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This week brings particularly beautiful invitations with the start of Chiron’s retrograde and Mercury’s entry into Virgo. As Chiron journeys through our inner shadows of past wounds, we unlock our access to wisdom.
Retrograde Chiron
Chiron retrograde begins this week on July 23, 2023, where it will continue its apparent backward movement until December 26, 2023. Chiron is not technically classified as a planet, but rather as one of many things, including a minor planet, comet, or asteroid. Chiron first entered Aries in 2018 and will remain there until 2027.
First discovered in 1977, Chiron is relatively new to our study of astronomy and astrology. In mythology, however, Chiron holds a rich history and wisdom that we can call upon as we seek to understand this minor planet with greater ease.
In mythology, Chiron was a centaur abandoned at birth by his mother. Although he came of age feeling unloved and unwanted, his journey is powerful as he began teaching combat to some of the best known Greek heroes. Despite – or perhaps because of – his psychological wounds, he created his own path to power.
One day, Chiron was accidentally injured by a poisoned arrow. Due to the pain, he began to study and even master a variety of healing modalities. He learned with such depth, wisdom and knowledge that he then began to teach these healing arts to the gods, while still unable to heal his own wound. Chiron became well known across the seas as a powerful healer, teacher, medium and philosopher, and came to be known as the “Wounded Healer”.
In evolutionary astrology, it is suggested that the role Chiron plays in our life and the hurt he represents are the hurts or karma of past lives that we have come into this life to work on. In psychological astrology, Chiron is considered hurtful from childhood. Either way, there may be a felt experience of injury with Chiron. Yet, as her story shows, Chiron is also a portal to deep wisdom, compassion, and worth. As the famous Persian poet Rumi once said, “the wound is where the light enters”.
As Chiron begins his retrograde, he invites us to explore some of these wounds. He invites us to turn to what lies within, waiting for our attention and our love. He invites us to reframe our experiences, our perceptions and our relationship with these wounds knowing that it is here that we can access our greatest wisdom.
The glyph or symbol of Chiron is shaped like a key. A key that opens doors within us. A key that unlocks compassion, wisdom, knowledge and deep value. Our experiences are one of the many things that make us who we are. This demotion is an opportunity to decide whether we view them as empowering or disempowering.
Mercury enters Virgo
In astrology, Mercury rules our mental realms. It shapes the way we collect information, process it and share it. As an archetype, it represents learning, logic, communication, information, technology, and planning. Mercury in Leo in recent weeks has invited us to bring passion into our ideas, communication and planning. It brought us shrewd thinking and bold expression.
However, as Mercury moves into Virgo, the rhythm begins to change. Mercury rules Virgo. They have the same desired intentions and directions, and when their energies come together, they create a cohesive invitation. Virgo is an earth sign known for its affinity for detail, ritual, organization, practical thinking, and intentionality in all things. As an archetype, he has a fine gift of refinement.
Mercury in Virgo is a beautiful energy with which we are endowed. It draws on the passion and fire of Leo and discerns the best direction to follow in our dreams and desires by disguising them in precise and achievable steps. The invitation is to explore the daily rituals that best support you.
Your invites
Like all retrogrades, this time it’s more about integration and reflection than action and moving forward.
Virgo has a deeply empowering connection to ritual. Consider the habits and practices that best support and sustain you. It could be your yoga or meditation practice. It can also be affirmations or movements that reinforce your sense of identity and self-confidence. Think about the rituals that push you to become your happiest self. Done daily over time, the rituals work quietly in the background, but create profound changes from within.
Learn more about the influence of astrology in your life, including astrological events such as the cycles of the Moon, your Sun and Moon, and rising signs, how journaling can help you connect with current influences, and more with Jordane Maree at Girl and her moon.
About our contributor
Jordan Tide is the founder of girl and her moon, a platform and community exploring the soul through the lens of astrology, tarot, and energy healing. She is a writer, intuitive astrologer, energy and soul guide and host of Girl and her moon, the podcast. She is inspired, every day, to be the mirror for you to see all that you truly are, you in all your infinite capacities, in total expansion, in infinite opportunities and love.