Chiron Who?

Decoding the stars to decipher my inner wounds

A few weeks ago, fifteen sparkling souls gathered in the studio for “Mocktails + Magic”. I love alliteration, but I have Chat GPT to thank for sparing that brain power when choosing a name for this event.

The workshop centered around edible flowers that can be used as garnish or ingredients for drinks and food. My new friend Sheri of Bijou’s Blooms did a lovely job instructing our novice gardeners. Our guests left with a seed tray packed with possibility.

Along with flower-infused sangria, we offered tarot readings from my friend, JeanAnn.

Enter the magic.

Say what you will about the woo-ness of it all, she always has a waitlist of the intrigued when she visits our events.

I went first to break the proverbial ice. I unwittingly chose the same deck from my Root to Rise festival reading, Woodland Creatures. No surprise considering I deem myself a Disney princess when it comes to animals. I handpicked four cards from various points in the deck. JeanAnn slowly flipped them over one by one and began to craft the story they revealed.

On one side of the table, she slid the sheep and the eel. Labeled “safety” and “devotion”, she explained that there was something slightly sinister about each. The sheep was caught in brambles, its wool snagging on the thorns. The eel…well, its metaphorical history speaks for itself: slimy.

Sliding the other two cards to the right of the table, JeanAnn and I examined them together.

“The black cat,” she said.

“No,” I replied, “that’s Lefty, my grey cat.” Aside from a small white chest blaze, the cat was the spitting image of my feline shadow. The card read Independence, a trait I’ve borne since age two when I refused to let my mother tie my shoes.

An orb weaver spider adorned the second card. The words ‘Creative Ingenuity’ were stamped at the bottom, bringing to mind beloved Charlotte, who wove words into her web in the corner of Wilbur’s barn (take that, ChatGPT). It’s fair to say I’ve never shied away from a creative challenge.

As a means to tie it all together, JeanAnn turned over one more card. She asked if I had Aries in my birth chart, the card bearing a ram’s Determination. I didn’t, as far as I knew. Aside from identifying closely with my sun sign of Gemini, I’ve only admired the constellations, not sought out messages from them.

The next day, I reached out to JeanAnn with an epiphany: for most of my life, I’ve played it safe, prioritizing safety and devotion above all. She followed up with a text to say I should look into the influence of Chiron on my natal chart.

There was a time I would have shrugged this off, but the aforementioned creative ingenuity had me intrigued.

I enlisted the help of a young woman I met in aerial training. For a small fee, she promised me an explanation of the complex graph that returned with my “free natal chart” from the World Wide Web.

A week later, I received my document. My mind was a thousand exploding head emojis. Chiron, the wounded warrior and healer, was a prominent figure.

I’ve always been sensitive. The Four Agreements’ “don’t take things personally” advice was written for people like me. My heart aches when I displease someone. For much of my life, it literally broke with every rejection, the scars on my arms a lingering reminder of trying to release the intensity of that pain.

It sounds like a fairy tale to say that any life event is “written in the stars,” but even Psalms 19:1 has been translated to this meaning. Is it possible our entire persona is determined by the alignment of the heavens at the precise moment we were born? Am I fated to be a wise healer yet always bearing the burden of my wounds?

Much like the enneagram or Clifton Strength Finders, my natal chart is just one tool to help me understand how to relate to the world. Coincidentally, Chiron has returned to a similar position in the galaxy. Google tells me “this transit often brings unresolved core wounds to the surface, prompting a mid-life awakening and providing an opportunity for deep healing.”

Bring it on. My creative ingenuity and independence, combined with a level of tenacity that is exploding with the catalyst of determination, are ready to awaken.

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