New Moon in Aries: The Poison Is the Cure

Shadow work is the paradoxical entry point into realizing personal and collective peace. This is highlighted with the amplification of Chiron, the Wounded Healer, closely conjunct this New Moon.

Alex Grey, Journey of the Wounded Healer Panel III (1985)

This Friday, we welcome the New Moon in the cardinal fire sign of Aries, the Ram. Fresh, life-force energy is popping as spring bursts onto the scene and we are in the thrusts of the astrological new year. When Aries dives in headfirst and full of vim and vigor, as the Ram is wont to do, we may feel invigorated, we may feel agitated, we may get out in front of our skis and fall down, go boom! But one thing is for sure, we will be tapping into full-on and fiery energies this April that implore us to step out and beyond our usual comfort zone. This can be welcomed and wonderful, and of course, the best way to enjoy it is to be grounded and centered.

What is ultra-significant about this lunation is the tight conjunction of Sun and Moon with the minor planet Chiron (⚷), the centaur known as the Wounded Healer. Whenever we see Chiron activating a chart, we know that alchemy is necessary on a large or small scale. Chiron acts as a homeopathic, wherein consuming a tiny dose of the poison is actually the cure. We take in that which we are afraid of, that which we are avoidant of, that which we consider toxic in order to heal.

With the presence of Mars-ruled Aries in the mix, we can expect this paradoxical remedy to show up with hot emotions, such as rage and anger and volatility. Normally, of course, we label these emotions – or at least the outward expression of them – as bad. The undesirables. That which we should keep under the rug. Be nice, we hear as children from day one. Don’t get angry! And of course: Calm down.

Oy. I can feel my skin crawl even thinking about such admonishments, which, while well-meaning, are often damaging and create the opposite impact of their intent. Why? Because, over time, they lead to repression of what is actually here. That which is actually presencing, in the here and now, and in the body.

The labels of the energies – rage, hatred, anger, etc. – are exactly that: labels. The more important thing to get intimate with, to allow, is the energy itself. Once we are honest with what we are actually feeling in the body-mind, allowing it to reveal itself without editing it or suppressing it or fixing it, then we are onto something. That something is called integration, and that something contributes to real healing.

Chiron active in the New Moon in Aries chart reminds us to be aware that energies we label as undesirable may actually carry incredible gifts, if we consciously allow them to work with us and through us.

Being Peace? Yes, And. . .

Many of us have heard the directive Being Peace as a Buddhist principle. As within, as without – we realize that the field of peace starts with the inner journey. A field of peace is then created, one practitioner at a time, thereby affecting the collective, the whole. By all means, I agree with this - we are not separate. The work starts with the one in the mirror, oneself. It is ultimately ineffective to point fingers at politicians or profiteers of all types, clamoring for peace and the end of war, without first looking within at our own warring parts, tyrannical tendencies, and secret separatism buried way down in there.  In order to realize peace externally, we need to do the inner work of being peace-full, internally.

Yet, and still, a very important piece of this “being peace” business is usually overlooked. It is a spiritual bypass to think we are able to live from a placid, harmonious, superficially agreeable place without doing the hardest part first: face everything.

If the shadow is denied, the outward persona may present as “peaceful,” but the reality is anything but. If the undesirable emotions and energies are not integrated, it may look like love and light are ruling the roost, but the root system remains filled with undigested anger, hatred, rage, and volatility. The personality and the party line and the presented image are unintegrated and remain split. You may not readily spot it on the surface, but the limbic brain – our true embodied knowing – knows darn well that something is OFF.

It’s one thing to tout a mission, to be an activist, to externalize peace, to shout “Stop The War.” Yet, such efforts are not going to be lasting and effective unless and until we individually and collectively begin to realize and integrate the warring energies, the conflicting, rejecting, separating and otherizing parts of self, that continue to rumble within.

We are not separate; we are in a collective field. This is the importance of being peace individually, to influence the whole. Shadow work is tough stuff. But the poison is the cure. We eat the poison to transform it into nectar, known as amrita. This is where we realize true freedom. This is where the war ends – within.

Thank you India
Thank you terror
Thank you disillusionment
Thank you frailty
Thank you consequence
Thank you, thank you silence

~Alanis Morissette, “Thank U” (1998)

No Need to Fear the Dark

Many if not most of us know this, but are we actually looking deep within, feeling deep within, doing the work? Or are we paying lip service?

How do you know you’re doing shadow work on an effective level? I hate to be the one to break it to you but here goes: Occasionally – whether a few seconds, minutes, hours, or days – you simply feel like hell. Just awful. You may be deeply upset, seemingly for no reason. There is a disturbance in the force and you simply know it. And you don’t turn away from it. You allow it to surface, to move through the body-mind-psyche. To feel it completely. And – this part is critical – you don’t attach more story to it.

In order for shadow to be completely integrated, alchemized, processed, this energy is to be allowed to unfold and move and exist without adding more content, more reasons for or against its existence.

Usually what happens when folks are looking within is they get caught in the story: I feel like this because my mother did that. Or, I feel like this because my ex did that. Some of this may be true, and it’s sometimes helpful to use story or memory as an entry point into the sensation, the embodied experience; but most folks get caught up and dwell too much on the tapes, the story, and then we continue the cycle of victim, perpetrator, and external or internal blame. Staying caught in a narrative is a no-win situation and certainly a no-peace approach.

I’m harping on this shadow work so much because I see many leaders, visionaries, and speakers for peace stepping far too quickly into “being peace” without taking a moment to let the individual (and collective) heartbreak, rage, and anger bubble up into embodied awareness. If we don’t go to the root, we may have a nice pretty peace sign up in the window of our persona aka image or social media brand; however, underneath, roiling and boiling away, remains the simmering upset, hurt, and separation that will only change form, from pandemic to Putin to the next pariah, onto the next war du jour.

At this time of the New Moon in Aries, with the gift of the Wounded Healer Chiron amplified and ready to work his alchemical magic, let us take a moment to get real about our own shadow work. Allow glimpses of your shadow to unfurl, unwind and, ultimately, untap a true fount of enlightened beingness in your conscious awareness. At the end of the day, it is worth the work, for therein lies the true peace one is seeking to realize, and embody.

Spontaneous Alchemy (2022, author)

Shadow Work Can Be Creatively Expressed

In honor of Chiron as wounded healer, a simple, at-home approach to expressive art therapy is to create a collage with whatever magazines or images you have lying around. Nab whatever images appeal to your eye, instinctively. Don’t think! Just rip and tear and cut, then place and glue in whatever way you intuitively feel the images come together. This can be a great way to practice spontaneous alchemy, to allow whatever is emerging in your individual body-mind-psyche to flow and transform and evolve naturally.

Usually, I hear folks talk about creating collages of “vision boards” or “treasure maps” to draw in that which they want to manifest. There is nothing inherently wrong with that approach; yet, sometimes it’s important to allow the deeper, unconscious parts of self to emerge without the ego or cerebral cortex getting in the way. Trust the magic of active imagination to reveal a deeper layer of healing and thereby a stronger fabric of inner – and outer – peace.

Erin Reese, M.S. is a contemporary non-dual spiritual teacher, author and astro-intuitive channel. Erin also offers non-dual meetings and retreats on embodied liberation and Divine Feminine transmission. She is the author of the memoir Truth Seeker: A Spiritual Adventure of Love, Loss, and Liberation.Visit erinreese.com for more information.

Afterword: Rest in Peace, Taylor Hawkins (1972-2022)

I would like to take a moment in memory of the Foo Fighters’ drummer Taylor Hawkins, an Aquarius who died smack dab in the middle of his Aries Chiron Return - a tough, initiatory rite of passage that occurs at approximately age 50. Rest in Peace, brother, and thank you for the incredible music. May angels continue to sing with you on high.

Here, four brothers in the Australian group MixedUp Everything make a beautiful offering in a creative expression of grief. Here is their homegrown and excellent version of the Foo Fighters’ “Times Like These” to honor Taylor’s musical legacy.

You can listen to all of my 2022 articles songs on my Spotify Substack playlist here: