The Chironic Wound

We are all wounded somehow.

In my video on the myth of Chiron, you learn that I place great significance on Chiron’s rejection by his mother as key to understanding our most profound and life-defining wounds. Chironic pain marks us in indelible ways. A rejection when we are very young – whether real or perceived – shapes us for the rest of our lives. All future pain is an echo, or repeat, of that original wounding in our soul.

Chiron in any of us, then, relates to how we perceive ourselves to be different, and the associated fear that being different might lead to rejection or a loss of love if others saw it in us. To this day we are hyper-aware of others’ reactions to us in that part of life signified by where Chiron is in our chart. In response, we might tend to edit out this part of us, withdraw into ourselves, avoid the pain arising from that sense of rejection. Or cycle through all of these coping mechanisms at different times.

But what is really going on is that this wounded child that we all carry within us, tasked with protecting us from pain and loss, operates in defense mode, or self-edits and suppresses feeling whenever triggered in our daily life. In these moments when the Chiron suffering is stirred, it is helpful to realize that this wounded child from the past comes to the surface and, in a way, takes over.

So how do we heal this wound? First and foremost, by recognizing and understanding it. Its origin, manifestations, modus operandi, as well as the opportunities it presents. And secondly, with plenty of genuinely felt self-love, self-acceptance and self-forgiveness. We have to learn to love ourselves in all the ways that others did not, could not, or would not, or seemed not to. Once we learn precisely what the wound is and where it came from, we can then learn to release the pain, and finally transcend its original limitations.