OSMOSIS OF PSYCHOLOGY
AND
ASTROLOGY
Astrology represents the summation of all the psychological knowledge of antiquity." C.G. Jung
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 (pronounced Yoong), ” 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 selfrealization, 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, astrologer and contemporary with Jung, 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 a circumambulation of the 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 psyche. 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 corresponds 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. 15 The twelve signs correspond to stages of development in human life and in nature as a whole. It is based on the assumption 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 ach with a constructive and destructive side. Each sign is essential in the cycle of wholeness.
In the SERIES 4 we will be taking our journey further towards this approach.
You cannot travel on the path until you become the path itself. – Buddha
Comments
Post a Comment