Chiron is Active from July 11 - 15: Try a Little Tenderness
This post is going out to everyone who is experiencing just where their heart is in pain. Often this pain is very, very old. Sometimes, you may not even know what it's about. Chiron, the asteroid that governs our deepest wounding experiences, is very active right now. When Chiron is activated, two choices emerge: get honest about what hurts or lash out at people that have accidentally triggered this hurt place because you don't want to feel it. When you choose to get honest about where the pain is, you have an opportunity to bring some much-needed tenderness and unconditional love to yourself. The key is to release any expectation that the tenderness and love will make the pain go away. Chiron's wounding experiences are not about finding relief.
In Liz Greene's book Barriers and Boundaries, she writes:
With Chiron, there is a sense of something unfair hurting or humiliating us, something we didn't merit...With Chiron the feeling of "It's my fault," or "It's their fault," is not really sustainable, even if one tries hard to find somebody to blame. There is a more of a sense that life is bloody unfair.
If you are coming up against some feelings of deep pain, some memories of how life has treated you badly and how that hurts, take a moment to acknowledge this. It may help to write about it or speak about it into your phone as a voice memo. Something like this might need to be done so that you can identify where the hurt is. Once you have identified it, your defenses won't be triggered as easily by others. Gradually and slowly, offer yourself tenderness and deep care. A good phrase is, "Even though (fill in the blank), I am sending myself love and care. Even though (fill in the blank) I am worthy of respect."
Back to Barriers and Boundaries, Liz Greene writes:
With Chiron, I don't think we ever get the kind of healing we have in mind. We get something else instead, but we cannot make the wound go away. There is something about this planet that seems to represent a deeply disturbing element in life. This element may be a part of a greater cosmic intelligence, but it is not part of Western and spiritual ideals, and thus is often a great challenge. Many people...have a secret belief that, sooner or later, if the right key can be found, everything can be healed. Everything can be transformed. It may be that we need to believe this, and we need to work as though it were true. But then we run up against Chiron...The current astrological literature on Chiron is so terribly innocent. It's all about the Wounded Healer - the operative word being 'Healer' while 'Wounded' is in very small type. But the hidden clause in our contract with Chiron is that the wound is permanent. Chiron is the healer, not the healed.
In my personal experience, I have found that the only complete relief from the Chironic wounding experience is to practice Zazen long enough and deep enough to have an experience that even this wounding is empty of any self-nature. But, the moment I am back identified with a self (that I call "me"), the wound is right back as well! The difference is that because I have experienced the emptiness of the wound, it's impossible to identify with it completely anymore.
Here are some tips for dealing with the feelings of deep pain and unfair wounding that Chiron can bring up:
Taking some time to identify and acknowledge the pain; this could be just setting aside five minutes to feel it, not knowing what it's really about
Quietly and tenderly sending yourself some deep loving care, without expectation of the pain going away
If you find yourself being defensive with others, it may help to say, "I'm hurting now."
When you look at others, know that they have their own experience of Chiron - there have been places in their lives where life has been terribly unfair and where they are hurting, too. Chiron is a marvelous asteroid for the generation of true compassion.
May all beings be at ease!
