Chiron, the mythological being, was renowned for his goodness and wisdom. Whereas the other centaurs were rowdy party animals given even to looting and rape, he dedicated himself to the study of medicine, music, astrology and the martial arts. A renowned teacher counting Achilles and Hercules among his many students, he taught the latter how to make the poison-tipped arrows assuring victory in battle. There are many versions of this story, but either he accidentally dropped a poisoned arrow on his own foot, or Hercules accidentally shot him during a fight over some other centaurs’ wine. In either case he became violently ill, but being immortal, was unable to die. He then retreated to his cave to heal himself, and in so doing created the healing arts. Ironically and despite this great achievement, his wound never healed. Chiron, living daily in great pain, elected finally to meet Zeus’ condition and be the immortal to die in Prometheus’ place. (To punish Prometheus for stealing fire and giving it to the mortals, Zeus had chained him to a rock where vultures forever ate his liver.) Chiron may be the centaur in the constellation Centaurus.

Chiron, the wounded healer, symbolizes those who find the strength through suffering to help others avoid the pain they themselves have had to undergo. We are often directed and made wise by own painful childhood experiences. Some astrologers believe that Chiron’s house and sign show where we have been deeply wounded, and may hold the key to our own healing. Chiron teaches us that our wounds contain a gift, and that the process of healing oneself is a journey back to greater wholeness and integrity: the gift of who we truly are.

Chiron is astrologically significant because it is also a solar system object with the characteristics of both a comet and an asteroid. Discovered in 1977, Chiron is peculiar because it has a cloud of water, carbon dioxide and other gases sublimed from its nucleus (known as a "coma") indicating it is a cometary body, yet at 75 to 100 miles in diameter it is over 50,000 times the size of a normal comet. This size is characteristic of a large asteroid, which it was first thought to be. Its unusually elliptical orbit from just inside Saturn’s orbit to approximately that of Uranus’ is also unstable over millions of years, indicating that, in astronomical terms, it hasn’t been there very long. This is supported by the fact that Chiron’s coma is still active, yet the super-volatiles (its coma) sublimating from its surface would have completely vaporized in a few million years at its current orbit’s position.

Dozens of bodies have since been discovered with similar orbits and properties. In recognition of their dual comet/asteroid nature they have been designated Centaurs, the mythological Greek race that was half man, half horse. They are hypothesized to be escaped Kuiper belt objects because gravitational perturbations from Jupiter and Saturn would occasionally force Kuiper belt objects into Neptune-crossing orbits that could evolve into orbits like the Centaur’s. The similarity in size between Chiron and other Kuiper belt objects also makes the Kuiper belt a likely source. Although asteroids are in this size range too, Chiron’s coma rules out an asteroidal origin.