Who is Chiron?

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Chiron (pronounced Kai-ron) was the wisest and most just of all the centaurs. Abandoned by his mother as a monster, he was adopted by the god Apollo - the god of light and enlightenment - who instructed him in his wisdom. Chiron thus became a celebrated tutor, mentor, and healer to heroes like Perseus, Hercules, and Achilles who sought him in his cave on Mt. Pelion.

 
Unintentionally pierced by Hercules' poisoned arrow, Chiron became painfully and incurably injured. Rather than a detriment, he turned his suffering to the benefit of others by surrendering his immortality in order to release others from their afflictions. Because he was able to transform his traumatic abandonment and painful wounding into great strength and the relief of suffering for mankind, Carl Jung referred to Chiron as the wounded healer. Chiron teaches us that it is in the wound itself that the medicine is to be found. So it is with us.

Being half man and half animal, Chiron symbolizes the power that comes from the synthesis of our rational and animal (non-rational) natures. As the offspring of a god and mortal, he represents the union of our conscious ego with a divine core from which great potential may be actualized.