By Melanie Reinhart
This is the primary resource on Chiron in the astrology world recognized for its scholarship. I read it back in 2020—such a momentous year for so many things and to be reading a book on wounding and healing seems to have had its larger portents.
Let’s dive into Chiron—an actual object in the sky located between Saturn and Uranus, in what’s been termed the Kuiper Belt, and not discovered until 1977. Since that time, Chiron has been slowly nudging us consciously forward arriving with the emergence of depth psychology and coaxing us to begin working with wounding patterns and pain.
Chiron’s myth helps us orient to the terrain. Chiron taking the form of half man, half horse was rejected by his mother as a monster. She abandoned him. This was Chiron’s first wound. Taken to Apollo, Chiron becomes a wise prophet, teacher, musician, and physician. Chiron’s association as the “wounded healer” happened later and there are several versions of the tale. One involves an afternoon when Hercules visited Pholus who opened a bottle of wine which caused a centaur stampede. In the mayhem, Chiron was accidentally injured by an arrow that Hercules released. It hits Chiron in leg in the animal part of the body signifying the vulnerability of the physical body. Although Chiron bears no responsibility for the injury, he suffers a wound that he cannot heal. And being a demigod, Chiron cannot die either—he suffers.
Everyone has a personal Chiron in their birth chart. Wounding and healing are unique for everyone. Transits to Chiron can awaken us to initiate healing or reorient to the journey of awakening. These times can bring about a search for what is immortal in each of us. The footprints of the healing journey are found by examining the Chiron configuration (all the astrological factors connected to Chiron) in a chart. The author outlines the specifics for this technical process in Chapter 4. A deep dive into the astrology of Chiron’s placement, the aspects it forms, and transits of Chiron fill the bulk of this volume.
The final chapter of the book concerns a brief look at some of the archetypal Chiron themes that seem to be playing out in the collective. With Chiron being linked to Pluto (Lord of the Underworld), there are many dark recesses that could be explored here. The author highlights issues concerning the health industry, alternative medicine, belief in false prophets, racism, drug abuse, terrorism, and ecology (healing the earth). Those themes may also play out in individual horoscopes as indicated with biographies in this section.
This is a comprehensive book best explored by those with a good understanding of their own chart who want to explore the deeper meaning of wound and healing in their own lives.
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