Third Quarter Square: Cultivating Self-Compassion

Big Picture

The Third Quarter Square in Aries extends an invitation to grow and explore the nature of healing. With Chiron, the wounded healer, being conjunct the Moon, it serves as a bridge to higher consciousness. Chiron urges us to embrace our pain and history as opportunities for self-acceptance, reducing fear and leading to a creative way of life. This prompts us to explore our path to healing and encourages us to extend compassion to ourselves and others. By observing our life story impartially and opening up internal freedom, we embark on a journey of growth.

Why it Matters

At the Third Quarter Square, we must discern whether our strategies are working. We are challenged to take responsibility for our decisions and actions, maintaining impartiality in our evaluations. We can also feel the energy decreasing as we begin to let go of the present cycle while making the final push.

Go Deeper

During this phase, the Sun at 17° Cancer squares the waning Moon at 17° Aries, and the Moon is conjunct Chiron, inviting the exploration of healing and growth. Chiron is associated with the wounded healer. What makes Chiron unique, however, is that it prompts us to question the nature of healing itself. All of us have Chiron at play in our charts, suggesting there's a universal aspect to the Chiron process that we all share.

Because the orbit of Chiron is located between Saturn and Uranus, its approach to healing involves learning how to elevate our perception to new heights. Chiron is often the "rainbow bridge" to higher consciousness. This means that our wounds can be regarded as doorways to accept ourselves and seek new ways to live creatively. This Third Quarter Square encourages us to ask these questions as we find our path.

Mercury at 27° Cancer is exactly trining Neptune, creating an opportunity to soften our attitude and connect with ourselves and others through understanding, without judgment. It reminds us that showing compassion to others starts with being compassionate towards ourselves.

Neptune guides us toward a higher form of love that goes beyond the transactional nature of human love. It invites us to shift our understanding away from ego-driven perspectives. A Neptunian lens perceives the chart as a universal expression of the Divine, where each individual embodies a distinct unit of consciousness. It encompasses compassion, sorrow, and the profound need for transformation. Neptune's wisdom resides in its mysterious nature, evoking powerful and poignant experiences within us. It symbolizes the process that leads us to a state of love and unity beyond the limitations of mental constructs.

In this phase, there is also a Yod configuration between the Venus/Mars conjunction in late Leo to a sextile between Neptune and Pluto. This further bolsters the interpretation of Chiron as a bridge, allowing us to access the potential for genuine transformational movements through impartial observation, free from self-criticism.

Astrological interpretations are by Jim Sher of the Sher Institute of Astrology & Metaphysics.