There's nothing superficial about this. The pain that Chiron can indicate in the horoscope is deep and one could spend years in psychotherapy dealing with it. However, the lessons that we learn in our efforts to cope with it, can serve to heal others in a number of ways. My experience with this is that we are looking again at the peculiar blending that Chiron typifies. Chiron was a centaur, a blend of human and animal. The healing discoveries that Chiron seems to represent are those of in vitro fertilization, genetic manipulation and cloning. Astronomically, it acts like both an asteroid and a comet. It's position between Saturn and Uranus is remarkably awkward. Saturn represents the cultural "supposed to's" and structures, and Uranus symbolizes the weird and visionary. There's a big conflict here which I like to call "misfit consciousness". Chiron seems to show us some part of the self that we consider to be unacceptable in some way, but also unchangeable.
The healing that seems to be required by Chiron is that of self-acceptance, even in the face of social unacceptability. We must rise above the perceived restrictions and instead, pursue and acknowledge our own truths. I say "perceived restrictions" because the social restrictions that I perceive may not be ones that you experience. This also seems to be part of Chiron's nature, getting past our own conditioned responses to what is socially acceptable and what isn't. In your circle of friends, my inability to drink alcohol could make me quite an oddball or object of ridicule. In my circle of friends, your need for at least one alcoholic beverage per day could cause people to have serious doubts about you. We may each take our conditioned responses to what is "normal" behavior and what isn't, as a natural reaction, not understanding that both responses are actually conditioned ones.
Sometimes just our effort to heal our chironic wounds, can be healing to others. My having the opportunity to observe you coming out of your Chironic shell, can give me the courage to push through mine some more. With each bit of progress that I make in breaking through my chiron wound, I'm better able to assist someone else with theirs. Just trying to get by on planet earth seems to teach us quite a bit about our wounding. Particularly as we mature, we can find very creative ways to deal with this pain, to heal it and to move forward. The life experience that we accumulate provides its own anesthesia and we can be far less sensitive than we were in our youth.
So far, I've seen a whole lot of discussion and dissension about Chiron and very little in the way of solid, authoritarian statements. Most other astrologers that I've spoken with on the subject seem to feel as I do, that it will just take working with a large number of horoscope charts in order to clarify our interpretations. What I've given above is in large part the fruit of my own experience in working with Chiron professionally. You'll find other ideas in checking with other astrologers. Perhaps this also is part of Chiron's nature. It is very individualistic and unique.
Similar to how I see it.
