Chiron's Influence in Astrology

by Denise Hancock

© Denise Hancock - published by The Evolving Astrologer, December 2023 / 21.02.2024

Chiron's discovery chart, November 1, 1977, 10:00 AM, Pasadena, California
Source: Astrodatabank

Forty-six years ago, Chiron was discovered by Astronomer Charles Kowal on November 1, 1977. Kowal timed the discovery to “A few minutes before 10 am." The chart was rectified by astrologers Zane Stein and Al H. Morrison to 9:56 am in Pasadena, California. (1)

Chiron is in mid-Aries at the 2023 December Solstice, about 7° from the True North Node, a conjunction that perfects on Feb 19, 2024. Chiron is nearing its discovery location at 3°08’ of Taurus, where the first global Chiron Return will occur on June 8, 2027. It’s a fitting time to explore how Chiron has influenced the practice of astrology. This article offers a broad overview of the myriad ways astrologers use Chiron in interpretation and application.

Developing Astrological Theory for New Bodies

Modern astrologers use deductive reasoning when new astronomical bodies are discovered. They develop theories by drawing conclusions based on premises generally assumed to be true. Initial ideas about astrological meaning are often based on astronomical observations, historical myths, and significant events and trends during discovery. Personal and cultural biases influence all interpretative processes.

Interpretative theory is tested using case studies where the new body is prominent in the natal chart or involved in major transits. Astrologers often examine events in the lives of historical figures and celebrities and document experiences for themselves and their clients. Through this process, themes and patterns may validate or challenge the theory. Other techniques can be used to develop and refine interpretations, like analyzing mundane events, collective experiences, and relational dynamics.

Once theoretical interpretations seem viable, astrologers apply the symbolism in client consultations. Predictive astrology, electional, and horary techniques are valuable to judge whether interpretations yield observable results. Application can extend to other specialized fields like financial or locational astrology.

Early Theories of Chiron

Astronomical Observations

Chiron was named by Kowal and classified as a minor planet or planetoid (asteroid #2060) in December 1977. As astronomers continued to monitor Chiron, there were unexpected changes in appearance and behavior, leading to its reclassification as a comet (95P) in the 1980s. While Chiron retains both classifications, it’s now considered a centaur and Kuiper Belt Object (UB1977). Centaurs are hybrid bodies in our solar system, with orbits falling between Jupiter and Neptune. (2)

One of the first things astronomers noticed about Chiron was its highly elliptical orbit. At its extreme, Chiron swings closer to the Sun than Saturn, but it also moves beyond the orbit of Uranus. Chiron’s appearance changes dramatically as it orbits. Approaching the Sun, Chiron warms and melts to become duller in color and develop a tail. When Chiron moves farther away toward Uranus, it refreezes. The tail disappears, and the body brightens due to reflection on its icy surface.

Two critical takeaways from Chiron’s astronomical characteristics are popularly used for interpretation. The first is Chiron’s orbital crossing. Chiron can be viewed as a symbolic connector or bridge between modern radical Uranus and traditional boundary-setter Saturn. (3) Greene writes,

Chiron is the conduit between the realm of the imagination, in which the soul exists without corporeal limits – the mundus imaginalis – and the mortal body with its limits and its inevitable time-locked doom. (4)

The other key point is Chiron's hybrid nature and changing form. Human-animal hybrid forms appear in many ancient civilizations as metaphors. As a half-horse and half-human creature, the centaur merges human awareness and reason with animal instincts and urges.

Mythological Stories

Chiron teaching Achilles
Source: Roman fresco from Herculaneum, National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In Greek myth, the centaur Chiron was the child of the immortal Titan Kronos (Saturn) and Philyra, a sea nymph. His mother was ashamed of his animalistic form and rejected him. The Sun God Apollo adopted Chiron. Apollo and his sister Lunar Goddess Artemis instructed Chiron in healing, music, hunting, and fighting. Despite the divine adoption and his immortality, Chiron lived as an outsider. He retreated to a mountainous centaur community and dwelled in a cave.

From this cave, he taught many students and was renowned for mastery as a physician, hunter, warrior, musician, astrologer, and virtuous leader. However, his story abruptly turns when he attempts to break up a violent disturbance among the centaurs. While intervening to restore peace, Chiron is accidentally wounded with a poisoned arrow. This painful wound won’t heal, and he retreats to his cave in agony. Eventually, Zeus (Jupiter) permits Chiron to end his suffering, giving up his immortality for death.

Many themes related to Chiron are steeped in Greek mythology. The wounded healer is a commonly used term, but it also includes concepts of victim and perpetrator, a healer who gains wisdom through their suffering, or one who can heal the wounds of others but not their own. Other Chironic themes are chronic suffering and repetitive painful experiences, including physical anguish and difficult emotions like shame, envy, and rage. Insecurity, vulnerability, sacrifice, and scapegoating are related concepts. Chiron is also associated with the outsider, maverick, or someone in exile.

Greene’s 2023 book explores the Chiron myth more extensively than many earlier authors. She explains Chiron was a teacher and healer before the painful injury occurred. After the accident, Chiron was not able to work, suffered, and chose death. Greene remarks that many people want to believe that all wounds can be healed. It is a contemporary trend to focus on positive thinking; some believe even death may be overcome. The mindset is: With enough money, enough technology, the right healer, and the proper treatment, anything can be cured.

Instead, Chiron may point to inescapable vulnerability, pain, and suffering regardless of virtue or fault. Chiron’s story suggests that healers and leaders can suffer collateral damage, and cures may not be possible. Instead, Greene proposes the challenge may be learning to live consciously with wounds in ways that do not further damage others. (5)

Historical Events and Cultural Trends

The late 1970s were notable for the cultural emphasis on self-expression, personal fulfillment, and happiness. Public interest in spiritual movements and Eastern philosophy and practices exploded during the ME Decade. Clow points out the popularity of topics like extra-sensory perception (ESP), channeling, and visionary breakthroughs. (6)

As people turned inward, there was a boom in psychology, alternative health, and healing fields. It was the beginning of the environmental and organic food movements. Social justice movements were prominent, with increasing demands for equal rights regardless of gender, sexual orientation, and ethnic or racial identity. The sexual revolution of the 1960s continued but with backlash from neoconservatism. Televangelists like Jimmy Swaggart and Oral Roberts attracted millions of viewers, appealing to biblical values with a twist of prosperity theology. (7)

Others found escape through the arts. Disco music swept the airwaves, and Studio 54 in New York City was the hottest nightclub. Films like Saturday Night Fever and Star Wars captured the imagination. Dreams of a technological future accelerated with the first retail computers from Apple, RadioShack, and Commodore in 1977. Innovations in travel occurred with the new Concorde supersonic airplane.

Along with the promise of progress and change, tragedy still occurred. Music fans mourned the premature drug-related death of Elvis Presley, demonstrating that pain and suffering affected even the rich and famous. These cultural events and themes flavored the initial theories of Chiron.

Chiron in the Natal Chart

By 1989, Clow and Reinhart published books with case studies and cookbook-style interpretations for Chiron by sign, house, and aspect. Reinhart revised and updated her book in 2009; others are now on the marketplace. Chiron can be delineated in natal charts and works like other planetary bodies by transit and progression. Reinhart and Stein offer guidance for psychologically focused interpretation, while Tahir produced an accessible self-help Chiron book for astrology beginners. (8)

Interpreting Chiron brings up the question of essential dignity. Some astrologers, such as Clow, give Chiron rulership of Virgo. (9) Stein disagrees, writing about Chiron as a hybrid comet,

I really don’t think a giant ball of dirty ice is qualified to wear the title of ‘ruling planet.’

Instead, he associates Chiron with a symbolic process from Virgo, Libra, and Scorpio to Sagittarius. (10) Similarly, Reinhart has a complex view of Chiron’s strength in different signs based on long-term cycles. She declares that Chiron is powerful in Sagittarius with sensitive degrees in Libra and Aries. (11)

Several planetary cycles mark critical adult developmental periods, and many astrologers include the Chiron Return (age 50-51). The Chiron Return follows the first Saturn Return (around age 30) and the mid-life transits (age 38-43) of Pluto square Pluto, Neptune square Neptune, and Uranus opposite Uranus. Reinhart suggests that the Chiron Return is a time of reflection and rebirth, preparing a person for the second Saturn Return (around age 58-60). (12) It often coincides with the menopausal transition for women. (13)

Other Astrological Applications for Chiron

Beyond individual interpretation and forecasting, Chiron is used in other branches of astrology.

Relationship Astrology

Like other planetary bodies, Chiron is used in relationship astrology by examining synastry and composite charts. Greene reports,

Chiron is found forming close synastry aspects in the charts of people involved in significant relationships of every kind.” (14)

She compares Chiron to Saturn, where unconscious issues prompt opportunities for transformation and suffering through relationships. Greene discusses examples using couples, families, and generational groups by Chiron sign.

Mundane Astrology

The historical and cultural topics associated with Chiron's discovery still resonate in mundane astrology. Reinhart and other early authors described Chiron’s role in events related to healing practices, mass traumas, threats to life, and disenfranchisement. Astrologers like Brian Clark have written about how Chiron interacts with other outer planets to shape collective experiences. Chiron is involved with wounds, suffering, health, and healing issues through natural causes and human action. (15)

Financial Astrology

Chiron’s role in economic and financial development is an area ripe for research. Early indications are that Chiron may represent a point of crisis or change. Financial astrologer Ray Merriman reported several major recessions when Chiron joined the Lunar Nodes. On X (formerly Twitter), Merriman said he became interested in Chiron as a market indicator after Eleanore Charrez and Ali Atlas, Merriman Market Timing Academy graduates, found strong correlations between Chiron stations and Spanish IBEX market reversals. (16)

Locational Astrology

Stein introduced Chiron’s influences on locational astrology, describing impacts on the Chiron AS, DS, MC, and IC lines related to personal health and well-being, healing, helping, teaching, and learning. (17) Other experts like Moses Siregar report distinctive results with Chiron lines. Siregar wrote:

When Chiron reflects positive experiences in locational astrology, we see an engagement around healing, coaching, and unique specialized skills used to help others. These can be both personal explorations of these topics and professional applications and success. But Chiron has to be considered warily in the majority of cases, as there's no shortage of people who report gut-wrenching experiences while living in places with an emphasis on Chiron, whether seemingly unfair events that rip our hearts out and then change our course, or medical issues such as problems with doctors. Like any tougher or more typically ‘malefic' actor, Chiron can, in ideal cases, be harnessed appropriately but always has the potential to challenge us profoundly, as well. He works best for those interested in holistic wellness and personal growth, healing, and specialization in alternative or eco-friendly skills. (18)

Horary Astrology

Horary is a branch of astrology that often adheres to strict, traditional guidelines. It is a divination method where an astrologer casts and interprets the chart to answer an important and timely question. Stein proposes that Chiron is a valuable symbol, with testimonies from colleagues who agree it can add helpful insight to horary questions.19 Further exploration in this area may be fruitful.

As we approach the Golden Anniversary of Chiron’s discovery, the centaur has come a long way toward integration into astrology practices. Many astrologers find Chiron a necessary or useful symbol for natal charts. Chiron’s role in specialized astrology practices and techniques is evolving and holds promise for insight into the individual and collective experience.

References:
(1) Stein, Z. (2020). Chiron - Healer and Wholemaker. Self-published.
(2) Greene, L. (2023). Chiron in Love: The Astrology of Envy, Rage, Compassion & Wisdom. The Wessex Astrologer.
(3) Clow, B.H. (2017). Chiron: Rainbow Bridge Between the Inner & Outer Planets (2nd Ed.) Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.
(4) Greene, L. (2023). Chiron in Love: The Astrology of Envy, Rage, Compassion & Wisdom. The Wessex Astrologer. p. 24
/5) Greene, (2023).
(6) Clow, (2017).
(7) Wikipedia contributors, "Prosperity theology," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Prosperity_theology&oldid=1180201203 (accessed November 11, 2023).
(8) Tahir, L. (2020).  The Chiron Effect: Healing our Core Wounds through Astrology, Empathy & Self-Forgiveness. Bear & Company.
(9) Clow, (2017).
(10) Stein, (2020). p.153
(11) Reinhart, M. (2009). Chiron and the Healing Journey (3rd Ed).  Starwalker Press.
(12) Reinhart, (2009).
(13) Bell, V. (2017). Midlife is Not a Crisis: Using Astrology to Thrive in the Second Half of Life. Weiser Books.
(14) Greene (2023), p. 71.
(15) Clark, B. (2023). The Jupiter-Chiron cycle - Weaving the ways of wisdom. Retrieved from https://www.astro.com/astrology/faa_article230327_e.htm
(16) Merriman, R. [@mmacycles]. (2023, Nov 1) Recession and Nodes. First study showed low frequency of recessions when lunar north node in late Gemini - mid-Pisces. [Tweet] https://twitter.com/mmacycles/status/1719504504025227521
(17) Stein (2020).
(18) Personal correspondence with Moses Siregar III (2023). His website is https://www.astrologyforthesoul.com/
(19) Stein, (2020).

Published in: The Evolving Astrologer, December 2023.

Author:
Denise Hancock is a nurse and professional astrologer based in New Orleans, Louisiana. She brings the benefits of a full life experience to her client work, with a successful career spanning finance, healthcare, education, and management positions. Denise holds a Ph.D. in Nursing and B.S. degrees in both Nursing and Economics. Clients love her compassionate pragmatism. She is the Senior Editor for The Evolving Astrologer magazine and the New Orleans Astrology Meetup group organizer. Learn more about Denise and her work at http://www.astrologywithdenise.com.  You can find her on X/Twitter and Instagram @legendarydenise.

© 2024 - Denise Hancock - The Evolving Astrologer

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