Living Astrology: Chiron's Healing Gift
“Chiron is experiential.”
I would agree with renowned astrologer Barbara Hand Clow, that to truly understand the gifts of Chiron, one must experience it for themselves. Most commonly known as “the wounded healer,” Chiron represents the wound that becomes our teacher. Over time, as we move from pain to peace, from disempowerment to strength, we transmute the wound into wisdom. If Chiron is strong in our natal charts, it suggests that we may be able to channel that very wisdom into healing work with others.
Chiron was unlike the other centaurs. With vast knowledge of herbal medicine, Chiron championed as a healer, sleep and dream specialist, a prophet, astrologer, musician and alchemist. Also skilled in hunting, archery and gymnastics, he was a mentor great warriors like Asclepius, Achilles, Jason, Perseus and Hercules.
With Chiron’s discovery in 1977 came the resurgence of homeopathy, energy healing, past life regression, interest in psychic and astral realms, alternative healing, kinesiology and more.
Chiron has an elliptical orbit, which causes it to spend more time in some signs than others. Chiron links Saturn and Uranus, combing practical skills and training with intuitive guidance.
Chiron in Pisces:
Chiron has been traveling in Pisces since 2010 and will stay through 2018. Together with Neptune in Pisces, we have seen an up-swell in yoga, meditation, alternative healing, and a push to legalize cannabis for healing purposes. Further, as Pisces rules hidden realms of consciousness, there has been a wave of entertainment featuring psychic, angelic, alien and otherworldly characters.
Personal Experience:
As previously stated, Chiron is experiential. I’ve been getting Chiron transits nonstop for the past couple years. And as I’ve come to discover, Chiron is very prominent in my natal chart as well. I am going to share two stories of Chiron exemplifying both ease and challenge. I must first preface that I went through a trauma that began in 2012 and put my life on hold through 2014. I attribute this trauma astrologically to Pluto and Uranus who ganged up on my sweet natal Venus while Saturn depressed my natal Moon. So, although Chiron represents the wound, he’s not always creating it. More so, I believe Chiron represents our evolving relationship to the wound.
Chiron in the Organic Healing Flow:
In this chapter of my life, Chiron forms a harmonious Grand Trine with my Ascendant and my Moon. Grand trines consist of 3+ planets in a triangle, each 120⁰ apart. This aspect expresses as a flowing synergy of ease and cooperation. Each planet in a grand trine will typically share the same element. In my case, this is the water element, which is emotional, karmic and subtle.
In May 2015, Chiron first trined my ascendant; this is when I decided I would create my blog. I was ready to present myself to the world as an astrologer in a more direct way. This would prove to be very healing for me as it aligned me closer with my purpose.
Through the rest of 2015, and through 2016, I sought to rebalance my nervous system, heal PTSD symptoms, and slowly make peace with my past. Healing is a precious and delicate process which takes time; never is it easy, but things seemed to flow along smoothly. With trines, it’s not completely effortless. You must say yes and participate. The help was present and I moved through a huge chunk of multidimensional pain.
In the summer of 2016, our neighbor’s cat started coming over to hang out a lot. We became good friends with Garfield as his owners would disappear for weeks at a time. He was often hungry and starved for attention. We desperately wanted to give him a flea bath as we could tell he was really suffering from them. Both orange cats, Garfield reminded me of Rigel, the cat I had wanted to bring home with me from NYC, but the trauma prevented me from doing so. The loss of Rigel left a hole in my heart that Garfield was now beginning to fill─ but Garfield was not yet mine.
That Fall, moving trucks arrived at my neighbor’s house. I mourned my bond with this orange cat and made peace that I would never see him again. I rationalized that our house was too small for a pet any way.
Two days later, Garfield emerged from the bushes. Meow, meow, meow! He rolled on his back in the dirt and excitedly demonstrated how happy he was to see us. Who knows why, but he had been abandoned. We made Garfield a bed outside our door, where he slept until the snow arrived.
On December 1st 2016, Chiron stationed direct at 20⁰ Pisces (moving forward!) in exact trine to my Ascendant and to my Moon. It was that very night that we coincidentally given Garfield his flea bath and brought him into our home for the first night.
Garfield joined us on the couch as we wound down for bed. Blissed out of his mind, he purred loudly. For the first time in a long time, I looked around and had the feeling that all is right in the world. Everything is perfect and as it should be. I realized that it’s not just me and my partner anymore: we are a trifecta. This is my family now. After a long month of trying to elevate my spirits, I finally found the medicine I needed: helping someone in need… and experiencing something move full circle… the universe knows better than I do. The timing is always right. This experience showed me that I should never worry; Creation has my back.
The Effort to Overcome:
We as humans always make excuses for our pain, and we just deal with it until it becomes a bigger problem. May 2017 was a very busy month and I finally hit my brink. I decided that I would flow with Venus and Mars and become gentler with myself in June. I decided I would begin a cleansing diet, and that I would finally address a pain deep in my right thigh that had been bothering me since 2013.
Coincidentally, I began seeing my chiropractor on the day that transiting Mars conjoined my natal Chiron! And as it turns out my doctor knows his natal chart well, and he confirmed that Chiron is indeed prominent in his chart.
Transiting Chiron is forming a grand square with 3 of my natal planets. That is, there is one planet at each corner, each 90⁰ apart. Traditionally, the grand square is considered very challenging, but can produce amazing results if you put forth the required action and effort. Chiron in Pisces squares my natal Uranus in Sagittarius (nerves, hip region), natal Chiron in Gemini (nerves again) and opposes my Mars in Virgo. Mars rules my career house and I would say that this pain is exasperated by standing a lot, but also, Mars rules action… might my yoga practice be affecting this too?
Chiron is much about process. Astrologer Barbara Hand Clow advocates that Chiron is the natural ruler of Virgo, which correlates with the “adjustment” aspect: the 150⁰ quincunx. I’ve done much contemplation over this healing process and I see her point very clearly. The work of a chiropractor requires frequent visits in the beginning─ small, consistent adjustments. Further, the doctor combines practical knowledge of the body (Saturn) with a spark of intuitive guidance (Uranus). This combination reflects the very orbit of Chiron which links Saturn and Uranus.
Between my first visit to the chiropractor, recalling that I was having so many Chiron transits and beginning my new diet, I realized now was the time to finally read an entire book dedicated to Chiron.
Then it hit me….
“I’m doing a ‘rainbow diet’…. and Barbara Hand Clow wrote a book called ‘Chiron and the Rainbow Bridge’…. !!!”
I immediately ordered the book.
The diet I had decided to do was inspired by Yogi Bhajan’s alkalizing all green diet. But since I eat so many greens, I decided I would eat the entire rainbow.
Beginning with a few days of all red foods, I would ascend through the color spectrum a couple days at a time. All in all, I spent about 10 days eating entirely plant based foods, abstaining from alcohol and meditating.
As a result, my excitement about eating was totally rejuvenated. I got more creative, quick-pickled veggies, made veggie burgers for the first time and tried new fruits and veggies I’d never eaten before. Additionally, a ton of synchronicity and magic spilled into my awareness, similar to the synergy of rainbows and Chiro-‘s I’ve described.
But after a couple weeks, my progress stalled. My doctor seemed a bit frustrated at the one visit, but I remain understanding that it’s really deep rooted. It’s a process. However, I am ready for it to go away already!
My partner and I went for a walk in the woods after a particularly emotional day. As we walked along a stream, we noticed a newly fallen tree bowed over the river. “Look, it’s leaves are still green,” I said. “Well its roots are still connected,” he pointed out.
I stared at the thick roots connecting the tree to the Earth. I contemplated the stress and strain they felt as the force of the fall yanked them. I thought of my sciatic nerves in my legs… and then the Plutonian experience I’d had around the start of this pain: my life was literally uprooted, yanked viciously away… I was that tree.
Later that week, I revisited the tree. It had moved down river. In time, the pain moves and the experience transforms. One thing that is certain in life is change. You might reach total vibrancy, success, perfect health or enlightenment, but one thing can change it all.
I recognize that my area of pain has everything to do with my root chakra. For now, I’m using the mantra “I love where I am at right now,” and “It’s vital that my roots feel nourished right now,” while I load up on beets, potatoes, yams, rainbow carrots, onions, ginger, garlic, peanut butter and turmeric! I have more exploring of roots to do.
Everyone around me is either having babies, dying, moving or traveling. As excitement overflows in the lives of others, I’m conversely trying to maintain content with exactly where I am in the now. Root deeper… As someone who’s always lived intensely, actively and ambitiously, it’s weird for me to do this, but I recognize how vital it is. And in many ways this is happening naturally. I finally feel that everything is in place. I just need to remind myself that my roots are being nourished each time I hear about someone else’s excitement.
More of that root chakra oil please!
With love,
Catherine
(Written in part from Root Café)
Below are some images from the rainbow diet :
