Uranus Sextile Chiron: Small Breakthroughs Around an Old Sensitivity

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Uranus sextile Chiron means the two were 54° to 66° apart at birth; the sextile takes a 6° orb, narrower than the 8° of the other major aspects. Uranus stands for change, originality, independence and the unexpected. Chiron, in modern astrology, is the tender spot that tends to stay sensitive and can slowly become a source of understanding. A sextile is the angle of opportunity: cooperative, but it usually needs a choice or an effort before it shows.

In 1920 to 2060 the sextile forms in three short stretches, in 1938 to 1941, 1999 to 2001 and 2047 to 2048, so each is the mark of one or two years of births. The detail that makes it personal comes from the houses the pair occupies when the birth time is known, and from contacts with the Sun, the Moon and the personal planets.

How astrologers tend to read it

Openings rather than upheavals. A frequent reading is that change arrives in manageable steps around the sensitive area: a new idea, a new friend, a different method, each one taken up by choice.

Curiosity about one's own sore place. Some astrologers describe a willingness to look at an old difficulty from an unusual angle, with interest more than dread.

Helping through ideas. The sextile is often linked with sharing a fresh perspective, in conversation, teaching or a group, that makes something easier for others too.

Easy to leave unused. Because the angle is mild, the opportunity may simply pass. Astrologers often say a sextile rewards those who act on it.

As everywhere on this site, these readings are possibilities, not verdicts, and the chart does not say what anyone experienced.

Three stretches, three sign pairs

Of the 51,501 Greenwich noon charts in the sample, one per date from 1920 through 2060 (the range for which the calculator shows Chiron), 1,646 have Uranus sextile Chiron: 3.20%, about one date in 31. Out-of-sign sextiles are rare here, 4.6% of sextile dates, so the sign pair is a good first guide.

Each stretch had one main window holding all three passes. The first stretch also had a 17-day brush in November 1938 and a near-miss in 1941; the second opened with a window from November 1999 to May 2000 that came within 1.48° and then pulled away.

The R markers lean together

On a sextile the Sun often stands far from both bodies at once. Of the 578 sextile dates with Uranus retrograde, 48.6% also had Chiron retrograde; of the Uranus-direct dates, only 25.1%. Both were retrograde on 17.1% of sextile dates, neither on 48.6%, Chiron alone on 16.3% and Uranus alone on 18.0%. Four of the nine exact passes, 13 November and 12 December 1939 and 18 July and 11 August 2001, came with both retrograde.

1939 to 1941: Taurus and Cancer

At London noon on 13 November 1939 Uranus at 19°57' Taurus and Chiron at 19°56' Cancer, both retrograde, were 0.01° from exact, and the Sun at 20°10' Scorpio opposed Uranus (0.22°) and trined Chiron (0.23°). On 12 December 1939 both were exact at 18°48', still retrograde, and on 16 August 1940 both were direct, Uranus at 26°02' Taurus and Chiron at 26°04' Cancer. That August Neptune at 24°04' Virgo trined Uranus (1.96°) and sextiled Chiron (2.00°), joining all three by easy angles.

The near-miss of 1941 came with Jupiter arriving on Uranus: on 2 May 1941 Jupiter at 24°19' Taurus was conjunct Uranus at 25°19' (0.99°), Uranus trined Neptune at 25°13' Virgo (0.10°), and Chiron at 26°15' Cancer was 0.93° short of an exact sextile. Taurus is ruled by Venus and Cancer by the Moon. Uranus in Taurus covers that generation, and Chiron in Cancer, Scorpio or Pisces the Chiron.

2000 and 2001: Aquarius and Sagittarius, with Pluto

In these years Pluto was travelling with Chiron in Sagittarius. On 19 February 2000 the line came to 1.48°, with Uranus at 17°33' Aquarius, Chiron at 16°04' Sagittarius and Pluto at 12°43' Sagittarius conjunct Chiron (3.36°). The exact passes followed:

• 14 November 2000: Uranus 17°03' Aquarius, Chiron 17°04' Sagittarius, both direct (0.03°); Pluto at 11°58' Sagittarius was conjunct Chiron (5.11°) and sextile Uranus (5.08°).
• 18 July 2001: both retrograde at 23°55', exact.
• 11 August 2001: both retrograde at 23°01' (0.01°), with the Sun at 18°50' Leo opposite Uranus (4.19°) and trine Chiron (4.18°).

Aquarius has Uranus as its modern ruler and Saturn as its traditional ruler, so Uranus is in a sign it rules in modern astrology; Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter. More in Uranus in Aquarius and Chiron in Aries, Leo or Sagittarius.

2048: Virgo and Scorpio, calculated ahead

The third sextile follows soon after the 2042 to 2043 conjunction, with Chiron pulling ahead fast:

• 20 January 2048: Uranus 10°37' Virgo, retrograde, Chiron 10°36' Scorpio (0.02°). Saturn at 9°38' Capricorn trines Uranus (0.98°) and sextiles Chiron (0.96°), part of the long Saturn-Chiron sextile run of 2046 to 2056 described in Saturn sextile Chiron.
• 18 May 2048: Uranus 7°01' Virgo, Chiron 7°03' Scorpio, retrograde. Pluto at 8°00' Pisces opposes Uranus (0.98°) and trines Chiron (0.96°).
• 21 October 2048: both direct, Uranus 14°21' Virgo and Chiron 14°20' Scorpio.

Virgo is ruled by Mercury. Scorpio has Pluto as its modern ruler and Mars as its traditional ruler, and Pisces has Neptune as its modern ruler and Jupiter as its traditional ruler.

Finding it on your chart

The free birth chart shows a sextile as a dashed blue line; a solid blue line is a trine. In the planet table, Uranus and Chiron should be 54° to 66° apart. No Chiron appears for births before 1920 or after 2060, so neither does this line.

If no birth time is entered, Uranus and Chiron are computed for local noon as a reference only. The separation between them moved by at most 0.18° a day, so the hour could decide the line on only about 0.5% of sextile dates (estimated by interpolating between noon charts). How to read Chiron in your chart suggests where a slow aspect like this fits in a reading.

Read next

• Uranus square Chiron, the tense angle that followed or preceded each sextile
• Uranus conjunct Chiron, the meeting the 2048 sextile follows
• Saturn sextile Chiron, the slower planet's version
• Back to every aspect page

To talk through what this sextile might add to a chart, open Ask the Astrologist.