During astrology lectures, specifically the cookbook ‘by planet’ portion of the program, one question chiron-ically asked of the Expert is: Buuutttt, what about… Chiiironnn? Is it only me who fights the urge to ask, Would you like some cheese with that whine? Even when well-intended astrology-minded friends talk about our Chiron, we whine. Recently, a big name Astrologer complained (on a message board) that when she freely gave her money to a colleagues Paypal donation box, she expected a follow up thank you-note (she qualified this with a mention that Chiron is transiting her Pluto). Chiron seems to bring out the Whiner in everyone. So as Chiron transits my Sun by trine, prompting unusually high levels of emotionality and yes, whining, I decided to take a closer look at the Wounded Healer.
The Myth
Where Chiron falls in the birth chart, we can heal our self and others. Always, we must first heal before we can be of healing usefulness to others’ because it is our own healing process that gives us the tools to help others with their difficulties. In myth, the immortal Chiron searched for a cure for his chronic (chironic) condition and eventually begged Zeus to become a mortal so he could die. Likewise each of us carries a Chironic wound that potentially creates existential and ongoing suffering in our lives. It’s easier to identify the wound than to heal it. The practical problem with Chiron is that while we ‘see’ that a wound exists in our psyche (by house, planet and sign) How should we deal with it? Do we shell out thousands of dollars for a psychologist to listen to us whine? Do we find a shaman who will cure us once and for all? Will that even work? Or do we have *more power to heal our own Chiron-ic wound than even we think*?
The Wound & Healing
Both Pluto and Chiron show our wounds. If we’re trying to get over a Plutonian wound, abuse, or grief from a nightmarish loss, we go to a psychologist or do the inner work. Through peeling the onion layers back over time, we make very slow progress. Pluto represents a core wound that takes our laborious focus a trust fund of money for therapy and our life, to heal. Chironian wounds are of a different nature. Chiron was wounded when a poison arrow grazed him. The Oracle of Apollo, when consulted about how to heal such a wound, answered The wound can only be cured by it’s cause. There’s a homeopathic principle at work with Chiron. The repetitive cycle of suffering, re-wounding occurs in order to provoke a shift in attitude and understanding. The arrow grazes Chiron. It is not a deep wound, but it is painful and constant enough to cause Chiron to pursue healing, lifelong. Chiron’s attitude shifted when he decided to give up his immortal life for mortality; paradoxically, its accepting our wounds, our own practical limits, that allows our inner attitudes to shift.
The Chiron-ic Attitude
It turns out, our attitude is everything. The risk during a Chiron transit is identifying with being wounded all over again, and then stopping right there and doing nothing more with it. My natal Chiron is conjunct my Aries Moon in the 7th House. For a long time I attracted partners who reinforced my feelings of early emotional neglect; they were too wounded, emotionally unavailable, unreliable to care about me. I’ve also experienced feelings and experiences of emotional abandonment by women friends and the caretakers in my family. I naturally developed an attitude akin to WTF?! and got real good at whining about these people. But. When I decide to make self-nurture, self-love and self-care absolutely non-negotiable and central to all relationships, everything changes. When I decide to stop compulsively over-giving to people who had a wounded Moon ~ or who weren’t able to emotionally reciprocate in the way I need~ my experience of others changes. It’s not as simple as the wound going away; I still get my heart broken. I still feel a core wound around love, care and nurture. But I heal by knowing these experiences have made me vulnerable, mortal and human. Then I move on.
Chiron is like that. It can be that easy. We shift our attitude, and the wound stops aching. Our choice with Chiron is: we can either keep crying about our wound. Or we can experience, as Steven Forrest describes, A change of attitude. A quantum leap. A new framework that allows us to leave something painful behind. Getting that framework can be as simple as taking a walk, as my friend did recently, and fed up with her own whining wondered, Why do I need to make this condition so central to my life story? What if I placed my attention and energies elsewhere? Her epiphany reminded me of a button a good friend’s mom gave me when I was 18 and chiron-ically ill. The button said, I Could Really Use a Good Distraction. At the time, I thought it was superficial — I mean, shouldn’t I be trying like heck, to ‘heal’? Now, reflecting back, I see the wisdom in that bumper sticker statement. My myopic focus on my suffer-some existence (classic Chiron complaint: There must be something wrong with me!) kept me stuck in a disempowering cycle of whining and victimization. Actually, she was right. A a good distraction did shift everything. After all, that period of being chiron-ically ill led me to kill time at my local New Age bookstore, where I picked up my first astrology book, where my healing journey really began.
Chiron to the Planets
When Chiron aspects a planet (& by house), here we have a chiron-ic wound. This is where our injury can be changed through a shift in attitude. The harder aspects (the square, opposition and sometimes conjunction) create developmental tension, making this attitude shift central to healing our self. By transit of a planet to Chiron or Chiron to a planet, we are both/and: vulnerable to the homeopathic principle of re-wounding, and/or we can get a new framework to leave the old wounds behind and experience a true attitude shift.
Chiron-Sun: suffering around our creative identity, confidence in our life’s purpose, the right to take up space. By transit, confidence/success comes from shining for the greater good, not just ego; urge to individuate, take up a heroes journey.
Chiron-Moon: neglect of emotional and physical nurturing/neglect early in life causes us to caretake others’ before ourself. By transit, attitude shifts around the ways you enlist others’ to repeat that same pattern; self-love, realization of self-nurture.
Chiron-Mercury: wounding around not being intelligent or book smart, hypersensitivity to rules of logic-reason over intuition-knowing and imagination. By transit, to shift internalized thoughts and attitudes, to deepen perceptions, to experiencing inner ‘knowing’.
Chiron-Venus: pain connected to sensuality, attractiveness, self-worth and self-valuation causing suffering in our relationships. By transit, using the appreciation of beauty, art, bodily pleasure & artifice as ways to individuate, un-linking attitudes around self-worth to attractiveness.
Chiron-Mars: fear, pain and wounding around expressing our wild, ruthless, animal-like warrior and sexual energy. By transit, opportunity to get stronger, develop sexual confidence, and ferocity, bring more mars into our life– through sports, learning to ‘growl’.
Chiron-Jupiter: suffering over not being successful, being the ‘King’, pain around moral and religious authorities, antagonism toward privilege. By transit, chance to shift our attitudes around and form our own definition of ‘the good life’, a spiritually meaningful life, being successful.
Chiron-Saturn: being overly rigid/controlled by fear, a sharp awareness of our inner critic, blaming others/society/the father for oppressing us. By transit, opportunity to: shift our attitude from outer to inner authority, release compulsive ambitions and fears, let our self ‘off the hook’.
Chiron-Uranus: fear over having my freedom compromised by others’, suffering over alienation, not belonging to the crowd, fear of being unpopular/not fitting in. By transit, using our differences to positively define us, dropping the external search for validation of my real self, authenticity/individuation/truth to self as a healing journey.
Chiron-Neptune: high capacity to empathically feel others’ suffering, feelings of overwhelm, unable to cope with reality, attachment to a ‘lost world’, isolated bliss-states, misplaced sacrifice. By transit, opportunity for compassionate self and others’ acceptance, reconciliation of dualism- the world as spiritual path, to shift attitudes around self-isolation, suffering.
Chiron-Pluto: chiron-ic suffering over ancestral inherited core wounds, death and dying. Attachment to intensity, sexual power, money; feelings of powerlessness to effect change/transformation. By transit, a change in attitude toward compulsive attachment, ie, acceptance that loss is part of life, knowing where real power lays, how to effect true change.
Great to see your recent posts on Chiron. How about some cheese with our whine, right? I have transiting Chiron in my tenth squaring natal Neptune/Jupiter in sixth right now and for a good while. I notice Chiron/Neptune missing from above and would love your insight there, too! I appreciate your words on the homeopathic nature of Chironic healing. Thank you.
WAAAAHHH! burp. There, now I feel better. Thanks, Erin. Herrrre’s…. Neptune.
We could share a whole bottle of whine, Jessica! I have Chiron on my Descendant exactly opposite my Moon (and 4 degrees from opposite my 12 hse Uranus). I think it took until my Chiron return 2-3 years ago to gain that shift in attitude, and finally have a mutually loving relationship in my life. Now Chiron’s transiting opposite my Mercury and Venus/Pluto, so thinking a lot about it again and trying to take it to another level (higher? deeper? whatever).
I’ll bring the hard to pronounce cheese, Leslie, and you bring the enlightened Chiron Return Whine! I’d love to know if you were able to pinpoint your attitude shift to a specific thought, epiphany, idea.
Honestly, I think I just got worn down! Plus I had a lot of other transformational transits going on before the Return, so it’s hard to tease out. But when the Chiron Return did hit, it brought into my life someone who’s a real wounded healer. So maybe you do all the work you can yourself and then you’re ready for something or someone to come from outside to bring healing. But maybe it was from outside for me because it’s an opposition.
I recently finished my Chiron Return in Aquarius, 8th house. I have spent at least 20 years working on myself (inner work).
I’ve read that once Chiron stopped seeking a cure/self medicating with self-help, etc., he was healed.
Hi VJ, Good job with that return. Chiron inspires inner work, definitely. It’s the journey, not the destination…so to speak. Thanks for sharing.
Beautiful site and sweet typecast. Amazing article, though I wonder why instead of whining you didn’t get so stoking mad with the Moon in Fiery Aries.??? My noon is in Aries as well in the 8th and my chiron is also in the 7th conjunct the sun. Self-care is completely non-negotiable for me as well and when my partners cannot do this for themselves it ends the relationship or causes rifts. I want that partner to be with me in their pain, suffering and healing with me.
I also think it is important to note all the wonderful tools this planet has gifted us with in order to process our wound. I remember reading about Chiron in his cave with all the tools and how sad he was. I felt the pain of this archetype so strongly. I really feel that Chiron and Ceres hold our deepest wounds. Pluto only brings us to that ground. Chiron calls us into action while Ceres calls us to receive our own nurturing and love speaking tender kind words to ourselves to re-establish our own worthiness. Words like Mother’s Milk that will soothe the soul.
Hi Joel, Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Yes, Moon in Aries does get mad! But Chiron is the archetype of wounding and wounding to the Aries principle can create feelings of impotence to act, hence the whining. You might enjoy this more recent article: https://www.moonkissd.com/2012/12/11/the-upside-of-chiron/ xoxo, Jessica
Thank you. I currently have chiron conjuncting venus in pisces in my 6th house. Natally Chiron is in Aries in my 7th – I feel so intrinsically flawed in relationships – my partner constantly neglects me/us. Asking assertively for my needs to be met is SOOO hard – but i’m doing it and its like slowly chipping away at a mammoth brick wall that had been around me. Is there anything else you can recommend me to read, to help me really get this. Thank you!! x
I have chiron trine chiron, venus trine chiron and uranus square chiron=LOL! All end next year spring xD Guess am in for a long ride lol..better buckle my seat belt tighter! I’m learning a lot though about my restrictions and circumstances!
Oops forgot to add. Chiron is in 12th house cancer, uranus in 5th house capricorn and venus inn 4th house scorpio. Soo yup! 😉
Chiron is so much more then just healer and wound! it is considered to be a planet between jupiter and pluto, responsible for tutoring on one hand and transformations on the other… a very interesting planet and very interesting influences! i myself have it on my 1st house so i’m quite familiar with chiron…
@Kabalic Astrology
Absolutely agree! First house Chiron here too.
Its also about maverick energy, fostering etc etc.
Dennis Elwell has a lot of really interesting stuff to say on that note.
And the dangers of ascribing a mythology to a planet/asteroid too soon without proper research, to be copied and pasted around the web untill it becomes ‘truth and fact’ when in reality – its not.
More research needed.
‘My myopic focus on my suffer-some existence’ – with all due respect that has a great deal to do with the placement of Moon in Aires 😉
Certainly the ongoing transit of Uranus in Aires has illuminated that trait in all of us, given that everyone has the Aires dynamic somewhere.
Identity politics, demagogues, narcissists, whining and me me me me, rule the day at the moment. Particularly in US politics-unfortunately.
The danger is that with all this self focussed energy and ‘personal right to freedom’ that trumps all [pun intended], we are literally destroying the very planet we live on.
Meanwhile Neptune in Pisces and Chiron in Pisces is flagging up our increasing toxicity.
In 30 years – and this is genuinely outrageous – its estimated there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish….
I weep in despair for our errant stupidity and self destructive selfishness.
Really good – I have transit Chiron on my lovely Saturn at 29 degrees pisces transiting this year – exactitudes 1.4; October and begining of 2019.
I really liked what you said about not letting the whining become totally part of your life story.
I have Chiron conj. my Scorpio Sun /Merc. (2nd House) squaring Pluto/Mars + Scorp. S Node. Yes…there’s been loads of complaining and whining….and…decades of pain wondering if I have a right to say what I think, be who I am, exist. Countless yrs. exploring. But you are right and I know it: it’s time to leave the pain behind. Love what you wrote. Ty. xo
(For anyone else working on self-esteem, I’ve found some helpful free meditation vids (on Youtube) by The Honest Guys from U.K. Beautifully done musically with eloquent/healing scripts. They also have huge selection of videos for insomnia, anxiety, LOTR. Hope it’s ok to add link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I_gj-eMefU
Hi Mindy, The Honest Guys are great, I’ve listened to them. Personally I like Jason Stephenson, also on YT, he’s very similar. xx Jessica
Excellent article. I have to admit I drowned myself in self-pity and whining why a guy i recently reconnected with doesn’t show that much interest in me after seeing each other for a few times. I went through my Chiron return, 26 Pis and currently have Saturn retrograde over my Venus and square my Moon 4 Aries and Saturn 8 Aries that I completely overlooked the Chiron conjunct Moon transit. It all makes sense and you are so right “Attitude is everything”. It’s time to change things for good.
Transit Chiron in 9th house trine natal Sun in the 1st house. Dou you think will be good? What does it means?
As someone with Chiron in Libra exactly square a Mars/Saturn conjunction in Cancer, more loosely square a Venus/Sun conjunction in Capricorn, conjunct Jupiter by 5 degrees, (ah ha!) trine Uranus, and now revisiting all of this from Aries–I know not to whine! I enjoyed the suggestions of what else to do by attitude changes. Thank you.