How The July 11th Chiron Retrograde Affects Your Personal Healing & Relationships Until December 2020
Our purpose is tied to our pain.
Rawpixel.com / shutterstock.com As if enough planets weren't already retrograding, here comes another asteroid to do just that.
On July 7th, the asteroid Ceres turned retrograde; and now, on July 11th, we experience Chiron retrograde, adding to that energy of being asked to slow down and reflect before we move ahead.
What is Chiron in astrology?
Chiron, while not the largest asteroid, is the one we generally are the most familiar with because it usually represents a wound in our lives that we are continually reminded of, at times feeling like there never can be healing.
The thing about Chiron, also known as the Wounded Healer, is that he’s not just wounded — he’s also healed. And the most important piece of that is that he was able to heal himself.
This is the most essential piece for us to remember in the coming months, because if we don’t let ourselves believe we have the power to heal ourselves, no one else will be able to band-aid those pieces of us that hurt the most.
Chiron entered a new phase in Aries officially last year and will remain in this sign until 2026.
For those who have this placement in their birth chart, it means they are having their Chiron return, a key period of time in which they will be asked to evolve into their higher selves and clean up any lingering pieces of the lives that don’t truly resonate with their soul’s calling.
This particular retrograde period will last from July 11th until December 15th, emphasizing the need to look within, slow down, and reflect on where we have been so we can make new choices about where we want to go.
This asteroid may stir up a whole lot of trouble, but it’s only because the cure for what's ailing us is in the hurt itself.
Chiron often wants to teach us that it’s not just about accepting the hurt and wounding we go through, but being able to transform it into a way of being of service to others that really closes that loop of pain. This means we able to move forward on our own path despite the unexpected happening, but now we can take what we’ve been through and help others.
A great example of this is the woman who finds herself in an unhealthy marriage, after never thinking she would be in that situation. Eventually, she finds the courage to leave for her and her children, rebuilds their lives, heals her own heart, and then ends up helping other women do the same through counseling and support.
This is an individual who has learned their Chiron lesson and is now able to see the purpose in what she had to go through.
While not everyone may have such a literal example of their Chiron healing (though many will), it's important to see that the upset in our lives this asteroid causes has a bigger purpose than just to cause us heartache.
The actual lesson of Chiron can vary, but it will always hit us where it will hurt the most.
Whether it’s our physical body, our mother and father relationships growing up, our children, or our romantic relationships, our Chiron wound is one that is also an area of our lives that means the most to us.
This is where the influence of Aries comes in.
Aries is a fire sign that normally feels very confident (even if they don’t have the right to), secure, and ambitious in moving forward and making decisions.
However, while Chiron is transiting through this sign, we feel that the wound that’s being triggered is larger than even just one area of our lives, and tends to feel more like an existential crisis in which we’re facing a change in our identity.
Chiron in Aries challenges who we thought we were with the truth of who we actually become, along with where our life takes us and how that's different from where we expected to go.
Our early identity is one that's based on the conditioning and programming we experienced as children. Yet, as we grow up, we experience that identity crisis because we start to see things differently than our parents, we begin to separate from them, and we learn what it means to live our truth.
In many ways, Chiron in Aries is the opportunity to heal the wounds of our inner child.
When in retrograde, we’re being asked to slow down, to retrace our steps, and to reflect on what has made us the individuals we are so we can invite in greater healing.
Because while the wounded healer finds their purpose in their pain, we first have to heal if we’re going to be able to help others.
Chiron retrogrades can be especially challenging because when that similar wounding to that of our inner child comes up, it means we’re going to be triggered.
In order to actually heal, we first need to remember what we felt originally and what beliefs we developed early on about ourselves so we can separate ourselves from the identity of our parents into our authentic selves.
But to be triggered isn’t easy, and it’s definitely not pretty. It can be hard work because it likely will affect those areas closest to our hearts: family, relationships, home life, and how we feel about ourselves.
But if we can prepare ourselves for this potential triggering, we will be more likely to sit with what comes up, rather than avoid it, which is a tactic we often unconsciously use.
Part of this is remembering that there is never a great time to deal with ourselves. No one ever sits down and feels that it's a good time to go into all our childhood issues so by healing them we can have better relationships.
There's never a perfect time for healing, because this should be a journey we are constantly on.
While diving into the triggers that arise during this retrograde will help us become that wounded healer capable of turning around and helping others, it’s also going to change the way that we build relationships.
This is specifically about romantic relationships, and it's because many of us choose relationships so we can be loved (or hurt) in the same way we were as children. It's unconsciously, of course, but this is what it means when we say we only accept the love we deserve.
Most of us can only accept the love that mirrors the one we received as children. But if we can slow down and enter this Chiron retrograde knowing that it may hurt, ultimately, we realize that entering into healing means the kind of love we accept will change as well.
Chiron may be wounded, but he reminds us that he's healing, too. And once he does, the pain is transformed into purpose.
Kate Rose is an artist, writer, passionate yogi, spiritual astrologist, relationship and life coach, and motivational speaker. As a spiritual intuitive, she practices the religion of astrology and love. For more of her work, visit her website.