CHARIKLO was the wife of Chiron; not a Centaur but a nymph. She was designated a Centaur planet in honor of her relationship to Chiron. There are very few woman Centaurs. One is Hylonome, the consort of Cyllarus, and the other is Okyrhoe. The Centaurs are predominantly male-gendered energies.

Chariklo’s discovery date is Feb. 15, 1997 at the Kitt Peak observatory in Arizona. The discovery came as part of the work of Spacewatch Team and was made by an astronomer named J. V. Scotti. Announcement of the discovery was made on Feb. 24, 1997. Her orbital period is 63.1 years, between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus. Like Bienor, Chariklo crosses the orbit of Uranus.

In a way similar to Vesta, Chariklo holds space for the process of another. Yet Vesta does so for impersonal reasons. In the story of Chiron and Chariklo, she does so for the most personal: Chiron is her husband. He lives a long time after he is injured, so imagine the depth, intensity and duration of that companionship. We can surmise that she played a part in his decision to transcend his physical existence and negotiate the agreement with Zeus whereby Chiron is freed from his suffering and Prometheus is freed from his imprisonment on the rock.

We have her here in the role of counselor, but there is obviously more to the picture than that.

Based on her orbital characteristics, Philip Sedgwick suggests that she is about the “need for definition between intimacy and personal space” and “seeking definition of human interaction and boundaries” and “desire to help without co-dependent interference.”

The shadow side of this can work precisely the other way. We may not understand why an abused woman stays with a man (or vice versa) but from the outside it seems to make no sense. There would be an internal emotional logic to the situation (call it what you will) that is irrespective of the appearances to an observer. Chariklo can represent the inability or difficulty with leaving an inappropriate or hurtful companion. In such situations, I suggest checking the placement of the asteroid Hebe as well.