The Chiron Effect: Healing Our Core Wounds through Astrology, Empathy, and Self-Forgiveness, by Lisa Tahir, LCSW
Bear & Company, 1591433958, 208 pages, November 2020
We all have a wound within us that makes us say “ouch” when it’s touched. Chiron, an astronomical centaur, can illuminate where this pain may be showing up in our lives through looking at its placement in an astrology chart. The Chiron Effect: Healing Our Core Wounds through Astrology, Empathy, and Self-Forgiveness by Lisa Tahir, LCSW is a wonderful place to begin your journey in discovering your wounding and shifting it into a healed strength. Offering a comprehensive method of healing your core wounding, this book goes beyond explaining the meaning of Chiron in your astrology chart, and becomes your guide to transformation.
Tahir’s intention to facilitate a healing process is evident within her writing. Her unique approach to astrology stems from her background in clinical social work. She developed and trademarked the modality Psychastrology®, which combines personal psychology and natal astrology. The approach she takes in teaching the reader about Chiron is a cross between psychology techniques for healing and spiritual practices to facilitate mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness, such as meditation, affirmations, and energy healing through the chakras. This unique method really makes it so the reader can use The Chiron Effect as a guide for doing their own inner work to heal the wounding of their Chiron placement as they read Tahir’s insight.
The book slowly eases the reader into working with this sensitive energy. Tahir assures the reader that change is possible by highlighting her own personal journey. Throughout The Chiron Effect, she draws on the wisdom learned from taking on the challenge of overcoming her wounding, as indicated by her Chiron placement, and teaches the toolkit that was most effective. The first chapter, “Living Deeply In Each Moment,” is almost entirely a first-person account of experience in finding her voice, holding onto hope, and attaining enlightenment through forgiveness. Her process awoke the inner healer within her, and as she writes “My own experiences inspired me to investigate the power of this particular healing method.” 1
From here, Tahir guides the reader to discover the wounded healer within themselves through the energy of Chiron. She puts forth that learning unconditional love, empathy, and forgiveness has the power to undo the hurt of the past and change it into wisdom that can be used to heal yourself and others. As mentioned, Tahir uses a variety of psychological methods such as bringing awareness to coping mechanisms due to trauma, moving through emotionally triggering situations, and embracing change even if the ego mind struggles to accept it. She also draws upon teachings from A Course in Miracles, which has greatly impacted her personal work and spiritual journey.
“What I do know is that points of pain can expand us beyond who we are now and enable us to grow into more beautiful people if we allow this to happen. We do this by tenderly holding onto our precious selves. We also continue our inner work of healing and tap into gratitude for the love that has broken us open to our core and given birth to many small miracles through us.” 2
Chapter five, “Finding Chiron In Your Chart,” then shifts into the astrology aspects of Chiron. Tahir uses a chart to guid the reader through finding the zodiac sign that Chiron was located in when they were born. Then there is a description of all twelve of the astrological houses. However, there isn’t much description about how one would find the house placement of their natal Chiron and it may be a bit over the head of someone who hasn’t ever seen their own astrology chart. This may be why there are only brief explanations of each house and much more emphasis on the sign placement of Chiron.
Chiron is then described through every zodiac sign in chapters six through seventeen. Every sign has key words for how wounded and healed Chiron feels, an overview of the wounding of this placement, takeaways to facilitate healing, and affirmations. Some signs seemed to have more information than others; I found myself wishing for a bit more information about my Chiron placement. The style of writing and Tahir’s tone changes from sign to sign, making some descriptions feel more relatable than others.
Reading through all the Chiron placements, it seems there were quite a few assumptions made about how a person would be based on the wounding of the sign. In the short description of my placement there was a plea to seek mental health counseling or call 911 for suicidal thoughts. I feel like perhaps Tahir’s background in social work and counseling is more pronounced in the interpretation of the Chiron placements than a professional astrological interpretation. This is worth noting because someone with an astrological background may find the description of the sign placements generic or presumptuous.
This is why I would recommend this book for a very beginner to astrology or someone with minimal astrology interest that is more seeking an alternative modality to facilitate spiritual healing. Tahir’s background in social work and counseling creates a safe container for one to begin to learn about the wounds of Chiron. While this is obviously a life-long journey, she successfully instills confidence in the reader that change is possible and beauty can emerge from the pain. Tahir has ventured into the archetype of wounded healer and emerged with the wisdom of this book to share with others.
My favorite part of The Chiron Effect actually came at the very end in the appendix, “Chiron and the Psychoastrology® of the United States of America.” Tahir discusses the natal astrology chart of America and things such as the impact of COVID-19, homelessness, public education, and a variety of other societal ills to be responded to in the near future. This appendix feels like it could be an insightful book and I do hope Tahir shares more of her insight on these topics.
All in all, The Chiron Effect is a guide for spiritual development and transformation. Through acknowledging our pain, weaknesses, and wounding based on Chiron in one’s astrology chart, Tahir teachers the reader that they can become their own healer. Filled with the love, faith, hope, and optimism that comes through Tahir’s writing, readers will be able to see themselves with a bit more clarity and use this awareness to facilitate inner peace.
Alanna Kali is an astrologer, numerologist, and pioneer spirit that loves to explore life through the lens of depth psychology. She has a passion for studying the humanities and social trends. Her academic work is centered upon reuniting body, mind, and spirit through eco-psychology. She loves reading, spending time in nature, and travel.