Pop culture comments on Chiron

The Cut is trying to help people understand astrology. Oh no.

What if I told you most pop culture articles about astrology are oversimplifications of complex processes in order to give you a watered-down version of what astrology is and how it works, which is one of the reasons that people don’t really get it and think it doesn’t actually work? I own 4 books on Chiron. I’ve watched multiple videos about Chiron. I understand the myth of Chiron. I still don’t 100% understand Chiron, the planetoid oversimplified as the “wounded healer.” The myth is easy to google if you want to know why they call it that, or you can read the article and get a very basic understanding.

Part of the problem with Chiron is it was discovered in 1977. We’ve not had a lot of time to observe the impacts of the planetoid since we figured out it was there and was doing something specific. Another issue with it is that it’s sometimes closer to us than Saturn and sometimes farther away from us, over by Uranus. Saturn’s a conscious planet, and there’s a theory that I like that states that those born with Chiron on the closer-than-Saturn side have conscious access to the functions of Chiron, while those with Chiron on the Uranus side do not (Uranus is a subconscious planet). This would actually make sense. I recommend Melanie Reinhart’s books if you want to know more (it’s her theory I just referenced), specifically the one called “Chiron, Pholus, and Nessus.” Per Reinhart, Chiron can be consciously accessed when it’s in Leo through Scorpio, more or less. For everyone else, it’s less conscious.

In order to understand the function of anything in your chart, you have to understand its placement by sign, by house, and by whether it is in aspect to anything else in your chart, which means that you have to apply common sense. You want to know the best way to know what something does in your chart? Observe what happens when various transiting planets hit it. Or! Observe what happens when someone close to you has some stuff in their chart making aspects to whatever it is you’re curious about. Elsa of elsaelsa.com, for example, says that people with their Mars conjunct your Chiron can have the habit of not-literally stabbing you where you already feel wounded. I hung out for a while with someone whose Mars was conjunct my Chiron. It was not good for my self-esteem, but it taught me a lot about my sensitivities.

I don’t disagree with the article on The Cut that says that Chiron is a wounded healer, and it CAN actually make you a good therapist in the area indicated by house and sign as well as aspects to the thing, but pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease do not simply read “Chiron in Aries = fear of failure. How to remedy it = teamwork over competition” and then sign up to be on every available team to fix your Chiron. Teamwork is an Aquarius or a Libra thing, not an Aries thing, so it’s bad advice. Pithy oversimplifications like this drive me batshit. (The entire breakdown of what Chiron means by sign is pretty bad.)

Chiron doesn’t get fixed. Chiron is a low-self-esteem point of sensitivity that learns to get lived with. Any challenging planet in your chart invites you to get better at handling the energy indicated by its placement by house, sign, and aspect, because it’s your energy. You can get better at all sorts of things, especially if you’re not worried about being a perfect representation of whatever that thing is. But trust me when I say that Chiron does not contain the key to your salvation, but rather, it’s one of many keys available to help you understand what makes you tick…and what doesn’t.

🤓,J