
Autumn Equinox, Saturday 23 September, 7.50 am BST.
With Mars at 17° of Libra closely conjunct asteroid Lilith at 18° Libra, in opposition to Chiron at 18° degrees Aries, one of the ways we are invited to consider balance this Equinox is between our assertive, action-oriented instincts (Mars) and where those have been wounded (Chiron). With asteroid Lilith intimately involved in the opposition, in Libra, there may be a desire to rectify injustices -particularly against the feminine condition of nature- though it could also be an opportunity to embody more of the feminine divine and rise above the dramas that keep us hooked.
Is Lilith an avenger? I don’t think so. She is simply aligned with a cosmic truth of self-gnosis and a refusal to accept anything less than Her divine nature.
What happens when Lilith and Chiron meet in hard aspect?
Chiron may draw Lilith out of exile and into consciousness. Acting as an ally in integration, Chiron brings Lilith in from the border lands across his Rainbow Bridge. Lilith who is often independently estranged -and depending on how She is aspected possibly dissociated- is acknowledged by Chiron the wise centaur who holds the keys to our true Self hood by encompassing all parts of ourselves, the shadow, the golden shadow, the exiled and rejected.
Asteroid Lilith being the only actual physical body of all astrological Liliths is the rawest, most manifest expression of the archetype in our physical lives. She is the voice that rises when we witness and experience injustice; she motivates us to protest, to speak out, to say “no,” and to say “enough,” when necessary. Lilith is the rising fire in our bellies that refuses to be extinguished by manipulation, expectation, or coercion.
Operating in an unconscious way Lilith can look like sabotage or self-isolation; She knows She can survive in the hinterlands. However, we need Her to operate consciously, to speak out against injustices and crimes against nature, including human nature. Lilith in cahoots with Mars may be a bit stormy however when mediated by Chiron we get to connect with our vulnerability and ultimately trace the root of our traumas back to the original wound or split.
An opposition between Mars and Chiron is likely to trigger old wounds which in turn may cause us to get our armour on and go to war. Chiron in Aries is susceptible to being overly defensive, and in opposition to Mars, the need to protect ourselves could become impenetrable. Old hurts, traumas, and experiences of injustice may surface at this time, particularly if they remain unprocessed and unhealed. These are the wounds, betrayals, and hurts that we buried to move on in our lives, however they fester under the radar and can easily explode if poked. Often these wounds are triggered by events in the world which provide a channel to express them though platforms such as mass media and politics which can retraumatise and prevent healing.
How do we utilise the energies this equinox to bring ourselves into a state of equilibrium and balance? Maybe it’s about getting real about the hurts we carry, putting down our armour and weapons and grieving what has been lost or what still hurts. That’s not to say we are immune to injustices both personally and collectively but that we move from a victim state to self-awareness, using our assertiveness and will consciously instead of reactively.
In the Libra Aries axis, the tension is between self-interest and self in relation to others. The term narcissist is bandied about so frequently these days; in its shadow aspect, narcissism describes a person who is self-interested and self-invested to the detriment of others often acting manipulatively and/or disrespectfully to fulfil his or her agenda. This type of narcissism is a wound to the self and is often rooted in trauma. Chiron can help heal these developmental wounds so that we do not have to act in ways that take from others. As self-regulated, self-generated individuals we can learn to free ourselves from toxic binds and trauma manipulation. Lilith connects us to a powerful cosmic truth that is not dependent on artificial matrices.