By Lalia Wilson
This month is the Libra equinox, the moment when the Sun enters Libra on September 22nd. The other big story in the sky for September (in this year of big stories), is that Mars turns retrograde on September 9th in the U.S., on the 10th for places several time zones to the east.
As I said, it is a year of big stories, the record high temperature in Baghdad, over 126°F/52.2°C, the earliest named storm in the Atlantic, the coronavirus, the most contentious and likely corrupt of U.S. presidents facing an election, the suicide of an international moneyed VIP in police custody before he could implicate people in high places in at least three countries… All of that is mostly due to the rare triple conjunction, in orb all of 2020, of Jupiter-Saturn-Pluto in the sign Capricorn (The Devil card is associated with Capricorn in the tarot!). All that said, we will look at some “invisible” aspects in the Libra Equinox chart.
The chart is set for Washington, D.C., 22 September 2020 at 9:31 AM EDT. However you can set it to any other capital or for your location to view the effects in a particular area. The triple conjunction of Jupiter-Saturn-Pluto occupies the third house of communications, travel, the mail, and delivery services. But let’s look at a couple of invisible aspects that most astrologers will miss: The very tight contraparallel of Neptune and Chiron, orb 0°16’, and the tight quintile (72°) aspect between Saturn and Chiron, orb 0°07’. Then look at the chart itself with Chiron sitting just inside the sixth house of sickness, the everyday man (essential workers), the civil service, and the military service. Chiron is the celestial body that is associated with wounds, sicknesses, and the healing arts. Among the tarot correspondences to astrology, I am aware of none that specify a card to correspond to Chiron, but I do know two that have assigned Chiron as what is usually known as the Hierophant. Both are shown here, from the Mythic Tarot and the Wizard’s Tarot.
Chiron is known as the wounded healer, perhaps having some resemblance to the Nine of Wands. As the wounded healer, Chiron’s lesson is that we need to heal ourselves, necessitating that we walk through the dark nature of our own weaknesses and vulnerabilities, before we can heal. When we succeed in this quest, we can be of service to others. In looking at the chart for an event or a country Chiron takes on social implications as representing both sickness and caregivers. Chiron can be traditional medical professionals, but also alternative medicine practitioners. The importance of Chiron in this chart set for the fall season in the U.S. is that illness and health will be matters of great importance. Don’t expect that covid-19 will be gone before December, if then.
As mentioned in the Scopes page, Mars went retrograde 12 days before the equinox and continues retrograde until November 13th. Mars retrograde means that we cannot muscle our way to solutions. As soon as we begin to strong-arm a situation, we lose (when Mars is retrograde). In honor of this Mars retrograde, you see a Tower card, the usual correspondence of Mars to the Major Arcana. Note that this particular Tower is about to be swamped by heavy seas. Water, the force of water, here means emotions. Our emotions may become so overwhelming that they control us, something that does not bode well for domestic or political peace. This influence of Mars continues past the U.S. election on November 3rd.
Among actions we can take to make our own lives easier and to add our health and sanity to society, are being alert to and working with the cosmic forces that are causing a major pandemic (we can follow public health advice), we can be aware that Mars being retrograde, it is not a time to start a fight as the instigator will lose, we can be forgiving of the systems that have come up for a cosmic rehaul such as the mail services and package delivery services that will get worse before they improve after the election.
Among other things we can meditate on these three cards shown to see if we can learn the lessons vicariously instead of having to suffer directly. May you take the path of greater love and consciousness.
To summarize, we can learn the lessons of this year through meditations on The World, Judgment, and The Wheel of Fortune. To learn the lessons of this season, we can focus on Chiron, as shown by these two Hierophant cards, and The Tower. Let us hope all people move forward in their personal evolution and spiritual path.
One Hierophant card is from the Mythic Tarot [1986] by Juliet Sharman-Burke and Liz Green, illustrated by Tricia Newell and [later editions] are available from U.S. Games Systems, Inc.
The other Hierophant card and The Tower card are from The Wizard’s Tarot [2011] by Corrine Kenner and John Blumen, published by Lewellyn Publications.