Chiron

As we have been discussing our various Ascendants, Chiron came to mind for me. At the moment Chiron is nearing the cusp of my ascendant Capricorn, having almost completed a transit through the 12 th House.

Chiron is a comet/minor planet which was discovered in 1977 and has captured the imagination of many. There seem to be different opinions about Chiron. Some regard it as important, some don't.

In Greek mythology, Chiron was King of the Centaurs, healer, priest and wise teacher of all the young heroes in myth. He was educated by Apollo the Sun God and by Artemis the Moon Goddess. Chiron was a great healer, of superior spirituality, but he was unable to heal himself, He was accidentally wounded in the leg by his friend Heracles with the arrow dipped in the poison that had killed the monstrous Hydra. Chiron was unable to draw the poison from his leg and because he was immortal, was condemned to live in pain for eternity. He devoted his life to teaching spiritual wisdom.

More about Chiron here: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/7969/page2.htm

In astrology, Chiron's placement in a natal chart may indicate an area of life that one needs to pay attention to in terms of spiritual awareness or healing. Chiron can perform the same function as it transmits through the various signs and houses.

More about this aspect here:
http://www.astrologyforthesoul.com/...with this fascinating planet/comet. Moongold

Hi Moongold,

I didn't reply earlier b/c I haven't read very much about Chiron, and as a beginner, skimmed over Chiron.

What I suddenly noticed is despite the hard placement of my sun, it is trined by Chiron by less than a degree. So maybe coupled w/my strong Mars (weakly squaring Pluto - scary!), it had some influence in giving me endurance to work towards resolving the sun placement.

Another interesting thing about Chiron came up when I did a year spread for 2003. I know I have Saturn square natal Saturn coming up, so I expected Aug to be the roughest month (2 of wands reversed). Nope, the hard times are actually coming later when Saturn opposes my natal sun Oct, w/o letting up in Nov when it moves into retrograde. Augh, why did Saturn have to choose to retrograde *there*? (Oct=7 of wands Nov=9 of swords ouch!)
The interesting part is that Chiron is moving in to conj my natal sun around that time, which will square off natal Saturn/Jupiter. So I expect issues regarding communication w/others, the nature of ego and existence, ethics etc to surface around that time since they've sort of been percolating in my head recently. Ceres (Persephone) is also making a return. I also noticeded the quilt in 9 of swords is covered in astrological glyphs. Busy times. Should keep my Mars/Pluto happy.

Thanks Isthmus for your most interesting post.

Moses Siregar says that the beneficial Chiron transits are discernibly good but the hard ones are really difficult (Wounded Healer - it all seems so UNFAIR analysis).

It would be very interesting to hear your observations of Chiron's influence as the year goes on. Where is Chiron on your natal chart?

Chiron is semi-sextile Saturn, square Neptune, sextile Mercury and quincunx Pluto and MidHeaven in my chart at present. I think I can discern the influence now in the context of a forecast I had done at www.astro.com. That forecast did not take Chiron into account but I feel fairly sure I can feel Chiron's influence, softening the forecast a la gloom that Astrodienst provided.

Minderwiz and you give useful coments and suggestions, Isthmus and these certainly help people who are learning.

Best wishes,

Moongold

Hi Moongold,

I must admit I fall into the same category as Isthmus, if not worse!

I do not use Chiron in my readings - the main reason is that I try to look for the main pictures and structures and it sort of gets in the way. As I become more experienced this may well change.

Taking on Chiron though opens Pandora's box - if Chiron why not Juno, or Ceres or Vesta, or the Black Moon Lilleth? There are loads of named Asteroids, and of course there's also the fixed stars. All of these have legitimate Astrological pedigrees and I intend to look at them in turn over the next 300 years or so LOL.

Chiron might well be a good start so I'll let you know what I come up with. There's also been one or two good articles in The Mountain Astrologer over the last few months so you might check up on those.

Regards

Minderwiz

Hi Minderwiz,

You've raised some interesting questions. I assumed that Chiron was a part of the astrological establishment. There are books written about it, a whole mythology and body of knowledge has developed so I guess that's a logical assumption.

I must do some more research. Couldn't find recent articles in TMA but there are some archives. I think I can see that there are probably quite strong reasons for adding Chiron to the general scope of astrology. I found this sentence on one of the Chiron web sites, however:

Chiron, once the only Centaur, now is the leader of a herd. While he is still unique in many ways, at least two Centaurs have been found which are brighter, and most likely larger, than Chiron. First Chariklo (#10199) outshone Chiron, measuring in at 302 kilometers, and then 1995 SN55 proved itself brighter than them both.

There does seem to be some quite special significance attached to Chiron. I am a little curious though and will do a bit more reading.

Moongold

A few hours on the internet last night and a look through what books I have was interesting in relation to Chiron.

Chiron seems to have captured the imagination of many contemporary astrologers. Perhaps it had something to do with the timing of its discovery. !977 was just in the midst of many of the quite significant social movements of that time especially the womens' movement. There seemed to be a flowering of the notion of 'community' and 'New Age' psychology at this time as well. It would be interesting to do more work on this. Maybe people were looking for an astrological explanation for some of these major social movements. I came across quite a few articles on feminism and Chiron last night.

The mythology of Chiron as 'Wounded Healer' is interesting as well and gives a different dimension to Chironic interpretations.

Another astrological list I sunscribe to does refer to some of the lesser known asteroids as well but this is quite a sophisticated list and people (apart fro me) seem to know a huge amount and be quite comfortable with rferences to the meaning of some of these lesser known heavenly bodies.

Moongold

I've read Chiron in Taurus means needing to slow down and enjoy the 5 senses. I've always been really Pluto like w/the senses. While I enjoy indulging myself in the most decadent, hedonistic, physical Peter Greenaway sort of way, you can find me living like a total ascetic sometimes. It's true I don't like to slow down and enjoy the present environment. I hate vacations where all you do is sunbathe on the beach b/c there's no museums or real nightlife; it's nice for a day or two, but two weeks of such a slooooooooooow pace is utter boredom to me. This may also be a result of always living in and around the city. I don't find Toronto fast paced at all, but keep hearing from out of town ppl about its hecticness... (they should go to New York!)

As for self esteem/body/$ issues, sure they were there, but remember I was growing up in the 90s. This was the time of 'heroine chic', grunge, and a really difficult recession. In Ontario, our social programs were being slashed to the bone. So I'm not sure how personal I find the relation. I guess, despite being affluent, I felt the $ problems keenly. I was in my early teens and I thought the economy was like this all the time. Reading newspapers, all you heard was about government cuts, businesses shutting down and unemployment. AIDs and eating disorders were also a big concern for ppl my age. In any case, when the boom came late 90s, it's almost like all these problems vanished from the consciousness of society. In that sense, maybe it's an 'eternal wound' for me b/c I still thought these things were an issue when others my age weren't concerned anymore.

As for 3rd, I find it difficult to make connections. The generic interpretations don't seem to mesh w/me.

I know this is a really old thread, but I wanted to jump in.
First, wow, Ishtmus, you are a lot younger than I imagined! You grew up in the 90's???
Secondly, please remember that other planets and aspects can influence things, so that Chiron may not have a very big influence on your personality overall.
I had never given Chiron a second thought, till recently. It's in my 2nd house of $ and possessions, all alone, aspected to no-one else. Like a hidden clue, in a way. And when I learned what it meant, things became very clear to me. I grew up in the 70's and 80's, and being very poor, I have always felt a very deep sore spot about that. It colors so much of my personality, and influences so many of my moods and reactions, and now I know why. Learning about Chiron shed some light on why I was so resentful about being poor, and why I couldn't seem to let go of it. Now that I understand it, I am able to get a handle on it. Since Chiron's in Aries, I have a lot of energy there, which I intend to channel constructively - to fight for economic equality and justice, and to end poverty. Lofty, I know, but that's how I am (Aquarius rising, my Pt. of fortune in Aquarius; also, sun/moon/Jupiter/true node in the 11th house of associations, all conjunct).

Actually, I'm glad you bumped up this thread, DeLani, I'd completely forgotten about the Ceres return...

And yup, the 90s was the best decade to grow up in. Don't care if that's the only decade I've had the opportunity to live in its entirety, it was the best lol.

Also, rereading the post, I've forgotten that Chiron isn't one of the faster moving planets. So Chiron's sign really has more of a generational effect. So maybe the whole Chiron in Taurus makes lots of sense from that perspective... Also, all that stuff I wrote about not enjoying lazing about, I would now attribute that to my Sag stellium, Uran-Mars contact.

Oh yes, and DeLani, Chiron is also a teacher figure. Coupled w/Jupiter in 11th, I think that would make for a push towards the activism angle w/its focus on educating the masses.

Isthmus,
You are truly a savant (but not an idiot, obviously). Though I thought I had learned a thing or two about the stars, your depth of knowledge never ceases to amaze me.
Namaste.