Chiron opposite Pluto

Friday advice column: Finding the willpower to make life changes

M.S. writes:

After years of attempting and giving it my best shot, I have not been able to reverse my diabetes because I cannot stick to the needed lifestyle changes. I have signed up for expensive programs and have had success but all too easily fall back into my old ways of enjoying food; sugary soft drinks, pastries, pastas, carbs.

I understand the ramifications of what I am doing to my body and I have had therapy about eating. I am not an overeater, I just eat the wrong things. Does my chart show when and if I will ever stick to a plan and heal my diabetes once and for all? I get emotionally depressed after I have stopped eating foods I enjoy.

When would be the best time to attempt changes again? Eating out is a joy of mine. I look forward to it every day and plan where I am going to eat sometimes weeks in advance.

Dear M.S.,

Eating healthily has become so difficult in our modern culture which presents highly palatable food that has been engineered by the food industry to be addictive to our taste buds. That said, we can learn enjoy delicious foods and still maintain a healthy lifestyle. While some charts do show a tendency towards overindulgence (my own, for example!), our astrological chart does not hold a magic key to a time when a change will occur. We need to find ways to work with our own psychology to accomplish our goals in a way that we won’t feel deprived.

Your Sun is in the sign of Cancer, and every Cancerian that I know loves food and sharing food with friends. So food is always going to be an important part of […]

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By |2023-06-09T10:24:07-04:00June 9th, 2023|Advice|5 Comments
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The astrology of Brett Kavanaugh

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Brett Kavanaugh, the Trump pick for the US Supreme Court, has been under a lot of fire for sexual assault allegations.  The vote to confirm his nomination was delayed by a week so that the FBI could investigate these charges.  I did my own investigation into his astrological chart to determine his underlying motivations and characteristics.  Please note that in these profiles I attempt to put my own views aside and to be as neutral as possible in examining the astrological characteristics rather than making judgments about an individual.  

Kavanaugh (February 12, 1965, Washington DC, time unknown) was born under the sign of Aquarius – the sign of rational thinking and authentic behavior.  Kavanaugh has three planets in Aquarius:  the Sun, Mercury and Venus.  Aquarius can be somewhat detached – its traditional ruler is Saturn which can be somewhat cold and disconnected.  It’s the modern influence of Uranus that gives Aquarius its tendency towards radical views that depart from the status quo and seeks to break up old paradigms.

The chart I used is for noon the day of birth since no birth time is available; we therefore don’t know the ascendant or midheaven placements. Kavanaugh’s Aquarius planets are squared by Neptune, the planet that inspires us to transcend the material world in one way or another: sometimes through higher pursuits such as art and music and spirituality, sometimes by drinking to excess or taking drugs.   Because Neptune tends to blur the distinctions that reality imposes, Neptune squaring the Sun can make it difficult to determine one’s identity.  It can also somtimes show someone who is misunderstood by others and not seen as he really is (President Obama has a Sun/Neptune square also).

1965 was a difficult year in which to be born.  Uranus (disruption) […]

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By |2018-10-08T09:12:23-04:00September 29th, 2018|People, Politics|25 Comments
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Sinead O’Connor and the Chiron/Pluto Cry for Help

9781720752_17ac4105b6_zSinead O’Connor, the Irish singer with a long history of controversy and dramatic life events, was recently in the news after a post on her Facebook page claimed that she had taken an overdose and was in an unnamed hotel.  She was eventually found and was not harmed, but her apparent mental illness has become a topic of discussion in the entertainment news circles.

Between 1962 and 1968 or so, Uranus (radical behavior) and Pluto (destruction and rebirth) were aligned in a conjunction in the sky, the last time these two planets were locked in a dance that deconstructed and transformed the status quo.  Everyone born during this period has this urge for radical reconstruction locked into their astrological chart, and for much of that time Chiron, the planet of wounding and healing, formed a stressful opposition to Uranus and Pluto.

People born with a strong Chiron aspect in their chart like this tend to come into this incarnation already wounded – they are more emotionally sensitive and often in some degree of psycho-emotional distress.  The evolutionary purpose of this woundedness is to clear and release these painful emotions so that awareness and wisdom can take their place but not everyone is able to understand their distress from this higher perspective.  I call the Chiron/Pluto combination the aspect of “soul surgery” – the core wound generally requires some focused effort in order to be fully released so that the soul may be liberated and free.

To make matters more complicated, between 1967 and 1968 the planet Saturn aligned with Chiron – the “Celestial Mentor” (Saturn) adding another layer of challenge to the already painful dynamic. This intense Chiron/Saturn opposition to Uranus/Pluto formation figures prominently in the chart of Sinead O’Connor (born 12/8/1966).

It’s somewhat of a […]

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By |2015-12-05T08:24:55-05:00December 5th, 2015|People|8 Comments
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RIP James Gandolfini

Gandolfini astrologyA birth certificate has just emerged for Edward Snowden, the NSA leaker, and I will be posting about that shortly. 

photo credit: NY Times.  James Gandolfini died yesterday at the age of 51.  As an astrologer I am always drawn to the ages of people who are in the news:  51 (Chiron return), 29 (Saturn return), 41 (Uranus opposition), 62 (Uranus square).  The death of James Gandolfini at the age of 51 during his Chiron return is especially critical because Pluto opposed Chiron in his chart.

Chiron is the planet that governs the healing of energy blocks in the psycho-emotional system that take root in the body and create distress and disease.  Its route to healing is through release of emotional wounds that are denied and repressed so that they can be fully processed and digested.

Someone who has an aspect of Pluto to Chiron in their chart is doing what I call “soul surgery” during this lifetime.  Pluto, as god of the Underworld, takes us deep within the psyche to excavate the darkness that lies there so that Chiron can do its work of healing and bringing wisdom to the soul.

Gandolfini is suspected to have died of a heart attack although no details have yet been provided.  His astrological chart (born September 18, 1961, Westwood NJ, time unknown) shows that he has the Sun in Virgo and a retrograde Saturn.  Virgo is known to be the sign of the perfectionist, and when Saturn (the voice of self-doubt) is retrograde in the natal chart it tends to show someone who is particularly self-critical. Combined with the Pluto/Chiron opposition, this puts a lot of pressure on an individual to achieve and to make something of oneself in the world […]

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By |2013-06-20T03:11:03-04:00June 20th, 2013|Death, People|11 Comments
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