Astrology & Psychology

Jungian Principles

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.

Some of the Jungian principles reflected in astrology will be described on the following pages. We will look at the concepts of "Synchronicity", "Archetypes", and the "Psychological Types".

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More about C.G. Jung

• C.G. Jung in the Astro Databank
• C.G. Jung Institute Zürich
• The Jung Page