Chiron is extremely important now in the heavens, and I want to take a brief look at its current impact on the United States.

Chiron was a teacher who lived in a cave on Mt. Pelion in Greece.

Chiron is the Wounded Healer. Chiron shows in our charts where we have been wounded, where we work on healing, and where we have a talent for healing. Healing means "making whole," and this is Chiron’s work. It does this by disrupting the status quo, often through wounds or illness, which do get our attention. With our regular functioning temporarily suspended, the energies within us can re-align in a new and more whole manner. The word and the function of chiropracty come from Chiron.

In mythology, Chiron was "the first of the centaurs," thus related to the sign Sagittarius. He was very well regarded, and was a teacher of many vital subjects, such as hunting, riding, archery, music, astronomy, astrology, and medicine. He taught many of the mythological heroes, such as Jason, Achilles, and Hercules. Asclepius was his favorite student, and from him Asclepius learned all the arts of healing, and of astrology. Asclepius is still considered the father of medicine.

Hercules accidentally wounded Chiron with an arrow, and Chiron could not heal his own wound. He was a god, immortal, and would suffer for eternity. So he decided he might as well get Prometheus out of his punishment bondage, and offered to trade places with Prometheus, who was suffering endless punishment by Zeus for giving humanity fire. Zeus honored Chiron by putting him in the sky as the bright star, Alpha Centaurus, visible in the southern hemisphere.

Chiron is a bridge, connecting personal and transpersonal, inner and outer, everyday consciousness and farout consciousness. Barbara Hand Clow calls it The Rainbow Bridge. With Chiron, we have unusual experiences which make us very conscious of the area of the chart which it touches. For instance, Pres. Clinton has Chiron conjunct Venus, and relationships are where he finds wounding and healing. GW Bush has his Moon sitting closely between Juno and Chiron, and Sun squaring that trio. This shows that family relationships, both Mother and Father, are his arena for wounding and healing.

Saturn was Chiron’s father, and he and Chiron are both teachers. Saturn teaches by confronting us with conventional reality, so that we have no choice but to learn to conform to that reality. If we do that faithfully, Saturn gives us the reward of long life and wisdom.

Chiron teaches by throwing us, willy-nilly, into a new reality—while at the same time allowing us to keep our feet on the ground, to stay in touch with the conventional saturnian reality. Look at the centaur. He is a being of two worlds—the bottom horse half is immersed in earthy instincts, and the top human half is aiming his arrows towards the heavens.

Chiron has a crucial position in the U.S. birth chart.

In the U.S. July 4 Sibly chart, Chiron is at 21 Aries in the 4th house of security. (Oh of course! I hear some of you saying.) It very closely opposes Juno at 21 Libra in the 10th house of the administration. It is on the midpoint of the U.S. Sun/Pluto, and thus expresses their combined influence.

Aries is the sign of the hero, the challenger, the pioneer, and the warrior. Aries is completely self-centered. He will move towards his goal as though he has blinders on, and will push through anything to get there. The image is a macho one, and the Marlboro Man strikes exactly the right pose.

War and weapons, then, are a major learning milieu for the U.S.

U.S. security is doubly involved in the fighting ventures, through Chiron’s residence in the 4th house, and through the fears of Juno coming directly at Chiron from "outside." The 10th house, with Juno (and Saturn, too, but that discussion is for another time), faces the world, where Juno and Saturn tell us there are frightening forces. The 4th house is home, a very vulnerable location, and Chiron is the hero, protecting the nation’s security with his arms and armor.

Libra is the Other; Aries is Self. This is a balance which we all work on. In the case of the U.S., the other, because it arouses fear in us, can be targeted for attack. Current government policy, then, is not a passing approach. It is a deep potential in the U.S. chart.

According to Reinhold Ebertin, the Sun/Pluto midpoint signifies "the striving for power, the craving for rulership, the power of attainment." This is certainly true of the United States, and Aries Chiron makes it easy to use the military for this purpose.

So Chiron protects the security of the nation, and promotes its drive for power. We are using the warrior qualities of pure Aries in service of these goals.

However, the sign of Libra, on the chart midheaven, is as strong as is Aries. Libra is Aries’ opposite sign, extremely concerned with "other," preferring conciliation and negotiation as a pathway. Juno wants nothing more than a civilized partnership. It must be fair, but she is willing to listen and cooperate to make it egalitarian. It is on the other midpoint of Sun/Pluto, and thus is an alternative to Aries’ warrior drive to accomplish the U.S. goal of being in charge.

As a nation, we are slowly learning to balance the Aries-Libra dichotomy (at the expense of much suffering, here and abroad). Facing and working constructively with our fears as a people is the essential key. Energy then can be freed to be the kind of great humanitarian leader which is also the U.S. potential. We can use Aries’ leadership qualities constructively in service of Libran high ideals.

The Bush Administration has been a clear demonstration of the imbalance on the Aries-Warrior qualities, and the devastation they can wreak. We can also now see more clearly our historical record which shows that cruelly assertive part of our nation—which we have tried to deny.

As a nation, we have also demonstrated the Libra qualities in our history. Those have shown our greatest qualities and our proudest moments. Libran Pres. Carter received a Nobel Peace Prize, and is still respected around the world for his humanity and fairness.

Now we are in a position to begin to look at who we really are as a nation, and make some conscious choices about the direction we want to take.

Transiting Chiron now opens the nation to making decisions about priorities.

We are at that place of choice thanks to Wounded Healer, Chiron. Transiting Chiron is now exactly squaring its natal place in the U.S. chart. This means action which will change consciousness. This is a super-powerful square because Chiron is stationary at this degree for the entire month of September, and will make its ponderous turn in direction on September 26 (more in this month's retrograde report). At this 4th quarter square, we let go of unneeded and unwanted baggage, and finish up the cycle.

The Chiron cycle is 50-51 years, but Chiron’s orbit is erratic, and the turning points in the cycle are not at regular periods. The current U.S. Chiron cycle began with Chiron at 21 Aries during the last half of 1973, and the first months of 1974. This was exactly the period of the Watergate hearings, and finally, the resignation of President Nixon.

We are now one-half of the way through that cycle. This is the place in the cycle where we ask questions about what we have learned, and get our priorities straight.

We have tremendous support from the heavens now. As you will note in reading The Daily Success Guide, we have an unprecedented surge of Libran energy coming in to us beginning at Equinox, and building up rapidly. All of these planets will cross the top of the U.S. chart, stimulating the nation’s Libran qualities. The pendulum can shift, from Aries self to Libran other, and we can find a better balance, not only as a nation, but in our lives.

Chiron meets Saturn in the heavens now.

But there is more to the story of Chiron’s significance now. Another important actor is the transiting Saturn, now in Cancer, opposing Chiron. Transiting Saturn is now passing over the U.S. Mercury, helping the nation to think realistically about its responsibilities and obligations. The U.S. natal chart has Saturn in Libra in the tenth house, showing that our destiny is to face the world with a Libran countenance, and work at fair give-and-takes with other nations. This natal Saturn will now be remembered by Mercury.

Saturn opposing Chiron affects the U.S. in crucial ways at this time. But it is an aspect in the sky, and thus impacts the entire world. It is like the full moon, or halfway turning point, of the Chiron-Saturn cycle which began with their conjunction in Pisces in 1966. During that time the Vietnam War was greatly expanded by the U.S. government, and at the same time protests and demonstrations increased exponentially.

With this Saturn-Chiron opposition comes awareness. With awareness, change begins. The whole world is involved.

The current Chiron-Saturn opposition began on August 15. It will occur again in July of 2005, and in February of 2006. (On August 15, Hugo Chavez, democratically-elected President of Venezuela, won a recall vote by a landslide. Hopeful sign.)

Altogether we have one and one-half years for a worldwide shift of consciousness. And the U.S. chart shows that the U.S. is very much a part of this change. In fact, the final opposition is in Leo-Aquarius, conjoining the U.S. Moon’s Nodes, which are destiny points.

We are beginning now to spin in the vortex of that change, the change in which Chiron is instrumental in re-aligning outmoded Saturnian structures and forms. Our November election will be a giant step in this process.

VOTE! Participate in this process!