Monday 9 March 2009

The Chiron Return...

In my work I often see trends, I might see a whole batch of people going through the same issue, or who have had a similar trauma in their lives. I also find that the planetary returns come along in batches as well – Jupiter Returns, Saturn Returns and most recently Chiron Returns…

Chiron is not a planet, but an asteroid (sometimes called a planetoid). He lives between Saturn and Uranus. It is believed that Chiron did not originate in our Solar System, and that one day he will up sticks and leave again. His somewhat erratic orbit around the Sun takes just over 50 years – so when someone reaches the magical 5-0, Chiron pops up to stir up all sorts of nonsense.

Chiron was the King of the Centaurs; he was half-horse, half-human and was an immortal. He became friends with Hercules, but one day Hercules accidentally scratched Chiron with the point of the arrow used to destroy the monster Hydra. There was no anecdote to the poison, but, as an immortal Chiron could not die. Despite his great wisdom of plant and animal lore, he could not find a cure and heal his wound, so he was faced with living in great pain for eternity. Chiron then had a choice, to retreat into the pain or to use his suffering as a way to help and heal others. Fortunately for us, he chose the latter.

So, how does the myth of Chiron affect us mere humans? Well, Chiron represents compassion and healing, and he helps us to identify our own incurable wound (for we all have one – whether it be from a traumatic event, illness, addiction or experience). Once we can identify our ‘wound’, we can then start to use the benefit of our experience and help others.

Chiron gives us the gift of turning a negative into a positive by helping and healing others. He represents the healing arts, and his placement in our birth charts can help to identify how we can help and heal others.

Now back to the Chiron Return.

When Chiron comes back to the point he was at when we were born, he stirs up the ‘wounds’ of the past. He is keen for us to identify those things that might still be holding us back from helping and healing others. For example, a troubling or challenging parental relationship, a distressing marriage breakdown, or a traumatic accident can all be examples of the things that Chiron highlights as ‘wounds’ which need attention.

Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote ‘what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger’. This is a statement of which Chiron would be proud. We all have a choice, and of course sometimes the traumas in life just become too much to bear, and no one should judge anyone else in how they deal with such experiences. But if we can find the strength within to pick ourselves up and see how we can turn the experience into a positive by helping others, then it can give some light at the end of a sometimes very long and dark tunnel.

The Chiron Return is a time to let go of the shards of the past, which no longer inform the present, it is a time to learn from life’s experiences and to create a reality where we can make a difference. Very often reaching the age of 50 is seen as a milestone in life – the halfway point. So 50 years of being human, 50 years of experiencing the highs and lows of life, 50 years of seeing the very best and very worst of human nature, 50 years of wisdom.

This is not a time to fear, it is a time in life to roll up one’s sleeves and get stuck in. It is a time to take the strength from past experiences and to go out into the world and make a difference…