Chiron - Wounded Healer and Much, Much More

by Robert Wilkinson

Chiron, the Wounded Healer! Who is this "being" that generates so many questions and so much speculation? In Greek Mythology this brilliant and kind astrologer-healer was first, last, and best among centaurs, born of a different lineage than the rest who were a fairly rowdy bunch. Son of Kronos (Time/Saturn), Chiron was immortal, and though he could heal others, he could not heal himself, and gave his life so humanity could receive the gift of Fire. Since much of Astrology has some connection to mythology, what else can we learn about how to apply Chiron in our charts?

I have noted previously that Chiron is a mentor-teacher to heros, and knows how to get his pupils to their highest potential and destiny. Being part animal and part human, it indicates where our animal meets our human, ultimately leading us to immortality. It teaches us the experience of existing between worlds that all wounded healers must embrace so their knowledge is authentic and individual. It is where we become more "civilized," reasonable, and "walk our walk."

Any time we can heal our wounds and be of service to others, it's a very good thing. Our Chiron shows us how we are Chiron for others as well as how they are Chiron for us. All beings have at least one of what I call "the Seven Sacred Wounds," and this connects us to all others in space and time who share that wound. It is how we come out of separateness into compassion, and see our broader place in the vast scheme of things.

Now that I've sketched out a few of the tremendous possibilities Chiron offers us in our charts, if you want an in-depth look at many more characteristics and possible ways to apply these energies astrologically, please go to Chiron, the Wounded Healer and Metaphysician written a while ago. It covers a lot of ground, so enjoy!

© Copyright 2007 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[rachel]

Robert,

Both these Chiron posts offer a wonderful overview. Where on your site would we find the most complete discussion of The Seven Sacred Wounds?

Welcome to The Great Southwest (whenever you arrive). This is a good sector from which to help shift the axis of the universe. Only void here, no ocean! Yet another gift of the Piscean way: I carry my ocean within. (-:

Best to you from Colorado,

Rachel

[Lori Flory]

Hi Robert,

I have Chiron in my 3rd house this time around.

Lori

[Leana]

Hi Robert,

Should we look to the ruler of our Chiron sign to have more info on our "highest potential and destiny"? Just a thought....

[Robert]

Hi Rachel - I'll probably be posting something on the 7 Sacred Wounds this summer once I compose something appropriate. It's part of my larger mythological work, and so there really isn't anything out there other than the few references I've made on this site, which you can find through site googling "sacred wound." That should yield something.

Hi Lory - I suppose that could mean your healing has something to do with your brothers and sisters, your immediate environment, and your lower mind.

Hi Leana - The sign would show the quality and type of healing and higher potential, whereas the house would show the area of life in which it would unfold.

[terry]

Quick question: are the degrees of the moon displayed in an ephemeris for GMT different for USA time zones - e.g. would the full moon listed as 10 degrees 12 minutes actually be closer to 11 degrees for CST?
If so, why?

[Robert]

Hi Terry - No, the Moon is where it is at any given moment. It is the local time that differs. That said, the Moon position in the ephemeris would be different by moving the time forward or backward relative to GMT plus or minus the number of time zones involved. For example, Noon GMT is 7am EST, and 4am PST. Noon GMT is 1 pm Budapest, 2 pm Kuwait City, 4:40 pm Mumbai, and 9pm Melbourne. So whatever degree and minute the Moon is shifts accordingly at a rate of about 1 degree every two hours mas o menos in any local time zone. The Moon was exactly 10 degrees 12 minutes Sagittarius at 6:04 pm PDT AND 8:04 pm CDT.

[Calypso Jones]

Hi Robert, I really enjoy reading your pages, you are both insightful, compassionate and full of ideas that make my mind go click! I have learned so much through reading your website, I'm completely fascinated with your I'm a beginner astrologer and starting to do a column for my college magazine and am wondering what times you use to create a general chart for each sign? I'm getting really confused as to how to make sure that I have the right time!

[Calypso Jones]

oops sorry I didn't finish my comment above, I'm really fascinated by your ability to make epic ideas feel really personal and accessable through your clear way of communicating.

[hitchhiker72]

Natal Chiron in the 4th - family and father. What can I say? Most of my adult life is spent learning to deal with the issues from the past. But I'm 'walking the walk'. Thanks Robert.

[Robert]

Hi Calypso - Welcome to the site. I don't really use any time for the signs, as much as see where the transits fall relative to each sign. Like right now Saturn is in the 4th house of early Taurus, but 3rd house for late Taurus. Mars is in the 6th house for late Libra, but 7th house for Libras born in September.

When I did my own column for the Daily Texan back in the mid-70s, I did a different format: I did a paragraph on the quality of each day rather than each sign, sort of like a weather report for the week as well as each day. Which signs were mentioned had to do with them being stressed by the Lunar transit, or assisted by same or even other planet aspects, such as Libras being benefitted when Moon is in Sag, Aquarius, Gemini, and Leo, but dealing with changes or challenges when Moon is in Cancer, Capricorn, and Aries. It's pretty generic, but that's about all one can do in a general forum.

And thanks for your compliment re: my writing style. That's what years of practice can do, AND learning to be a good but tough editor on myself and others who have hired me to edit their books, screenplays, articles and so forth. Everyone needs an editor, even the best of us. I consider myself a good writer, but a great editor.

Hi hitchhiker72 - You're welcome. Chiron in the 4th shows a lot of healing to be done through accepting the quest of sorting through the memories of the early life and eliminating negative echos while seeing how the early wounds set the stage for bringing forth your higher qualities.

[Calypso Jones]

Thanks so much for your reply, Robert, it clarifies a lot for me. I'm writing monthly, but I'll follow your advice with regards to the 'weather report' idea. When I look at your writing the thing that strikes me is that your compassionate streak is obviously very strong, and I think that is what I admire most.

[Robert]

Hi Calypso - Sure. The weather report format may or may not work depending on how much space you're given and the desires of your audience. As for compassion, it's taken me many years of self-discipline to regard the world and its folly with that approach. But we are all in this together, and have much to share with each other. There's so much suffering, it doesn't make sense to contribute to it if we can be different and help to lessen it somehow. Also, there's so much "doom and gloom" and other superstitious nonsense about astrology that I had to break from the usual approaches years ago and find something I could say that didn't sound insane. Thank you for appreciating that I don't sound insane. ;-)

[Kristine]

Hi Robert - I agree with everyone else here who gives you praise, you are quite an amazing mortal and this is my very favourite internet site. I always feel happy reading your reports and comments by others. I have Chiron in Sag - would that be why I like to think about the bigger picture of everything and it being in the 3rd house of communication and siblings may be why in the back of my mind I think about my my brother and what he went through as a child - is that the wound?

[ann]

Dear Robert,my chiron is in pisces and in 9th house...what would that mean?Thank you...

[Robert]

Hi Kristine - I'm glad my posts bring you happiness, since the alternative would be a drag! ;-) Chiron in Sag shows you will heal your wounds and the wounds of others through seeing the spiritual potential in every striving to bring forth your best excellence. In the third, yes it will involve sibling relationships. It shows you have the ability to heal him as well, though it may be "at a distance," through reading/writing/thinking higher thoughts, or through seeing "an abundant view."

Hi ann - Your healing and power to heal others is through radical forgiveness, and seeing the infinite future that presents itself at every ending. You can teach closure rituals, and also heal through long journeys that take you to ocean, or some form of healing waters. You may have been betrayed in the past, but by taking a philosophical/spiritual view of them, you can not only get distance from them, you can see how your wound connects you to all other humans through all time. Then you'll enter the heart of infinite compassion.

[ann]

Thank you so much my dearest Robert...

[Kristine]

Thanks for your comments Robert
Much love to you

[Mari]

Hi Roberto,

I was wondering-are you discussing the natal Chiron or the transiting Chiron? I have Chiron in the 10th in Aries in my natal chart and right now Chiron in Aquarius retrograde is in my 8th house. What does this mean??

Appreciate your help:)
Mari

[Robert]

Hi Ann and Kristine - Yewbetcha! Gracias y mi amores a ustedes.

Hi Mari - Yes. Both. It means the 10,000 things. Your life healing comes from you doing your own thing in your own way in the public arena. Be a pioneer on your own terms, and stop worrying about what other's think. Right now the healer is calling us to our highest group work and ability to synthesize our vision. For you, regeneration through letting go of obsolete ideals, friends, and goals and renewing some ideals and friends thought to be long lost. You're most welcome.

[ann]

My dearest Robert, What does radical forgiveness means ya? does it mean out of the ordinary?... thank you my dear Robert

[Robert]

Hi ann - Well, it seems to me there are two types of forgiveness. The usual, which is easy. The radical, which is not as easy. It's one thing to forgive the person who cuts you off in traffic, or who does you some minor injury or insult. It's another thing entirely to forgive the war criminals in power, or the gangbanger who just shot at your house or child. It's easy for me to forgive the bureaucrats who cannot seem to get progressive humanitarian programs off the ground. It's not so easy for me to forgive those who insist that child slavery in the chocolate industry is necessary for the enslaved and their parents to "live a good life." So yes, it's extraordinary in that it's not easy.

[ann]

This is really one of the 'oo'moment for me ...I thought so the meaning of radical forgiveness :) not an easy one yes...for instance,I am in this situation of trying to forgive someone who had not been fair and had hurt me tremendously,someone who I care for so much and be there when he was having a hard time..yet,when everythings are okay,he forgotten even that I exist...:)now that hes back in trouble,then appear again..and yes,I have to help him and forgive,hard though but am trying anyway.. thats life ya? :) thank you my dearest Robert

[Robert]

Hi ann - Of course, forgiveness does not mean being someone else's doormat, or allowing your kindness and compassion to be taken for granted, or mistaken for weakness. Forgiveness may involve helping or not helping, depending. Monitor the dance, if possible become even more dispassionate in how you view your purpose and what you choose to do or not. Though it seems like more an issue of his perceived indifference to you, this may be a lesson of detachment. And of course, you may not be perceiving how he really regards you.

It reminds me of two things: a joke and the old story of the scorpion and the frog. In reverse order, even if the other begs you, it doesn't mean you should carry them across the pond, since it is in a scorpion's nature to sting for any or no reason, even if both drown as a result. The joke? "Doctor! It hurts every time I pinch myself on the cheek. What can I do about it?" Answer: "Stop pinching yourself on the cheek and call me in the morning if you're still in pain." (Yes, I know it's a variation of the original, but there's no way to do it in writing!);-)

While he may not sting you, you still need to evaluate if it is in your duty to be of unlimited assistance or not, in which case only you can determine what the appropriate limits are. These are dharma dances.

[ann]

hehehe..thats a funny joke Robert...you are right..sometime the lesson are to be detached in order to forgive..dharma dance?what is dharma Robert?i know karma but not so sure what dharma is.. :)

[ann]

by the way,I had send an e mail to you Robert..asking if I could do an e mail reading from you.Have you received it?love always