to create better ways for living.
Just this past week I decided to explore further the neat little house that holds my bi-weekly meditation meeting, and I was astounded to see the wide array of artistic programs available for people struggling to find their path in this world, as I struggle to do. So, I went down last Sunday to get the lay of the land and found out that on Tuesdays and Wednesdays there’s a communal meal, both of which I attended this week. The loving, generous, uplifting spirit I saw at work there has given me a wonderful sense of joy. It seemed to me that *everyone* was an artist, talking either music, or drama or cooking or film and whatever artistic bent you wished to explore, well, hey, we have a class for that. (BTW the majority of people in attendance are male. There is cause for optimism, peeps!)
Check out this site and tell me if you too are not impressed — click on the Yellow Door Calendar up top!
http://www.6stjoseph.ca/
Now, I’m pretty sure these types of programs are available in your neck of the woods, but I’m just so excited to have plugged in to this one, finally. I mentioned to the gathering there that I’m trying to grow the confidence to sing and someone says “Check out the Karaoke”; then I throw out that I want to learn guitar, “Check out the guitar orchestra”; I say, I did a bit of drumming in the past, “Check out the Saturday Drumming Circle”!……I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven and hey, psychically speaking, that’s probably what’s happened 😉
Speaking of Mars and Chiron, I did check in to PW yesterday morning kinda hoping for this post which comes 24 hours later, because I was awake in the middle of the night Tuesday and I *really* felt Mars and Chiron interacting — BIG time. It was kinda brutal actually and when I realized I was not going to find sleep until I expressed something in me that had to come out, I got pen to paper and wrote down a stream of consciousness which felt like it saved me. Then I could fall asleep. But, I think that the teeth grinding that set in shortly after as I slept, ended up giving me one humungous headache all day long yesterday. Thankfully I got really good sleep last night after making sure I took something to relax me!
So now to today, which seems like a good day to have the second follow up session in my chakra balancing procedure so, off I go. 😉
I bow to your ways, eric francis, and delight in the space here to share. God I wish I had thought to name myself dark mary … goddess that’s making me smile over all 🙂
Somehow, some way this energy peals open my shut down long ago mars in aries girl, trussed up like a holiday turkey up in the attic … she wants to bump up against others who are into the whole individuating process. Reek havoc and let loose the dogs of war …. playfully and healing like.
mm.
As always, Eric you hit the nail on the head. I’m glad men are being honored now. I love men. And speaking of… Where is Len’s input. It was there this morning. I miss it.
Excellent writing, thank you.
I awoke this morning with the mantra from the Louise Hay book “You can Heal your Life”.
The mantra is; “It is safe to be a Man”
Repeat 20000x
!
Indranibe (forgive me for the mis spell)
I feel this tho that chiron is supportive. Is this accurate. When chiron moved into pisces (after all that aprehension) i realised I was breathing out and in, deep breaths of relief (easing up of things). can that be true too? Or is it the proximity of Neptune already?
We’ve been reading The Last Battle (sorry I’m not more high brow) and this time what struck me was that facing what they saw as disaster and dark and unknown – what they feared was a sure and horrible death, the unicorn said perhaps at worst that door (into a dark and threatening place for them) would at worst be the door into Aslan’s country, and they should therefore just welcome the adventure that Aslan sent them (even going into the dark).
And I was thinking that maybe that is the way to live – it’s like Len was saying about no guarantees (tho I too heard Indrani’s point) and if you live it like it is: welcoming the adventure of it, whatever that means for you that’s ok.
I recently picked up The Easter God by the guy who wrote the Go-between God (John Taylor?) and by chance read something he wrote on Lazarus. (Sorry this is so esoteric but it was interesting). he said Jesus didn’t hurry to revive Lazarus because that wasn’t the question, how to glorify God was his job, and that took him in a round about way before he got to Lazarus. And that made me think too that (in modern terminology) it is striking a true note isn’t it, and when you strike a true note (and if every note you strike is true) then even the stinking dead walk out of their tombs because it isn’t a question of right or wrong or can or can’t – but stepping outside the polarities and then anything can happen.
http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/Resources/JCO/Documents/Judgments/jud-aut-sweden-v-assange-judgment.pdf
mars chiron too?
Do I feel it? I feel it so acutely that I can’t sleep even though it is 2 in the morning. I finally turned on the light, sat up and grabbed my laptop only to read your words which reflected back to me the inner conflict that has kept me awake tonight:
“Mars-Chiron aspects, in any case, are about reconciliation with one’s desire nature. And that nature often is mired in shame, which is invoked when one outwardly expresses desire. As the shadow is processed, the underlying emotion becomes more available in a clear state.”
Thanks for this clearly-stated summation, Eric. I really needed to read those words.
In my case, as a woman, I have been coming to terms with the ways in which I feel my desire nature has “gotten me into trouble” (sexually abused as a pre-teen by a 70 year old man whose emotional attention I wanted, pregnant at an age when I was too young to parent, assaulted on a date, etc.) So even though I am in my forties now, with years of therapy under my belt, I am still struggling to embrace the purity and goodness of my own sexual desire. It was much easier for me, at different points in my life, just to be angry at men. It is much more painful to recognize the ways I internalized the hatred of violence, unwittingly blaming myself, my own sexual desire and desire to be loved. I offer this, not in defense of women who project all of their anger upon men, but with the hope that we can begin to understand each other and the pain we all carry.
Well said dear Eric. And yes – we women project so much of our crap onto our men. Very helpful what you say about denial.
Liz xx
And yes, Eric, I can FEEL the tension in the air – I could cut it with a knife!
Hear hear Eric, it is high time the world started looking after its men (and I don’t mean babying them as is done now). So much is expected of them and they get so little back. But it’s men who need to stop harming other men – I often think that men are are their own worst enemy – the ‘pack’ nature of male society which forces these otherwise beautiful, gentle, soft and loving creatures to act as cannon fodder for other people’s ambition, or to be “tough”, and “man up” and take it – it’s outrageous! Unlike women, men don’t have a ‘men’s liberation’ movement, but they should – free YOURSELVES boys! Don’t bully each other, and don’t let others pick on you! The so-called “war of the sexes” has to end – we are complementary sexes, not “opposite” sexes. What is the point of having an evolved brain if we remain culturally so unevolved?
Whenever we hear of destruction in a war zone, we hear about how terrible it is that “women and children” were slaughtered, as if it’s OK that the men were slaughtered. Well, as a woman who likes and in fact LOVES her man, I cannot abide the thought of my man being killed! I won’t have it! Stop killing and hurting people! Learn to negotiate! Learn to share! Learn to compromise! There’s enough for everyone (that goes back to my notion of security Len). And Dads, stop pressurising your boys – let them grow up to be what they want to be.
Men need to learn to love themselves – and it’s up to everyone to give them the space and support to be able to do that!
Maintain your rage people – hold on to The Dream!
xx Indrani
Me feel it. Mmmmmm yeah. Healing hands of the centaur initiating all who pass through the Piscean door. I’m finding some martial arts students and most of them are women. Cool. I’ve been wanting to teach women internal martial arts cause you don’t need incredible physical strength to be incredibly powerful. There’s no basis in fact for the belief that women are less able to physically defend themselves than men. It’s socialization, not physical limitations. I want to help undo that socialization.
Then there’s music and poetry at the cafe down the street where elders and youngsters, hipsters and hippies, american indians, white and black get together to manifest music on Tuesday nights. Sometimes it sucks, but never that bad and it’s worth it to stick with it through the noise of 4 or 5 electric guitarists all hunting for the chord progression or wanking on a solo with everyone else still hunting, or a pack of drummers playing over instead of between and with one another cause there’s always moments where the groove becomes sublime, everyone is in the pocket and multi dimensional spaces open as though the sound becomes a pulsing organism. Last night was a bit weird though. I’m still getting my sea legs.
With music and tai ji Mars doesn’t have to be debilitated in Pisces. It’s my 6th house and/or 5th so the vibe of live music and martial arts derived from Taoist water traditions as shamanic medicine have a lot of planetary stimulation in my energy field right now. Music and internal martial arts can go far to help men relax and women to kick ass with ease.