In Search of Coniunctio: October’s Alchemizing Transits
Cosmic Energy Check!
This may be one of the most complex weeks of 2023. I can’t recall another time this year where so many heavy aspects were perfecting, where so many planets were simultaneously stationing direct or changing signs. To say that there’s a possibility for overwhelm at this moment is an understatement—I’ve personally sat down to comment on these transits four or five times, just to stare at my screen, asking, “where do I start?!”
We can start with a general comment on what’s happening in the skies right now, just to be clear about the details. On Sunday 10/8, Mars perfected a square to Pluto, and Venus entered Virgo. Yesterday, 10/9, Venus perfected an opposition to Saturn. Today, 10/10, the Sun opposes Chiron perfectly, and Pluto stations direct at 27° Capricorn.
Tomorrow, Mars will enter his home-sign of Scorpio, giving him powers of domicile that he hasn’t had since June of 2022. On Friday, 10/13, Mars will perfect a trine with Saturn, and then on 10/14, we’ll experience a solar eclipse in Libra at 21°, which features an opposition between Mercury and Chiron.
This litany alone could be an entire series of posts or newsletters or blog commentary, as each cosmic moment deserves its own consideration, deserves time to be spent with it, to be taken seriously. The planetary overwhelm is potent, and is absolutely making itself known in the current events we’re all witnessing.
The transits are many, but the feeling evoked is consistent, like waves of a similar shape and speed landing continuously on the shore. Mars is the planet that leads the charge at the moment, and so the themes of conflict, violence, and explosivity come to the fore.
Mars in a square to Pluto can be pure eruption energy—volcanic, masculine, full of vitriol and force. If marshaled with wisdom, it can be an agent of transformation, but often its expression looks more like a fire set to raze whatever’s in its path.
Mars has been in Libra since August 27th, bringing active focus to issues of diplomacy and boundaries. Now, he hovers at the 29th degree of Libra, and he is *so* over this Venusian realm. When he enters Scorpio on the 13th, he’ll have a kind of homecoming, as he rules the sign Scorpio, and is very resourced here. Like coming back from a long trip away, the warrior will settle into his preferred home-space, where he functions at his strongest.
Before that happens though, we’ll witness the annual opposition of the Sun to Chiron, which is an aspect that may get lost in the cacophony of Mars-Pluto-eclipse signatures this week, but I think is at the heart of everything.
Sun Opposite Chiron: the Alchemical Coniunctio
Chiron is the minor planet named for the wounded-healer centaur, Chiron, who raised and taught the heroes of myth, who healed all who came asking for help, but who could not heal his own somatic wounds. Chiron symbolizes so much, he is such a rich archetypal force in the cosmos, but for our purposes, we’ll simply say that he symbolizes our earliest experience with wounding. Chiron in our charts shows us where in the psyche our primary wound lies, and thus he is a potent key in our charts for learning the language of our innate pain, as well as offer us tools for self-healing.
The Sun is the force of dazzling, clarifying light. Our brightest star makes our days, brings us warmth, and allows us to see clearly. Associated with the god Apollo, who governed logos, rationality, and surgical precision, the Sun is here to bring understanding, intellectual illumination, and “sight” of all kinds.
When the Sun opposes Chiron—a once a year experience—we are pulled into a great tension between “the wound” and “the sight of the wound.” It is one thing to walk around feeling our pain, but another thing entirely to see *in* to the wound, to find insight into its contours, depth, and contents. Sun opposite Chiron brings a rare chance to see into the centaur’s cave, to observe what pains us most, so that we can come away enlightened, epiphanic, or otherwise informed about how to better care for ourselves with depth and compassion.
Remember that in alchemy, it was believed that the coniunctio, the union of opposing forces, would give way to the creation of a powerful third force, a kind of synthesis that would displace the tension of opposites, bring relief, and a sense of wholeness. The tension of Sun-Chiron right now feels especially potent, in this light.
I knew that as soon as I started writing about these transits, I’d be swept away in a sea of words. There’s simply so much ringing through the skies right now, that I can't capture it all in one fell swoop, and so I won’t attempt that feat today.
What I would like us to all remember, is that the transits are powerful, and impact us on a collective and deeply personal level. Those of us with prominent cardinal sign placements (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) may be feeling this more intensely right now, but everyone is feeling, observing, and moving through these portals together.
I’ll be back later in the week with a part two to this transit story, as we get closer to the Libra eclipse, and our focus will shift from Mars to Venus, who happens to rule both eclipses we experience this month.
