Chiron and the Lonely Wanderer

Drawing number 1 is my homage to the Hierophant of the Tarot deck, card number 5, and to Chiron, the Wounded Healer.

The Hierophant is the wise teacher whose goals are the maintaining of social mores and the dispensing of spiritual guidance  by way of representatives of the traditional, organized religions.

As "father confessor" the Hierophant's daily study is not meant to be kept in isolation but is to be practiced and shared with all who are in need of comfort and direction.

The experiential quality of the Hierophant archetype points us to Chiron, the Wounded Healer, described in astrology as the Christos archetype.

Chiron, the Chief Centaur of myth, lived most of his life in the cave atop Mt. Pelion, and many heros of Greek mythology--Jason, Achilles, Hercules, and others--came to be taught by the Wise One, for his teachings prepared them for their Hero's Journey.

Mythologically, Chiron is considered to be the father of astrology, that ancient art of relating "as above, so below" to our earthly existence, and thereby linking the celestial with the earthly. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven is a prayerful way of expressing this very concept.

We see it in the Centaur archetype--the half horse/half man combination symbolizing our beastly nature blended with the human...and "5" is the number of man.

"5" symbolizes man's hand with its opposable thumb which set us apart from the animal kingdom...lifts us up, in an evolutionary sense. Interestingly, the study of hands, or palmistry, is called cheiromancy--root word, cheir--as in Chiron!

Synchronistically speaking, the inventor of chiropractic was named David Palmer! Funny how things happen, isn't it?

Our Dualistic World

Unconscious-conscious, reptilian brain + higher consciousness...or yin/yang, positive/negative, light vs dark--all describe the nature of our earthly realm and experience on the physical plane. Consciousness and shadow exist together as in the body of the Centaur.

Chiron, the minor planet, was discovered in November 1977, by astronomer Charles Kowal, at 3Tau08 and retrograde, and will return to this degree--three times due to retrogradation--in the years 2027-28.

Drawing number 2 is a fanciful represention of Chiron's Return.

Yes, the Wounded Healer model manifests perfectly in the form of Christ whose very existence was an experiential teaching--He heals best who has suffered most.

If you've ever been seriously ill or in pain and consulted a doctor, you know that his ability to heal--educated though he may be--is very much connected to his personal experience of suffering--in himself or by way of someone close to him--and you will feel "heard" and validated much more by a doctor who has suffered in some way in his own life than by the merely book-learned'.

Your chances of healing are greatly increased, too!

Practical guidance, as taught by Christ in parables related directly to the culture and time in which He lived, and is what is most needed by imperfect man. And although the ancient parables may seem quaint to us in 2006, their messages remain crystal clear to those who seek timeless knowledge untarnished through the ages. 

It is the difference between giving a fish and teaching someone to fish--one is a temporary solution to an immediate need, and one lasts forever--and the teaching simultaneously enobles and uplifts the recipient toward personal responsibility and subsequently gives him hope for the future.

And as you know, the fish is a symbol for Christ and is related to the astrological sign of Pisces, the Mystic--the Hierophant. Have you ever dreamed of the ocean, Pisces' realm? That's your unconscious calling with important information for you!

A Cave of Light

So as you see, the Lonely Wanderer leaves his cave of light where he has communed with the Spirit and now is called forth to bring his understanding out of the depths and to present it to a suffering and needful world.

For faith without works is dead, and the Hierophant promotes the Living Faith and would keep its flickering flame alive to all who have eyes to see and ears with which to hear. 

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this mountain pilgrimage to Chiron's realm, and that you will, if you have not before, consider the use of Tarot as a method for tapping into your higher mind which Chiron, the inventor of Tarot, would very much recommend to you. The Oracle software program is a wonderful and modern way to use the Tarot quickly and easily. 

Know thyself, says the Scripture, which refers, I believe, to our unconscious material which trips us up if we remain unaware. We are doomed to repeat the mistakes we have not fully understood...why expect better results with the same behavior which worked once-upon-a-time, but now, alas, does not?

As you know, the foundation of the Universe is based on numbers--all thanks to the Great Mathematician--and the number "5" is vibrating within you at this very moment as Chiron unites the seen with the unseen, the higher mind with the lower, and the celestial with the earthly through all time and forever.