As new graduate, fresh out of college, I had an opportunity to be exposed to a variety of training with the first job I accepted. I can still hear one of these trainers’ words, even today some thirty years removed from their first transmission, they were: “wisdom is knowledge, properly applied”. These words have proven themselves true over and over again in my experience. In this schoolroom we call “life”, there are lessons to be learned. Mostly, the really impactful, and paradigm shifting ones arise from challenging and difficult situations. Rarely, if ever, have I had meaningful learning occur when everything was just peachy.
For this reason, I think it behooves us all to find ways to reframe the difficulties we face on our collective journeys. Of course, easier said than done, but so vital to our growth and progress. Further, it is through our deepest “wounds” that some of our greatest inspiration, growth, and wisdom can occur if we permit it to do so. As an Astrologer, I believe that our wounds, are part of a package we accept in order to have the potential to realize the fullness of our intentions. Where we are wounded, we can become masters. And in that mastery, we can heal others.
Make no mistake, the journey to such mastery can be a circuitous and dark path. Just as the Sun disappears from our view daily for multiple hours, so can the light within us be temporarily covered by clouds, leaving us lost, and floundering for a season. Take solace though, the light is always there, it is just temporarily covered and obscured from our view.
In an astrological natal chart, the placement of the asteroid/comet, Chiron, signifies where we are wounded. Chiron’s orbit is elliptical and takes place between the planets, Saturn and Uranus. This ice body was discovered on November 1, 1977, by Charles T Kowal. Of interesting note, Saturn is the planet of restriction and boundaries and Uranus is the planet of freedom and rebellion in astrological terms. Further, Saturn is associated with that which is old, and Uranus that which is new. One could interpret Chiron’s path as one that represents a battle between the old and the new. Another way of looking at Chiron’s path, is one that takes place between the end of what can be seen, Saturn, and the beginning of what cannot be seen, Uranus; remarkable symbolism.
In order to fully appreciate how Chiron is interpreted in a natal chart, it is helpful to understand the namesake for which this asteroid is named. In Greek mythology, Chiron was one of the Centaurs, the son of the Titan Cronus (Saturn) and Philyra, an Oceanid or sea nymph. The story goes that Titan Cronus, a God, acting from a very instinctual and lustful place in his pursuit of Philyra, fathered a son, who become known as Chiron. Borrowing from one of my favorite authors, Melanie Reinhart, who writes extensively about Chiron, here is a very textured, synopsis of Chiron’s origins.
“He was the son of Kronos (Saturn) and the nymph Philyra, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. Kronos first met Philyra in Thessaly whilst searching for his baby son Zeus, whom his wife Rhea had concealed being weary of Kronos repeatedly devouring their offspring. Philyra changed herself into a mare (Mare-headed Demeter) to try to escape Kronos, who was ardently pursuing her. However, Kronos in turn deceived her by changing himself into a horse, and succeeded thus in mating with her. Eventually, a child of this union was born to Philyra: he was Chiron the centaur, with the body and legs of a horse and the torso and arms of a man. When Philyra saw him, she was horrified, and pleaded to be changed into anything other what she was – the mother of a monster. The gods duly obliged by turning her into a linden tree. Thus, Chiron was abandoned, but later found by a shepherd and taken to Apollo, who became his foster father. Thus, although Chiron survives, he is exiled from his origins, and has received his first wound, rejection by his mother. An interesting point emerges at this stage. In the Greek story of the Creation, Chiron’s birth is unique: he is the product of the first union that is not directly incestuous. All ancestors on his father’s side were conceived by unions of mother-and-son or sister-and-brother pairs. Philyra was the niece of Kronos, but a different species: a nymph. Therefore, they are still related, but distantly. Chiron breaks free from the original matrix, and individuality is asserted through a process of rupture and exile – an initiation. In the story of Chiron, we see both the painful repercussions of this and also the resolution.
Apollo, the Sun God much revered by the Greeks, was Chiron’s foster-father and teacher. As the god of music, divination and prophecy, poetry and healing, Apollo was a noble paragon of youth, beauty, wisdom, and justice. He purified men of their guilt and transgressions, offering divine protection against wild animals and disease. He was also god of the hunt and capable of sending plagues and curses to those who transgressed against him. Apollo was the brother of Artemis, who presided over the kingdom, wild places and women’s rites of passage, also imparting sacred knowledge of the healing properties of plants.
Under the tutelage of Apollo, Chiron became a wise man, prophet, physician, teacher and musician. Local kings would send their sons to him for education in the leadership skills appropriate for their further roles. Chiron was mentor to may famous Greek heroes, including Jason, Achilles, Hercules and Asklepios. He taught them everything from riding, archery, hunting, the arts of war and medicine (all survival skills), to ethics, music, religious rituals and the beginnings of science. There are numerous accounts of healings, and divinations performed by Chiron, and one famous anecdote involved Telephos, wounded by a spear that Chiron had given to Peleus. When Telephos consulted the oracle of Apollo after his wound would not heal, he was told “the wound could only be healed by its cause”. (1)
The story of how Chiron became known as the “wounded healer” is central to the topic of this week’s blog. This story will be part two next week, and additionally, I will expand into how gaining an understanding of your own wounds, can help you to heal and even heal others. Chiron suffered unceasingly from his wound, yet it is in the compassion to feel our own suffering, rather than look away, or project it on another, we learn to heal, reach reconciliation and ultimately redemption from the many things that hold us captive.
(1) Chiron and The Healing Journey by Melanie Reinhart
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