32 Years

The ancients knew that there was a Sun/Venus cycle of 8 years.  Today, we call it a recurrence cycle, because every 8 years the Sun and Venus return to approximately the same relationship to each other around the same date.  So for example, say you had Sun at 8 Scorpio at birth, and Venus at 19 Libra.  Around your eighth birthday, the Sun would again be around 8 Scorpio, and your Venus around 19 Libra.  This would occur at age 16, age 24, age 32, age 40, etc, etc.   Some astrologers even cast charts for when the Sun and Venus return to the exact birth angle and view it as describing the coming 8 years in terms of things like self-respect, personal values, creativity, and even expressing love.

Other planets also have recurrence cycles with the Sun, and with each other.  It is especially interesting when three bodies return to the same relationship which, as you might imagine, occurs less frequently.

Thirty two years…the title of this post, marks one such special recurrence cycle.  Every fourth Sun/Venus recurrence coincides with with a Venus/Mars recurrence.   Thus, at one’s 32nd birthday  (and 64th, and 96th  if one lives that long), there is a special vibration that echoes the pattern established at birth involving the one’s basic self-expression (Sun), what one values and wants to attract (Venus), and how one acts to go after what one wants (Mars).  (Forgive the oversimplification.  Sun, Venus and Mars are much, much more than just these words, but I hope the essence of this recurrence will be captured using them.)

For those long past their 32nd birthday (like the author), studying what your 32nd year was like should tell you a lot about yourself, what’s really important to you, and what you are willing to do to go after it.  It can reveal, as well, a lot about your whole attitude towards relationships, and even about your comfort or lack of as a male or female (as the case may be.)   For those approaching the 32nd solar return, I’d like to suggest that you take stock of what’s really important to you, and the means you choose to go after them or attract them to you, and get to know yourself much, much better this year.  Keep a diary or journal….you’ll be glad you did.

A chart doesn’t have to be for a person in order for it to have recurrence cycles…..any chart will have them, be they for an organic life form, a venture of some kind, or even the chart of an event.  I’d like to look back for a moment at something that occurred in the Autumn, 32 years ago.

On October 18, 1977, at 9:08 pm PDT at Palomar Observatory, a photographic plate was exposed to the light of the telescope, and then put away for later review.  At around the same time the following day, a second plate was exposed to the same section of the sky, and filed away with the first plate.

Astronomer Charles Kowal finally got a chance to look at these plates on the morning of November 1st.   He put them side by side in something called a blink microscope, which basically moves back and forth between the two as quickly as the blink of an eye.  To the observer, any star will be still, but a moving body will flash back and forth before the observer’s eyes.  At a little before 10 am, became the first person to become aware of a body he later named Chiron.

So around October 18, 2009 will see a Sun/Venus/Mars recurrence in the chart of that first photographic plate, and November 1, 2009 will be this recurrence to the Chiron Discovery Chart.

What could this mean?  Let’s look briefly at the two 1977 charts.

The photographic plate can in some ways be considered the ‘conception’ chart for Chiron’s entry into our consciousness, since the ‘seeds’ of its discovery were ‘planted’ on the plate in the form of a photographic image.  Venus was quite important, being in its own sign Libra, and ruling the Sun in Libra (as well as Mercury, Pluto, the North Lunar Node, Vesta and Pallas.)  Mars in Cancer was out-of-sign sextile to Venus, and closely square the Sun (and Mercury).  And since we are talking about Chiron, we must mention that Chiron was out of sign square to Mars, and quincunx Venus, as well as being in Venus’ other sign Taurus.  I’d say the Sun/Venus/Mars/Chiron relationship was rather significant, and Mars’ importance was even moreso as it co-ruled the Scorpio Ascendant.  (Oh, yeah, so Venus also rules the Descendant!)  If this is truly the conception chart, then Chiron’s conception is intimately wrapped up with the Sun/Venus/Mars relationship.  And it shows, to my thinking, that the Meaning of Chiron for us is rooted in the the dynamics of relationships of all kinds, of uncovering what is keeping us from realizing our self-worth, and what is keeping us crippled in some way unable to truly express our full energy.

If the photographic plate is the conception, then the discovery is the birth of Chiron into our consciousness.  There is a conjuncton of Venus with Pluto, the North Node and Vesta that is strong in the chart, with Venus still occupying its sign Libra….and the stellium is conjunct the Libra Midheaven. As if that wasn’t emphasis enough, that whole stellium is square the Moon in Capricorn. Mars in Leo is no longer square Venus, but instead is squaring (and in mutual reception) to the Sun in Scorpio (Sun is also conjunct Uranus), as well as ruling the Aries 4th cusp.  And Chiron is now opposing the Sun, and it’s square to Mars is only 42′ away from exact. Chiron’s birth into our consciousness, if we can take a queue from this chart, is once again about our relationships, but ALL of our relationships, including those we have inside with different parts of ourselves; and it is about extremely painful hurts we have experienced, that have brought about a disassociation within us, and from each other, and how we can learn to heal the wounds, bring the parts together into a whole, and bring people together so they can act as one.

Lest you think I forgot, I started this post talking about 32 years.  And 2009 is 32 years since 1977.

On the 32nd anniversary of that ‘conception’ chart, we again have Mars sextile Venus, but in a tighter orb, with Mars in Leo. Venus is also conjunct Pallas in Libra, Mercury is in Libra, and of course the Sun. But what makes this chart stand out, for me, is that the Moon is just past the New Moon, which mens the October New Moon is almost right on the Sun in the 1977 chart. For those of you who have experienced a New Moon on the day of your Solar Return, you will know how significant this is…..SOMETHING new is going to enter our consciousness about the root meaning of Chiron!

On the 32nd anniversary of the ‘birth’ chart, we again have Venus in Libra….this time in a close opposition to Moon in Aries, with Venus very closely trining (Moon sexiling) Chiron, as well as Jupiter and Neptune. And at right angles (squares) to Venus/Moon are the Moon’s Nodes, the north one being in Capricorn Mars in Leo is again closely squaring the Sun in Scorpio, as well as Mercury and Ceres. From this alone, I’d say all the Chiron issues we have been becoming aware of for the past 32 years will be very much “in your face”, not just in the year ahead, but for the next 32 years at least. But that’s not all.

October 30, at around 10:45pm PDT (only a little over a day before this return chart), Chiron goes stationary direct. As you probably know, a body at or near its station is at its strongest intensity, and an outer body like Chiron moves so slow in the days near the station that it’s like the station lasts a few days, not just one.

Did I say that Chiron will be “in your face” following this return chart? I’d say the station amplifies that statement ten-fold.

The depth of Chiron’s importance to us is going to be revealed in no uncertain terms as a result of this recurrence return. If we thought we were getting a handle on Chiron’s meaning before now, we will come to realize that we’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg (or the halo of the comet, if you’d prefer), and we are going to learn about Chiron whether we want to or not.

I won’t get into it here, but I suspect that we are going to get a lot more into bodies like Sedna, Eris, Haumea and Makemake now too.  Chiron’s going to rip the door open, and we are going to find we need a lot of new tools to deal with what we will discover when we are shoved through that doorway.  (By the way, Chiron was conjunct Sedna when it was discovered, and Eris was conjunct the Moon’s South Nodes.)

Photographic Plate that led to Chiron's discovery

Chiron's Discovery

There is a conjuncton of Venus with Pluto, the North Node and Vesta that is strong in the chart, with Venus still occupying its sign Libra….and the stellium is conjunct the Libra Midheaven. As if that wasn’t emphasis enough, that whole stellium is square the Moon in Libra. Mars in Leo is no longer square Venus, but instead is squaring (and in mutual reception) to the Sun in Scorpio (Sun is also conjunct Uranus), as well as ruling the Aries 4th cusp.  And Chiron is now opposing the Sun, and it’s square to Mars is only 42′ away from exact. Chiron’s birth into our consciousness, if we can take a queue from this chart, is once again about our relationships, but ALL of our relationships, including those we have inside with different parts of ourselves; and it is about extremely painful hurts we have experienced, that have brought about a disassociation within us, and from each other, and how we can learn to heal the wounds, bring the parts together into a whole, and bring people together so they can act as one.

Lest you think I forgot, I started this post talking about 32 years.  And 2009 is 32 years since 1977.

32nd Anniversary of the Discovery Plate

32nd Anniversary of the Discovery