Chiron & the Alchemy of Menopause.

For many women, the Chiron return occurs at around the time of perimenopause or menopause and offers a penetrating insight into the Chiron wound. As oestrogen wanes and the less authentic ego constructs begin to weaken, there is often a rawness that brings us face to face with any unhealed material. If the moment of menopause is a portal to resurrecting the spark within, or soul essence, then Chiron is the psychopomp who helps us to hospice the dying parts, and midwife the new.

In mythology Chiron is the teacher who trains and initiates the healers, warriors, and heroes. Chiron himself was skilled in many and varied arts, music, and hunting. He founded the “Chironium” where he initiated his students, helping them to understand their true gift and calling. Chiron still offers us his medicine which can be tracked through the astrological transits. Particularly at the time of Chiron’s return we may come to understand our purpose and claim our gifts.

The pressure that arises in the psyche during Chiron transits can be intense but also illuminating. The same could be said of menopause itself, and so as a woman crosses the threshold of menopause she is met with a double dose of transformative energy. Navigating this energetic, biological, and hormonal cocktail is a challenging ordeal for many women. Each woman has an entirely unique menopausal journey even while there can be a commonality to symptoms and experiences. This is not a one size fits all event, and no cookbook type manual will offer more than superficial guidance. This is a direct confrontation with one’s own soul.

Making a descent to face the unknown and purging the body from impurities was a core tenet of many ancient mystery traditions. As modern women at the threshold of midlife, we are likewise required to descend beneath the constructed masks of our civic and social mores, and journey within, into the body, the body memory, instincts, and our deeper knowing. Chiron can help with this, as can the inner flames of purification that naturally rise in the body at this time.

Recently, when I’ve been working with natal charts, I’ve been paying attention to the Chiron transits: the first square, opposition, second square, and the return. Through this erratic timeline (Chiron’s orbit is erratic), the client and I begin to piece together the story of the wound. It’s not the whole story, but it is an effective lens that brings subtle details into focus and jolts the memory and feeling body.

Shortly after the Libra new moon last Tuesday Chiron made its first exact square with Jupiter. There are two more to go. These Chiron Jupiter squares help facilitate the work of connecting the wound with growth. If we can stay grounded, and patient, adhering to our own moral code and authentic voice, and if we approach the wound with humility and care, these transits are a gift. The danger of the Chiron Jupiter squares is that we bypass our deeper knowing in favour of another voice, opinion, or else adopt false optimism. The trick is to stay with the uncomfortability of the wound while at the same time acknowledging its gift. Like the pearl in the oyster, or the diamond in the rubble -both of which are formed from intense heat and pressure- the Chiron wound is the alchemical hyle of our Great Work.

 If we have adopted spiritual beliefs and philosophies which do not accord with our innate wisdom, or that goes against our instinctual knowing, Chiron square Jupiter is a time to rediscover our truth. The sky gods, taking us up and out, away from the earth and the body, with their message of sin and punishment, need no longer paralyse us with shame and fear. The moment of menopause is a turning in and down, deep into the flesh, the bones, and the cells where we remember who we are and what we know. The danger is that instead of sitting for a while in the dark as the soul unfurls herself in sacred time, we may be over eager to push it through, bypassing the darkness. But it is in the darkness and the quiet where through turning our ear to the “Great Below” we can finally hear the soul speak.

Jupiter Square Chiron Dates:

1st: October 23rd, 2025, at 24° Cancer 35′

2nd: December 21st, 2025, at 22° Cancer 40’Rx

3rd: July 1st, 2026, at 0° Leo 24’