Chiron: healing your pain

I find Chiron an incredibly important part of astrology which teaches us about how our wounds can be our strength and help us transform our lives! Researching where your Chiron is can be incredibly revealing. Mythologically, Chiron was a Centaur, a creature known for their selfish, lusty and violent behaviour. But Chiron was intelligent, compassionate, kind and had incredible healing powers. Rejected by his parents (he was the result of a rape when his father Cronus impregnated the nymph Philyra), he was later adopted and taught by the Sun god, Apollo.
In later life he was terribly wounded by a poisoned arrow, not something you’d relish as an immortal. But Chiron continued to heal others selflessly, although enduring his own immense pain. In the end he sacrificed his immortality by releasing Prometheus (who was chained to a rock by Zeus for stealing fire and giving it to mankind) from his suffering.

Astrologically

Chiron is a comet with an erratic orbit and in astrology he is known as the Wounded Healer. His position in your horoscope points to where you have experienced your deepest wound, and your efforts to heal, or even hide it. Chiron describes the source of your greatest source of pain but also points the way to your greatest transformation.
Most healers have experienced pain and suffering themselves, and it’s through being wounded that we develop the compassion and desire to help ourselves and others to recover.
We may over-compensate in the areas of life touched by Chiron. We have to face issues of low self-worth and feelings of inadequacy and learn to rise above these issues. Although we may eventually learn to live with the pain, our Chironian wounds will never be completely forgotten or totally vanish. Compassion grows from our own suffering and only then can feel truly qualified to help others by sharing our healing and teaching powers with them.

Chiron through the houses
Chiron’s house position shows the area of life where you feel the pain of Chiron, but also links to your place of greatest healing…

1st You have had to fight to be noticed and you find it difficult to be assertive. You’re frightened to take the lead or to make demands on others. But your area of greatest transformation comes from understanding the pain in being harshly judged. You teach others the true value of tolerance and kindness.

2nd – your self-worth was damaged when you were younger and you’re hypersensitive to criticism. But you can become a teacher and restore others’ self-esteem by making them feel worthwhile and to encourage their unique skills and talents.

3rd – Harsh words have wounded you in the past and this sometimes affects your ability to communicate in a spontaneous way. Because you are hypersensitive to this situation, you teach others the value in precise, honest and clear communication.

4th – As the 4th House is connected with your family background you may have experienced being abandoned by someone in your family. But your understanding of how it feels to be an outsider connects on a deep level with anyone who has felt outcast by someone they love.

5th – With Chiron in this position you may have been brought up to think that having fun was in some way sinful, or wrong. It can be hard for you to break free of your self-imposed restrictions and enjoy life. But when you do let your guard down you inspire everyone around you with your spontaneity and creative genius.

6th – your health may have been difficult, or when you get sick, nobody seems to care. When you transfer your concerns for your own health into caring for others you’ll find you have miraculous healing abilities. As you have an inbuilt understanding of what it feels like to be ill, you make for one of the most compassionate healers of all.

7th – your greatest source of wounding has come from relationships, possibly even from a difficult parental marriage, or loved ones that felt distant. Your healing comes from teaching people that they don’t need someone else to make them feel valuable and loved – that knowledge must come from within.

8th – Chiron here indicates possible loss through death or even through being completely severed from a situation that hurt you deeply. But you amaze everyone around you with your brilliant insight, and your uncanny ability to transform any situation into a magical opportunity.

9th – Others beliefs, religious or philosophical, may have restricted your upbringing in some way or forced you to believe in something that you found was not true. But with your sensitivity in the power of belief, you can turn it around completely, but for the good, this time, and show others the real value in believing in the good in people.

10th – The 10th is the house of society, of career and being out in the world. You have been rejected by society or have been denied success in the eyes of the modern world. But you teach others that the true value of having a good reputation is by building trust and respect slowly and never disregarding others’ experiences.

11th – Your source of greatest pain is not fitting in, or being ignored by your friends or other social cliques in society. But being uncomfortable in groups makes you a natural leader, and others learn to trust that you instinctively know what it best for them as am organization or a group of people.

12th – You feel everyone’s pain, which can be the source of your greatest greatest wound. It’s hard for you to create barriers and sometimes you’re not sure where you end and others begin. You understand what losing yourself is all about  – but your power to empathise as a counselor or psychic is extremely strong as you understand what others are thinking before they’ve said a word.