Archetypal astrology
Encyclopedia
Archetypal astrology is a branch of astrology
, influenced by Jungian and post-Jungian depth psychology
, that studies the connection between the changing positions of the planets in the solar system and archetypal patterns in human experience. It is practiced by a growing number of archetypal astrologers and by some Jungian therapists. It is different from archetypal psychology
and some forms of psychological astrology
in that the archetypes are seen as cosmological, rather than merely psychological principles.
, and Stanislav Grof
. The term archetypal cosmology
is used to refer to the academic discipline based on archetypal astrological analysis.
Richard Tarnas
' book Cosmos and Psyche is an example of archetypal astrology. Tarnas believes that "nature of astrology is to be archetypally
predictive, not concretely predictive":
In Cosmos and Psyche, Tarnas explores correlations between planetary cycles and discernible patterns in world cultural history and biographies of prominent individuals. Since 2008, Tarnas’s work has been carried forward by a new academic journal, Archai: The Journal of Archetypal Cosmology, edited by Keiron Le Grice and Rod O’Neal, which includes figures such as Stanislav Grof, Chris Bache, Robert McDermott, Brian Swimme, and Jorge Ferrer on its advisory board. According to the website for the Archai journal, archetypal astrology combines “rigorous astrological methodology with the archetypal perspective emerging from modern depth psychology” to analyze the “shifting patterns and cycles of world history, culture, art, and individual biography.”
conception of transcendent universal Forms existing behind the phenomenal world. More recently, the idea of archetypes was set forward in Jungian analytical psychology and James Hillman’s archetypal psychology
. Particularly relevant to archetypal astrology is Jung’s idea of psychoid archetypes, which are organizing factors of both psyche and cosmos, and his exploration of synchronicities connecting the inner and outer worlds. Archetypal astrology extends Jung’s understanding of archetypes by connecting them to the universal principles associated with the planets. In archetypal astrology, each planet is thought to be associated with a planetary archetype that possesses a range of related meanings.
Regarding its astrological lineage, archetypal astrology grew out of modern psychological astrology developed by Dane Rudhyar, Stephen Arroyo, Liz Greene, Robert Hand, and others. These were the first to explicitly connect astrology to Jung’s ideas and to humanistic and transpersonal perspectives. This modern psychological reformulation of astrology assisted its popular resurgence, especially from the time of the 1960s counterculture. Tarnas began using the term archetypal astrology in the late 1970s during his research with transpersonal psychologist Stanislav Grof, a collaboration that appeared to demonstrate astrology’s capacity to illuminate the archetypal content of different types of non-ordinary states of consciousness. According to Le Grice:
For example, Tarnas suggests that historical periods occurring in coincidence with major alignments between the planets Uranus and Pluto are often characterized by an increased pace of cultural and technological evolution or by revolutionary turbulence and tumult, as in the period of the French Revolution in the years around 1789 and during the countercultural revolution of the 1960s. By contrast, periods when the planets Saturn and Pluto are in major alignment, such as during the start of the two world wars and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, are, Tarnas claims, typically associated with a collective “atmosphere of gravity and tension,” and with “profoundly weighty events of enduring consequence.” Tarnas maintains that historical periods such as these reflect qualities and themes associated with the specific combinations of planets that are in alignment at those times.
In The Archetypal Cosmos: Rediscovering the Gods in Myth, Science and Astrology, Keiron Le Grice attempts to show how the ideas of scientists David Bohm
, Fritjof Capra
, Rupert Sheldrake
, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
, and Brian Swimme
, can be combined with Jungian psychology to provide an explanation of archetypal astrology. Le Grice also argues that archetypal astrology can provide a new mythic world view, connecting Jung’s and Joseph Campbell’s
work on mythology to the planetary alignments studied in archetypal astrology.
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
, influenced by Jungian and post-Jungian depth psychology
Depth psychology
Historically, depth psychology, from a German term , was coined by Eugen Bleuler to refer to psychoanalytic approaches to therapy and research that take the unconscious into account. The term has come to refer to the ongoing development of theories and therapies pioneered by Pierre Janet, William...
, that studies the connection between the changing positions of the planets in the solar system and archetypal patterns in human experience. It is practiced by a growing number of archetypal astrologers and by some Jungian therapists. It is different from archetypal psychology
Archetypal psychology
Archetypal psychology is a vein of inquiry into the psyche inaugurated in the early 1900s by Carl Gustav Jung. Jung and his followers, as well as Mircea Eliade, imagined the psychology of the archetypes from studying anthropology and archeology reports of their times and weaving it into their...
and some forms of psychological astrology
Psychological astrology
Psychological astrology, or astropsychology, is the result of the cross-fertilisation of the fields of astrology with depth psychology, humanistic psychology and transpersonal psychology. The horoscope is analysed through the archetypes within astrology to gain psychological insight into an...
in that the archetypes are seen as cosmological, rather than merely psychological principles.
Overview
In archetypal astrology, planetary configurations in the solar system are thought to bear a significant and coherent correspondence with archetypal themes and patterns evident in human experience. Archetypal astrology combines techniques drawn from conventional forms of astrology with an understanding of archetypes and the psyche emerging from the psychological theories of C. G. Jung, James HillmanJames Hillman
James Hillman was an American psychologist. He studied at, and then guided studies for, the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich, founded a movement toward archetypal psychology and retired into private practice, writing and traveling to lecture, until his death at his home in Connecticut on October 27,...
, and Stanislav Grof
Stanislav Grof
Stanislav Grof is a psychiatrist, one of the founders of the field of transpersonal psychology and a pioneering researcher into the use of non-ordinary states of consciousness for purposes of analyzing, healing, and obtaining growth and insight into the human psyche...
. The term archetypal cosmology
Archetypal cosmology
Archetypal cosmology is a field of study that explores correlations between "discernible archetypal patterns in human experience and the structural order within the solar system."...
is used to refer to the academic discipline based on archetypal astrological analysis.
Richard Tarnas
Richard Tarnas
Richard Theodore Tarnas, Jr. is a philosopher and cultural historian known for his 1991 book The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View and Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View, published in 2006...
' book Cosmos and Psyche is an example of archetypal astrology. Tarnas believes that "nature of astrology is to be archetypally
Archetype
An archetype is a universally understood symbol or term or pattern of behavior, a prototype upon which others are copied, patterned, or emulated...
predictive, not concretely predictive":
That is, when we know what a particular planetary alignment is, there is a wide range of ways in which that particular transit or natalNatal astrologyNatal astrology, also known as genethliacal astrology, is the system of astrology based on the concept that each individual's personality or path in life can be determined by constructing a natal chart for the exact date, time, and location of a their birth...
aspect can manifest in our life and still be precisely reflecting the archetypal principles involved. But you cannot predict exactly which way it's going to come out in advance on purely astrological terms. I believe that an understanding of astrology as archetypally rather than literally predictive is both more true to the reality of astrology and more empowering in its support of human autonomyAutonomyAutonomy is a concept found in moral, political and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision...
. It supports the ever-evolving capacity of the individual human being, with her free willFree will"To make my own decisions whether I am successful or not due to uncontrollable forces" -Troy MorrisonA pragmatic definition of free willFree will is the ability of agents to make choices free from certain kinds of constraints. The existence of free will and its exact nature and definition have long...
and reflective consciousnessConsciousnessConsciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
, to bring forth the highest potential manifestation of a given archetypal complex, rather than simply be a puppet of it. The beauty of the astrological perspective and the gift it represents is that it provides us with a capacity to know what energies are constellated at a given time; this gives us a greater freedom to express these energies and embody them in a more intelligent and life-enhancing way, rather than just react or "act out" the archetypal complex in a predetermined or fatalistic way.
In Cosmos and Psyche, Tarnas explores correlations between planetary cycles and discernible patterns in world cultural history and biographies of prominent individuals. Since 2008, Tarnas’s work has been carried forward by a new academic journal, Archai: The Journal of Archetypal Cosmology, edited by Keiron Le Grice and Rod O’Neal, which includes figures such as Stanislav Grof, Chris Bache, Robert McDermott, Brian Swimme, and Jorge Ferrer on its advisory board. According to the website for the Archai journal, archetypal astrology combines “rigorous astrological methodology with the archetypal perspective emerging from modern depth psychology” to analyze the “shifting patterns and cycles of world history, culture, art, and individual biography.”
Background and influences
The fundamental claim of archetypal astrology is that human experience is shaped by archetypal principles. This perspective has its origins in ancient mythic conceptions of gods and goddesses, like the Olympian pantheon of ancient Greece. Archetypal astrology is also influenced by the PlatonicPlato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
conception of transcendent universal Forms existing behind the phenomenal world. More recently, the idea of archetypes was set forward in Jungian analytical psychology and James Hillman’s archetypal psychology
Archetypal psychology
Archetypal psychology is a vein of inquiry into the psyche inaugurated in the early 1900s by Carl Gustav Jung. Jung and his followers, as well as Mircea Eliade, imagined the psychology of the archetypes from studying anthropology and archeology reports of their times and weaving it into their...
. Particularly relevant to archetypal astrology is Jung’s idea of psychoid archetypes, which are organizing factors of both psyche and cosmos, and his exploration of synchronicities connecting the inner and outer worlds. Archetypal astrology extends Jung’s understanding of archetypes by connecting them to the universal principles associated with the planets. In archetypal astrology, each planet is thought to be associated with a planetary archetype that possesses a range of related meanings.
Regarding its astrological lineage, archetypal astrology grew out of modern psychological astrology developed by Dane Rudhyar, Stephen Arroyo, Liz Greene, Robert Hand, and others. These were the first to explicitly connect astrology to Jung’s ideas and to humanistic and transpersonal perspectives. This modern psychological reformulation of astrology assisted its popular resurgence, especially from the time of the 1960s counterculture. Tarnas began using the term archetypal astrology in the late 1970s during his research with transpersonal psychologist Stanislav Grof, a collaboration that appeared to demonstrate astrology’s capacity to illuminate the archetypal content of different types of non-ordinary states of consciousness. According to Le Grice:
Working together at Esalen Institute in California, where they came into contact with astrological practitioners, Grof and Tarnas began to explore whether astrology could be used to help understand the widely varying non-ordinary states of consciousness arising during experiential therapy sessions. Despite their initial skepticism, to their astonishment they found that personal transit analysis was a reliable method of illuminating the archetypal themes, stages, and experiences encountered during these sessions, far surpassing in accuracy and predictive power all other forms of psychological diagnostics. Encouraged by this successful application of astrology, Tarnas then turned his attention to the wider culture, applying methods of astrological analysis and interpretation to the study of biographies and world history.
For example, Tarnas suggests that historical periods occurring in coincidence with major alignments between the planets Uranus and Pluto are often characterized by an increased pace of cultural and technological evolution or by revolutionary turbulence and tumult, as in the period of the French Revolution in the years around 1789 and during the countercultural revolution of the 1960s. By contrast, periods when the planets Saturn and Pluto are in major alignment, such as during the start of the two world wars and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, are, Tarnas claims, typically associated with a collective “atmosphere of gravity and tension,” and with “profoundly weighty events of enduring consequence.” Tarnas maintains that historical periods such as these reflect qualities and themes associated with the specific combinations of planets that are in alignment at those times.
In The Archetypal Cosmos: Rediscovering the Gods in Myth, Science and Astrology, Keiron Le Grice attempts to show how the ideas of scientists David Bohm
David Bohm
David Joseph Bohm FRS was an American-born British quantum physicist who contributed to theoretical physics, philosophy, neuropsychology, and the Manhattan Project.-Youth and college:...
, Fritjof Capra
Fritjof Capra
Fritjof Capra is an Austrian-born American physicist. He is a founding director of the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley, California, and is on the faculty of Schumacher College....
, Rupert Sheldrake
Rupert Sheldrake
Rupert Sheldrake is an English scientist. He is known for having proposed an unorthodox account of morphogenesis and for his research into parapsychology. His books and papers stem from his theory of morphic resonance, and cover topics such as animal and plant development and behaviour, memory,...
, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ was a French philosopher and Jesuit priest who trained as a paleontologist and geologist and took part in the discovery of both Piltdown Man and Peking Man. Teilhard conceived the idea of the Omega Point and developed Vladimir Vernadsky's concept of Noosphere...
, and Brian Swimme
Brian Swimme
Brian Thomas Swimme is on the faculty of the California Institute of Integral Studies, in San Francisco, where he teaches evolutionary cosmology to graduate students in the humanities. He received his Ph.D. from the department of mathematics at the University of Oregon for work in singularity...
, can be combined with Jungian psychology to provide an explanation of archetypal astrology. Le Grice also argues that archetypal astrology can provide a new mythic world view, connecting Jung’s and Joseph Campbell’s
Joseph Campbell
Joseph John Campbell was an American mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work is vast, covering many aspects of the human experience...
work on mythology to the planetary alignments studied in archetypal astrology.