The unusual planetoid Chiron (Gr. Kheiron) was discovered on the 1st of November, 1977 by astronomer Charles Kowal, and is officially designated as both a comet and an asteroid.  It was named after the mythological Greek demi-God, an immortal son of the Titan Kronos and half-brother to Zeus, who was part horse and part man and often compared to the race known as Centaurs, yet distinctly different.  He was famed for his ability as a hunter/archer and a musician but become especially honored for his mythical skills as a seer, astrologer, a holistic medical practitioner, a teacher and as mentor to the greatest heroes of Greek myth. His mythology also centers on the story of him being accidentally wounded by Heracles with a poisoned arrow. The wound was incurable and terribly painful, so he abdicated his position among the Gods and died by swapping places with Prometheus, having agreed to die for him under conditions imposed on Prometheus by Zeus as a penalty for allowing mankind to obtain the use of fire.   Zeus, in tribute, placed his spirit in the heavens as the constellation Sagittarius.

Generally described as "The Wounded Healer", Chiron is an archetypal concept with which many astrologers and therapists embrace a more humanistic or holistic approach and identify with and apply in consultative work. In astrology, natal Chiron is considered as an indicator of physical or psychic wounding, and that wherever Chiron falls in your horoscope is where your deepest wounds are found, and where you are able to heal others. Or it can be yet another aspect of Chiron as applied to the horoscope as an indication of the area of our life in which we feel lost or abandoned, different, or just “a misfit.” Chiron has been associated with marriage, romance, death, rebirth, reincarnation, and more. Chiron symbolically appears on the cap badge of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps.

The planetoid named after him has a 50.7-year elliptical orbit that is highly erratic and is found between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus.  Because of this extraordinarily elliptical path, there can be no easy patterns for the major Chiron transits in our lives. Chiron’s first square to itself can come as early as five years old or as late as the mid- thirties.  Chiron's issues and affairs concern health and disease and their practical disorder become our teachers.   As we absorb those lessons we begin to see that healing is not just about disease, but entails every part of our nature.  Chiron takes us on a journey through our psyche in search of self-discovery which acts as a drive to the evolution of consciousness.  His quest becomes ours in the service of psycho-spiritual growth.