Chiron and Eris: Opposing Forces in Astrology
Webinar presented by Astrological Association of St. Louis, 3:30 pm EDT, Sunday, March 22, 2026, Via Zoom, open to paying subscribers to any Planet Waves service.
“Eric Francis is a rare beast: a skilled astrologer, a stylish writer and an acclaimed investigative journalist.”
— Sally Brompton
Horoscope writer, The Mail on Sunday and The New York Post
“Eric is a master of applied astrology, dealing with real issues, real people, and real suffering, while engaging intelligently with the astrological tradition. This is ‘grassroots’ astrology at its best, and very elegant writing, too.”
— Melanie Reinhart,
author of Chiron and the Healing Journey; Faculty member, Center for Psychological Astrology and Faculty of Astrological Studies, London.
We are now at the peak of the first Chiron-Eris conjunction since 1972. What is this about? It’s where the fragmentation of the digital environment is met by the whole-making capacity of Chiron.
Eris represents a massive, invisible, disruptive force in psychic and mental environments. Its arrival in Aries one century ago came with wave after wave of invasions to inwardly-centered humanity, which have led to a society organized in tribes and cults. The essence of Eris and its effects are fragmentation both of psyche and society.
Dr. Eric McLuhan provided one of the best descriptions of the influence of Eris I can imagine, though he was not an astrologer:
“The body is everywhere assaulted by all of our new media, a state which has resulted in deep disorientation of intellect and destabilization of culture throughout the world. In the age of disembodied communication, the meaning and significance and experience of the body is utterly transformed and distorted.”
Chiron for its part represents whole-making: cohesion, internal integration, healing and individuation. Its self-actualizing property is an opposing force to the crazy-making of Eris. Its focus on individual process counteracts the tendency for digital society to be organized in tribes and cults. Both planets are now engaged in a confrontation that has built over many years.
I will place this into context, define the concept of a minor planet, offer delineations of both planets, and give real world examples of how the Chiron-Eris conjunction is playing out—and what it meant one cycle ago in the early 1970s.
“Eric Francis is a deep-thinking intellectual packaged as a working man’s astrologer. His writing is fluid; his perspectives are original. His astrology is eclectic, sometimes radical, yet firmly founded on the classical tradition. He is a fresh voice in the winds of astrology.”
— Rick Levine
Founder, StarIQ.com, worldwide astrology lecturer
Bio
Eric Francis Coppolino has been writing about Chiron since 1996 and working with Eris since prior to its naming, when it was known as 2003 UB313 (Xena). With the help of Cosmos and Psyche author Richard Tarnas, he published the first monograph about Eris in early 2007, Eris: Facets and Fragments of Self.
He is also the author of the newly-released book The Chironian, which combines 30 years of Eric’s writing on Chiron with his approach to personal healing process.
His Eris research, in part developed as a branch of media studies with the family of Marshall McLuhan, has evolved into a distinct theory, connecting the past century of Eris in Aries to the history of what electronic communication has done to people. Chiron, representing focusing and inner awareness, holds a key to the situation.
Class information is below the paywall:
