Chiron
Chiron's pupils came to him to learn the pragmatic way
to fulfill their highest potential. He taught Jason (golden fleece)
how to undertake the quest, and he taught Achilles to be a sacred
runner and to play the Kithara. Asclepios was taught the art of
healing and thus Chiron is actually the father of Medicine and is
mostly associated with ancient medicine. Chiron founded the Chironium,
a healing temple on Mt. Pellius.
The Chiron mythology on death is particularly
fascinating. The centaurs were party animals (literally) drinking and
having fun was their main goal in life. As time went on, the centaurs
seemed to have overdone the partying and were becoming extinct. Chiron
became the only one left. His staying alive was crucial to their being
any centaurs in the world. His death was a tribute to mankind. Chiron
gave himself willingly so that the fire could be released from the
Underworld by Prometheus. This was done so that humankind would learn
to use power in the right way. In the process of obtaining fire,
Chiron had to die. The teacher/healer took a poisoned arrow of
Hercules and dropped it on his foot, poisoning himself. This poison
was the very one that the teacher had given to the student. Chiron
gave his life for the greater good of humanity. Chiron was a teacher
who taught healing by means of clearing and bravery and then letting
go without fear when the time came.
So powerful was his influence on the legends and myths
of the ancient world that today many of the root words of the ancient
healing arts are connected. Chiral means the polarization of light
from one hand to the other; chiromancy is reading of the hand or
palmistry. Chiropracty is healing of the joints and bones by means of
manipulation, Chirothesia is energy in the hands during sacred rites,
a blessing without hands is Chirotony and another word, Chirurgery is
an ancient word which later became surgery. And even the magical
divination form of chiron is chiromancy, which is the Tarot. The Tarot
is a way into understanding how Chiron rules the search for the exact
place and time of awareness which then is the gateway to its opposite.
