The Chiron Return of the US
A meditation on current energies
For the first time since its discovery, we have a Chiron return for the United States, which will occur every 52 years. This is the first Chiron Return in our collective consciousness. On Election night, Chiron was retrograde over the exact degree of the US’ natal placement of 20 degrees, 8 minutes. It will turn direct on December 30th, and have its final pass over the exactitude starting on February 18th of 2025.
Although my first lectures on this transit began in 2021, I write this specifically this week, November 11th-14th of 2024, and focus on how to work with these energies we’re in now. Aries is, of course, an energy of immediacy.
A brief overview:
Chiron is a comet which has an orbit spanning from just outside Jupiter to out past Neptune. I’ll go more in detail in my lecture series about the mythology and astronomy of this comet in the future. But know that this orbital path means it’s compounding in nature, spanning generations and evolving right along with us.
Chronic energy highlights the aspect of our nature that we are taught to be ashamed of, to push down, to reject. It is not our ‘deepest trauma’ or ‘unhealable wounding.’ But it does serve as data in the form of pain.
Aries is the first sign of the Zodiac, a Cardinal Fire sign. Most of us come into the world screaming, that’s big Aries energy. In pop astrology, Aries is seen as the motherfuckin warrior, bro! The Martian tyrant who goes to war with all that is conquerable. The “Divine Masculine” (as if the gender binary is irrefutable).
Aries is the energy of starting things with a bang, new ideas, running headfirst into the unknown with great authority and vigor, among many other things.
In the sign of Aries, Chiron’s wounding can show up as immaturity, ignorance, naive boldness, and blind self confidence, a punishing ego. Culturally we notice the rise in mental health trends focusing on healing the ‘inner child’. Aries is the first sign of the Zodiac, and the most attuned to childlike behavior. Did you just cringe a little? Did you feel the need to object in some way? Why? What is so vexing about a sign being akin to the very first months and years of our human life?
That idea of Aries energy being childlike is in direct opposition to the manly warrior beast we’ve been told it to be. And this perplexing duality of identity is at the core of what we’re dealing with in the US, and as individuals.
My hope is that America’s intense thirst for a unified identity will, just as it is our downfall, be our solution.
Culturally, we favor hard work over childlike play; all actions, thoughts, inspirations that are not profitable are looked down upon. The internet has changed this in a curious way: it is now more profitable to keep people in the space of reactivity, immaturity and explosivity. This may not be productive, but it is profitable. The internet is also going through its own natal Chiron return in Aries, but that too is for another time.
Note: if you have this placement natally, this does not necessarily imply these themes are about you. This is a larger cultural wounding of a country. The themes of this transit span so much more than the US, but as Aries is very self centered- it feels necessary to focus here to begin.
This topic is expansive and has great depth to it. But let’s continue with the concept of childlike behavior and shame:
Babies aren’t typically burdened with the existential dread we feel as adults. They’re much more present in their bodies, in the moment, and feeling/smelling/tasting everything they can. This is an exploratory age. They learn who to trust by who takes care of them, and who is unsafe by who neglects them. Explosive laughter, explosive reactions to external stimuli, good and bad, are all part of the process of learning the world in the first months of life.
As we learn to crawl and begin to fall, we cry in pain. But we also cry at the shock that something could hurt us. The invincibility one feels at this age is something deeply powerful, it is the spark of our sense of distinction between self/not self.
As we learn to understand the concept of pain, both emotional and physical, we build boundaries to navigate the world more effectively. As we push boundaries, we begin to experience conflict. The clearer our boundaries, the more effectively we can resolve conflict.
If these boundaries remain a mystery by design, say, by those in power over our country, that mystery turns either into anxiety and shame or entitlement and fear. Conflict feels immediate and ever present.
Anxiety and shame make us shut out those who are “other”
Entitlement and fear makes us act out against them
In either of these states, we are much more susceptible to manipulation.
Within the first 150 years of nationhood, the US got an enormous, entitled ego, fueled by fear of the ‘other.’ Our nation was founded on genocide, but one perpetrated by those leaving an environment that was not reflective of their identity.
We are collectively dealing with this “us vs them” mentality. Who is safe and who isn’t? The panic and anxiety breeds conflict, which distracts us from the oppressive forces above.
Power is collective, and in order to add your personal power to a collective, you need to know how to properly identify with others, navigate conflict, and move forward as a unit. Many singular identities form a larger shared identity. One that moves with purpose.
We’ve been hearing a lot about community lately- hurry up everyone get in community! But many of us are so isolated we don’t even know what that means. And sometimes, being in community means working with people you don’t agree with, sometimes people you can’t stand. It takes all kinds to build the world we want to see. But just because you don’t like someone doesn’t mean they're unsafe
We don’t get to decide how others view us, and we don’t get to decide how our actions are perceived in the world. Many of us are wiser than others due to our lived experiences, but to be human is to learn. To learn is to make mistakes, and to make mistakes inevitably means to cause harm. It’s why we’re so afraid of making mistakes and being wrong. The act of rejecting the harm we’ve caused others with our ignorance and shame is how we are identified as oppressors.
Those in power exploit this paradox in our culture in the same way cult leaders exploit it within a cult. Many people don’t want to leave cults partially for this reason. When you exit the system of oppression, you will have to face this victim/abuser paradox. It’s uncomfortable. And yet facing this paradox is necessary for liberation.
Nobody reading this is a billionaire; we all feel the intense pressure of class inequality. Everybody, on some level, knows what oppression tastes like. Nobody wants to be identified as an oppressive force. That identity is in direct conflict with the very real victimization we each experience living under Capitalism. The fundamental inequality of our culture requires us to oppress one another in order to survive.
A defensive impulse is natural when you’re confronted with the victimizer aspect of your identity. It’s a quick, impulsive reaction that happens almost universally: offense, irritation, disruption. It’s not uncommon to be hurt or even angry when it feels like someone is rejecting you in favor of their own safety. But it doesn’t make anyone feel more safe if we lash out in discomfort. And we all do it sometimes, it’s a very human reaction.
Blending the impulsivity of Aries energy with boldness and curiosity will lead to better results than knee jerk responses. It is not boldness to push back and externalize our frustration, but the bravery of turning inward and dealing with the discomfort. Noticing, getting curious, and being brave enough to inquire how we can do better- even if it hurts our feelings- to become someone that others can identify as safe.
And then take those insights and put them into action.
The key to utilizing Chironic energy in Aries is to allow ourselves to let go of our identification with victimhood, our shame, our sense of powerlessness. To transmute that energy into collective action.
When Chiron in Aries is wounded, we have impulsivity and rigidity. There’s power struggles and ego that blinds us to who our allies are. There’s immaturity and whittling down productive communication into semantic circles. There’s a sense of superiority and self righteousness that others ourselves from the very communities we want to identify with.
As individuals, we make up the whole. The United States is, on every level, going to have to navigate these energies. It’s going to take everyone doing their part to move through these times. And we’re going to make mistakes. We’ll have setbacks. We’ll say the wrong thing or lose our temper or be petty. We may get Internet backlash and get mocked. Not everyone is utilizing this transit with good intentions. It’s incredibly easy to become cruel and cold hearted when someone mocks you like a child. The goal is not to stay there, ashamed.
The Chironic wounding in Aries is being ashamed of your immaturity, of your ignorance, of assuming you’re invincible, of being an outcast from a community identity. And there’s a very real neurological reason for this, which I’ll get into in my more lengthy lectures of this transit.
Using Chronic energies in Aries correctly looks like:
Making mistakes without shame spiraling
Allowing others to make mistakes without belittling them
Showing up and navigating conflict with patience and grace
Not being overly attached to our identity, pivoting with feedback based on our actions
Pausing after emotional reactions to recalibrate before responding
Investing time and energy into in person relationships with those we care about, instead of getting distracted bickering online
Projecting our values with our actions
Putting down an “us vs them” relational aspect when working in teams towards a common goal
When we do that, we can save our BIG energetic pushes for collective action in the same direction.
Taurus is the next energetic expression after Aries. It’s the elemental graduation from the cardinal fire sign. Once we run out of time deciding who is on our ‘team,’ Taurean energy is Fixed, Earthly- it begins to build the walls and boundaries containing what is safe and what is not. And THAT will be its own ball of wax when we get there. For now, we’re in the thick of building our teams.
If we don’t do the legwork to do this with compassion now, we’ll shut out a lot of people and resources that could help us for generations to come.
Chiron in Aries:
You don’t get to tell me what to Do
You don’t get to tell me who I Am
You don’t get to tell me how to Live
How to Hate
How to Love
That I’m wrong for the way I Am
You don’t get to decide my Identity
And if you try to squash it Down
It will explode Out
A thousand times more Powerful
With the utmost Urgency
W/ 💜,
ECHO