Photo Credit: Daniel Schludi (Unsplash.com @schluditsch)

I decided to group these two planetary retrogrades together, as they not only work quite ‘hand-in-hand’ together, but also because their retrograde periods coincide quite closely.  Both planets (like all the other planets except Venus and Mars, which retrograde biennially, or ‘once every 2 years’) retrograde every year for about 4-5 months.  As I write this, Neptune went retrograde about two weeks ago on June 23, 2020 and will be retrograde until November 29th; and Chiron is about to go retrograde on July 11th and will go direct on December 15, 2020.

Whenever a planet goes retrograde, we tend to internalize their energies, ultimately having us face any distortions or pushing us into higher vibrations and sparking a time of reevaluation.  As such, as part of this article, I will review both their energies and what this could mean for us in this ‘Great Year of 2020’.

Neptune…
Ruler of our hopes and dreams, yet also our greatest fears which block us from attaining them; our connection to spirit and what brings meaning and purpose to our lives, yet also what can cause us to feel overwhelmed and as if the world is caving in on us; creativity and inspiration, yet also addiction and escapism; purity of heart, yet also deception; awakenings, yet also those dreaded ‘dark nights of the soul’; healing, compassion and forgiveness, yet also feeling judged or criticized by others for not being perfect.  Neptune, like all other planets, teaches us that to find true balance, we cannot have one without the other.

In retrograde, we can feel these more intensely within, yet because our spiritual journey is one that is had within, can bring about remarkable awakenings to the understanding that there certainly is a divine plan unfolding.  Signs, synchronicities and dreams can intensify and we can be more open to starting a meditative or self-nurturing practice to help us cope with daily life.  In addition to this, we can feel inspired to finally put a dream into action, taking the necessary steps forward to manifest it into our lives.  On the other hand, we can sway intensely to the other extreme, escaping through drugs or alcohol (or any other form of addiction), as well as become so connected to the darker aspects of Neptune that others can clearly see the shadows that lie within us.

Neptune retrograde is a time when all ‘darkness comes to light’, pushing us to extremes to have us face our deepest fears, quite like the pressure that makes coal into diamonds.  This applies to the collective as well, so certainly we can anticipate some great being revealed in this ‘Great Year of 2020’ behind all that is going on, and from that I believe deeper levels of awakening for those that have been ‘on the path’ (certainly quite a bit of ‘stepping into soul mission’) as well as bringing many into the journey through facing their fears.  As a recent meme said, ‘There no longer is an option of a blue pill; they are all gone.’  ☺️

Now for Chiron…
Before I get into this one, just know there is nothing new about these two being retrograde together, it happens every year; the only ‘newness’ to this one is that we are in this ‘Great Year of 2020’, which undoubtedly is pushing us to those extremes I keep mentioning that we have never experienced before.

Chiron is the comet all to do with subconscious wounding we picked up from childhood. We all have Chiron somewhere on our charts, so rest assured no one comes to this Earth-plane without some type of wounding, it is all part of what we came here to heal and an inherent part of our Earth-journey.  In coordination with Neptune, the planet all to do with healing our subconscious and facing our fears, these two go quite well together.

I definitely recommend to anyone who is on the ‘shadow-work’ path (aka the awakening journey) to find out what sign and house placement their Chiron is in, which can be done through a simple online calculator as the one here (I just googled and chose the first one, but I am sure there are many out there).  I then recommend doing an internet or YouTube search to learn more about what each mean (ie. ‘Chiron in Aries’ and ‘Chiron in the 9th House).  Personally, I really like the work of Tom Jacobs, Evolutionary Astrologer, and his work on Chiron which can be found on YouTube.

Noting what happens around the time that Chiron goes Retrograde helps us connect the dots to the triggers that need to be worked on, or what upgrades we are being pushed into; in this case, noting what happens around July 11th.  The reason being is that these events will act as a ‘plot line’ to help us address any upgrades being asked of us during the review period. When Chiron finishes its Retrograde, in December, this allows us to better gauge the influence of a Chiron Retrograde and see just how beautifully-aligned the universe truly is.

Combining the Two Retrogrades and this ‘Great Year of 2020’…
Needless to say, 2020 is not an ordinary year; it is indeed quite fated to be a time of great societal change.  In addition to healing our subconscious wounding at a personal level, I feel this too will be happening at a collective level.  As I write this, we are just coming out of the Summer Eclipse Season, and certainly by the looks of the transits, we are stepping into the ‘meat and potatoes’ of the societal shifts in the latter half of this year (hence my dubbing the first part ‘just an appetizer’).  Not only do I feel we will be coming into more awareness with what is truly behind all the misinformation with the pandemic, but so too nefarious deeds that have been going on behind the scenes at government and financial levels, having us all go through a ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ as a global collective and needing to heal wounding or trauma associated with that.

For those that have been on the journey, this is our time to shine and assist those with the transition by using what we have come to learn through our own experiences.  Stepping boldly into soul mission definitely a big part of this.