In astrology, we have planets, but we also have asteroids. Working with the asteroids is powerful because they focus in on the details. Chiron is one of the more widely known asteroids and is associated with its Greek mythology centaur counterpart that was later cast up into the sky to describe our deepest wound.
Chiron is most popularly called “the wounded healer” and there is much discourse on this. Many complain that this is a basic way to describe him, but that’s because we often don’t offer more explanation to that title.
Chiron in a birth chart explains how you have been deeply hurt and how you heal others through this wound. No one can ever experience such a horrible hurt like this in the way that you do (especially when considering houses and aspects beyond just the sign it’s in) and no one will heal others through understanding this specific hurt like you can. Chiron hurts. It isn’t pretty or fun to talk about, but this understanding of yourself can help the healing process.
This asteroid stays in each sign for about 4 years, which alludes to an element of generational trauma. The only two signs that Chiron stays in for more than this is Pisces and Aries where it stays for 8 years at a time, while it spends only 2 years in Virgo and Libra.
I think this is one of the most interesting aspects of Chiron. I wonder, does it stay so long in Aries and Pisces because these are the first and last signs? Perhaps this is where there must be the most collective healing… meanwhile, it only stays in the opposite of these signs (Virgo and Libra) for two years. If you think about it, there is the most pain felt in the beginning and the ending of anything. When someone gives birth, there is pain. When someone dies, there is pain. Virgo and Libra are the healers and balancers of the zodiac and would likely harmonize with this energy well, while their opposites deal with pain around individualism and realism.
Look to where this is in your chart (sign and house) and also keep in mind the current energies as we currently have Chiron in Aries until June 2026 where we get a shadow period of Chiron in Taurus before it retrogrades back again for another 6 months or so.
Chiron in Aries or in the 1st house:
Your deepest wound is in the very essence of your being. You were taught that your anger is not allowed. For others around you, especially in childhood, they were allowed this anger and it was often directed your way. You have seen how blinding rage can destroy everything and the repression of this anger in yourself has resulted in the endangerment of The Self. Your personality, your outlook, your being was not accepted. Chiron is known for being abandoned by his mother. Perhaps you were abandoned for how you look, how you act, or maybe you abandoned yourself along the way through holding in the anger you deserved to feel all along. Repressing anger is also repressing who you are at your core. It says that you are not allowed to feel the way that you do… even though you do. Maybe you were pushed to be the best at everything, maybe who you are isn’t ever enough for anyone around you. When you choose to stand out or to do something your own way, this anger and aggression is directed at you. I am so sorry that you were never allowed to be fully you. There is nothing wrong with you.
How you heal others:
You heal by encouraging these things in others. Wherever you were not allowed to express individuality, an opinion, your anger, your outlook, what you want? You encourage this in other people. You are a hype man. You are the one screaming “Don’t get sad, GET ANGRY!” You evoke the anger in others that you were never allowed to feel. It’s like that scene in every cheesy movie where someone says “I just want to scream.” You are the person that says “WELL THEN SCREAM!” You let them express who they are without judging or comparing or minimizing. You allow and seek out different opinions and diverse appearances and stances and views. You celebrate others in their independence and you secretly wish you could have someone celebrate yours.
Chiron in Taurus or in the 2nd house:
Your deepest wound is around your value and self esteem. This corresponds to every single thing you put in and out of your body and the currency you use to obtain those things. Maybe you were picked apart for what you eat, what you wear, what you believe in and what you value. There is always pressure to conform, always pressure to restrict, always pressure to stay exactly the same. Always consistent. If you weren’t consistent enough, thin enough, bulky enough, fashionable enough, wealthy enough, poor enough, that meant that you were not enough. Your deepest wound is your enoughness. Your lovableness. Chiron in Taurus is also about superiority. Others will shove you down under their sharp heels, flexing their superiority, their titles, their money, their worth and making sure that you know you will never amount to anything. You strive to be contained and perfect and well mannered because there will always be someone over you, better than you. You accept underpayment, undereating, underdressing because you undervalue yourself and others undervalue you. I’m sorry that your body, your mind, and your soul were never enough for others. You were always enough, the whole damn time, even with the superiors breathing down your neck and forcing you to conform to their version of value.
How you heal others:
You always make sure others know that they are enough. You don’t judge others for what they consume and how much they make or what they wear. You know that their value is deeper than what could ever be seen on the outside. You heal with your cooking (if you’re into that), with your voice, with the money in your pockets. It doesn’t really matter what it is you physically heal with, but you heal because you spend the time and the energy on others. You know what a difference these things can make. You know that the more that you care for your things and for people, the more that you listen and nurture, the more that everything and everyone around you appreciates overtime. Growing and growing and growing each time you say a kind word or extend a helping hand. You know that they are worth that. You are the person that others feel safe with even if you were never afforded the space to feel safe with those around you.
Chiron in Gemini or in the 3rd house:
Your deepest wound often has to do with words. The person who came up with that saying “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me” must have been in some kind of sick denial. You know that experiment that scientists often do with plants? How they take two plants, twins in every way (same amount of sunlight, water, soil, nutrients), except for how they talk to each one. For one plant they’ll say lovely things like “You’re so beautiful” or “Good morning plant! I love you” meanwhile the other plant is plagued with ugly, nasty phrases and words and unkind tones (which aren’t even worth repeating here). You are that second plant. Hurtful words, little digs, wounding you more each day. You didn’t have the friendship or the companionship that you so fiercely desired and even if you did have someone, they were given better treatment, more opportunities to express themselves. You likely never got the chance to learn certain things or master a particular skill. While your best friend was in dance class, you were never included. So, now you don’t know how to dance. Learning always came in hand me downs, you’re the last to know, the last to feel heard, always feeling second best. I am so sorry that you were not listened to. You are more than others' perceptions of you.
How you heal others:
You really do listen. You take the time to slow down and teach despite a perceived inability or disability. You know how much your words can cut, so you try to think of the sweetest ones you can think of. You honor differing opinions and voices and skills and perceptions. You don’t belittle others when they vocalize their pain because you wish you could vocalize yours. You encourage others in their development of something. You don’t trash talk someone’s work of art, or their music video, or their essay because you know it’s probably a work in progress. You know that the more you sing their praises, the easier it is for them to grow and to change to develop. You act as another person’s sounding board because you know how important it is to feel heard even if you disagree. You are always a friend because you know what it’s like to be without one. You are the person who sits with the new kid at lunch and you don’t even get angry if they abandon you when they feel more comfortable in their surroundings. You know what it’s like to feel alone, so you never dare let others feel alone.
Chiron in Cancer or in the 4th house:
Your deepest wound is in the past. So, why is the space that houses your body still haunted? Chiron in Cancer is like that, a haunted house. You never feel totally safe. This is a major placement for familial trauma, abandonment, neglect, separation, loss. You may not resonate with where you come from or who raised you. You fear that you will become just like them or that you won’t live up to them. You long for a family. You wouldn’t care what they looked like or how they lived their lives as long as they could just hold you. You didn’t get to experience comfort the way that others did. It’s like, you go to school and you look around seeing all the other kids with their shiny lunchboxes, packed with yummy, home cooked meals and maybe a chocolate chip cookie. They pull out the notes that their parents wrote from them, telling them that they love them and that they hope they nourish their bodies the way they are supposed to be. Except when you look down at your own lunchbox that you packed yourself, you don’t have a cool lunchbox, in fact it’s just a paper bag with a cold sandwich in it and maybe an apple. There is no note, no cookie, and you struggle to get through each bite. You hope that it’s enough to quench your hunger for the rest of the day. I am so sorry that you were not given the loving care that you deserved. You should be swaddled in wool, you should have someone brush your hair, kiss you goodnight and most most most of all, someone should pack your lunch. Everyday.
How you heal others:
You are a mother hen. You really pay attention to the small things. You make everyone feel special in their own ways, just like a mother says she has no favorites among her children. You don’t just say that though, you mean it. You pay attention to each person like they have the most important things to say and you always have enough for everyone. You are the friend that stays sober so everyone else can party, you are the person who carries snacks and aspirin and an umbrella in their purse or their car or their pocket. You always make sure that others don’t have to feel uncomfortable or unsafe. You will always make sure that others stay warm and dry and well fed even though that was rarely your experience. You don’t make others feel bad for crying or for feeling, instead you hold them while they do this. You are someone’s 2 a.m. phone call because you know what it’s like to not have anyone to go to when you’re feeling unsafe in your own body. You are the kid that gives someone else half of their sandwich to make sure that they don’t go hungry (even though you are starving).
Chiron in Leo or in the 5th house:
Your deepest wound is in your childhood. You never got to be the kid that others got to be. Being seen was something you were made fun of for, your big childhood dreams were chalked up to unrealistic, your passions were “stupid” or maybe you were made to feel embarrassed for wanting any ounce of attention or validation. You were so wholly unrecognized for the things that you were actually good at, so much so that you probably put them away for good and became something more practical or accepted. You were never really accepted, were you? Oh and don’t get me started on sex and dating and crushes. Maybe you were the person who was made fun of for doodling someone’s name in your journal or shamed for painting your nails or expressing yourself in a way that made you feel vibrant. This is a placement that reminds me of toxic masculinity or toxic femininity because it’s what you thought you were supposed to be. Your deepest wound is in the performance. Putting on a false front because you so desperately want to be liked. You never found the people who would gladly pay to watch you do your thing for hours. You have a hard time standing out because that also puts your authenticity out there for the whole world to laugh at and judge. You are the person who tried out for a talent show, showing off something you had worked on for weeks, just to be recorded and mocked for an eternity afterwards. I am so sorry that you were never made to feel as special as you truly are. You are stardust.
How you heal others:
You give a round of applause for anyone who dares to be themselves. You find a kind thing to say about everyone. You recognize others for their talents and you really see them. Like really see them. You are an expert scout for people’s abilities and you spot them even before they realize them themselves. You give things a name, you validate, you see, you embrace. You don’t laugh when a child will tell you they want to be famous, you tell them that you know that they will. You let children be children. While children may never be able to heal you the way that you heal them, they may be a calming presence to be around all the same. You love to spoil others. If you have a partner, you probably dote on them. You shower them with attention and love and you pour out your sweet romantic heart to them because you were never given this recognition and love yourself. You don’t simply stop at providing for your family, you make it fun. You love to give others an experience they won’t forget, even though you feel easily forgettable. You honor another’s vulnerability and you hold onto it, hoping that one day it might fuel your own again.
Chiron in Virgo or in the 6th house:
Your deepest wound is in the realm of sacrifice. You expel any microscopic detail that doesn’t fit other people’s version of perfection. You sacrifice your humanness for others' desire for excellence. You probably have debilitating anxiety. Whether you define it this way or not, this anxiety lives in your body. It is conjured by the slightest change in someone’s tone or the tiniest sideways look. You might have deep wounds in your physical body and I promise that these are connected to your emotional body too. Others try to control you and your greatest wound is in the confines of control. It is easier to be controlled than to be yourself, because what if that isn’t enough? What happens if you give anything other than immaculate effort and work? You may have been physically hurt for this. You might have punished yourself for this, running some kind of penance just for being human. Just for being you. You sacrifice because you want to be helpful and useful and if you’re not any of those things? Well, you don’t deserve to take up space. Your deepest wound isn’t around giving, you know how to give and give and give. But do you know how to receive? You sacrifice daily, but you will refuse another’s sacrifice. Your wound has a lot to do with other people and the service that they expect from you. They never consider that their expectations are intrusive or sickening. You would give your right arm for someone else to be healthy when you, yourself are sick. I am so sorry that others have never given you the consideration and healing that you give them. You always deserved to be taken care of not just when you’re sick, but when you think you’re healthy too.
How you heal others:
You are chicken noodle soup. You’re soft going down and coming back up again. What you give and perceive as mundane or expected or mandatory, others see as a gift. You may think that you have to run yourself ragged giving others every last ounce of energy and effort that you have, meanwhile your very presence was always enough in the first place. You heal others just by being around. You might have an affinity for animals. The creatures who cannot speak, you understand anyway. You give a voice to the voiceless and you care for the careless. You will never know how the details you work so hard to master actually nurture and grow the world around you. You are so wholeheartedly accepting of others and their humanness, even when they are not of yours. Most of all, whatever your craft is, whatever you pour your heart and soul into every day. This heals above all else. You are the ultimate healer.
Chiron in Libra or in the 7th house:
Your deepest wound is in the injustice. Nothing was ever fair and you still had to put a big ole venusian smile on your face and play the part you needed to play. Not necessarily for yourself and your own comfort, but for others. This wound reminds me of a woman being told to “smile” by the dirtiest, sleaziest old man on the block. Your wound is not in being told to smile, but it is in the smiling itself. You may have felt you had to please others to keep yourself safe. You had to play nice to keep a diplomatic front and to save yourself (and perhaps others) from the scrutiny of the peanut gallery. Others sit up on their high horse with their robes and their gavel to judge your every move. Your wound is in The Other. Every move you make belongs to the other and you are constantly sewing the cracks in your face back together so as not to appear vulnerable to the others. Your deepest wound is in how much power others have over you. You’ll find that whether it’s your closest friends or a business associate, they all criticize where they have never walked a single step in your shoes (though, they may claim they have). Your deepest wound is in not being able to save everyone. You will do what you can, but the weight of the injustices of the world is so heavy that it seems to break you. I am so sorry that you have never felt safe in someone else’s arms. You deserve to unravel and cry and get angry. You also deserve love and to be liked without some heinous cost to your being.
How you heal others:
You heal others by being kind. You are always fair and just and righteous. You will never accept the tipping of the scales, you run around and around adding a new block to each side of the scale just to help balance it all out. Do you know how difficult balance is? It is a constant race, a constant give and take, a constant task. You don’t judge others, instead you see their point of view from all sides. You decide to give grace and understanding instead of harsh punishments. You were punished cruelly, but you will only ever give others what they deserve. You think others deserve someone to hear them out. Instead of deafly telling people to “smile” you think about why they aren’t smiling and instead of telling them, you’ll instead give them a reason to smile. You understand this give and take, this is what makes you the most amazing friend and partner.
Chiron in Scorpio or in the 8th house:
This one is a doozy. Your deepest wound isn’t always as metaphorical, Scorpio. Sometimes your deepest wounds are traumatic, violent, sexual, intimate, abusive. If this doesn’t seem to describe you, then your deepest wound is in your investments. You invest everything you have into others just for you to lose it all. You wonder if there is ever any point in putting down roots if you are only ever going to lose it again and again and again. Others will try to control you. Their jealousy runs so deep that they don’t even want to admit that it’s there. You are so rare and magnetic that when someone is lucky enough to find you? They want to keep you forever. They don’t like when you have your own space. They want to keep you in their space, under their thumb, in a place where they can see you. They will try and try to keep you in a box so that you never see your own worthiness. They feel how powerful you are, so they try to strip you of every semblance of power (especially physically). What they cannot take from you is inside of you. This is why you reinvent and reinvent, again and again because you will continue to find another source of power even when they think they have starved you out. Your deepest wound is in others constantly wanting more from you. More money, more time, more energy, more resources. Meanwhile, you’re racking up an emotional debt that is so difficult to contain until all of a sudden, you explode. Now that you’ve “lost it” you’re the “bad guy” not the ones that kept depleting you until you were half dead. I am so sorry that others and the world demand so much of you. You are allowed autonomy and there is nothing wrong with your power. I promise that there are people in the world who want to get intimate with your power, instead of trying to possess it.
How you heal others:
You heal by empowering others. You don’t try to control another’s path. If anything, you are the one encouraging others to leave and to stake the vampire right in the heart. You refuse to tolerate a world in which another is being abused or taken advantage of. You will give them everything you have before letting someone strip another of their everything. Even though a core wound for you is investment, you invest in other people anyway because you know what it’s like to lose it all. You help others begin again and rebuild. You are the friend that sends a thousand dollars (when you have it), you are the one who lets someone random stay on your couch, you are the anonymous benefactor who is happy to take part in a recreation. You give everything you have because you have gone without. You will aid and abet a robbery to help someone take back their sense of self, their sense of belonging. You are the vampire slayer.
Chiron in Sagittarius or in the 9th house:
Your deepest wound is in your belief. People will try to make you feel crazy for your hope, for the risks that you take. They do not take your religion, your spirit, your callings seriously. They will tell you that you don’t have the facts, that you are wrong for wanting something bigger and better, they don’t believe it exists and they don’t believe in you. This is the very placement that provokes others to stomp on dreams that are too big for the hometown you grew up in. It’s that uneducated brother that says “Hey, College. You think you’re too good for us now, huh?” as a means to make fun of your fluency in things that he will never understand. Your deepest wound is in understanding– people will put down the things they can’t begin to understand. It’s the Americans that say “SPEAK ENGLISH” when they themselves would never bother to learn another language. Chiron in Sagittarius is about experience, not logic. You have experienced things that are beyond people’s logic. They don’t think the things you’ve experienced happen when they are very real, you know these things from the life you lived. This placement is about doubt. Others will doubt that you’ll make it out of your local environment. They’ll say “it’s too expensive” or “Why would you want to live there” or “You’ll never make it out of here.” You may spend your life trying to prove that you will make it out and you always do if you can believe in yourself. This is why you never have to prove these things to anyone. I am so sorry that people minimize your experience. I am so sorry that you were not believed, that you were gaslit even though you have the marks to prove it. I’m so sorry that they are blind and yet, they call you crazy for your blind faith (except it isn’t blind at all because you prove it every time even though you have nothing to prove).
How you heal others:
You heal others by believing them. This happens to be my very own placement and one of the most healing experiences for me was to be a nanny to a little boy who could see ghosts. He would tell me about them, shy at first, afraid that I wouldn’t believe him. He looked so surprised when I said “What do the ghosts look like to you?” instead of “Ghosts aren’t real, silly boy.” Sagittarius (or the 9th house) is about trust. I worked as a healer by validating and trusting everything that came out of this boy's mouth, because who am I to dismiss his experience? Plus, I see the ghosts too. You heal others by believing in them when they barely believe in themselves. Your favorite phrase might be something like “Why not you?” You refuse to believe that any one of us is better than the other. We all have a chance. We all have a shot. We all are worthy of exploration and new experiences and new knowledge. You teach what is forbidden and this is why people love sharing their life experiences with you.
Chiron in Capricorn or in the 10th house:
Your deepest wound is in the structures around you. Others likely held you to impossible standards all for the legacy or for the appearance of it all. You likely had one parent or authority figure in particular who was a bit of a hardass. Authority figures generally are a bit of a touchy subject for you. Failure was not allowed. You hold failure deep in the bones of your body, you use your failure soaked ribcage like monkey bars to climb up and up the ladder of success. There was a certain rigidity to your life and now it is so ingrained and conditioned that you don’t know how to offer up anything but this. You keep your life as cold and formal as possible to remove any opportunity for someone to see how much you actually care. You care about everything, but caring has only ever resulted in some kind of failure. You want to keep your distance between others via a curated image veil. You are not the one who curates it, but rather the one who maintains it. You are a hard worker, but your deepest wound is in the realm of responsibility. How do you uphold something you didn’t create? Who said that this was the structure that works for everyone? It doesn’t work for you. Your desires go beyond what it is that is set up for you. You may find yourself living out someone else’s desires or legacy simply because you’re terrified of the dishonor you’ll bring if you don’t. Or maybe you do go against the structures just for someone to come back at you with all the reasons why you are the pits of society and why you are ungrateful and unworthy of creating something that resonates with you. I am so sorry that no one was brave enough to step up and take some of these difficulties off of your shoulders. I am so sorry that no one asked you what you wanted before shoving you into carrying out the legacy that they wanted.
How you heal others:
You act as a father to those without someone to care for their future. Others may brandish your own future and legacy like it were a knife, but you invest in and encourage others to build their own structures outside of what has come before them. You see potential and you carry burdens so that others can pursue the gifts they were born with. You believe that this is their birthright, but you struggle to see that for yourself. You carry the load so that others can be free. You recognize and support the things that are ingrained in others because you know that it is not a failure for them to be themselves. Why don’t you recognize the same things in yourself? You are the one who takes the responsibility away from others because no one did that for you. You know how heavy this constitution is and you dare add on to it to keep others from ever having to know the burden in the first place.
Chiron in Aquarius or in the 11th house:
Your deepest wound is in your differences. It’s a little cliche, but it’s true. You notice that the rules that society operates under are absolute bullshit and you have a hard time playing that part. You will always be torn between staying with the group and standing out from the crowd. You want to do both somehow, but it may not be that simple. It is nearly impossible for you to imagine the future because you can’t stand change. It is almost cruel that Aquarius is ruled by both Saturn and Uranus because you are fixed and unmoving in so many ways and yet, you’re bored if you don’t take the painful steps that it is to change and grow and push past what it is that is known. Your deepest wound is in freedom. Can you ever be totally free from responsibility? You want to take the steps to move something to completion and yet, once you take on that responsibility of “completion” you want to change what you are doing completely. You are meant to do things that have never been done before, but how can you do that when there is so much pain and loneliness in being someone who stands out from the crowd. It almost reminds me of how our society is not built for polyamorous relationships and yet there are many people who are not built for monogamy. How do you have both? How do you stay authentic to yourself and also find a way not to end up all alone? This is not to say that you are polyamorous, but it is the best example I can think of. I am so sorry that you are constantly having to choose between individuality and community, loneliness and togetherness. I am sorry that our society is not built to accommodate the freedom you desperately need to pursue all it is that you need to.
How you heal others:
You will never judge what works for someone. You understand that people are complex and that they can be two things, three things, ten things all at once. You know what it is like to have to choose between your sanity and what is acceptable. You will never force someone to be confined to your way of doing things. You won’t ask someone what their 10 year plan is because you know that plans change and life has a way of doing whatever it will. You know that the greatest thing you can be to someone is a friend. A friend doesn’t expect, a friend doesn’t cross boundaries, you are able to care for someone platonically in ways that you were never afforded. You hold the space for the people who do not fit into a box. You hold open the door for every deficiency, every loner, every misfit, every disability. You see them all as whole and they never have to prove this to you.
Chiron in Pisces or in the 12th house:
Your deepest wound is in the endings, in the nostalgia, in the surrender. Your deepest hurts are the ones that no one sees. They are hidden well because you drown them in your tears when you’re all alone, or maybe you drown them in a bottle, or you smoke so much that the haze is too thick to see through. Many people have lied to you, hidden things from you. Something that once sounded like a dream becomes a nightmare. You have a hard time with trust because everything is an illusion. You feel trapped sometimes, like the memories refuse to let you go. Your deepest wound is actually The Truth. You can’t control the truth when it is written out or said out loud so you keep it buried beneath the surface. Saying The Truth out loud would be an acknowledgement of all that you tried to avoid for so long. Your deepest wound is in the realm of impermanence. No one can stay alive forever and the fact that you can never get the journey, the time, or that one person back is almost too much for you to bear. You are trapped in nostalgic, angelic love. You are sick of melancholy, yet it never goes away. How can you go on living a conscious, intentional life when there is so much happening in the unconscious and so much that happens that is unintentional. Having control over your life is terrifying when it feels like you don’t have any control at all. I am so sorry that you are in a memory prison. We often demonize the things that we don’t understand and I get the feeling that not many understand you or your pain. I am so sorry that you feel like life is happening to you and not for you.
How you heal others:
Jailbreak. You are the one who digs a hole underground to get your lover out of jail. You don’t care what others have done, you just see their pain and their big, sad eyes and just like that, you are at their aid. As toxic as this can sound, it can be healing if it isn’t wasted on the wrong people. You attract broken people who deserved better. You have had to bear witness to how horrible things happen to very good people. You believe in love and goodness and again, people. You sacrifice what feels legal for what feels right. You know that these are two different things. You heal others by showing them that atonement will not make them better, it will just confuse what you can control with what has already happened. You help others find clarity in the difference between these two things.