Here’s what to know about your Chiron sign and what it says about you. Chiron orbits between two intensely oppositional planets—uptight, restrictive Saturn and liberated, revolutionary Uranus—and serves as a metaphysical mediator. It asks questions like: Where do we hold ourselves back (Saturn), and where can we be destructively rebellious (Uranus)? We must understand both extremes in order to find 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. There are now talks of calling Chiron a dwarf planet, like his brother, karmic Pluto. But whatever his planetary pedigree, understanding his balancing influence can be downright medicinal. Chiron is named after a Greek healer, philosopher, and teacher who, ironically, could not heal himself, and is symbolized by a key, demonstrating the importance of unlocking this minor planet’s major lessons. In many ways, our Chiron placement is our secret power. As we grapple with pain, we gain wisdom that we can pass onto others like a magical salve. Chiron generally stays in a single zodiac sign for eight years. (However, 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 approximately 49 years to journey through all 12 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 in the past. 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. Healing Gifts: Empowering people to embrace their individuality, channeling anger into creative expression, fearless individuality, modeling independence Healing Gifts: Creating serene environments, savvy financial planning, holding down the fort during turbulent times, calm in the storm, practical magic, teaching/modeling traditional wisdom Healing Gifts: Play-based learning, communication arts, cooperation and mediation, using wit and humor as a tool for connection, putting people at ease, inclusivity Healing Gifts: Creating a safe haven for community, empowering women, nutritional wisdom/nourishing with food, savvy financial planning Healing Gifts: Empowering others through authentic self-expression, playfulness, healthy hedonism, using the arts to uplift and spread a positive message Healing Gifts: Creating structures to help people improve their lives (from home organization to wellness), being a storehouse of practical wisdom, creating empowering media Healing Gifts: Fostering peaceful communication and harmonious compromises, diplomacy, creating beauty and heart-opening experiences, being a messenger for Cupid Healing Gifts: Soul-deep sexual healing, alchemy (turning “trash” into treasure), helping people through extreme life passages such as births, deaths, and other transitions Healing Gifts: Revealing higher truths with compassion, fostering diversity and inclusivity, creating conscious media, laughter as medicine Healing Gifts: Levelheaded leadership, environmental consciousness, utilizing resources to provide for everyone Healing Gifts: Social justice/activism, fostering utopian communities and a sharing economy both online and IRL, uplifting idealism Healing Gifts: Helping people let go of limiting beliefs, spiritual and esoteric leadership, psychic powers, helping people live out their fantasies
