“Keywords to Unlock Chiron”
50 Passageways to Healing and Wholeness
by Joyce Mason
Weaver – Mentor – Centaur – Stuck – Stringed Instruments – Healing Humor – Shame – Left and Right Brain – Abandonment – Evolution: just a few of the keywords Joyce Mason uses to unlock the doorway to deep, deep wisdom contained within the archetype of the mythical being known as Chiron: half man, half horse – best known in Western popular culture as the Wounded Healer.
Joyce is a healer herself with many strings to her lyre: prolific writer, seasoned astrologer, flower essences practitioner, dreamworker, to name but a few. Here in her own words is the essence of her book:
“ Seldom in life do we get such a personalised prescription of what’s wrong and how to fix it. These 50 keyword essays will help you identify where you’re stuck and suggest how you can get from pain to breakthrough and healing–and ultimately to being yourself in your full glory. Your personal message lies in which keywords ‘hit home’ for you.”
As the reader will discover from Other Astrology Books by Joyce Mason on pp 279-281, Joyce has written extensively on Chiron in the past, both in published books and on her blog The Radical Virgo. This book, however, is somewhat different in that Joyce’s focus is on the Chiron archetype itself and an exploration of 50 branches arising therefrom.
Chiron symbolises the deep wound present to a greater or lesser degree in all of us, fallible imperfect creatures, uneasy blends of body and spirit; endlessly curious, forever seeking answers to why we are here and what we are supposed to do with our brief time on Earth. Chiron also symbolises the depth and wisdom we can gain by addressing and seeking to heal that wound, both in ourselves and others.
Ultimately, facing and accepting our vulnerability, together with realisation of our inter-connectedness with the whole of life, and the healing power of love: these are our salves and our saviours.
Joyce’s Keywords to Unlock Chiron is surely a ‘wisdom book’. It is a wonderful distillation of her knowledge, personal and professional experience drawn from a deep and wide range of sources: science, myth, symbol systems including astrology and Tarot, astronomy, and culture both contemporary and ancient.
She writes so well, with wit, reverence, irreverence and above all compassion both for her own frailty and ours. Open sharing of core aspects of her personal story demonstrates that she is not trying to tell us how we should live from her somewhat higher plane of existence. She makes it clear that, in the struggle to come to terms with the wounding which hopefully in the end makes us a bit wiser and more skilled in the fraught business of living, we are all in it together.
There are many examples which I could quote of deeply helpful wisdom offered in this book. In Chapter 24, Disowned, there is a very challenging question posed: ‘What would you rather die than do?’ Joyce’s answer to this is ‘I’d rather die than move (house)’ which leads into a discussion of how we all to a greater or lesser extent, disown parts of ourselves, to our detriment.
Joyce then offers seven “Tips for Not Disowning Yourself” including ‘Listen objectively to things others point out that you’re missing or denying, especially if you hear the same thing from several different people.’ I commend this section to any individual honest enough to be working towards personal growth and change, as well as any therapy practitioner looking for some inspiration to bring to their client work.
In Appendix 3, p273, Joyce provides information for people with little or no knowledge of astrology who wish to obtain a copy of their own horoscope and find out where Chiron is placed in their case.
The whole book is also filled with useful web and other references to a wonderful range of resources – arising from the core Chironic keyword of Wholeness.
The book is of value also to students and practitioners of astrology. From that perspective, this reviewer certainly felt as though she had been comprehensively re- acquainted with the depth and practical value of understanding Chiron’s natal position as well as Chiron transits.
But it is important to stress that Keywords to Unlock Chiron should not be seen primarily as a book for astrologers or those interested specifically in astrology.
As I said earlier, it is a ‘wisdom book’, a great resource for anyone of a reflective nature, who may be practising as a healer of others, to have in their library to turn to for inspiration, information or support in difficult times. Be guided by how you are feeling in seeking help from the book’s wisdom. As Joyce says herself: “Your personal message lies in which keywords ‘hit home’ for you.”
Joyce, thank you for this wonderful compendium. It truly deserves to be widely read.
As per her original book release announcement, Joyce is offering this book in PDF in order to make the material available, at least in some form, sooner rather than later. The announcement describes her book in detail, including contents, other brief reviews and the advantages/disadvantages of the PDF format, including the ways to access it on various reader devices. Due to extensive other commitments, I understand that she may be unable to print it to paperback and eReader (Kindle, Nook, etc.) until 2015.
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900 words copyright Anne Whitaker /2014
Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page
Hi Anne, This book sounds like it would be a compelling read. Excellent peek you’ve given on what lies inside its pages. A friend who has studied astrology for many years will point out Chiron in charts she has done for me, but not being an astrologer I focus on the summary write ups she provides. I’m so glad to see this ‘wisdom book’ is relevant to all of us.
Yes, Joyce combines depth, erudition and irreverent humour in a way which is very healing. There is also a brilliant article on Chiron in Issue 3 of Apollon, the Journal of Psychological Astrology, which I think you would also find very useful in understanding where the Chiron archetype fits with human experience down the ages:
> http://www.cpalondon.com/Issue%20Three.pdf
I was especially interested to see you make reference to “The Wounded Healer”. A book by that name, written by Henri Nouwen, was very popular in the 1970s. I’ve read the book, but knew nothing about Chiron (except that it’s a minor asteriod turned comet).
These connections that emerge in your posts always amaze me. There are worlds out there whirling around that I know nothing of — some much closer than the outer reaches of space!
Well, Linda, making connections across apparently very different disciplines/ways of seeing the world is something I have always loved to do. There are so many metaphors and symbols we can use to explore what are essentially the same underlying realities/archetypes/shaping forces. I look forward to providing you with even more amazement when I have got through all my current RE s: re-habbings (done, with the blog), re-views – now all done, re-publishing of books as e-books – two more to appear, re-visiting Goodreads and managing to get the hang of it.
I hope that forward motion come the summer will mean more time to devote to publicising the blog, and books…..still, it all keeps one out of mischief.
Enjoy emerging Spring where you are! And many thanks for dropping by.