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Chiron
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Chiron is a small icy body that orbits the Sun between Saturn and Uranus. It was discovered by the astronomer Charles Kowal on 1 November 1977 and named after the centaur of Greek myth — the wise teacher of heroes who, wounded by a poisoned arrow he could not heal in himself, became a healer of others. Astronomers first called it an asteroid, then noticed it behaves partly like a comet; it is now counted as the first of the centaurs, a family of bodies crossing the orbits of the outer planets.
Motion
Chiron takes about fifty years to go round the Sun, and its orbit is so eccentric that its pace through the zodiac varies enormously: it can pass through Virgo or Libra in under two years and spend seven or eight in Pisces or Aries. It is retrograde for about five months each year. Its return to its natal place, around the age of fifty, is often read as a time of coming to terms with an old hurt.
Its place in astrology
Chiron belongs entirely to modern astrology. It has no traditional nature, holds no domicile, exaltation or other essential dignity, and rules nothing in the tradition; Virgo and Sagittarius have both been proposed as rulerships, but neither is agreed. It is used alongside the planets, not as one of them, and the scoring of a planet's strength in these charts does not include it.
How it is read
Taking its cue from the myth, modern practice reads Chiron as a "wounded healer": the sign and house where a person carries an early or lasting sensitivity, often something that cannot simply be fixed, and where, through living with it, they may come to understand and help others who hurt in the same way. In Cancer the theme tends to centre on belonging and care; in Capricorn on achievement and worth-through-doing; in the 7th house on being chosen and on fairness in partnership. The emphasis is on meaning and integration rather than on damage: Chiron describes a place of tenderness that can become a place of wisdom.
In transit
A transiting Chiron that touches a natal planet or angle is often read as a period when an old sensitivity surfaces and asks for attention — uncomfortable at times, but also an opening for understanding, healing, teaching or mentoring. The Chiron return near fifty, and its opposition to its natal place, are the best-known moments.