Comets throughout history have been viewed as omens. Some believe Chiron's discovery may point to the balance needed to move humanity into an alternative life-style of holism that will support Earth and all life upon it in abundance. Mason and O'Brien in "Chiron" Astrology Encyclopedia. James. R. Lewis (ed.)
ASTRONOMY
Discovery. Chiron was discovered though examination of photographic plates. The photos were taken on 18 & 19 October; Charles Kowal noticed it on 1 Nov. 1977. Historical photographic plates show its existence back at least to 1895.
What is it? A celestial object in the solar system having a diameter of about 170 km. This object has a unstable 50.7 year orbit in the elliptical plane. Chiron orbits the Sun in a highly elliptical path that brings it into the vicinity of Uranus and inside the orbit of Saturn
2060 Chiron (Asteroid) (minor planet number 2060). Most asteroids orbit between Mars and Jupiter. The difference between asteroids and comets are simply that asteroids have no materials on them that can volatilize or do not volatilize the materials they are made of. They are thought to be inert. Comets are considered to be a much smaller rock, surrounded by an icy coat. The energy to volatilize the icy coat is believed to be solar, gasifying the volatiles near the nucleus stony core.
Comet Kowal? . Chiron has been showing cometary flare-ups since 1988. Chiron is now considered to be the largest known comet nucleus, some 25 times that of a typical comet like Halley. Chiron has features that are not usually seen in an asteroid or a comet. Light curves reveal discrete, jetlike features (geysers) in Chiron that constitute evidence that the coma material originates from just a few, small active areas rather than from uniform sublimation. The curves also demonstrate that the particles in at least one of these features have radii greater than 0.25 æm. The observations also suggest the presence of material in the plane of Chiron's orbit and are consistent with a gravitationally bound coma.
"Centaur" objects and the Kuiper Belt. The dual asteroid/comet nature of Chiron, and of 5 other similar objects detected since it was first discovered, has resulted in these peculiar objects being designated Centaurs. Gerard Kuiper theorized 45 years ago that the formation of the planets would leave a belt of leftover planetesimals at the solar system's outskirts, and later computer models of the origin of comets pointed to the need for a reservoir of small, icy bodies in the region proposed by Kuiper. The first Kuiper bodies were detected in 1992, and a total of 55 have been discovered so far. Astronomers extrapolate that the belt may hold more than 35,000 objects larger than 100 kilometers, as well as 200 million smaller ones. These planetismals form the Kuiper Disk, a vast disk that presumably begins beyond the orbit of Neptune and extends out toward the Oort Cloud. It is possible the planet Pluto, Neptune's moon Triton, Saturn's moon Phoebe all have origin in the Kuiper disk. Centaurs are Kuiper refugees that have been pulled into the inner solar system by gravity of Neptune, and gradually will come into a regular orbit, crash into a planet, or some other fate.
Pholus was the first of the Kuiper bodies and was discovered at Kitt Peak Arizona in January of 1992. They called it Son of Chiron at first. It has an even more eccentric orbit passing between the planets of Neptune and Saturn in an orbit of 92.26 years.
Recent studies. Chiron failed to show the expected coma (halo caused by surface evaporation from the heat of the sun) as it passed through perihelion causing scientists to rethink what makes a comet a comet and why these Kuiper bodies are out there doing anomalous things.
Discovered by astronomer Charles Kowal on 1 November 1977 at about 10:00am.
Perihelion: 14 Feb., 1996 18:35 UT at 14Lib 04 R geocentric, or 9Lib01 heliocentric
Perigee: 1 April, 1996 7:38 UT at 11Lib07 R geocentric, or 11Lib12 heliocentric
1977 Discovery & 1st ephemerides: Brian Marsden, director of the Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory Minor Planet Center; Joelle K.D. Mahone, director of the Astrological Research Center; and Maria E. Bianco
1978 Astrologers Guild of America forms Chiron Committee; Zane B. Stein founds Association for Studying Chiron (newsletter The Key)
1983 Stein publishes Interpreting Chiron (self published); Erminie Lantero publishes The Continuing Discovery of Chiron (Samuel Weiser, pub.); Richard Nolle publishes Chiron: The New Planet in your Horoscope (AFA, Tempe, pub.).
RECENT ASTROLOGICAL REFERENCES
O'Brien, Dale. The Myth of Chiron. audiotape (404) 728-9609
Stein, Zane B. 1988. Essence and Application: A view from Chiron.(translated as Chiron, essence et interpretation in 1989). Al H. Morrison's CAO Times, NY.
Clow, Barbara Hand. 1987. Chiron: Rainbow Bridge Between the Inner and Outer Planets. Llewellyn Publications
Reinhardt, Melanie. 1989. Chiron and the Healing Journey: an astrological and psychological perspective. Arcana, London.
O'Brien, Dale & Joyce Mason (eds.). April 1992-1996 Chironicles (newsletter, no longer published)
Hero "A hero is someone who acts unselfishly from his or her Higher Self in urgent circumstances. Joyce Mason.)
Herbalist. Teacher. Maverick. Astrologer Holistic healing.
Hero's Quest. Evolution. Ecology. Whole-making Non-linear time
Protector of the Forest. Hybrid. Guide. Loopholes.
Right-to-die Solutions Repair
Foster parenting and parental abandonment. "Our wound is our best teacher."
Shamanistic traditions. Balance between agency and communion.
Inner marriage, balance between masculine and feminine energy.
A key to integration, a doorway, a change in consciousness, a different perspective, alternatives,
A bridge to the outer planets; Incarnation of spirit into matter.
Fairfields lists (Choice Centered Astrology based on the premise that Chiron is the natural ruler of Virgo)
PSYCHOLOGICAL: the urge to solve problems, fix things, attend to details; the urge to integrate, heal, mend, and figure it out; actions designed to find out what's wrong and repair it; actions that encourage the self and others to manifest the ideal within the real.
PRACTICAL: integration, perfection, idealism, functionality, manifestations; activities related to earth, intestines, elimination, removal of toxins, all health professions, symptoms and cures, sanitation, hygiene, productivity, agriculture, farming, repair, maintenance, protection, prevention, security systems, paperwork, filing systems, office management, technical skills, workers, service personnel, details, editing, critiquing, military, mechanical toys, appliances, equipment.
The beginning of the story happened a very long time ago, when the earth was still ruled by the Titans. The Titan king of the Universe, Chronos was prowling around the Northern Greece, looking for his own child Zeus to devour him, lest Zeus grow up as prophesied to overthrow the Titan kingdom. In the region of Thessaly, Chronos came upon the sea nymph Philyra. In the Titan code of ethics and values, fertility was more important than fidelity, so, although Chronos was married to Rhea, he lusted after Philyra. The sea-nymph sought to escape his advances and turned herself into a mare, galloping down the Thessalonian beaches. He turned himself into a stallion and pursued her, mounting her, mating with her, and then presumably going on about his business. The females of classical times seemed to be in a state of perpetual ovulation for they never failed to become pregnant, and so, in time, Philyra bore the son of Chronos.
At that critical moment of mother/child bonding when the sea-nymph and her babe first laid eyes upon each other, Philyra was appalled. Her birth-defective child had retained many of the equine features of his conception moment, only his upper half being human-like. She prayed that the Olympians would allow her to get rid of this child, saying she would rather be anything but the mother of such a monster. She took the infant to the top of the nearest high mountain, Mount Pelion, and abandoned him. Zeus took her at her word and turned her into a lime tree. A human child would have succumbed to the forces of nature, but Chiron's equine half and immortal half must have allowed him to survive. So Chiron started out life abandoned by his parents and forced to be self-reliant.
Through some unclear circumstances, Chiron was educated by Apollo and Artemis. From Apollo he learned ethics, philosophy, math, music, reason, logic and medicine (all that is redeeming about civilization). From Artemis, the Wild Woman of myth, he learned the way of the forest, hunting, and the use of herbs (all that is important about the wilderness). Apollo and Artemis are both deities with problems relating to those of the opposite gender, representing a true duality of traditions. His duality might be considered to be the duality of the reason of Apollo and the "shamanic" traditions of Artemis. Chiron is associated with the shamanic tradition as he was born of the result of a shape-shifting event in Thessaly, the last stronghold of shamanism in ancient Greece.
There were other centaurs on Mt. Pelion. These other centaurs had a totally different evolution and origin than Chiron. Ixion, a mortal human king, tried to seduce Hera, the wife of Zeus. Zeus did not punish him but sent a cloud goddess, Nephele, that looked like a life-like Hera to Ixion. Ixion either seduced or raped the cloud, who bore a child called Kentauro with an exaggerated compulsion to sexual behavior. According to most sources, Kentauro mated with the mares on Mount Magnesia, producing the Kentauroi, or centaurs. The artworks depicting Centaurs show an evolution of them having human front legs in early works and later having horse legs. In some artworks they have the genital form and placement of humans, in others they have that of stallions. In any case, the Kentauroi seem to represent the lower limits to being human, the most bestial sentiments. They are uncivilized in all manners. They are hostile to the institution of marriage. They are known to violate not only ordered festivities, but the cultural rules of exchange and hospitality. They were party-crashers and rapists, and it is hard to tell which quality offended the Greeks more. The centaurs were simply incapable of having positive relationships with humans. They shattered all possibility of amicable relations when they tried to carry off the women from the wedding of one Zeus's sons. Perhaps they represent something beyond simpler nature-spirits, being hyper-masculine beasts as one feminist writer suggests, but at any rate they are truly loathsome and despicable.
But Chiron (Cheiron) was different. He was immortal, appropriately masculine, married, clothed, and willing to share knowledge with humans. Pholos was another wise centaur outside of Ixion's lineage, being born of mortal parents. These two are, so to speak, semi-horses of a different color.
This "most just of the centaurs", Chiron, became the mentor and trainer of heroes. Zeus may have been sent to live with Chiron until he was ready to make his bid at overthrowing Chronos. Zeus was not the last child to be hidden in the cave; Jason (of argonautica fame) was sent there by his mother until he could come back and regain his rightful throne. O'Brien says this effort to regain birthrights is an important issue in the Chiron myth, but it doesn't seem to be the only reason young men are brought to him. Achilles is brought to Cheiron by his father after his mother abandons them. Parents might die, single mothers, especially those impregnated by gods, were subject to early deaths. Other young men were sent to Chiron by mortals and gods alike to gain the skills and cunning to be heroes. These young heroes might arrive as premature infants, babes in arms, children or teenagers. Chiron and his wife provided them with a nurturing home environment.
The Heroes had individualized instruction according to their needs. It probably wasn't an outward-bound group camping experience, but rather a one-on-one intensive program. We can see this archetypal relationship between the master and the young man in the film portrayal of Luke Skywalker and Yoda. The character of Yoda was explicitly modeled by the film makers to match the myth of Chiron, in being a very odd looking creature with the patience and wisdom to train young heroes. From Chiron the young men may have learned the practical skills of hunting, wilderness survival, herbology, and celestial navigation. They undoubtedly had studies in math and music. He may have encouraged them to develop any innate skills at the mantic arts (especially astrology), or to at least value those abilities in others. He undoubtedly gave each of his students a through grounding in ethics and leadership. Cheiron may have used astrology to determine the potentials of each of these young men, for they often exceeded his level of expertise and became the best and brightest in their field of interest. Asclepias surpassed mere healing, and learned to cure death. Orpheus became such a virtuoso that his music allowed him to enchant the guardians of the underworld, and bring his wife back from the dead. This career as teacher and mentor seems to have lasted thousands of years, and he might be still out there living a Yoda-like existence were it not for a set of unfortunate circumstances.
Chiron and Hercules had a very close relationship. Dale O'Brien suggests that it might have been one of those Greek homosexual things, since that was the status quo of the culture. I don't accept this hypothesis any more than I would suspect that Yoda and Atikin Skywalker were lovers, though certainly homosexual activity would have been normal for Ixion line of the Kentauroi. Let's just assume for the moment that these two men were just good buddies and Hercules came to visit in the land of the Centaurs. Some of the modern astrology-related myths place this incident at the wedding where the Centaurs violate the Lapith women, but the non-astrological references I have read place the incident, at least at its inception, at the cave of Pholos, the other young, but wise, centaur. I will tell the version that makes sense to me.
Dionysus, in his wanderings, had left a vessel of wine with Pholos for Hercules, saying not to open it until he came. More than 100 years later, Hercules comes by, so Pholos gets out the vessel and pops the top. The other hyper-masculine centaurs, off in the forest, get a whiff of the wine on the wind and they go on the rampage, attacking Hercules, who fights them off, slays several, but is otherwise unscathed. But it doesn't stop there; Hercules pursues them through the mountains. They flee to Chiron's cave. Pholos attending to the dead centaurs outside of his cave, pulls the arrow from one and accidentally drops it on his foot. It has the deadly substance Hydra blood on it, and Pholos, a mortal, dies instantly. Meanwhile, Chiron comes from out from his cave to see what the ruckus is about and catches one of the arrows in his thigh. Chiron's semi-immortality keeps him alive, but incapacitated and in pain. It isn't until this late point in his story, near the final chapter, that Chiron enters the dimension of the "wounded healer".
This wounded healer archetype has been the primary Chironic image in the minds of many astrologers, but Dale suggests that it has been overblown, especially what he calls "the whiny wounded healer", an image which diminishes the value of recognition and development of inherent potentials of each life and focuses on self-pity. Dale suggests that the Wounded Healer archetype would probably be most applicable to interpretation of Chiron in Cancer, but elsewhere it is of limited value. The reductionistic practice of only looking at one's Chiron placement to determine in what area of life one is "wounded" should be avoided as there is a much larger and more complex story to be revealed by this planetoid.
It just so happened that thirty years earlier Zeus had been really ticked-off by Prometheus, a Titan that had at least given humans fire, if not actually created humans. There was probably more to that, as Prometheus was also keeping some pretty big secrets from Zeus, which I have not delved into, but you can imagine how much secrets bug the Ruler of the Universe. Anyway Zeus had him chained to a rock in the Causasus Mts. where everyday an eagle came and ripped out his liver, and every night in the bitter cold of the mountain air, his liver grew back. Poor Prometheus! The only way he could escape would be for some god to give up his immortality for him. Prometheus was already immortal, he didn't need it personally, and there is some discussion that it eventually went to Hercules, who put the deal together, perhaps as a commission. Chiron gave up his immortality, and got to die. Prometheus told Zeus the secrets and got to walk free. Hercules got to be immortal. After 8 days, Zeus made Chiron into a constellation (Sagittarius).
Comet about 150 km in diameter, traveling in an erratic orbit between Saturn and Uranus
Discovered by astronomer Charles Kowal on 1 November 1977 at about 10:00am. (Discovery Chart)
Perihelion: 14 Feb., 1996 18:35 UT at 14Lib 04 R geocentric, or 9Lib01 heliocentric
Perigee: 1 April, 1996 7:38 UT at 11Lib07 R geocentric, or 11Lib12 heliocentric
RECENT ASTRONOMICAL LITERATURE
--, Chiron at perihelion. Sky and Telescope v 91 p 71 March '96.
--, 'Planet' is a comet (Chiron). New Scientist v 122 p 35 May 13 '89.
--, 2060 Chiron = comet Kowal? Sky and Telescope v 78 p 14 July '89.
--, Chiron becomes a comet. Astronomy v 17 p 14 September '89.
--, Chiron's coma. Sky and Telescope v 80 p 119 August '90.
--, Chiron: cyanogen gas emission detected. Astronomy v 19 p 22 May '91.
--, Chiron: smaller but brighter? Astronomy) v 23 p 26 July '95.
--, Jets on Chiron. Sky and Telescope v 89 p 15 June '95
--, Mother of short comets (Does Chiron come in from Kuiper belt?) Discover v 12 p 8 February '91.
--, Oddball asteroid springs yet more surprises. New Scientist v 129 p 22 March 2 '91.
--. Chiron occultation observed. SOURCE: Sky and Telescope v 87 p 11 February '94.
Bus, Schelte J.; A'Hearn, Michael F.; Schleicher, David G., 1991. Detection of CN emission from (2060) Chiron. Science v 251 p 774-7 February 15 '91.
Byrd, Deborah, 1992. The starry sky (Sagittarius, noting mythological association with Chiron). Astronomy v 20 p 54 July '92.
Croswell, Ken, 1990. The changing face of Chiron. New Scientist v 127 p 46-51 August 25 '90.
Eberhart, Jonathan, 1989. Chiron's brightening hints it's a comet. Science News v 135 p 247 April 22 '89.
Eberhart, Jonathan, 1990. First view of Chiron's farthest fringes. Science News v 137 p 244 April 21 '90.
Eicher, David J., 1996. Tracking a distant comet world. Astronomy v 24 p 80-1 February '96.
Elliot, J. L.; Olkin, C. B.; Dunham, E. W., 1995. Jet-like features near the nucleus of Chiron. Nature v 373 p 46-9 January 5 '95.
Hahn, G.; Bailey, M. E., 1990. Rapid dynamical evolution of giant comet Chiron. SOURCE: Nature v 348 p 132-6 November 8 '90.
Hartmann, William K., 1990. The changing face of Chiron. Astronomy v 18 p 44-8 August '90.
Hecht, Jeff., 1996. Enigmatic Chiron goes to sleep in the sun. New Scientist v 149 p 21 March 9 '96.
Kerr, Richard A., 1995. Home of planetary wanderers is sized up for first time. Science v 268 p 1704 June 23 '95 ; Discussion. v269 p1120 Ag 25 '95
Stern, Alan, 1994. Chiron: interloper from the Kuiper disk? Astronomy v 22 p 26-33 August '94.
Stern, S. Alan, 1995. The Chiron Perihelion Campaign. Sky and Telescope v 89 p 32-4 March '95.
Stern, S. Alan,Chiron illuminated. Nature v 373 p 23-4 January 5 '95
Stroh, Michael, 1992. Son of Chiron: now showing in space. Science News v 141 p 87 February 8 '92.
Sykes, Mark V.; Walker, Russell G., 1991. Constraints on the diameter and albedo of 2060 Chiron. Science v 251 p 777-80 February 15 '91.
Weissman, Paul R., 1995. Source of comets. Science v 269 p 1120 August 25 '95
Wilford, John Noble, 1995. Asteroid or comet? Clues to an orbiting object: Chiron may be linked to an entirely new class of red objects. New York Times (Late New York Edition) p C10 January 10 '95.