Chiron:
Healing
The Split
 n 1977, an object
was discovered in our solar system with a very unusual orbit,
meandering from out near Uranus to well inside the orbit of Saturn.
Assumed at first to be an asteroid, it was named Chiron. However, it
soon proved to be even stranger than first observed. Chiron turned
out to be, not an asteroid, but the largest comet nucleus known to
date — almost the size of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, about 25 times the size of
Halley’s comet!
Astrologically, Chiron is
also an anomaly, defying consensus as to its sign rulership (if any). Since
the figure in Sagittarius is a Centaur (which some say is Chiron, himself),
it is often assumed to rule that sign. Melanie Reinhart presents Chiron as
a co-ruler of Sagittarius. However, Sagittarius already has a ruler
(Jupiter) and doesn’t appear to require another. (Melanie is the author of
Chiron and the Healing Journey,
one of the better books available on the subject but difficult to find. Her
more recent Saturn, Chiron and the Centaurs
is easier to get and includes other Chiron-like objects in our solar
system.)
Barbara Hand Clow (author of Chiron:
Rainbow Bridge Between the Inner & Outer Planets ) gives
a compelling argument in favour of Chiron being a co-ruler of Virgo
— traditionally ruled by Mercury, who seems more at home in his
other sign, Gemini. Still other astrologers cite an association with
the Mutable Cross (Gemini-Sagittarius, Virgo-Pisces) and Fixed Cross
(Taurus-Scorpio, Leo-Aquarius ). It is possible that, being a comet
and not a planet, per se, Chiron will finally be regarded simply as a
guest in whatever sign it visits.
Regardless of the
rulership one assigns it, there is little doubt that its effects are
substantial. Although many astrologers initially balked at yet
another minuscule thread to weave into an already meticulous
tapestry, increasing numbers of astrologers are finding Chiron to be
a prominent factor when significant events take place in their
lives.
So just what are
the concepts associated with Chiron? The most common associations
are with the ideas of the “wounded healer” and the “wound that never
heals.” This is directly related to the mythology of Chiron (see
Pegasus’ version of Chiron’s story)
(“Whada ya mean, my VERSION???”) Chiron
struggled with a painful, persistent wound, and in the course of trying to
heal himself, became a respected and renowned healer and teacher. These
concepts are very central to the spirit of Chiron. In the natal chart Chiron
indicates, both by sign and house, the issues and circumstances by which the
person’s deepest woundedness plays out its drama.
The Wound That Never Heals
Everyone is wounded
in some way — we have all experienced grievances, losses, shattered
dreams or broken promises. We carry a residue of those experiences,
as we alter our direction, actions or expectations as a result. Some
have deeper wounds than others, having survived truly traumatic
events and circumstances which stunt developmental growth in
childhood and damage one’s functioning ability as an adult.
Whatever the
history of our wounds, there is typically a depth at which its
effects are so ingrained, so fundamentally a part of us, that it
requires a monumental therapeutic focus to affect any real change at
that level. Although surface effects may be smoothed, soothed and
redirected, the deepest roots of the damage tend to persist and,
indeed, tell a story that is uniquely ours. However, much healing
may be achieved with dedicated hard work on the issues in question.
Those with Chiron
prominent in their charts are often beset with some chronic illness
or condition which becomes a major obstacle to be overcome in their
lives. Whether the person suffers from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome,
persistent mental illness, or ongoing struggles with self-esteem,
finances or career, Chiron is linked to some perpetual condition
which yields ongoing distress and requires repeated attention.
The Wounded Healer
In the process of
having to attend this persist condition, people often become such
experts in that particular field that it’s a natural leap to want to
go out and help others with similar problems. Even more compelling
is the phenomenon whereby it is often easier to recognize and
address those same issues when we’re looking at them in someone
else. Like the Libran principles of mirroring and objective
observation, it may be easier to heal others than to heal ourselves.
Similarly, just as in Libra it is often hard to tell the object from
its reflection, we may believe we’re healing ourselves by healing
someone else.
In some ways this
is true: we do have the opportunity to learn about and work with our
own issues when we project them out and interact with them in
someone else. However, it still takes a conscious effort to make the
leap from working only with the projection to applying that
experience to our own situation. Not everyone makes that leap and
all too often we wind up focusing more on other people (and
therefore our own projected image) than directly on our own issues.
The counselling
field is a prime example of this and is full of the “walking
wounded” — people who come from dysfunctional backgrounds who want
to help others. Many have done only minimal work on their own issues
and inadvertently dump those issues into the laps of their clients.
If this is to be avoided, it is essential to do one’s own work and
to keep doing it. Whether it’s psychological, spiritual or physical
healing, we can hardly lead others effectively into what is unknown
territory for us. Even if you find that a certain technique,
approach or perspective doesn’t work for you, personally, you’re
merely going through theoretical motions if you haven’t at least
explored the territory through your own healing process.
And yet, helping
others to explore those territories can be an essential way to bring
healing to our own Chiron wounds. Simply being around the healing
energy, and being a channel for it, can help to keep us focused on a
healing direction. This can help us resist the gravitational pull of
the destructive nature of the wound. “You teach best what you most
need to learn,” wrote Richard Bach. Provided we don’t get stuck in
believing that if we merely help others with their “stuff” then
we’re therefore working on our own, the experience of being a
resource for others can create an almost magical effect for us, by
which resonance vibrates with similar resonance, like a tuning fork
humming in sync with a guitar string.
The Divine Beast
 Just as
it is important to equalize our focus between ourselves and others,
it is also essential to balance our spiritual and physical
perspectives. This is often a primary issue for people with Chiron
prominent in their natal chart. Chiron, himself, suffered from his
wound, not because he was human, nor because he was immortal, but
because he was both! If he’d simply been human, he would have died
instantly from the poison on Hercules’ spear; if he’d been
omnipotent, he would have simply shrugged it off.
We, too, suffer and
struggle to balance our dual natures. We must acknowledge and work
with our creaturehood in order to survive: we must eat, sleep,
eliminate and protect ourselves from the elements. Our animal nature
is an essential source of information (sensory input, instincts,
feelings, etc.), without which we could not successfully navigate
through life. We act impulsively, reflexively from this side of
ourselves.
However, we are
more than our animal nature and must also embrace and pursue the
side of us that is spiritual, supernatural and non-physical. If it
is our spiritual, self-aware attributes that separate us from other
animals, it is also our obsessive quest to learn the true nature of
this ethereal human quality. Our species has formulated a myriad of
ways to examine, explore, dissect and probe the true nature of life
and our place within it. As conscious co-creators of life, we seek
to understand not only the effects of our surroundings upon us, but
also our impact upon our environment.
Self-awareness is
the hallmark of Spirit. This means we must deliberately make
conscious choices, and in order to make wise choices we must acquire
as complete an understanding as possible of the history,
implications, consequences and dynamics of these choices.
Self-awareness also means we no longer have the luxury of remaining
blissfully ignorant of our lives. Once we achieve that spark of
sentience, we can never go back to being simply impulsive, innocent,
predetermined beings. One cannot “not-see” what one has now seen.
The Divided Self
So we are creatures
bound by physical needs, laws and limitations, and yet we are also
conscious co-creators of life who exude unlimited possibilities with
every thought, movement, feeling and intent. How can this be? It is
a problem which yields answers that evoke more questions. To quote
Churchill: “It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”
And it is self-perpetuating through our human obsession to solve a
puzzle which changes at every inquiry into its nature.
We tend to become
split between our animal and spirit natures, dividing them into
extremes in which the former is seen as “bad” and the latter as
“good.” Religious and cultural beliefs, as well as family values,
fuel and sustain this perception, imprinting it on our psyche from
infancy. We are often taught that our bodies, emotions and reflexive
reactions are not okay, but must be controlled or even denied
altogether. We learn that it is better to rise above these things,
to aspire to a level of refinement and perfection that is
dispassionate, superhuman and righteous.
However, aspiring
to a higher level does not remove our instinctive nature, and
viewing our creaturehood solely through the lens of perfectionism
gives us a dangerously one-sided outlook. The more split our
judgment of our dual nature, the more dissociated we become in our
experience of each side. We banish our instincts to the unconscious,
where they emerge in dreams, nagging thoughts, emotional outbursts
and “Freudian slips” in order to be heard. Conversely, we may
distrust “all that intellectual head-stuff,” staying safely
entrenched in a simple, mundane outlook, blocking out anything that
seems too sophisticated, complex or deep.
As the split
widens, we may become inconsistent as we unconsciously waffle
between different viewpoints or feelings. The conscious mind becomes
a battleground between our natural instincts/feelings/needs/desires
and our sentient logic/reasoning/morals/standards. The left hand is
rendered oblivious to what the right hand is doing. Our actions and
attitudes flip back and forth between our raw impulses and our
polished objectives, but because we’re only acknowledging one side,
we tend to be unaware of the shift. We may get feedback from others
that we’re sending out double messages, or they may react with
frustration, leaving us wondering, “What’s their problem?”
Honesty and
non-judgmental acceptance are the key. We cannot heal a wound from a
childhood trauma, for example, if we pound it into ourselves that
our anger, vulnerability, powerlessness or despair are
inappropriate, wrong or bad. If we regard our feelings, needs and
desires as unsuitable, we nevertheless still have them. They exist,
in spite of all our efforts to eliminate them or reshape them into
something more socially permissible. They must be included in the
whole of who we are if they are to become healed and assimilated.
“You gotta feel it to heal it,” as the saying goes. Left to fester,
abandoned in the unconscious, they force us to grow in distorted or
stunted ways and may eventually infect other areas of our lives. I’m
not suggesting we let our raw passions run amok, but they must be
acknowledge, experienced, owned and integrated if we are to be whole
beings and heal the split.
Even if we’re
talking about a chronic physical illness, we can still get stuck in
feeling that our condition renders the flesh to be bad, weak or
repulsive. It’s difficult to feel good about a body that doesn’t
serve you the way you want it to. We may also dismiss our feelings
of frustration, hopelessness, anger or depression as unproductive or
weak. We may try to force ourselves to stay positive, optimistic and
“up,” only to berate ourselves when our natural feelings keep
bobbing back up. Allowing ourselves to feel our so-called “negative”
feelings may not help our physical health, but we cannot expect
ourselves to feel authentically optimistic if we never allow
ourselves to feel our despair as well. If we don’t acknowledge and
accept our pessimism, all the affirmations in the world will sound
ludicrous and hollow.
Building The Bridge
Our mundane
creaturehood can be correlated to Saturn and its world of form,
while our spiritual nature can be linked to Uranus, the next major
planet beyond Saturn. Before Uranus was detected, Saturn was known
as the outermost planet in our solar system. The discovery of Uranus
(1781), Neptune (1846) and Pluto (1930) have been related to
concepts and forces beyond the parameters of our ego consciousness
(i.e., spiritual). The modern planets are considered
"trans-personal" or beyond the personal realm of existence —
cathartic forces which evoke a transformational effect on who we are
and the conditions of our lives.
Uranus, the first
of these planets, represents the divine spark of uniqueness that
distinguishes us, not only from the rest of the animal kingdom but
from other humans as well. Before we can surrender to the
non-physical realm (Neptune) and come to terms with our Shadow side
(Pluto), we must first have a vision of ourselves beyond mundane
existence (Uranus). And to do this, we must have a solid sense of
self and be in command of who we are in the physical world (Saturn).
Saturn was
traditionally known as the Great Malefic, but its influence seems
almost innocuous compared to the earth shaking forces of the
Transpersonal planets. Dealing with the demands of the world of
form, manifestation, discipline and necessity, can seem relatively
easy compared to the powerful soul-bending metamorphosis that we
often experience under the transits of the Transpersonals.
Yet somehow, we
must address the issues of both realms — we must do what must be
done to survive and thrive in the physical world of Saturn, and we
are compelled to meet the spiritual challenge put to us by the
Transpersonals. However, the balance between the world of form and
spirit is an arduous and fragile one.
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It is considered by
astrologers to be very meaningful that Chiron’s orbit loops around
the final traditional planet (Saturn) and the first of the
Transpersonals (Uranus). Chiron depicts our struggle to strike a
workable balance between their realms. Whereas Saturn and Uranus
represent our themes and attachments in their respective realms,
Chiron is the battle itself to bring these worlds together within
the human psyche. The sign of our natal Chiron (in the birth chart)
is the weaponry used; the natal house becomes the battleground on
which to fight the good fight.
The nature of the
Chironic wound is frequently a result of one’s transcendental
experience of the issues involved, balanced against the demands of
physical reality. Our job is to somehow function effectively, given
the limitations imposed by our Chironic woundedness, while managing
to stay true to our transpersonal vision of who we are and what is
possible. This is no small feat! Wrestling with one’s Chironic wound
can evoke depression, hopelessness and despair, as we labour
arduously to raise ourselves up out of our predicament, only to find
that our root condition remains unchanged. It takes steadfast
dedication to one’s goal and a resolute faith in the healing process
to keep going through what may sometimes feel like misguided folly.
Walking The Walk
Beyond the healing
actions themselves, it is our endurance within the healing process
which ultimately strengthens us and leads us to a quality of
enlightenment that can then be offered as a gift to the world of
form — yes, that same world of form which facilitated our suffering
in the first place! When Chiron became wounded, he didn’t simply
suffer in despair — he did something about it! In this sense, Chiron
is a “do-it-anyway” kind of energy which challenges us to keep
moving despite of our distress and discouragement.
It may be our
fervent quest for relief and liberation that initially spurs us on
through that painful healing process. However, it is our compassion,
love and wisdom which inevitably fuel our continuing journey—given
not only to others but, just as essentially, to ourselves. To shed a
loving light of mercy on others while raking ourselves over the
coals for our own imperfections is to demonstrate that we have yet
to get the point of the exercise!
Chiron points us to
the path which leads from prescriptive, mundane existence to
initiation, sentience and enlightenment. The sign and house of natal
Chiron show us both the nature of the wound and what we must do to
heal it. Like a homeopathic remedy that inspires healing by using
the same substance that caused the malady, it is by confronting,
experiencing and working through our Chiron wound that we travel the
path from the purely personal to the transpersonal.
As long as we are
mortal beings, we will never rid ourselves of our animal, mundane
nature and in this sense we will never be free of our Chironic
wound. And as long as we’re greater than the sum of our cells, we
will also be compelled to reach beyond that animal nature to connect
with our spiritual, divine nature, just as Chiron’s immortality was
an essential part of his destiny.
We will always
struggle to some degree with these themes because they portray the
complexity of our human nature. As we change and evolve, our balance
between these two realms adjusts to reflect and serve our continued
growth. If we take up the challenge of Chiron, we will always find
reward for our suffering in the realization and actualization of all
that we are.
© 1996-2008 Wendy Guy. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from Transitions Astrology Magazine, Virgo-Libra 1996 Issue.
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