Chiron is a minor planet that can have a major impact on an astrology reading. Also known as the "wounded healer," Chiron's placement in your natal chart reveals a core wound that may take a lifetime to work through.

Here's what to know about your Chiron sign and what it says about you.

When Chiron was first discovered in 1977, it was classified as an asteroid. In the years since, it's gone through a bit of an identity crisis and is now considered a minor planet and part of Centaur—a class of celestial bodies orbiting between the asteroid belt and the Kuiper belt.

Chiron orbits between two intensely oppositional planets—uptight, restrictive Saturn and liberated, revolutionary Uranus—and serves as a metaphysical mediator. It asks questions like: Where do we hold ourselves back (Saturn), and where can we be destructively rebellious (Uranus)? We must understand both extremes in order to find the middle ground.

In Astrology and the Rising of Kundalini, author Barbara Hand Clow refers to Chiron as the "rainbow bridge" between Saturn and Uranus. Aptly named, since integrating the full spectrum of emotions is the key to wholeness.

There are now talks of calling Chiron a dwarf planet, like his brother, karmic Pluto. But whatever his planetary pedigree, understanding his balancing influence can be downright medicinal.

In modern astrology, Chiron represents our core wounds and how we can overcome them.

Chiron is named after a Greek healer, philosopher, and teacher who, ironically, could not heal himself, and is symbolized by a key, demonstrating the importance of unlocking this minor planet's major lessons.

In many ways, our Chiron placement is our secret power. As we grapple with pain, we gain wisdom that we can pass onto others like a magical salve.

Chiron generally stays in a single zodiac sign for eight years. (However, when he enters Saturn’s orbit, he can buzz through a single sign in under two years. It’s up to him whether he wants to undergo outpatient surgery or opt for a longer course of therapy.)

Since Chiron takes approximately 49 years to journey through all 12 zodiac signs, we all go through a "Chiron return" near our 50th birthdays.

At this point, our core wounds may rear up for another round of therapy, especially if we’ve resisted doing any deeper self-examination in the past. If we’ve "done our work," we may be called into leadership roles that allow us to spread our wisdom and flex our healing gifts at this time.

Calculate your Chiron sign by seeing where Chiron was located the moment you were born. Our nifty calculator makes it super easy. Locate your birthday then read on to understand Chiron’s influence on your deepest wounds and greatest healing gifts.

Wounds: Anger management, lack of self-worth, aloofness and isolationism, cutthroat competition style, needing to be No. 1 or refusing to participate, comparing and despairing

Healing Gifts: Empowering people to embrace their individuality, channeling anger into creative expression, fearless individuality, modeling independence

Wounds: Stubborn resistance to (and fear of) change, following the flock instead of forming your own values and beliefs, addiction to comforts like eating and drinking, materialism and money struggles

Healing Gifts: Creating serene environments, savvy financial planning, holding down the fort during turbulent times, calm in the storm, practical magic, teaching/modeling traditional wisdom

Wounds: Fear of being alone (without a "Twin"), approval-seeking, nervous chatter or addiction to gossip, constant pivoting that makes it impossible to finish what you start, anxiety about being judged, sibling rivalry

Healing Gifts: Play-based learning, communication arts, cooperation and mediation, using wit and humor as a tool for connection, putting people at ease, inclusivity

Wounds: Trouble feeling "at home" or safe—both in your body and in the world, hoarding resources and money, emotional eating, xenophobia and "stranger danger," family dysfunction (possibly with the mother)

Healing Gifts: Creating a safe haven for community, empowering women, nutritional wisdom/nourishing with food, savvy financial planning

Wounds: Need for validation, presenting a false front, addiction to drama and intensity, romance/love addiction

Healing Gifts: Empowering others through authentic self-expression, playfulness, healthy hedonism, using the arts to uplift and spread a positive message

Wounds: Debilitating perfectionism, people-pleasing, distorted self-image (body image), anxiety about people’s judgments, being excessively critical of others, hypochondria

Healing Gifts: Creating structures to help people improve their lives (from home organization to wellness), being a storehouse of practical wisdom, creating empowering media

Wounds: Inability to commit to relationships, paralyzing indecision, romanticizing, trying to force peace at any price, trouble ending relationships

Healing Gifts: Fostering peaceful communication and harmonious compromises, diplomacy, creating beauty and heart-opening experiences, being a messenger for Cupid

Wounds: Nihilism, power struggles, jealousy and obsession, trouble leaving bad relationships

Healing Gifts: Soul-deep sexual healing, alchemy (turning "trash" into treasure), helping people through extreme life passages such as births, deaths, and other transitions

Wounds: Fanatical or zealous beliefs, disruptive nomadic tendencies, aggressive or tactless communication style, chasing the "high" of the next big thing

Healing Gifts: Revealing higher truths with compassion, fostering diversity and inclusivity, creating conscious media, laughter as medicine

Wounds: Obsessive ambition, using career as an escape, fixation on gaining status and approval, family dysfunction (possibly showing up as daddy issues)

Healing Gifts: Levelheaded leadership, environmental consciousness, utilizing resources to provide for everyone

Wounds: Destructive rebellion, scientific detachment from emotions, trying to "fit in"

Healing Gifts: Social justice/activism, fostering utopian communities and a sharing economy both online and IRL, uplifting idealism

Wounds: Fear of asserting boundaries, escapism, denial/not living in reality

Healing Gifts: Helping people let go of limiting beliefs, spiritual and esoteric leadership, psychic powers, helping people live out their fantasies

Chiron is the zodiac's wounded healer. By connecting with the energy of this planet, we can learn a lot about ourselves, our core wounds, and how to overcome them in a way that helps the world.