Chiron Return – Healing Your Wound

Astrology is a vast subject, but the doorway in is pretty straightforward.  Once you cross the threshold, it can be like walking through the wardrobe from our world into Narnia, which makes astrology a rather amazing spiritual tool if you are willing to plumb its depths, either on your own or with the guidance of a professional astrologer. Come explore this subject with me. I want to show you how beautifully complex the subject is and how useful it can be in many different ways in your life journey.

The Chiron Return (49 to 51) takes place after the Uranus Opposition, with about 5 to 6 years between it and the Uranus Opposition. During this transit, we need to heal our spiritual wound, which we selected at the time of birth based on the position of Chiron in our charts. If we have done healthy work up to this transit, and do the work of this transit, we can come out the other side feeling whole, settled, and complete, all the while knowing we still have our remaining lives to be active in our clear purpose.

Chiron’s Work

Chiron is the wounded healer and where it resides in your chart is where you have your spiritual wound to experience AND heal in this lifetime. In mythology, Chiron was an immortal centaur (upper body, head, and arms of a man; lower body that of a horse), who was a master healer. He was wounded by a poison arrow, accidentally shot by Heracles, but because of his immortality, he could not die. Eventually, he trades his immortality to free Prometheus and be freed from his suffering. Astrologically, this point posits the idea through wounding we seek healing, and in the process learn a great deal about our spiritual path.

Chiron has a unique orbit that takes it inside Saturn and outside Uranus. Discovered in 1977, the same year that the Internet was “born”, Chiron also represents a bridge between the inner planets (the one visible to the naked eye) and the outer planets, which represent the “unseen” energy of human existence. It takes Chiron 50 years to return to its same degree in your chart, but due to its unusual orbit, it does not spend roughly 4 plus years in a sign consistently.  Recently, its journey through Pisces lasted eight years (2010 to 2018).

When Chiron Transits

A Chiron transit presents an opportunity to address a wound and/or do healing work. Clients who see me during a Chiron transit are usually addressing a wounding issue and healing work associated with the point being transited by Chiron. The deepest wounds and strongest healing work are especially profound during major aspects in transit. The major aspects include the conjunction (Chiron “on top of” another point), the square (Chiron 90 degrees from another point), and the opposition (Chiron 180 degrees from another point).

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When Chiron conjuncts, it merges with the point in the same sign and house and, in essence, works to heal, strengthen, and optimize that point’s energy (similar to eating healthy food and getting a boost from good nutrition). If Chiron squares a point then it performs more its wounding energy to create a path to healing. And if Chiron opposes, then the work involves bringing something out of balance into balance through a healing process.

As you can guess, when Chiron makes a hard aspect with itself, it “doubles down” on the wounding/healing work. Only aspects with the Sun and Moon would compare in effect and intensity. Even though Chiron has an unusual orbit, the return at 50 is consistent for all of us. After the “shocking” work of Uranus, which is designed to “wake us up to ourselves”, the six to eight years between the Uranus opposition and Chiron return are meant to be used to heal and “be healed” by the time Chiron returns.

Understanding Your Chiron Return

You can begin by understanding your Chiron return generally by knowing which sign Chiron was in when you were born. It is not considered a generational point, but you will share it with a cohort between 3 and 8 years.  My Chiron at birth was in Aries, so it returned for me in 2018. Those of us born after March of 1968 and before April 1977 represent a generational group with Chiron in Aries. Our wound and healing has to do with Aries themes in our lives: independence, maverick thinking/action, impulsiveness, selfishness, heroism, and conflict.

At the more personal level, understanding your Chiron means knowing what degree and in which house Chiron occupied on the day you were born. In my case, Chiron was at 00 degrees and 40 minutes of Aries, in my 6^th House of Service. Therefore, I am experiencing my Chiron return right now; actually, the third and final pass occurred earlier this year. My healing has been about establishing my independence through my work as a sole proprietor entrepreneur, which I started in 2013 not long after my Uranus opposition.

Aries is a maverick, “do it your own way” energy and Chiron returning to my 6^th House meant healing my day-to-day work using skills of my own definition (I am a self-taught astrologer and tarot/oracle card reader). There was a period in my life when I worked in the restaurant business while earning my doctorate and I had a hybrid work schedule that was irregular and dependent upon my success from day-to-day (bartending) and a regular paycheck as a teaching assistant. Eventually, I found a career at a university, but it was not where I would be “healed” regarding my skills. I had to find that journey “on my own”.

Depending on the house transited and the sign of your natal Chiron, you may find yourself dealing with a lifelong wound around family, relationship, beliefs, children, community, and so on. At the time of the return, you are supposed to be bringing the depth of healing to the wound so that you can enjoy an optimal life, healed and adjusted. To navigate this transit, you have to know your wound and identify the healing work necessary for the healing state to be completed. In my case, I had to accept that I will make my living working for myself as the source of my skill in pretty much one-on-one interactions, whether reading at a public event or for individual clients in private sessions.

If you are reading this article “in front of” or “in the midst of” your Chiron return, then I would suggest you invest time in studying your natal Chiron and what you are likely going to have to heal that has been your wound. If your interest in astrology is not on the research, but the result side, then I would recommend a professional reading with an experienced astrologer. That could be me, or another professional. If you are on the other side of your Chiron return, then look back at that time with this knowledge and see if a review yields any new insights that will help you now and in the future.