The journey of the Chiron archetype: from woundedness to healing

Chiron moved into Aries in February 2019 and will remain in the sign of the warrior until 2027. This article explores the Chiron archetype and its influence on our lives. For more on Chiron in Aires check out my detailed article.

I always say that we are born into the past. Our presence, unconditional love and our divine connection get swallowed up into the mostly well-intentioned beliefs and circumstances of our parents, grandparents and the society in which we grow. We are born into energetic patterns that not only have a lot of momentum at the ready, but that momentum is also a vibrational match to where our human soul’s development last left off.

The pure presence we hold when we come Earth-side works alchemically with our family’s energy to create dynamic change and our own consciousness determines whether we will individuate with our own life force or if we will still cycle through the same patterns that we were born into.

This, to me, is the foundation of unhealed wounds that the Chiron archetype brings up for us, and that we carry within us. The placement of Chiron in our charts shows how these wounds write on the slate of who we believe ourselves to be for generations. Through the chaos, we forget who we really are.

“Your purpose is hidden within your wounds”

Rune Lazuli

With this Chiron in Aries transit our vision will become clearer. We are invited to awaken to heal and transform our wounds into wholeness; and to finally embody our purpose with the energetic fire from which we were born.

When Chiron moves into Taurus in 2027, it will be on its way to completing its own Chiron Return from the time it was discovered in 1977, thus finishing this current cycle and welcoming each of us to participate in the creation and expression of the next revolution. And we are right on time. We are all where we need to be in order to get to where we want to go.

In mythology, Chiron finally healed himself when he chose death and took a spot in the underworld that freed Prometheus, who stole fire from the Gods and gave it to humans. This act of surrender and liberation is the healing fire that Chiron in Aries brings home to us.

The mythology and significance of the Chiron archetype

Chiron, itself, is a unique, planetary body in between Saturn and Uranus, the space of our inner and outer worlds (what we consider the personal/transpersonal planets and the outer, transcendental planets). It travels on an erratically-shaped orbit through the boundaries of Authority (Saturn) and Freedom (Uranus) before it matures into a full revolution 51 years later.

Can you not relate, already?! The mythology of Chiron digs deeper into our human pathos as the archetype comes alive within us at different stages of our life. Chiron represents the stages of becoming we all travel in and out of, as though on our own erratic orbit.

Chiron was a creation between the God Chronos (Saturn) and the Goddess, Rhea. Upon conception, Chronos shapeshifted into a horse and Chiron became the first born of the Centaur race. His mother was devastated at what he was and abandoned him to die.

Despite his mother’s desertion, Chiron became immortal and the rest of his life was in service to education, healing, and to the betterment of the world, despite never being able to fully heal himself. He felt no choice but to carry who he was and the pain that surrounded his earliest beginnings, until he found his own key to relief by consciously choosing death.

Similarly, we carry our own wounds of abandonment, be they literal or metaphorically, when our parents/elders disapprove of who we are, want us to be something different or simply cannot see us at all. Like Chiron, we make our way through life, learning what we can, doing what we can, helping others the best we can, but feeling the lack of validation from our creator when we need it the most.

This lack of validation can cast paralyzing doubt on anything we do to move forward and lifetime through lifetime, we are just trying to find the fire that sets our soul free. The transit of Chiron in Aries can inspire us to surrender to what is (death) so that we can embody the energy of liberation moving forward into the next cycle.

Like centaurs, we represent the first of our own brand of individuality and we are comprised of two defining characteristics: We are free spirits first, human beings second; and always, forever whole in the choice of who we are. The chiron archetype within us teaches us that we can choose to surrender to what is and redefine ourselves in alignment with our divine truth.

My own experience of Chiron

I feel connected to the Chiron archetype. In my chart, Chiron makes a near exact conjunction to the moon in my 3rd house, with Mercury being the ruling planet of my chart. Who I perceive myself to be has been implicitly interwoven with the circumstances around me; and my identity has gone through many shifts and phases as a result.

With Chiron in the 3rd House conjunct my Moon communicating what I see and how it makes me feel has been an automatic impulse (thought not an easy one) that has fueled the many cycles in my life. I tend to always have something to say about a lot of things and my biggest, personal Chiron lesson centers around the rippling effects of the words, perceptions and emotions I use to define my reality and who I am.

I have identified with all shades of the Chiron archetype at some point or another; and through each transformation, my awareness expanded on how my words, thoughts and feelings triggered the identity that others saw in me. When I started to see and think differently about myself, my identity further evolved to reflect my own vision and that was when I started to understand the creative fire we all hold.

The journey of the Chiron archetype

Chiron as Victim

Chiron’s placement in our chart reflects our original wounding, it is the stories you protect for the safest of spaces and it is also the fabric you wear on your skin. We want our story to be heard so that we can feel validated but we don’t know how to be truly seen without our wounds, so that is all that gets perpetuated.

This is an exhausting process and we tend to put ourselves in a position to get victimized over and over again. Just as when we come earth-side, we continue to remain an energetic, vibrational match for where we are and who we are with.

Chiron as Wounded-Healer

No matter what we do with our lives, we are in service to others. How we feel about that service is in direct proportion to how far along we are in our own healing and return to wholeness. The more we expand into the healing part of who we are, the greater satisfaction we will find in the service we are drawn to.

We tend to take our life experiences and use them as teaching tools for others, and this happens in both negative and positive ways. Some teach directly from their wound and lash out and some teach from the inward reflection of lessons learned, and some do this all in the same day!

Chiron as Maverick

We need the freedom to be different and when we don’t have that, any action that defies the dominant perception of reality is seen as shocking, outrageous, sometimes illegal. This evolutionary rebellion is the natural processing of our energetic impulses to define ourselves in the way we originally intended to. However, we cannot wait for permission to be an individual and to do so is to victimize our self.

Chiron as Holistic Healer and Teacher

In this space, there is peace, relief, surrender and the knowing that it all still goes on. It is the balance of forward motion and the present moment practice of being who you are, both spirit and human, and appreciating the beautiful, imperfect perfections that we create for ourselves and others. It is being so healed that you cannot inflict your wounding on others and your presence validates the presence of those around you. You learn how to see yourself into creation and you share that fire with everybody else.

Self actualisation and the Chiron archetype

Chiron in our charts shows us where we have been, where we are at and where we are going. Whichever house Chiron is placed in is your vehicle of transformation through these stages. I use the energy of thoughts, words and feelings to move myself through, others may use parenthood, recognition, society or illness to transform their wounds to wisdom. We are all on a unique orbit of self-actualization.

It can feel chaotic to traverse these stages many times over in our life. We may feel as though we are forever in retrograde and appear unmoving and stuck in a particular phase, or we can feel anchored in the present moment to hold our wholeness steady. The journey itself and the purpose we find within it is what heals our perception and allows us to redefine ourselves as many times as we want to.

Chiron teaches us that the choice and responsibility is actually ours.

The filter is changing and this transit of Chiron through Aries, with the help of Neptune in Pisces and Pluto in Capricorn, is moving us towards deeper focus on our purpose and greater discipline with our selves.

In my companion article on Chiron in Aries we will explore in depth the way the Chiron archetype manifests through Aries. In particular I look at how Chiron activates the symbolism of your ascendant, bringing your determination and desire for this life experience into action.

Sending so much love to you on your healing path, Rose.

This is a guest post by Rose Birt from Transitions Reiki.