QUIRON

On 1 November 1977, the American astronomer Charles Kowal discovered a small planet with an
extraordinary orbit. A couple of weeks later, this planet was named Chiron. There are hundreds of asteroids in
our Solar system - many of them bigger than this new object, with an estimated diameter of, at most, 160 km.
However, Chiron's orbit, positioned between Saturn and Uranus, is unique. Chiron takes about 50 years for a
complete revolution and at times leans strongly towards both Saturn and Uranus. His path is unstable, as he has
probably only been travelling along it for a couple of thousand years, and will probably only be there for a
couple of thousand more. In 1991, Chiron was classified as a captured comet. Astronomers don't completely
agree on whether Chiron is an asteroid or a comet, so he can be found in the catalogues for both. His position
can be reliably calculated for the period between 1500 B.C. and 4000 A.D. only, beyond this period, any
calculation must be considered uncertain.
The position of Chiron's orbit, placed between Saturn and Uranus, is rather special. In spite of all attempts at
classification, Chiron has, as it were, taken on the role of a planet. His path is severely eccentric, like that of
Pluto, so that he occasionally crosses the orbits of both Saturn and Uranus. Most astrologers regard him as a sort
of "mediator" between these two, and as a link between the "Guardian of the Spheres" (Saturn) and the outer
planets. Accordingly, Chiron is said to have both a Saturnian and a Uranian influence. Before Chiron was
defined as a captured comet, he was regarded as an errant asteroid, far from the "herd", or belt, of the other
asteroids between Mars and Jupiter, a loner and rebel, going his own way. The key-shaped glyph shown above
has become widely accepted, and is part of the basis for interpretation - Chiron is regarded as a key to the outer
planets, as well as to those spheres of life shown by his role in classical mythology.
According to myth, Chronos ( Saturn ) once became inflamed with passion for the nymphe Philyra. His wife,
Rhea, caught him in the act, whereupon he turned himself into a stallion and fled. The centaur Chiron was the
fruit of this union, a creature half man and half horse. Philyra was filled with aversion, when she saw this child,
so she asked Zeus to turn her into a linden tree. Later on, Chiron lived in a grotto on Mount Pelion, teaching
young heros the martial arts, the art of the chase, as well as music. His most famous students were Achilles and
Asclepios. The end of his story is full of symbolic meaning: Unintentionally, he was wounded by a poisoned
arrow belonging to his friend, Hercules. Being immortal, Chiron lived on with the terrible, incurable wound.
When Prometheus was to be punished, Chiron offered to die in his stead. This sacrifice of his own immortality
delivered him from torment.
Chiron is a creature both animal and human, combining the dark, natural, instinctive parts with the rational.
Astrologically, he represents wisdom, patience and mastery over the inner darkness. Due to his own incurable
wound, he has intimate knowledge of suffering, in all its forms. This enables him to tap a deep well of wisdom
from within, to ease the pain of others. Because Chiron is not really on the same level as the "classical" planets,
aspects to him are not shown in our chart drawings.

Pholus and Others

After 1992, Chiron was no longer the only small object in our outer Solar system. A number of asteroids were
discovered between Saturn and Neptune. The first of these was named after the second-most prominent centaur,
Pholus. Accordingly, this group of small asteroids is known as "The Centaurs". Apart from the Centaurs,
another small planet was discovered in the area around and beyond Pluto, and beyond this, a new, great belt of
small asteroids, probably consisting of more objects than the main belt, between Mars and Jupiter. Probably,
Pluto himself should be considered a member of this group, in spite of being much bigger than the rest.
The outer extremes of Pholus' path cross the orbits of both Saturn and Neptune. Just as Chiron is considered an
astrological key to Saturn and Uranus, so Pholus is a key to Neptune. His average distance from the Sun is a
little greater than that of Uranus, a complete revolution takes 92 years. In myth, Pholus guards the centaurs'
vines, the wine from these being the actual cause for the battle between Hercules and the Centaurs. Like Chiron,
Pholus becomes embroiled in the battle by chance, and dies due to a tragic coincidence - while curiously
inspecting one of Hercules' poisoned arrows, he is mortally wounded.
According to first astrological observations, Pholus gives unusual ability in a particular area, or unexpected
results, due to a gift for experiment. Pholus' transits over the main axes of a chart, often mark radical and
unexpected change, hinted at by his sudden and unexpected death in the myth.
Literature
Erminie Lantero, The Continuing Discovery of Chiron, Samuel Weiser Inc. (1983), 189 pages, ISBN 0-
87728-549-7. A detailed and well-founded aid to interpretation based on a symbolic and archetypal approach.
Melanie Reinhart, Chiron and the Healing Journey, Penguin USA (paper), ISBN 0140195734,
recommended.
Robert v. Heeren und Dieter Koch, Pholus. Wandler zwischen Saturn und Neptun, Chiron Verlag, Mössingen
-------------------------------

CHIRON ~ An Overview by Candy Hillenbrand

I have been working with Chiron since 1985 when I first discovered that it occupied the same degree as my
natal Moon. How could I ignore it? I have since devoured everything I could find on the subject. For me, it has
been important to survey all the available literature, as well as observing Chiron in my own chart and in the
charts of others.
For years I could find little information on this curious planetoid/asteroid/comet and had to make do with a
small pamphlet by Zane Stein called "Interpreting Chiron" until Barbara Hand Clow's and Melanie Reinhart's
books appeared in 1987 and 1989 respectively. I found Clow's book totally fascinating at first read, but over
time have found Reinhart's book to be the most useful in my own work.
Richard Nolle has also written an excellent book on Chiron subtitled "The Key to your Quest" and Zane Stein's
website on the internet is a great place to visit for those interested in Chiron. Joyce Mason from California has
also contributed much to my understanding of Chiron. For a number of years she co-edited a Newsletter
devoted to all matters Chironic called "Chironicles". Chironicles has now ceased publication but back editions
and bound volumes are still available.
More recently, well-known English astrologer and psychotherapist, Liz Greene, has begun incorporating
Chiron in her work, and some of her very astute insights can be found in her co-authored books with Howard
Sasportas: "The Luminaries" and "The Inner Planets" and her own books: "The Astrological Neptune and the
Quest for Redemption", and "Barriers and Boundaries - The Horoscope and the Defences of the Personality".
Archetypal Chiron Meanings and Keywords
There are a number of archetypal meanings for Chiron. I don't find any of these contradictory but rather
representative of the different faces of Chiron. As a healer, I have particularly resonated with the Wounded
Healer archetype. I first became interested in healing in 1977 at the precise time of Chiron's discovery. Before I
even knew about Chiron, I felt drawn towards emotional healing, in particular flower essence healing. My exact
Moon (emotional) Chiron (healing) conjunction is an apt metaphor for this interest. My personal approach to
astrology is also therapeutic. I have always been interested in combining the modalities of astrology and healing
and looking at the birth chart from a healing perspective. My Moon/Chiron is in Aquarius and exactly opposes
Uranus. I have learned much about Chiron through observing it in my own chart.
Not surprisingly, many of my clients are also interested in healing and often feel wounded in some deep way. I
think it is a truism that we attract those to us who most resonate with what we have to offer. In this respect, I am
well aware that my own approach to Chiron may be a rather subjective one and limited by the experiences and
stories of my own clients.
Overall, I have found that the natal placement of Chiron often points to an area of life where we feel a sense of
wounding. Some examples: with Sun/Chiron aspects I have seen women who felt wounded by their fathers;
with Moon/Chiron, a sense of being wounded by the mother or experiencing the wounding of the mother by
another, a sense of empathising with the mother's pain. I think 'wounding' is a very general term and covers all
sorts of experiences of rejection, abandonment, deprivation, emotional pain, inner suffering, loss, and so on.
One client with Chiron in 5th opposite the Sun (and Leo rising) felt that her creative self was wounded. She
grew up in a very Victorian and 'religious' household (Chiron in Sagittarius) where fun and play were frowned
upon. As an adult she has sought to develop her creativity in many and varied ways. She is a healer, counsellor
and teacher who has worked with disturbed children (5th) using art therapy as her primary modality. She
teaches people to contact their own inner voice through creative writing and art, and a big focus in her classes is
on having fun and accessing one's own creativity. She believes everyone is creative.
This example serves to demonstrate an important facet of Chiron - where we feel wounded is where we seek
healing, and from this place is also where we seek to help or heal others. It is here that we pass on what we have
learned from our own painful experiences. It is here where we access our own core of compassion towards
others. This is a common experience in the healing arena. Witness how, for example, those who can most help
drug addicts or survivors of violence, are those who have been there themselves. The wound is also the gift we
can offer to others.
Liz Greene points out that Chiron's wound was accidental (according to some versions of the myth) and that
astrologically it reflects a more collective wounding. No-one is to blame and there is a sense of unfairness to the
suffering involved. I would certainly agree with the unfairness aspect of the wounding. However, I have also
found numerous examples of a particularly focal Chiron, for example conjunct the angles, in the charts of
clients who have suffered sexual abuse, hardly examples of collective wounding.
Another important point about Chiron is that the wound is never healed completely. This insight is also drawn
from the myth of Chiron. The Chiron experience is a process and represents a journey towards increasing
healing and whole-ness. It is unrealistic to think that we can be healed of our pain forever, that there is a
miraculous cure for our suffering, or that we can even transcend our suffering. In the myth, Chiron the immortal
god was only released from his wound and its excruciating pain when he exchanged places with Prometheus,
the earthy Titan. In other words, he only found release from his pain in death. In the meantime, Chiron busied
himself fostering and teaching younger gods. He passed on to others his knowledge of healing, particularly the
use of healing herbs, astrology, warfare, hunting, music, ethics, and numerous other skills.
This is where we find some other archetypal meanings for Chiron. Obviously, not every astrologer has a healing
bent, nor does every client feel wounded or inclined to seek healing. Chiron's natal position can also symbolise
the teacher (inner and outer), the mentor, the philosopher, the shaman. Liz Greene says that the Chiron
experience of pain, because it can never be completely healed or fixed, forces us to become philosophical in
that area of life.
While many astrologers seem to focus more on the 'problem-solving' and 'fix-it' qualities of Chiron, others are
looking for deeper meanings. Joyce Mason has written about the 'whole-making' nature of Chiron and says that
the "inner marriage" of masculine/feminine is what Chiron is all about. Other astrologers have pointed to the
Chironic split between the animal (instinctual) and 'spiritual' aspects of man/woman. There seems to be a theme
of union, reconciliation and bridge-building with Chiron. This is aptly described by Hand Clow's symbol of
'The Rainbow Bridge'. Chiron, in its location between Saturn and Uranus, represents the bridge between the
inner 'personality' planets and the outer 'collective' planets, between the old and the new, the past and the future,
the Age of Pisces and the Age of Aquarius. Errol Weiner in 'Transpersonal Astrology' defines Chiron as
symbolic of the antahkarana, the link between the soul and the personality. Recently, New Zealand astrologer
Andre Donnell, in an article in 'The Wholistic Astrologer', has postulated a new way of looking at Chiron using
the keywords of reconstruction and reinvention.
I feel all of these approaches can be viewed as synonyms for 'healing' which literally means 'to make whole'.
There is a repetitive theme of repairing cleavages and integrating dualities.
Transits of Chiron
There is still a lot more to be learned about Chiron. As far as transits go, I look particularly at the Chiron cycle,
the squares, the opposition and the Chiron Return around age 50, and any conjunctions, squares and oppositions
of transiting Chiron to natal planets. What I have found is that at the time of transits of Chiron, we can
encounter the resurfacing of old wounds. I am personally not interested in prediction in an event-oriented
context because I find that so often a transit will coincide with an inner experience just as frequently as an
outer event, and sometimes it coincides with nothing at all! Chiron transits seem to provide opportunities for
accessing deeper parts of ourselves through this replaying of old wounds and equally, opportunities for healing
to occur. This can occur on physical and emotional levels.
A client, with transiting Chiron conjunct natal Sun, met a man who helped her to contact her suppressed
creativity (natal Chiron in 5th quincunx Sun). She fell in love, became pregnant, and then he abandoned her.
This reactivated her old feelings of abandonment by her father who was often absent during her childhood and
also died of a heart attack (the Sun rules the heart) at the young age of 42. The gift for her has been the birth of
the much-wanted child. You can see here the repetition of the 5th house themes of creativity, falling in love,
children.
I discovered an interesting titbit from Barbara Hand Clow in her book "Liquid Light of Sex - Understanding
your Key Life Passages". She writes that at 30, at the Saturn Return we form; at 40 at the Uranus oppositon, we
transform; and at 50, at the Chiron Return, we transmute.
The Question of Rulership
There is much debate on the question of rulerships. Some favour Virgo (Hand Clow), others Sagittarius
(Reinhart), still others Libra and Scorpio. Some astrologers, notably Joyce Mason and more recently Zane
Stein, have put forward the theory that Chiron rules NO one sign, but rather ALL of these signs, that it describes
a process which begins with Virgo, passing through Libra, Scorpio, and ending with Sagittarius. The idea is that
in Virgo we become aware of our wound and embark on the healing process. In Libra, we seek balance and
healing often through consulting an other. In Scorpio, we pass through the fires of transformation in the process
of healing, and in Sagittarius, we have come through the other end, older, wiser, more philosophical and
prepared to impart our wisdom to others. This seems to describe to me the process of movement from Wounded
One to Teacher and Mentor.
Personal Thoughts
I personally like the keyword reconciliation. In the glyph of Chiron we see a KEY, and symbolically I feel
Chiron represents the key not only to personal healing, but to global healing. Perhaps in Chiron lies the key to
healing our wounded and suffering planet. We heal the wounds of the past, both personal and collective,
through a process of internal and external reconciliation. This process takes place not only within ourselves, but
also between ourselves and others, between nations, between races, between black and white, between men and
women. The key to reconciliation would seem to embrace the qualities of acceptance, tolerance, integration,
forgiveness, love and compassion.
Before I included Chiron in chart work, I felt that something was missing. Once I started including Chiron, I
noticed that a chart would come more alive for me. The pieces began to fit together. It was as if I had found the
key to integrating the chart. Here I could find clues to working with and resolving some of the very real
problems faced by my clients. I don't see Chiron as just-another-asteroid, or even as a conventional planet with
its own rulership. Like the physical body which scientists believe emerged from outside our solar system and
will eventually leave, its insertion into the chart during these millennial times may offer some valuable insight
into the nature of our personal and planetary purpose.

--------------------------

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 Chiron’s 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 mind-body-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 Chiron-associated words. Look at the charts of
healers and mentors, and you’ll 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 1985—55 years after its discovery—the 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 worthwhile—what 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
-------------

LILITH

In the beginning was the Great Goddess, and the Goddess was the Earth, and the Earth was the Goddess. The
origins of the cult of the Great Goddess lie hidden in the dim twilight of prehistoric time. The Goddess ruled
for hundreds of thousands of years. In the course of time, the Mother-Goddess was overthrown and driven
under, and the triumph of the most patriarchal of archetypes - Jahwe, God the Father, Allah - was complete in
the Judaic, Christian and Moslem worlds. It was only in the tamed form of Mary, Mother of God, that some
aspects of the Mother Goddess were permitted to survive. Various Black Madonnas in ancient sanctuaries still
bear witness to her.
The figure of Lilith represents one aspect of the Great Goddess. In ancient Babylon, she was worshipped as
Lilitu, Ischtar or Lamaschtu. Jewish mythology already puts her into darker realms - an evil Demon of the
night, a fitting mate for Satan, lying in wait for men, and killing children.
 The Astronomical Lilith The Moon travels along an elliptical path around the Earth. An ellipse has two focal
points, and the other focal point, not occupied by the Earth has been called the Dark Moon, the Black Moon or
Lilith. This is a slightly simplified definition, since, actually, the Moon and the Earth both move around their
common centre of gravity, and the path of the Moon is not a neat ellipse, but a rather wobbly affair. One must
distinguish between the mean orbit of the Moon, which is a slowly elongating ellipse, and the actual orbit,
which vaccilates around the mean path, due to interference of various kinds. Just as there a "mean" and a "true"
Lunar Node, so there is a "mean" and a "true" ellipse and a "mean" and a "true" Lilith. I write "true" in
inverted commas, because the Moon's Node is only "true" about twice per month, when the Moon is actually
on it, for the rest of the time, it is as "untrue" as the mean Node. In fact, when working with a point so close to
the Earth, one should also take the great parallax into consideration, i.e. consider, from which point on the
Earth one is actually looking at a point in the heavens. Astrology observes the planets geocentrically, as if from
the Earth's centre, and not topocentrically, from the actual place of the observer.
or that point in the orbit farthest from the Earth. Both these points, the apogee and the second focal point, lie on the
they lie in the same direction, and therefore occupy the same place in the zodiac. The second focal point lies at a
0´000 km. Apart from this, both definitions can be regarded as being equivalent. Because the orbit of the Moon
c at about 40° per year. A complete revolution takes 8 years and 10 months.

Interpreting Lilith
"During my years of astrological practice, I have come to use the Dark Moon in all my chart analyses, as a
complement to interpretating the Moon. It would never occur to me to neglect this influence. The Dark Moon
describes our relationship to the absolute, to sacrifice as such, and shows how we let go. In transit, the Dark
Moon indicates some form of castration or frustration, frequently in the areas of desire, a powerlessness of the
psyche, or a general inhibition. On the other hand, it shows where we question ourselves, our lives, our jobs,
and our beliefs. I feel this is important, since it gives us the opportunity to "let go" of something. The Dark
Moon shows where we can let the Whole flow into our selves, without putting an "I" in the way, without putting
up a wall in the form of ego. At the same time, it doesn't indicate passivity - on the contrary - it symbolizes the
firm will to be open and trusting, to let the Greater World flow through one, relying entirely on the great laws
of the universe, on that which we name God. To prepare us for this opening, the Dark Moon creates a
necessary void."