by Lynn Hayes  When Chiron and Neptune are working together, they combine to assist with the work of the soul.  The body, the mind, and the ego are all most interested in living a life well-grounded in the material world that offers the maximum of pleasure and the minimum of pain.  The soul does not pursue pleasure and avoid pain; instead, there is an embrace of experiences that will assist us at the deepest level to completely learn the lessons that are presented to us so that we can release the past and move forward with greater wisdom. 

Chiron facilitates this aspect of soul work by uncovering any wounded places that have been left unresolved so that we can be freed of the blocked energy that our unreleased wounds hold within the body/mind/spirit system.  Neptune assists by reminding us that there is a world of experience that lies beyond the boundaries of the material world.  Under the influence of Neptune we either open up to experiences of a powerful mystical nature, or else we become confused and deluded as the nature of our personal reality is blurred and we have nothing to replace it with.  Neptune bestows creative genius and a spiritual connection to our Divine self as the physical world is transcended, or it can cause us to indulge in escapist and addictive behavior in an effort to escape the prison of our own mind.  

As in everything else in the astrological language, there is a both a higher and lower manifestation of both Chiron and Neptune, so when they combine in a conjunction there is the potential to for a transcendent experience of healing spirituality, or a confusing descent into the hell of the unknown of the psyche. 

I suspect that the epidemic of mass shootings we have seen over the past few months as Chiron and Neptune approach their exact conjunction is the result of the conjunction taking a darker turn in the personal lives of many people.  Chiron can intensify any wounds that are already challenging, and Neptune can make it difficult to evaluate those experiences with any kind of rational thought.  We like to think of Jupiter as being a “benefic” planet, but it is also the great liberator and expands whatever it comes into contact with, so when Jupiter hooks up with Chiron the process of exposing the wounds for greater healing potential can create an abundance of sensitivity that under Neptune’s influence has no real outlet without a conscious application.

There is also an opportunity here for tremendous spiritual growth and insight if we look within for the wisdom that awaits there.  The process of spiritual evolution does often require that we step confidently through a dark night of the soul or two, and this may be a necessity over the next couple of months.  Jupiter and Neptune expand the potential for creativity as the inspiration of the divine showers easily through the veil of the mind, and the voice of our guidance and the divinity of our choice can be clearly heard now.  Jupiter in Aquarius is humanistic and altruistic, and there is a strong focus on the call for change, both within ourselves and in the world in which we live as well!