The Resurrection
“May you live in interesting times” – supposedly an ancient curse
As the entire world curls inward and concentrates its energy on conquering a microbe, life has become surreal.
If any planet represents the surreal, it is Neptune. Neptune is within very close orb (less than 20 arcminutes) of a contraparallel with Chiron from June 2019 to March 2021.
Chiron indicates an area of weakness, a disability, or a wounded nature. Neptune is associated with the spread of disease, but also with healing, drugs, and caring for the ill, as well as corruption, debauchery, isolation, and the spiritual.
A contraparallel is a difficult aspect, somewhat akin to an opposition by longitude. (The parallel and contraparallel aspects are aspects by declination, the number of degrees north or south of the equator that a planet is located.) Neptune is at 5° South declination, and Chiron is at 5° North declination.
This is a very rare aspect. It follows a very erratic pattern. The last time it was in effect (within 20 arcminutes of exactness) was in 1943-1944. Before that, it wavered in and out of orb between 1864 and 1866; prior to that, between 1838 and 1841.
Among other time periods when this aspect was in close orb since 700 AD, it was within 20 arcminutes of exactness during December 1284 – the last instance (prior to January 2020) of a Saturn-Pluto conjunction in the last ten degrees of Capricorn.
And it wavered in and out of orb from the summer of 1350 through January 1352 – the last years of the most intense outbreak of the Black Death in Eurasia in the 14th century.
Thus past instances of a Neptune-Chiron contraparallel were in effect during times of mass death: the 14th century outbreak of plague; the US Civil War; and World War II. However, this effect is the result of this aspect working in tandem with certain longitudinal aspects. It does not indicate the beginning of such circumstances, but it can disrupt a precarious status quo and intensify problems if an underlying misuse of resources or disregard of obvious peril, as indicated by other aspects, has not been addressed.
Between 1990 and 2030, there is a cluster of four time periods in which this aspect is in very close orb:
June 9 to July 28, 2019
April 3 to April 22, 2020
September 20 to October 13, 2020
February 11 to March 4, 2021.
It becomes exact twice in 2020: April 13 and October 1. Both dates occur in time periods that are considered volatile in astrology, as Venus is out of bounds from April 3 through June 1 (she is retrograde from May 13 through June 24), and Mars is retrograde from September 10 through November 15.
The COVID-19 Pandemic
Below is a list of those countries whose chart has either a natal or progressed planet in close orb of the Neptune-Chiron contraparallel; that is, close to 5° North or South declination. The list also includes some prominent people with natal planets in close orb of the aspect.
China – progressed Neptune 5° South, and progressed Nodes 5° North/South
United States – progressed Sun 5° North
Iran – natal Nodes 5°21' North/South
Italy – natal Jupiter 5°34' South
Ukraine – progressed Mercury 5° North
Spain – progressed Jupiter 5° North
North Korea – natal Sun 5°23' North
Thailand – progressed Nodes 5° North/South
Chinese Communist Party – progressed Sun 5° South (and possibly progressed MC 5° North)
Xi Jinping – natal Saturn 5°37' South
Donald Trump – natal Jupiter 5°34' South
Joe Biden – natal Chiron 5°54' North
Jeffrey Epstein – natal Venus 5°36' South (no, he was not a political leader, but they hung out with him)
(An upcoming article will examine the effects of this aspect on these last three personalities and the 2020 US election.)
Undoubtedly, those countries facing the biggest challenges are the United States and China, as the charts of both nations and their leaders are directly impacted by the Neptune-Chiron contraparallel. And both countries are affected by the Venus and Saturn retrograde stations occurring in May 2020.
China
China has by far the most difficulty with this contraparallel aspect, as its progressed Neptune and progressed Nodes are involved. By longitude, transiting Neptune occupies China’s second house of its economy and currency, and it rules that sector through its rulership of Pisces, the sign it’s moving through now. I went into great detail about the harmful effect of transiting Neptune in opposition to China’s progressed Saturn, and how it would trigger another global financial crisis in late 2019 and 2020, in my book, The Dragon’s Debt. This contraparallel has intensified the effect of that opposition on China’s economy; because of Chiron and Saturn, recovery will falter.
Transiting Saturn goes retrograde on May 11 at 1°57' Aquarius; thus it makes its retrograde station right on top of China’s Ascendant 1°44' Aquarius. China is moving toward isolation from the major portion of the global economy. This will be gradual, and not due to COVID-19 so much as from the Chinese Communist Party feeling threatened and clamping down on the populace. Saturn moving over an entity’s Ascendant forces serious evaluation and adjustment of inner attitude and outer behavior (as anyone who’s experienced this transit knows well). With transiting Neptune parallel the CCP’s progressed Sun, and also parallel China’s progressed Neptune, the economy is slipping out of leadership’s control. Neptune is eroding the leadership of the CCP, by sowing confusion and distrust among party officials, but also by luring them into a false sense of being able to continue as always, and encouraging them to deny reality (Neptune’s specialty).
But transiting Neptune is parallel Xi Jinping’s natal Saturn, which acts like a conjunction of Saturn and Neptune (some would argue the parallel is more powerful). This indicates entrenchment of power, with a wide-reaching authoritarianism. (Vladimir Putin has a Saturn-Neptune conjunction in his natal chart, and they are now parallel by progression in his chart. He has recently changed the Russian constitution so his previous years as president and prime minister are reset to zero, enabling him to stay in power indefinitely.) Problems with the economy may be used as an excuse to level charges of corruption against anyone who challenges Xi’s power.
It also indicates a more pervasive surveillance state. China’s leaders may feel very resentful of efforts by Western countries to reform its system of “state capitalism,” or their calls for greater transparency concerning China’s economy, military installations, and human rights. Rather than share power, China could decide to isolate itself from the portion of the global economy dominated by Western democracies and instead concentrate on building its own sphere of economic influence in Asia and emerging economies.
United States
The Trump administration is hoping to send the population back to work in early May; but as a Venus retrograde period gets underway at that time, the planets do not bode well for such action. Circumstances are deceptive; the rate of new infections and deaths may recede in May, hiding the potential for another outbreak in late August into September, when Mars enters its retrograde phase.
The US financial system is under severe strain due to decades of piled up debt, and this contraparallel is forcing a reckoning in this area, but that is a huge subject that will be part of another analysis.
Neptune’s effect on US leadership is extreme in the spring 2020 time period, as transiting Neptune at 5° South declination is almost exactly parallel the US progressed Sun at 5°41' South during the latter half of March and April (the Sun represents the country’s leader in a mundane chart). At the same time, it is also parallel Donald Trump’s natal Jupiter. Thus the Neptune-Chiron contraparallel is giving a double indication of pain and difficulty for US leadership.
Neptune, the indication of the spread of disease, is definitely blocking Trump’s aspirations and goals. Confusion reigns about what direction he is setting for the country. Transiting Neptune 21° Pisces is squaring Trump’s natal nodal axis 21° Gemini/Sagittarius during May and June 2020. Transiting Venus turns retrograde at 21°50' Gemini on May 13, conjunct his natal Sun and progressed Uranus. At the same time, transiting Neptune 20°-21° Pisces squares the US natal Mars 21°21' Gemini by longitudinal aspect.
Chiron is exactly contraparallel the US progressed Sun on May 15. As Saturn, Jupiter and Venus turn retrograde together over May 11-14, if a sharp reversal in policy is made at this time (and that looks likely), it could aggravate the spread of the coronavirus in the following months.
There is a distorted sense of priorities, and pressure from powerful elements in US society, as indicated by Saturn and Pluto in the US second house of the economy and financial system, to get the economy back to full speed.
But circumstances are deceiving, giving a false sense of relief, due to Venus activating the US natal Mars-Neptune square when she turns retrograde at 21°50' Gemini on May 13 and she conjoins the US natal Mars.
This Venus retrograde station impacts the US health care system, as Taurus/Venus rules the US sixth house.
The New Moon at 2°04' Gemini on May 22 in the US sixth house makes an almost exact stressful alignment with progressed Mars 17°29' Libra opposing progressed Chiron 17°44' Aries. It’s almost as if insults and false information are being traded back and forth, perhaps with other countries – note transiting Mercury and Venus conjunct in the seventh house, both square transiting Neptune.
But the US health care system is damaged, as shown by progressed Venus 0°47' Taurus exactly opposing the US natal Hades 0°47' Scorpio in this New Moon chart. Health care personnel seem to be falling back on the tried and true, and perhaps have experienced supporters, which is helpful, as the transiting South Node 0°47' Capricorn is exactly trine progressed Venus also on May 22.
But the death count will continue to rise, as transiting Saturn squares progressed Venus at the same time that transiting Pluto is conjunct the progressed Moon 24° Capricorn, and Cancer/Moon rules the eighth house of death. These combined configurations put an emphasis on public health and death in the same time period, and it’s heavy-hitting transiting planets doing it: transiting Saturn squares progressed Venus, ruler of the sixth house of public health, and transiting Pluto conjoins the progressed Moon, ruler of the eighth house of death.
Venus will return to direct motion on June 24, and she will square Neptune again on July 27, the same day as an exact Jupiter-Neptune sextile. This is a configuration that makes it easy to ignore an unpleasant reality. US citizens could become too blasé about preventing the spread of the virus – but transiting Pluto in Capricorn (the planet of transformation and death) is still hovering over the US progressed Moon, ruler of the US eighth house of debt and death.
Iran
Iran faces an existential crisis due to the alignment of the Neptune-Chiron contraparallel with its natal Nodes at 5°21’ North/South. When this contraparallel becomes exact at 5°22' North/South on October 1, it aligns exactly with Iran’s natal Nodes.
COV-19 is certainly ravaging the country, although Iranians have been gasping for air under US sanctions and the domination of religious clerics for years. Here is a clear example of how this aspect does not “cause” a problem, but will aggravate it and prolong it if the problem hasn’t been addressed. The Nodes indicate an entity’s destiny on a soul level, and any challenge brought by the triggering of the natal Nodes would hopefully bring constructive action toward a more positive destiny.
With transiting Saturn and Pluto in Iran's sixth house, the country's health care system and military are the focus of massive reorganization effort.
As Neptune and Chiron begin to move into their second exact contraparallel of October 1, transiting Uranus makes it retrograde station at 10°41' Taurus on August 15, conjoining Iran’s progressed Chiron 10°09' Taurus. This is followed up by transiting Mars making its retrograde station at 28°08' Aries on September 10, conjoining Iran’s progressed Mars and squaring its natal Jupiter 29°04' Cancer. The progressed Moon 29° Scorpio is square natal Jupiter at that time.
Open enemies of Iran might want to be on the alert from July 24 through October 9 2020, as the movement of transiting Mars affects Iran’s relations with its opponents.
But Iran should be on the alert, too, for the Neptune-Chiron contraparallel will intensify any damage and prolong an existential crisis that has been occurring for Iran’s leadership for some time, and that reached a critical point in the fall of 2019. It’s a time of intense anger and frustration in Iran’s politics (Iran was experiencing a progressed Full Moon during the protests of November 2019, as well as other progressions affecting leadership).
North Korea
North Korea’s leadership also faces a reality check. As I pointed out in another article on this website (published in July 2017), August 2020 could be a time of a standoff between the US and North Korea. But one has to wonder what’s really happening to the common people in North Korea during this pandemic, as there are triggers to North Korea’s natal and Saturn return charts in August 2020, and there are several other indications of mass death, besides the Neptune-Chiron contraparallel.
How long will the pandemic last?
That’s hard to determine. What’s worrying is that Easter in 2020 falls right on the day before the first exact Neptune-Chiron contraparallel of April 13. If people insist on attending religious services in person on Easter, another round of severe infections could result. So please, pray and meditate in your own home.
Considering that this coronavirus was probably lurking undetected for some time, but then found the right conditions sometime in 2019 to multiply rapidly, the Jupiter-Neptune waning square that was operating during 2019 could certainly have played a part. Jupiter conjoins Neptune in Pisces in early April 2022, and at the same time, Mars conjoins Saturn and the Sun conjoins Chiron.
As conjunction aspects indicate the end of a cycle, there could be sporadic outbreaks of the disease for the next two years, with it fading away after that. But much is dependent upon vigorous, continuous, preventive measures, as Saturn moves toward its conjunction with Neptune in 2026 at 0°44' Aries – and they are parallel, right on the equator, during their conjunction. The COVID-19 pandemic seems to be an integral part of the process that is moving humanity into structural changes symbolized by this Saturn-Neptune conjunction at the very beginning of the zodiac.
This conjunction will affect the continued influence of the US Dollar based global financial system, as it has a profound effect on the chart of the Federal Reserve. It can increase the power of the Fed, but the situation needs to be handled correctly so that the US does not face a weakened economy in 2032-2037.
During this Easter holiday of 2020, I hope that any disruptions that the coronavirus may have brought to your life will cause you to discover, not how strong you are,
but how fragile you are,
how fragile everything you’ve built up around you is,
and how patience and tenderness can change the world and resurrect nature.