Basics
Dear reader,
In the 20thC, astrology came to be described as “pseudoscience”, a fate that it would eventually share with psychoanalysis. Although this term is useful in reminding astrologers that, in dealing with qualities (“qualia”), they are humanists, our links to “science” requires term, “pseudoscience”, to be superseded by the more accurate description, (not “metaphysics”, but) “meta-science”; click here for the details…
If you are (a.) familiar with Freud’s psychology yet relatively unfamiliar with psychological astrology, or (b.) familiar with psychological astrology yet relatively unfamiliar with Freud’s psychology, or (c.) unfamiliar with both Freudian psychology and psychological astrology, you can click here, to read an article that will help you to get your bearings…
Centroversion, a key quality in religion, has tended to fall by the wayside in psychology; even Jung, the psychologist of religion, omitted it from his “Psychological Types” (academic psychology following suit); astrologers who care for religion & psychology – e.g. “who are you?” is preferred to “what might happen to you” – will want to address this omission at “Astrology 101”; philosophical & scientific astrologers may also be interested in the “widening gyre”; click here for our discussion.
A century has passed since Freud’s “The Ego & the Id” and the world has yet to use the term, “ego”, in the way that a psychoanalyst does. FA hopes that one future psychoanalytic day, analysis won’t be undermined by wrongheaded snips like, “leave your ego at the door”. The “ego”, the structure of redemption, is ‘built’, ‘centred’ and, when necessary, ‘repaired’ by “ego dynamic” vectors. Click here for a discussion of the “developmental astrology” of the Sun, the Moon, Venus & Mercury.
In psychoanalysis, the word “I” can attach any psychological ‘organ’. We may hear, “I this” or “I that” but, most often, we are hearing a “mask/self I” or a “superego I”. In these cases, it would be a good thing if “I” was “left at the door”. Upon hearing a bossy, “leave your ego at the door”, assume until proven otherwise that the superego had said it. This realization is available to anyone who “develops into-through” his/her 3rd house. Click here for further analysis of “pre-judge ye not, lest…”.
With both psychoanalysis & astrology emphasizing quality over quantity, there is little point in trying to reduce them in order that they might ‘fit’ into the “reductive” scientific paradigm. Given that scientists don’t run about trying to warn discontented civilizations away from interpretations of “Hamlet”, the Freudastrologer does well to position psychoanalysis & astrology within an interpretative, hermeneutic context; click here for a discussion of links between meta-science & (filmed) literature.
A Short Course in Mandala-ology
With symmetry and slight asymmetry having a significant role in the creation of the Cosmos, semi-symmetrical images deserve attention, especially when they have held their own through history e.g. the (yin-yang) Taiji, the Star of David, the Crucifix and the zodiac. Lovers of the Beatles know that “Help” was ‘helped’ along by (semi)-symmetrical semaphore patterns… as was the case for the nuclear disarmament movement.
Plato’s “Republic” & the Zodiac: Pt.I
It may seem odd for a website that is focused on individual self-understanding to publish an essay series on politics but, here, we make the case that world would be a better place if it was run by self-understanders. If Plato had time-travelled to 2024, he would likely have been less than impressed by “(post)-modern” political philosophy… even less than FA is. What does the zodiac have to offer 21stC political philosophers?
Plato’s “Republic” & the Zodiac: Pt.II
Science & religion tended to be divergent through the 2nd millennium but, in light of recent advances in cosmology & “collapsology” (= the science of societal break-down; “collapsologists” like to use this self-appellation to distinguish themselves from wackier “eschatologists”), we can posit some science & religion convergence. Because filling a cup that is already full is not easy, is emptiness a key feature of the Holy Grail?