Chronos and Kairos

In astrology, we create meaning through the movement of the heavenly bodies across the sky in a cyclical fashion. Our most foundational cycles are drawn from the exchange between the sun and the earth and the earth and the moon. These cycles create our seasons and months, repeating periods when the sun or the moon's light are stronger and brighter or weaker and darker.

Time--in hours, days, and months-- is measured by the light of the sun and the moon. This quotient of light determines the best time to perform our human activities-- whether planting seeds or starting our day-- and governs our habitual patterns even in the modern world rife with electronics.

In the ancient world, an action was considered favorable if it was performed at the most appropriate time. "Seasonality" was an absolute law and a virtue.

Consider this well known passage from the New Testament, Ecclesiastes 3:

τοῖς πᾶσιν χρόνος καὶ καιρὸς τῷ παντὶ πράγματι ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανόν

which the King James version translates

“to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven”

In this passage we have two Greek words for time, chronos and kairos. Chronos can be time indefinitely (the principle of time) and also a particular time such as a season. Kairos, on the other hand, is the right, fitting, or appointed time for something to occur.

Chronos is teaches us that time is a precondition of living in this world. We must be actors in time, though our souls seek transcendence, and we must endure the endless march of time, change, and timed action. In the astrological chart, this principle is expressed through the planet Saturn, whom one of my teachers describes as "the ancient of days and the Lord of time" (astrologer Jerry Thomas).

Kairos, on the other hand, is the appropriate measure of a thing according to the ancient Greek philosophy. It strikes the perfect balance between too little and too much. It is part and parcel of the ancient Greek worldview that there is a just and natural world order overseen by the gods. One might see this principle embodied by the constellation Libra: only the exact right amount balances the scales and achieves a symmetric, harmonic, beautiful balance. Traditionally, the planet Saturn is in its exaltation in the sign of Libra where time, seasonality, and purpose can be fully and appropriately realized.

Returning to Ecclesiastes 3 with this in mind, we see that another translation for this phrase might be:

Everything has a seasonal time (chronos) and there is a right (kairos) time for everything under heaven.

Thus, success in man's endeavors comes from understanding fully the best timing, appropriateness, and measure of every effort and purpose. The tropical zodiac and Western astrology is based on this principle of seasonality and timing.

Reference:

"Kairos as 'Due Measure'" by John R. Wilson in Glotta 58 1980:177-204

Image credit:

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. "Saturne" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed December 6, 2018. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/9d0132b0-5fd8-0133-f4f2-00505686a51c