Chiron at Aries 4

The Sabian Journey of Magical Chiron – Aries 4

Chiron Images Paola Angelotti

The Next Chapter

Chiron’s complete zodiac journey, which began as it entered Aries recently, is mapping out the individual steps through the 360 degrees. Each step can be studied by examining closely its Sabian Symbol.

The Two Lovers

Between April 11th and May 30th Chiron will transit through the 4th degree of Aries. This degree is called ‘Two lovers strolling through a secluded walk’ and the keyword Jones uses is ‘Enjoyment’ whereas Rudhyar suggests ‘Polarisation’.
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Jones’s keywords tend to be more to do with our personal experience and speak to the qualities that can be developed; Rudhyar’s have more to do with lessons for a seeker on the path to realisation.

The Golden Rule

Chiron’s teaching is basically that a perceptual shift is necessary and sufficient condition for healing. To put this differently, Chiron teaches us how better to see things. We can, for example, see that our enjoyment reaches spiritual heights when we hold on to our awareness of both aspects of any polarised position.
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This attitude is the essence of the fundamental principle of spiritual awareness, the Golden Rule, reflexive self-consciousness, ‘Do as you’d be done by’.

Pleasure is not Joy

It differs completely from the selfish principle of pleasure. Pleasure is the hollow echo of joy. If we simply take our pleasure, for example in casual sex, in ruthless ambition, in manipulation of others, in excessive food-lust, then the momentary buzz soon fades and one day soon turns into its opposite emotion of disappointment.

Joy, however, is sustainable and wholesome. It may lack the exciting temporary buzz but it builds an grows and becomes a solid foundation of life.

Sharing

The essential difference between pleasure and joy is that pleasure is for me and joy is for us. When we find that our own pleasure is optimised though another, then we are closer to joy. Think of how we are with babies or a new romance – we get so much more joy through sharing our experience. This is general truth that doesn’t always require offspring or a lover. When we care for another, joy deepens.

Accepting both sides

The more mystical, philosophical aspect of Aries 4 is that we will be able to know how to experience this level of joy only when we recognise, acknowledge and celebrate our own polarities – the masculine and feminine, the light and the shadow, certainty and doubt, love and fear – and embrace both sides with awareness.
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Having accepted and healed our inner polarities it becomes inevitable that our relationships with others are also healed. The reverse is also true that we cannot hope for a deep and peaceful, joyful connection with another until we have found such qualities within ourselves.

Dealing with inner ambiguity

Chiron’s new initiative in Aries 1, met by a contrasting response in Aries 2 and an understanding, in Aries 3, of the importance of responding to community needs, now, in Aries 4, shows up our own personal inner ambiguities. We come to see that we have been wanting two things that cannot be reconciled, to be both involved and free, to have our cake and eat it or, during the Brexit fiasco, to enjoy Europe’s wealth and yet be free of responsibility to share its problems.

In the name of a higher, joyful, shared purpose, lovers resolve such ambiguities with caring compromise.