Science Fiction & Star Trek

Events and Issues Related to Chiron’s Discovery

– Martin Lass © 2003

(This article follows on from “Introduction and Planetary Background”.)

 “Picard, you are about to move into areas of the galaxy containing wonders more incredible than you can possibly imagine . . . and terrors to freeze your soul.”

–Star Trek–The Next Generation, episode “Q Who?” (Q speaking to Captain Picard.)[1]

“For that one fraction of a second, you were open to options you had never considered. That is the exploration that awaits you . . . not mapping stars and studying nebula . . . but charting the unknown possibilities of existence.”

-Star Trek–The Next Generation, episode “All Good Things . . .” (Q speaking to Captain Picard.)[2]

When challenged to expand our sphere of consciousness, we generally react in one of two ways: we are either excited by the prospect or react with fear, suspicion and trepidation. At worst, we react with violence, trying to ‘kill off’ the imagined enemy. 

No better was this reflected than in the spate of science fiction movies that appeared from 1951 through to the early 1960s. Science fiction existed well before this, as far back as the 19th century with the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne. However, in the 1950s, science fiction became mainstream with cinematic releases such as “The Day the Earth Stood Still” in 1951, “Red Planet Mars” in 1952, “War of the Worlds” in 1953, “The Day the World Ended” in 1955, “Forbidden Planet”, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “World Without End” in 1956, “The Fly” in 1958 and “The Day the Earth Caught Fire” in 1961. 

In many ways, the type of science fiction produced during these years has parallels in Cold War fears that we will discuss shortly. 

During these years, we felt the chains of the Saturnian status quo. The existing paradigms were impotent to answer the deep questions, longing and Wounds we experienced as Chiron’s influence began to be illuminated after World War II. When faced with such an impasse, we reach outward, beyond the safety of tried and tested ways, beyond accepted paradigms and beyond outmoded and stagnant ways of dealing with life. This journey often begins in the imagination, in the symbols and archetypes of the subconscious and ‘supraconscious’. 

Through the imagination, as we test the waters of formerly unacceptable propositions, we are immediately confronted with everything in us that resists change and fears the unknown. On the one hand, the science-fiction films of the 1950s expressed optimism, adventure and excitement. We reached outward into space in search of extraterrestrial friends and in search of answers to the meaning of our lives. On the other hand, these films simultaneously expressed the fear of the unknown, personified in the guise of hostile alien beings, catastrophic astronomical events, deadly terrestrial and extraterrestrial mutant organisms and the horrors of atomic war. Still unsure of Self, we feared the unknown Other. In truth, what we feared most was seeing ourselves mirrored in the Other. 

Ultimately, we fear truth–truth we may not yet be able to handle. Our personas–our polarized emotions, thoughts, limiting beliefs, dogmas, charges, judgments, blame, lies, illusions, denial and so on–will do anything to preserve their right to exist unchallenged. In the light of greater truth, such personas must ‘die’ to make way for higher consciousness. 

It is interesting to note the resurgence of similar themes to the 1950s and early 1960s in the 1990s, as we approached the momentous Pluto/Chiron conjunction at the end of 1999. (See Chart 1–CHIRON/PLUTO CONJUNCTION 1999.)These themes came out in such TV series as “The X-Files,” “Millennium,” “American Gothic” and “Profiler.” Chiron’s passage through Scorpio in the 1990s also had a lot to do with this. 

CHART 1 – CHIRON/PLUTO CONJUNCTION 1999 

A dramatic start to the new millennium. This augurs revolutionary changes in health, medicine and Healing in general. Some of these ramifications are explored in the chapter, “Miscellany.” 

Chiron Pluto conjunct 1999 – Natal Chart
Dec 30 1999, 10:02 pm, AEDT -11:00
Sydney NSW Australia, 33°S52′, 151°E13′
Geocentric Tropical Zodiac
Koch Houses, True Node

The trend of science fiction diminished in the first half of the 1960s, attention and focus turning toward other matters, such as the Cold War. However, we were far from finished with the archetypes and symbols of the psyche as expressed through science fiction. The most momentous occurrence, in this respect–one that formed one of the two most important fulcrum points in the tapestry of Chiron’s discovery–was the approval for a new television series called “Star Trek”. (See Chart 2–STAR TREK APPROVED.) 

CHART 2 – STAR TREK APPROVED

The approval to go ahead and produce the series, “Star Trek,” was, on the surface, not seemingly significant. However, history tells a different story. Behind this series and the later spin-offs and movies lies the eternal quest of Humanity/Gaia to expand its consciousness beyond its present boundaries-to ultimately become a galactic citizen and rejoin with the greater cosmos from which all of us were born. 

Star Trek – Natal Chart
Feb 15 1966, 10:00 am, PST +8:00
Los Angeles CA USA, 34°N00′, 118°W10′
Geocentric Tropical Zodiac
Koch Houses, True Node

The relation between Healing and evolution of consciousness and science fiction lies in the fact that our unresolved Wounds and issues can tend to make us want to ‘get off the planet.’ It is a twofold impulse: to escape our situation and/or to find a different and/or higher perspectives. 

This impulse was expressed in the 1950s and 1960s as a desire to travel in space, actually as well as virtually. In both cases, our journey acts as a mirror of our most painful Wounds and issues as well as our highest aspirations. Whether actual or virtual, the journey promised to help us find new perspectives that would assist our Healing and evolution of consciousness. 

Lying behind our impulse to travel into space is the unconscious knowledge that our evolutionary expansion of consciousness is perfectly paralleled in the journey from the inner to the outer planets and beyond. In short, we seek the stars, because we seek to find out where we come from, who we are, where we are going and why we are here. 

The aliens we find in science fiction are us, as in a mirror. The alien places are our disguised homes. The more we can see ourselves in the mirror of the cosmos, the more we will feel at home in the cosmos. Until then, despite our travels, we will feel like strangers in a strange land. 

This sense of alienation is evident in 11th house Chiron in Pisces in the Star Trek natal chart. (See Chart 2–STAR TREK APPROVED.) Also in this chart, Uranus opposing 11th house Chiron impels us to strike out into uncharted territory (start music . . . opening credits . . . roll cameras . . .!) ” . . . to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.“[3] (The technology aspect of Uranus, although obvious, is worth noting in relation to space travel.) 

The exploration of the human psyche and of consciousness, mirrored in the voyages of the Starship Enterprise, although presented in the often melodramatic and seemingly trite Hollywood dialogue of the 1960s, was well served by this television series. Moreover, we should not minimize the power of this natal chart by thinking that it is only the chart of a B-grade television series. This natal chart reflects a global movement of consciousness.

In the chart, a Mars/Saturn occultation (loosely conjuncting, but parallel within a one degree orb) opposing a Uranus/Pluto conjunction seeks to break down the limitations, restrictions, repressions and stagnant thinking of the establishment, paving the way for innovative advances in technology. 

The walls of our consciousness (Saturn/Chiron conjunction) are like the walls of a spaceship, protecting us and nurturing us. However, at the same time, these same walls imprison us and cut us off from contact and from a sense of home. No better was this Chironic feeling summed up than in the episode of Star Trek entitled, “The Naked Time.” In this episode, an alien organism strikes the crew of the Enterprise. The net effect was that what was normally psychologically hidden, repressed, unacknowledged and so on surfaced and dominated their personalities. (The Chiron relevance is immediately apparent.) Toward the end of the episode, Captain Kirk, still under the power of the alien organism and in a poignant, Piscean and melodramatic soliloquy, waxes lyrical about his love for his ship. However, with deep pain, he simultaneously realizes that these same walls cut him off from home. (Kirk associates ‘home’ with love for a woman, as opposed to his love for his ship; in addition, he longs for the freedom to lay aside his responsibilities for a time, away from the constraining and jealous walls of his ship) . . . “No beach to walk on . . .” he says. In short, we seek connection and contact (Pisces Chiron), but we are stuck in forms (Saturn-conjunct-Chiron). 

In the episode, “Is There in Truth No Beauty?”, the character, Spock, allows his body to be used by the alien, Kollos. Whilst in Spock’s body, Kollos soliloquizes about the human condition: “How compact your bodies are. And what a variety of senses you have. This thing you call . . . language, though . . . most remarkable! You depend on it for so very much. But is any one of you really its master? But most of all . . . the aloneness. You are so alone. You live out your lives in this shell of flesh. Self-contained. How terribly lonely.” 

Aside from these more obvious considerations, other themes in Star Trek are also eminently relevant to our exploration of Chiron. 

First, there was the juxtaposition of the intellectual and analytical Spock with the emotional and intuitive Captain Kirk. This is clearly seen in the chart in the opposition of the Virgo planets, Pluto and Uranus (Spock), and the Pisces planets, Chiron, Saturn, Mars and Mercury (Kirk). On the one hand, our Healing journey of consciousness is to ever seek a higher logic, a higher perspective, a glimpse of the bigger picture (Uranus and Pluto). On the other hand, we seek a connection (actually, a reconnection) to our intuitive, spiritual side. Something in us senses the essential oneness of all creatures and all things (the Piscean planets). Ultimately, the evolution of consciousness requires a balance of both sides. 

By the latter part of the 20th century, it had become painfully apparent that, over the last 500 years, Humanity had over-emphasized reason, logic and the scientific method while neglecting/belittling the spiritual/intuitive side of things. These 500-year-old attitudes were questioned and even parodied in Star Trek. On the one hand, Spock, with his Virgo logic–cold, calculated, analytical and often anal–came out looking ridiculous more often than not. (In contrast to this, in rare moments, we see Spock’s sense of aloneness and inner vulnerability.) On the other hand, the Aquarian Sun and Piscean planets had him expressing humanitarian and collective ideals, summed up in the Vulcan saying, “The need of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.”[4]

As far as Kirk, he was forever saving the universe from inevitable destruction by relying upon his Piscean emotions and seemingly irrational instincts, lauding these as evolutionarily superior to pure logic. On the other hand, although Kirk expressed high ideals and a wish for contact with the universe (he was always off kissing alien women!), Pluto and Uranus in Virgo in the 5th house cast him as a self-aggrandizing individualist to a fault. 

In truth, we tick-tock between all such polarities. The Chiron Paradigm seeks the reconciliation and synthesis of all polarities. In Star Trek, the main polarities were 1) the individual vs. the collective, 2) the intellect vs. the emotions, 3) science vs. spirituality and philosophical idealism and 4) separateness vs. oneness. 

Another Star Trek theme was the show’s so-called “Prime Directive” that forbade interference in the lives of alien races. Despite this directive, the crew of the Enterprise was forever saving alien races from otherwise inevitable destruction or from subjugation at the hands of ‘evil’. There always seemed to be something to ‘fix’, to ‘set right’, to ‘correct’ or to redress. The Chiron Paradigm suggests that what we try to ‘fix’, change, Heal or save are actually aspects of ourselves, mirrored in the outside world. The Piscean relevance of this lies in the perception of victimhood and injustice and in the need/desire to rescue others. Conversely, the Virgoan relevance lies in the need/desire to ‘fix’, to ‘set right’ and/or to Heal. Chiron, as the Wounded Healer, personifies both sides of this axis. As a rescuer/Healer, the Enterprise’s doctor, Dr. McCoy, was often challenged to push beyond the boundaries of known medical science/practise and to attempt to rescue/save/Heal alien life forms. 

Yet another theme explored was the dual nature of the human psyche–the light and the dark, the visible and the hidden and the expressed and the repressed. (This understanding of the psyche is the cornerstone of the Chiron Paradigm.) 

The Chiron/Uranus opposition (particularly given that Uranus was conjuncting Pluto at the time) shone a light into our darknesses, challenging us to acknowledge, reconcile, embrace and finally love what we found there. This was mirrored in the episode, “The Enemy Within.” Here, Kirk suffers a transporter malfunction and is split into two people–his ‘good’ side and his ‘bad side. The story explores the idea that a person needs both sides–the dark and the light–to function in life. In the words of Dr. McCoy to Kirk: “Jim, you’re no different than anyone else. We all have our dark side. We need it. It’s half of what we are. It’s not really ugly, it’s human.“[5]

In the episode, “Mirror, Mirror,” universe and anti-universe cross paths. Again, the result is an exploration of the two sides of the psyche and the realization that one side of us cannot function without the other. 

Another theme was the so-called “Vulcan mind-meld.” This idea of merging two minds into one is the epitome of the Piscean ideal. However, the pain of seeing one’s own inner truth (Chiron), not to mention exposing it to someone else (5th house Uranus, 11th house Chiron) can be unbearable. This was made patently obvious in dramatic scenes with Spock and a variety of mind-meld ‘victims’. 

Another recurring theme in Star Trek was the exploration of time and its relation to consciousness. According to the Chiron Paradigm, the Wounding journey of consciousness creates the illusions of time and space, whereas the Healing journey dissolves these illusions. 

Other features of the natal chart include: 

  • Chiron trine Neptune in Scorpio in the 7th house:

    Beyond our Wounded feelings of aloneness, separateness, isolation and disconnectedness we can hear the call of spirit. We are encouraged to walk through our Wounds, dealing with its issues as we go. So doing, we begin to resonate with higher frequencies and we come into greater alignment with our higher human potential and our Soul. This trine ensures that, having walked through the Wound, spirit will be waiting to welcome us.
  • North Node in Gemini trine Venus in Capricorn on the Midheaven:

    Reflects the destiny of the series. The show offered a vehicle to bring our deep innate knowledge and wisdom (Sagittarius South Node) into a tangible and communicable form (Gemini North Node). It offered a way of putting this knowledge and wisdom into a form easily understandable, accessible and graspable to the world at large. That form took the metaphor of the physical journey (Node in 1st house) into outer space, mirroring the inner psychological journey of discovering who we are, where we have come from, why we are here and where we are going.
  • Capricorn Midheaven:

    Gave the series the practical foundations it required to be a material and financial success and to achieve widespread recognition (although success was not immediately forthcoming).
  • Retrograde Venus in Capricorn:

    Made the series a labor of love, destined to bring fruit at a later stage.
  • Venus conjunct Midheaven trining the North Node:

    Brought this labor of love into alignment with a higher destiny.

The first episode of Star Trek went to air on September 8, 1966. (See Chart 3–STAR TREK FIRST EPISODE.)This chart is overwhelmed by a confluence of planets in Virgo, primarily in the 6th house, opposing Chiron and Saturn in the 12th. This is indicative of the event’s Healing theme (taking Healing, as always, in the broadest sense). The trines and sextiles of these planets to North and South Nodes, respectively, give the stamp of destiny to the series. This pattern–Sun/Uranus/Pluto conjunction (Sun/Uranus occultation) sextiling Neptune/South Node and trining North Node–is the most powerful call to higher consciousness that one could ask for, aside from giving the new series an innate mystique and charisma. The show was destined (North Node) to have a powerful (Pluto) and revolutionary (Uranus) effect for years to come (Neptune), inspiring us to shine (Sun) through the vehicle of space travel (Uranus). Underlying these external manifestations, however, was the Healing journey (6th house) of spirit (12th house), as we awakened and evolved our consciousness (12th house Chiron conjunct Saturn in Pisces, loosely opposing 6th house Virgo planets). 

CHART 3 – STAR TREK FIRST EPISODE

The first episode of the original series of Star Trek goes to air. 

Star Trek first episode airs – Natal Chart
Sep 8 1966, 8:30 pm, PDT +7:00
Los Angeles California, 34°N03’08”, 118°W14’34”
Geocentric Tropical Zodiac
Koch Houses, True Node

Chiron’s 12th house Pisces placement gave the series an indefinable mystique and called out to us to acknowledge our hidden longing for spirit. Chiron in the 12th house requires divinatory and/or mystical means in order to access its power. It was as though the Star Trek series could offer us a magical path of Healing . . . or an escape from our pain. Neptune conjunct the South Node affirms that, somewhere in the recesses of our psyches, we already know where we have come from–we already know where true home is–even if we cannot yet put it into words. 

Jupiter trining the Chiron/Saturn conjunction represents the beckoning of a miraculous and mysterious universe–a universe that awaits the delight of the wise-but-childlike Inner Child within each of us. Jupiter’s promise is that by attending to our Wounds and issues (that have their immediate reflections in childhood), we will once again experience a world that delights as well as confounds. Moreover, we will gradually become aware that there is a Guiding Hand at work. In the end, we will realize that the limitations we perceive around us–in the world and in our lives–are self-imposed; furthermore, these limitations are limitations of perception only and are naturally overcome by the expansion of our consciousness. The expansion of consciousness beyond such limitations of perception is mirrored in our outward journey to the stars. 

The true power of Star Trek becomes apparent in hindsight. It has an almost cult following and it is now over thirty years later. Spin-off series abound, not to mention numerous full-length feature films. The themes explored are universal and all come back to the four basic questions inspired by our innate longing for Healing: Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going? and Why are we here? 

With the new millennium still a baby, we are driven outward and inward, simultaneously, by the pain of our inner fragmentedness, isolation, aloneness and separateness and by our collective and personal low self-worth. The outward journey–trekking into space–mirrors our desire for Healing and evolution of consciousness. We long to bring together our fragmented nature, to connect with the universe, to allay our feelings of aloneness and separateness and to feel like worthy citizens of a starry cosmos. Such is Chiron’s own Healing path as it orbits the solitary tracts of the outer solar system. 

These themes were aptly and openly explored in the fifth of the Star Trek spin-off feature films, “The Final Frontier.” In this story, the revolutionary/renegade Vulcan, Sybok, represents the Healer/Seeker on a Quest for the origin of our existence. Although the return to spirit/God is not achieved in this particular story, the story illustrates and explores our hidden pain and our longing for a return to spirit, truth, oneness and love. 

All in all, our journey is a journey of consciousness–a journey that is ultimately undertaken in the recesses of the psyche, but is mirrored symbolically, holographically and supraconsciously in the external world (whether that world is real or virtual). It is a journey we all undertake from time to time, sometimes even from the comfort of an armchair in front of the television, carried away to distant times and places by programs such as Star Trek. 

Other sci-fi television series of note in the 1950s and 1960s were Rod Serling’s “Twilight Zone,” “Lost in Space” and “The Outer Limits.” As with Star Trek, these programs were an expression of the major aspects of Pluto, Uranus, Chiron and Saturn.

A final mention is the movie, “2001–A Space Odyssey”.[6] Its world premiere occurred in Washington D.C. on April 2, 1968. 

In this chart, Chiron is at zero degrees Aries, representing new beginnings combined with primal Wounds. This is interesting when we remember that the film opens with a scene depicting our prehistoric ape-like ancestors. This placement of Chiron also poses the eternal question of who we are and what are our origins–a question posed, if obtusely, in the film. 

Chiron in the 5th house (given a natal time of between 8pm and 10pm) suggests a feeling of inadequacy in the face of the larger cosmos–personified in the film by an alien and impenetrable black monolith. It suggests a fear of stepping out and being seen, a fear of exposing our inner light. Despite our fears, we are drawn forward in this film by our insatiable curiosity and by the strength of our longing to know and reconnect with our origins. The singleton nature of Chiron amplifies our feelings of aloneness, isolation and disconnectedness from the greater cosmos. 

Lastly, Pluto and Uranus, in a loose conjunction, oppose a tight conjunction of Venus and Mercury. Here, destiny (Pluto) and technology(Uranus) call us from the outer solar system, challenging us to move beyond the confines of the inner planets–beyond the limiting factors of our polarized emotions (Venus) and our one-sided thinking (Mercury). Such was the plot of this film/story, i.e. Humanity was drawn ever outward into the cosmos by a mysterious black monolith that kept appearing at important moments in our history.

(This article is followed by “The Space Race”)

[1] Quoted in: Sherwin, Jill ed. Quotable Star Trek. Pocket Books, New York, 1999, p. 54.
[2] Ibid., p. 55.
[3] Ibid., p. 301.
[4] Ibid., p. 307.
[5] Ibid., p. 76.
[6] The Stanley Kubrick classic of 1968, based on a novelette by Arthur C. Clarke called, “The Sentinel.”