Athena Opposite Chiron

On January 6th 2014, the Athena asteroid (a.k.a. “Pallas”) turned retrograde at 13 Virgo, and stationed direct in the final degrees of Leo. This journey features three oppositions to Chiron in Pisces.  Athena and Chiron are the two great mentor figures of Greek mythology and they speak to the experiences of teachers and initiates- both roles we all play at different times and arenas throughout our lives.

Athena’s first opposition to Chiron was from December 5th-8th 2013, at 9 degrees Virgo-Pisces, in a grand square with the stars Antares and Aldebaran, also known as the Heart of the Scorpion and the Eye of the Bull.  These powerful stars tell a story about the push and pull between the light and dark energies that rule consciousness on our planet. We cannot rise to meet our higher selves(Aldebaran) without acknowledging and integrating our dark side(Antares).  Or another way to see it is to think of a hunter who is seeking out the buck with the biggest rack of antlers. The full expression of maturity and greatness(Aldebaran) brings attention from energies that seek to challenge it(Antares). This is why we call targets “Bulls Eyes.” This is the framework on which Chiron and Athena are building their relationship.

Pluto was trine Athena and sextile Chiron during the first opposition, which culminated with Moon conjunct Chiron (and part of Fortune exact on Athena) at sunset on the west coast. This resonates with Jay D’Ambrosio‘s description of Chiron and Athena’s mentoring styles. While Chiron sought out his pupils and took them under his wing, Athena appeared at crucial moments to her students to impart wisdom, and then disappeared to allow them to find their own way. Two distinctly different approaches to teaching and/or learning that we need to explore and understand.

Jupiter at 18  Cancer, paired with Lilith at 20 Cancer.  Shortly after this first Athena-Chiron opposition, Jupiter stations retrograde at 20 Cancer.

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Athena’s (retrograde) second opposition to Chiron was from January 24th-29th 2014, at 11 degrees Virgo-Pisces.  This opposition was joined by Juno who transited conjunct Chiron. Jupiter retrograded back to 12 Cancer to trine Chiron, as Apophis in Scorpio positioned himself into the grand water trine. Pluto’s forward motion kept him in formation trine Athena and sextile Chiron, as Venus, Psyche and Persephone squeezed in for an astounding quadruple conjunction.

Juno for me has always been about boundaries and specifically the energy we have to spend to erect and maintain boundaries. I think many of us struggle with the health status of our boundaries as they evolve, how to repair them and/or defend ourselves without them. Apophis is a chaos fucker and this transit could represent a lesson that came in the form of a long-held boundary being violated in a way that led us to realize that the energy we had been spending on that boundary was ill-spent. This could have taken any form of expression from totally empowering to totally devastating, depending on the amount of fear we still carry inside. In the absence of fear, we learn to go forth past the walls that were destroyed because they are no longer relevant to us. In the presence of fear we desperately waste energy attempting to reconstruct our obsolete boundaries instead of venturing out into the new, learning about our new environment, and building better, healthier boundaries that are effective and useful in the new environment.

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Athena’s (direct motion) third and final opposition to Chiron(who is now retrograde), begins July 8th 2014, at 17 degrees Virgo-Pisces, in a grand water trine with the Cancer Sun and Saturn in Scorpio. Venus passes through for a momentary T-square to the Chiron-Athena opposition before moving on; the kite structure involving the Sun and Saturn persists until Athena finally moves on.

It is my intention to use the combined flow of Chiron, Athena, Sun and Saturn to integrate and level up the lessons I have learned since New Years.  I am focusing my meditation on the fullness of this consciousness on the upcoming Capricorn full moon July 12th. Athena’s retrograde journey fits neatly into the Capricorn lunar cycle, she turned retrograde six days after the Capricorn new moon January 1st.  The intentions we set on new years are now blossoming, becoming manifest, and I can honestly say that both the structure and strategy of my daily time management, and the mastery with which I wield my personal power, have completely evolved during these last six months, in ways that empowered me to manifest a dream that I have been incubating for years- a dream that I was not ready to manifest before the guidance and mentorship of Athena and Chiron.