Chrion rules Virgo?

While I'm learning chart calculation, I've also been looking at some of the beginner's astrology books which have been populating my bookshelves. I think my favorite one is Gail Fairfield's Choice Centered Astrology. She writes in a clear and practical manner and her approach seems fairly mainstream. However, I do notice that she considers Chiron a planet and assigns it to the rulership of Virgo.

I've never seen that in any of my other books, and I was wondering if this is a tradition for some astrologers or if this is something original to Fairfield.

Thanks --
Lee

Hi, Lee! Some astrologers consider Chiron to be a sign-ruler, and some don't (myself included). To the best of my knowledge, Barbara Hand Clow was the first person to opine that Chiron rules Virgo, principally because of the mythological centaur's association with healing. Richard Nolle, who was among the first to study Chiron, considers him the ruler of Sagittarius (largely due to Chiron being a centaur). Thus, rulership associations for Chiron tend to mirror his mythological attributes. Personally, I use Chiron in all charts except horary, but there are at least as many centaur bodies (the astronomical group to which Chiron belongs) as there are asteroids, so I do not consider him to be the ruler of any sign.

Chiron was discovered in (I think 1977) and I believe that its Astronomical designation has changed on more than one occasion. However a large number of Astrologers use it (though I tend not to - mainly because I have enough to handle with the other planets).

The first problem with Chiron as a ruler is the question of whether it's a planet (I think the Astronomical view is that it is not). The vast majority of Astrologers, whether traditional or modern allocate rulership to planets rather than centaur bodies, or asteroids. The second is what is the basis for allocating rulerships.

I think your namesake, Lee Lehman distinguised two types of rulership. The first is one by association or correspondence. Thus, for example, Mars rules accidents, and Saturn rules the skeletal system, Pluto rules mineshafts and either Mercury or Uranus (depending on which you think more suitable) rules the Internet.

The other type of rulership is that allocated to the signs on the basis of seasonal symbolism. Thus Saturn rules the two Winter signs of Capricorn and Aquarius, it being the furthest visible planet from the Sun, just as Winter is the furthest season from Summer - where the Sun rules Leo and the Moon rules Cancer. The remaining signs are filled in pairs moving from Saturn inwards towards the Sun but around opposite sides of the Zodiac circle. Thus Jupiter takes Pisces and Sagittarius, Mars takes Aries and Scorpio, Venus takes Taurus and Libra and Mercury takes Gemini and Virgo.

This is a system of rulerships, not based simply on 'likeness' or 'correspondence'. The allocation of rulerships to the outer planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto in modern times has fractured this sytem and left us with some rulerships of sign by association and some as allocated by the old system.

If sign rulership is on the basis of association rather than system, it might well be argued that Mercury is not a particularly appropriate planet to rule Virgo (I do use the traditional system and I would not think for a moment of substitution Chiron or any other body for Mercury).

Personally, I use rulership by association as well as rulership by the traditional system (except where they clash) - for clearly defined (in the sense I know which is which) purposes. Thus I am quite happy to use Pluto as a ruler of mineshafts, or waste disposal but not as the ruler of Scorpio.

Virgo and Mercury

Virgo, as a set of common qualities, provides a nice backdrop for expressing many of Mercury's operational "energies." I place the word "energies" in quotations because Mercury typifies mental processes and perceptions and organizational aspects -- not so much physical actions. Yes, I know that Mercury is associated with travel and communication BUT Mercury works so well within the Virgo personality in discrimination, selection and organizational ways -- giving Virgo its special distinctions. Many of Mercury's qualities and energies are applicable to all signs who hold or rule Mercury -- if found there. Mercury can work anywhere, more so than any other astrological body. So, on this basis, I would be reluctant to assign rulership of Virgo to any other body, particularly one whose influence and operational expressions are not yet clearly defined -- and I make a distinction between mythology (which is a specifi architype and story) and astrology where the name given may be more or less arbitrary. Dave.