What are your healing gifts? If we all come into this life to grow and evolve, we can't expect everything to come easily to us. The stuff that hurts the most is often the catalyst that propels us to grow in the most important ways. Think about your first ever heartbreak. Yes, it felt like the freshest hell imaginable; maybe you walked around like a zombie for days or felt unable to see any joy in the world. But as you started to embrace the experience as a lesson (instead of a cruel punishment), you grew stronger and wiser. You became more compassionate to the human experience and gained more insight into your own emotional layers.  

​According to Newton's Third Law, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Without heartbreak can we really understand the heart-opening experience of true love? Enter Chiron—who's been called everything from a comet to a minor planet to an asteroid by astronomers—and is called "the wounded healer" by astrologers. Understanding your Chiron sign can reveal your core wound in this lifetime, and also hold the key to unlocking your personal superpower.  

​According to Greek mythology, Chiron was a healer, philosopher and teacher who, ironically, could not heal himself. Chiron’s placement in the chart can reveal a core wound that may take a lifetime to work through. But don’t distress: our Chiron placement is also our secret power! As we grapple with pain, we gain wisdom that we can pass on to others like a magical salve. In fact, the symbol for Chiron is shaped like a key since unlocking his powers opens up a portal to deep, inner peace. 

​Chiron orbits between two intensely oppositional planets—uptight, restrictive Saturn and liberated, revolutionary Uranus. His role as the metaphysical mediator can help us synthesize the energy of both. Where do we hold ourselves back (Saturn) and where can we be destructively rebellious (Uranus)? We must understand both extremes in order to discover the middle ground. In Astrology and the Rising of Kundalini, author Barbara Hand Clow refers to Chiron as the “rainbow bridge” between Saturn and Uranus. Aptly named, since integrating the full spectrum of emotions is the key to wholeness. 

​While Chiron generally stays in a single zodiac sign for eight years, when he enters Saturn’s orbit, he can buzz through a single sign in under two years. (It’s up to him whether he wants to undergo outpatient surgery or opt for a longer course of therapy.)

Since Chiron takes approximate 49 years to journey through all twelve zodiac signs, we all go through a “Chiron return” near our 50th birthdays. At this point, our core wounds may rear up for another round of therapy, especially if we’ve resisted doing any deeper self-examination. Of course, there’s always farther to go! Between ages 49-51, the “Chiron return” (when Chiron returns to the sign it was in when you were born) will certainly insist upon soul searching. If we’ve “done our work” we may be called into leadership roles that allow us to spread our wisdom and flex our healing gifts at this time.