Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior. Psychology is a multifaceted discipline and includes many sub-fields of study such areas as human development, sports, health, clinical, social behavior and cognitive processes.
Psychology is really a very new science, with most advances happening over the past 150 years or so. However, its origins can be traced back to ancient Greece, 400 – 500 years BC. The emphasis was a philosophical one, with great thinkers such as Socrates influencing Plato, who in turn influenced Aristotle.
Astrology is the study of the movements and relative positions of celestial objects as a means for divining information about human affairs and terrestrial events. Astrology has been dated to at least the 2nd millennium BCE, and has its roots in calendrical systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications
How Psychology and Astrology are Related?
Many well known astrologers that have contributed to the development of astrology in the western world mean that astrology is not necessarily only an art and science to predict the future, but also a tool for the evolution of consciousness. Psychological and evolutionary astrology, aim at understanding the purpose of each event in furthering our growth. The key is awareness and a meditative attitude, and the purpose is to unfold our potential. Meditative, contemplative astrology is different from the traditional predictive astrology. Traditional astrology is often defined as being deterministic, where we passively suffer the effects of the planets. However, free will always plays an integral part in our life experience.
The Swiss Psychologist and former Freud disciple Carl Gustav Jung was interested in the teachings of alchemy and astrology, especially in the later phases of his working life. The resulting insights can be found in his Analytical Psychology. This theory goes far beyond the teachings of Freud.
Freud assumes that a child is born as a “tabula rasa”, and the character begins to form from birth onwards. Jung, on the contrary, states in his book Psychological Types: The individual disposition is already a factor in childhood; it is innate, and not acquired in the course of life.
The whole theory of astrology is based on this principle. Liz Greene, a Jungian psychotherapist and astrologer, is convinced that astrology can help to discover the nature of this innate seed. Astrology can not only tell us about the self we know, but also about the one we do not know, she writes in Relating. The horoscope, being a “map of the psyche”, can point to character traits which have not yet become conscious. With its help we may get to know ourselves better and come to a more complete understanding of our true nature. Jung’s Analytical Psychology attempts something very similar: individuation and arrival at one’s true self.
Sun represents our personality
Sun shifts into a new sign every month. Just as the planets revolve around the Sun in our solar system, we derive our life purpose from the Sun in our natal charts. The Sun represents the inner self, willpower, and life-force. In Vedic astrology, Sun has been described as Soul of all beings.
The Similarities Between Astrology and Psychology
One common factor between the role of the astrologer and the role of the Jungian psychoanalyst is that both are using tools to understand the structure or nature of the “psychic energy” within a person. If the analyst or astrologer can interpret what’s going on, then he/she is better able to suggest how matters might improve. As with any analytical discipline, an interpretive framework or model becomes a helpful tool to more easily identify features and characteristics. Jung’s work was often focused on developing analytical models.The value of using these models, like the typology or the elemental structure in astrology, is helpful in extracting deeper therapeutic knowledge leading up to greater self-awareness. The tools are there for insight and deeper understanding of ourselves, as people. Jung was of the opinion that the specific basic quality that belongs to an individual comes from within, and is not created by external circumstances. However, Jung did not underrate the importance of parental and environmental influence, but thought the decisive factor should be looked for in the disposition of the child.Only under abnormal conditions, i.e., when the mother’s own attitude is extreme, a similar attitude can be forced on the child too, and violate the individual disposition. Astrology comes from the same standpoint; that a child is not born a clean slate. One may raise the question if a child is born with certain qualities due to past lives, as believed in many of the Eastern religions, but this is not a given in either Jungian theory or astrology. Astrologers may be of different philosophical opinions, but agree on one thing; time contains quality. The foundation of astrology is that the time of birth reflects the specific qualities inherent in the child.
Carl G . Jung relates his analytical framework to treat the patients with the concept of Zodiac as Mandala The The zodiac as a mandala.The zodiac as a mandala The word mandala comes from Sanskrit and means “magic circle”, referring to a geometric figure with more or less regular subdivisions. A mandala is often divided by four or multiples thereof. Mandalas exemplify symbols of wholeness. The astrologer sees the zodiac as a mandala, a centering diagram and an object of contemplation. Reflecting on the chart in a meditative frame of mind evokes the mandala principle, the process by which astrology brings us to our center. Jung spent much time drawing and contemplating mandalas.. Many of his own drawings are presented in The Red Book, with explanations of his inner visions and evolutionary journey in relation to them. In both astrology and Jungian psychology mandalas are used as a tool for self-realization, although the mandala itself springs from different sources. Jung said: “When I began drawing mandalas…I saw everything, all the paths I had taken, were leading back to a single point – namely to the midpoint. It became increasingly plain to me that the mandala is the center….It is the path to the center, to individuation….There is no linear evolution; there is only a circumambulation of the Self. Jung’s understanding of the mandalas was that they represented the totality of the psyche. He developed the concept at a time in his life when he was involved in pursuing his inner self. Some of the Jungian principles are reflected in astrology.
Let me take you through the concept of Western Astrology. What Carl Jung talked about is, relating his psychoanalytic framework to treat the patients with the concept of Zodiac as Mandala. The word mandala comes from Sanskrit and means “magic circle”, referring to a geometric figure with more or less regular subdivisions. A mandala is often divided by four or its multiples. Mandalas represent symbols of wholeness. The astrologer sees the zodiac as a mandala, a centering diagram and an object of contemplation.
Osmosis of Psychology and Astrology
In the second series of our programme, osmosis of psychology and astrology we started out the relationship between psychology and western astrology, the concept of mandalas.
Mandalas are circular designs that reflect the wholeness of the person creating them. According to Carl Jung , “ a mandala is the psychological expression of the totality of the self”. How can it be that circular drawings, symbolize the wholeness of a person? Is there some unique quality about circles that makes them important in the psychology of human beings? We know that circles have signified the idea of wholeness, among many traditional peoples. Why should modern people feel compelled to draw circles and create mandalas?
Reflecting on the chart in a meditative frame of mind evokes the mandala principle, the process by which astrology brings us to our center.
Jung spent much time drawing and contemplating mandalas. Many of his own drawings are presented in The Red Book, with explanations of his inner visions and evolutionary journey in relation to them.
In both astrology and Jungian psychology, mandalas are used as a tool for self realization, although the mandala itself springs from different sources. Jung’s understanding of the mandalas was that, they represented the totality of the psyche. He developed the concept at a time in his life, when he was involved in pursuing his inner self. Some of the Jungian principles are reflected in astrology.
Dane Rudhyar was a pioneer, in the development of psychological and spiritual astrology. He wrote extensively on astrology and introduced the idea of seeing, the individual chart as a mandala. He said that as we contemplate a horoscope, we are enlightened by it, and some new insight is always revealed to us. Following the planetary movements around the birth chart, is like moving around one’s self. Similarly, astrologers mean that the individual chart can be used as a mandala, revealing the wholeness that we potentially are.
The astrological birth chart drawn with the current planetary influence, represent to the astrologer, the present condition of the mind. The zodiac becomes a representation, of the symbolic path of life. We know nature and life to be cycles of becoming, being and dissolution. The changes we see during the course of a year in nature, appears to be symbolized, in the succession of signs in the zodiac. Even though the signs of the zodiac, no longer correspond to the actual constellations, as they appear in the heavens, the deep symbolism behind the signs is still valid, as a symbolic description of life’s unfolding journey. The zodiac mandala is composed of twelve signs that not only represent twelve different character types, but also the different stages of life. In ancient time they were only eight signs, but later developed into twelve. The twelve signs correspond to stages of development in human life and in nature as a whole. It is based on the assumption, that there is a close connection between the external changes in nature, and the inner emotional and biological changes in human nature. The basic idea in astrology is that, there is synchronicity between the movement of the planets through the zodiac, and events taking place on earth. There is also the idea that within time, there is quality. The twelve different zodiacal signs show twelve different paths of life, each with a constructive and destructive side. Each sign is essential in the cycle of wholeness.