the wounds of chiron

Chiron is an asteroid/comet that was first discovered on 1st November 1977, from photographs taken on the 18th October the previous month. There were earlier observations in 1932 and 1875 that were retrospectively identified after 1977 when the orbit was verified. Since Chiron does not appear in any astrological literature in antiquity it has allowed Astrologers free reign to seek out patterns and ideas to fix upon how Chiron affects The Music of the Spheres that begins in our natal charts at our birth.

The title of Chiron as the Wounded Healer in classical mythology has led to a great deal of confusion. Chiron was indeed wounded by Hercules, who shot a poisoned arrow that struck Chiron in the knee. Since Chiron was immortal and unable to die, it was a wound Chiron was unable to heal. This aspect of his life was not however the primal wound that we will be seeking to understand in the reading. His primal wound was the act of his violent conception and his traumatic birth.

Classical Mythology

Saturn fell in lust with with Philyra who in attempting to escape his wilful and unwanted advances, turned herself into a horse to escape and remain hidden. Saturn being such a great god soon discovered her ruse and transformed himself into a horse to find her and force his lustful intentions upon her. As soon as Saturn had trapped her and mated with Philyra against her wishes returned to his life as a god to seek out his next conquest. Philyra soon gave birth to Chiron, a demigod, who was a half human/half horse. A centaur. Unlike other centaurs Chiron was born with human front legs unlike other centaurs who have four horse legs. Shocked and disillusioned, Philyra abandoned Chiron just as his father Saturn had. Chiron’s primal wound was to be rejected by both his parents.

Apollo the Sun god, took pity on the orphaned Chiron and became the surrogate parent and mentor of this broken infant. Apollo is skilled as a god of archery, music and dance, poetry, truth, prophecy, healing and diseases. Apollo is the Sun and taught Chiron all these arts so that Chiron might be able to discover his personal pathway to self-healing. The importance here is that Apollo was acting as a guide to Chiron and not the mystical heavenly healer. Healers do not miraculously heal through god given powers but instead seek to find the god within themselves. There are many myths and legends of individuals seeking out spiritual masters to learn the esoteric secrets to enlightenment and yet all these stories end with the seeker, seeing that the truth was always inside themselves.

These primal wounds are like a chord or discord that is set deep within our DNA frequency at birth. This band width frequency resonates within us like a radio magnet drawing towards us the energies and experiences to trigger and worry the wound so that it weaves itself into our lives as we grow. Most of us have few memories of our infancy when we have a greater connection to Source energy or spirit. As we develop and grow we are wounded by the frequencies that are drawn into our lives. These wounds are played out over and over again either as fresh wounds that gather and stamp this trauma into our experiences or they are memories and dark troubled thought patterns that repeat in our minds to ensure that the trauma is ever present in our eremitic field.

Chiron the cosmic body has an elliptical orbit of 50 years and moves between Saturn, the father and Gaïa (sh… Uranus) the cosmic womb that seeks to bring change and movement forward to all things. With Chiron’s orbit being elliptical is does not spend an equal amount of time in each house. Indeed it spends around eight years in Aquarius, Pisces, Aries and Taurus. In all the other signs Chiron transit through each house for about two years.

Origins

It is likely that the Mythology of centaurs began 6000 years ago around 400 BCE on the Great Steppes of Central Asia when humans first learnt to tame wild horses and began to saddle up and ride out to conquer other human civilisations. These riders on horse back galloping on mass armed with bows and arrows would have seemed like mythical creatures to early bipedal humans. So one legend of the centaur was born and the Zodiac sign of Sagittarius. Earlier references in to Sagittarius are found in Persian, Babylonian and Sumerian astrology where there are connections to ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’. In this story we are taught the dilemma of all centaurs, seeking to civilise the barbarian within. It also echoes the Zodiac sign of Gemini too with the unrivalled giant ruler Gilgamesh and his energetic equal, Enkidu. Here the gods create Enkidu, who is raised by the wild beasts and free of societal rules, to be the equal of Gilgames. Gilgamesh seeks to destroy Enkidu through civilising him, where upon all the wild creatures turn their back on Enkidu. They begin a bromance until Gilgamesh still unable to recognise the barbarian within himself causes the wrath of the gods to take the life of Enkidu, thus wounding Gilgamesh to the core.

The Gemini Eclipse Tunnel

The Gemini connection seems especially strong just now as we are about to enter the two week Eclipse tunnel in Gemini. The full moon lunar eclipse on 26th May is in Sagittarius and then the solar eclipse that ends the journey through the Ianus Geminus is the new moon solar eclipse over the north pole on the 10th of June. It is during this energy out of time that we can look at our primal Chiron wounds and seek to heal them. You can read more and watch a video reading about the Ianus Gememinus in my Saturnalia post from Faro last year.

The Centauromaquia

The Battle of the Centaurs was a family feud that took place at a wedding of Pirithous, King of the Lapith and Hippodamia whose name ‘Hippo’ suggests horse, making the connection with the centaurs or the warrior tribe on horseback, that lasted over a year. It is a commentary on the civilised Greek society and the barbarian Persians. This theme was often depicted in Greek art and sculpture from the Parthenon in Athens and the Temple of Zeus on Olympia to Michelangelo’s Battle of the Centaurs in 1492. Civilisation over savagery but in the art itself the triumph of stone of flesh. The latin for stone is Lapis linking the Lapith to those that cast the first stones in the later New Testament in Roman Catholicism.

The point of the story of this battle is that Chiron is seen as the kindest, calmest and noblest of all centaurs but he is also different to all other centaurs who were believed to descend from Ixion and Nephele. Centaurs like Satyrs were wild, untamed, debauched creatures and their behaviour at the wedding caused all centaurs including Chiron to be expelled from their homes. Another wound inflicted while being held in such civilised esteem. Chiron went on to raise, tutor, mentor and assist an endless list of great heroic figures of Greek and Roman legend teaching all to be a noble and gentle healer but to also be skilled in archery and hunting.

The Reading

For this reading I suggest that you look at both the sign of your natal Chiron and your sun sign as it represents the influence of Apollo as a surrogate energy. here’s a link to a Chiron Natal calculator. I suspect that we could all take a look Aries too as that’s where Chiron is just now. For some reason the last two readings were cut from the original post so they have been uploaded separately

Time Stamps

Sound Healing 08:40
Aries 13:20
Taurus 24:52
Gemini 40:30
Cancer 53:37
Leo 01:10:53
Virgo 01:25:18
Libra 01:43:20
Scorpio 01:54:05
Sagittarius 02:06:52
Capricorn 02:21:16

Wounds of Chiron 2 Aquarius & Pisces

Time Stamps

Aquarius 0:40
Pisces 18:18

Decks

Sacred Spirit Reading Cards & Sacred Power Cards (combined as one deck)
By Anna Stark & illustrated by Louis Dyer

Viceversa Tarot by Massimiliano Filadoro & artwork by David Corsi

Thoth Tarot by Aleister Crowley & Freida Harris