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Holistic Astrology: Chiron - StarIQ.com

Just weeks after its discovery by scientists in 1977, a new planet found its way into astrology. It
was named Chiron, after the famous surgeon and healer of Greek mythology. Though the
majority of astrologers don't use Chiron in their charts, its themes have had an undeniable effect
on astrology, providing us with the most spiritually-oriented planetary influence since Neptune,
and guiding astrology to the level of a holistic healing art.
But What Does It Mean?
At the time of Chiron's discovery, there were, of course, no books on its meaning. There were
neither records from Arabic, Greek or Latin texts, nor instructions for how to deal with a "new
planet"a concept that was undreamed of until the discovery of Uranus in 1781.
Around the time of Chirons discovery, something else happened that provided first clues to the
meaning of Chiron: the emergence of holistic consciousness in popular culture. We take for
granted that you can stroll into a health food store and buy kava kava, ginseng or colloidal silver,
or get some Reiki for your migraine. Back then, people were, after years of philosophical
discussion of "holism" among intellects and occultists, beginning to dig deeper into the mindbody-spirit connection.
Chiron's translation from Greek is "one who has hands." Massage therapy, acupuncture and
other hands-on arts began to surface around the time Chiron entered astrology. The chiropractic
profession won a lengthy federal lawsuit against the medical establishment (Wilk vs. American
Medical Association), granting chiropractors the right to exist in the medical field as primary
caregivers, protected from the degrading comments of conventional M.D.s they had long
endured.
A New Kind of Astrology
A new planet is an unknown, and it was the mystery of Chiron that provided much of its power.
Around the quest to understand what this planet means, a new kind of astrology has grown up:
one that asks questions, listens to clients, does research and looks outside the box of
conventional teachings. Much early information came from astrologers such as Zane Stein,
Richard Noelle, Al Morrison and Barbara Hand Clow casting Chiron into the charts of clients they
knew, studying transits in comparison to life events and deducing its meaning. Teachers were
learning from their students, and though these early writings have provided a base of
information, they strongly encouraged new astrologers to keep asking questions.
The first clue to Chiron's theme actually came from an astronomer, Dr. Brian Marsden, who
termed it a "maverick" because it did not fit any typical scientific definitions. Chiron was a
hundred times too large to be a conventional comet, but not as big as Pluto, so it wasn't really a
planet in the previous sense. An asteroid-sized object located far outside of the asteroid belt, its
elongated 51-year path (far longer than most asteroids, which orbit in about four years) crossed

inside Saturn's orbit, and extended out to Uranus (a considerable variation). It broke all the rules.
People with a strong Chiron placement (angular or aspecting many planets) are almost always
mavericks, too. Chester Wilk, the gutsy and persistent chiropractor who sued the all-powerful
medical establishment, is a great example, with Chiron on his Midheaven, the Tenth
House cusp. Strong Chiron-types must be different as a matter of survival. Yet often, their
greatest contributions come as a result of a long personal struggle. Wilk's lawsuit, for example,
lasted more than ten years.
The second keyword was "bridge." Chiron serves as a connecting point between different
worlds. A direct link between the eccentric, unpredictable, futuristic and inventive world of
Uranus (pure energy), and the traditional, structured, predictable and past-oriented world of
Saturn (pure form), Chironic people often strive to ground new ideas into existing forms, and
bring structure to innovative ideas.
Astrologers also turned to mythology, where Chiron was a great healer and teacher. The French
word "chirurgerie" means surgery, and Chiron was the teacher of Aesclepius, the Greek god of
medicine (incidentally, early forms of chiropractic were called "Aesclepian manipulation"). Chiron
taught ethics, music, combat arts, battlefield medicine and healing arts to a generation of Greek
heroes, including Jason and Heracles. "Mentor" and "multitalented" joined the list of Chironassociated words. Look at the charts of healers and mentors, and youll surely find something
interesting going on with Chiron.
Chiron and Pluto
To understand Chiron, it helps to understand something about Pluto, which represents the
growth we experience by enduring the most necessary and at times painful life lessons, and
integrating what we now call "shadow stuff."
Consider that at the time of Chiron's discovery in 1977, just one obscure book had been written
about Pluto, which was discovered 47 years earlier (Fritz Brunhubner's book on Pluto was
written in 1934, but went unpublished in English for 32 years). As late as the early '70s, the
longitude of Pluto was not even listed in Raphael's Ephemeris. The first widely-read statement
of Pluto's meaning was published in a 1973 pamphlet by Isabel Hickey. Finally, in 198555
years after its discoverythe first popular book on Pluto appeared, written by Jeff Green, the
same year that Zane Stein came out with Essence and Application: A View from Chiron , the
first book about Chiron in English.
This is an interesting cultural metaphor about how these planets work, and work together. You
could say that Pluto, after its discovery, went largely ignored or denied, both by astrologers, and
by the world. Jeff Green describes it as an "unconscious process." Indeed, less than three years
after the discovery of Pluto, Hitler came to power, and began the Holocaust eight days later, but
America did not get involved in the war against him until 1941.
Chiron takes these same lessons with full awareness and a sense of immediacy, serving as the
conscious side of the evolutionary process. The easiest way to use Chiron is by viewing it as
part of a system with Pluto. Pluto provides the deepest inner movements that bring the strongest
lessons. Chiron offers the awareness that those lessons are necessary, meaningful and
worthwhilewhat you could truly call "spiritual awareness." Consider that before Chiron, there
was no planetary energy that specifically represented healing. Isn't that strange? But now we
have Chiron, and by using its natal placement and transits, we work on a level where astrology
is raised to the level of a holistic art and a spiritual science.