Jung on Astrology

Jung on Astrology Jung on Astrology brings together C. G. Jung’s thoughts on astrology in a single volume for the fi rst time, signifi cantly adding to our understanding of his work. Jung’s Collected Works , seminars, and letters contain numerous discussions of this ancient divinatory system, and Jung himself used astrological horoscopes as a diagnostic tool in his analytic practice. Understood in terms of his own psychology as a symbolic representation of the archetypes of the collective unconscious, Jung found in astrology a wealth of spiritual and psychological meaning and suggested it represents the “sum of all the psychological knowledge of antiquity.” The selections and editorial introductions by Safron Rossi and Keiron Le Grice address topics that were of critical importance to Jung – such as the archetypal symbolism in astrology, the precession of the equinoxes and astrological ages, astrology as a form of synchronicity and acausal correspondence, the qualitative nature of time, and the experience of astrological fate – allowing readers to assess astrology’s place within the larger corpus of Jung’s work and its value as a source of symbolic meaning for our time. The book will be of great interest to analytical psychologists, Jungian psy- chotherapists, and academics and students of depth psychology and Jungian and post-Jungian studies, as well as to astrologers and therapists of other orientations, especially transpersonal. Safron Rossi, PhD, is a Professor of mythology and depth psychology in the Jungian and Archetypal Studies specialization at Pacifi ca Graduate Institute, Cali- fornia. For many years she was curator of the Joseph Campbell and James Hillman manuscript collections. She writes in the fi elds of archetypal psychology, mythology, and astrology. Keiron Le Grice, PhD, is a Professor of depth psychology and program chair in the Jungian and Archetypal Studies specialization at Pacifi ca Graduate Institute, California, and co-founder of the Institute of Transpersonal and Archetypal Stud- ies (ITAS). He is the author of several books and a founding editor of Archai: The Journal of Archetypal Cosmology. Also published by Routledge in this series Jung on the East , edited by J. J. Clarke Jung on Alchemy , edited by Nathan Schwartz-Salant Jung on Evil , edited by Murray Stein Jung on Astrology C. G. Jung Selected and Introduced by Safron Rossi and Keiron Le Grice First published 2018 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2018 Introduction and selection, Safron Rossi and Keiron Le Grice Extracts from Vol. 1–21 of The Collected Works of C. G. Jung , © 1953–1983 Princeton University Press and Routledge. Extracts from Vol. 1–2 of C. G. Jung Letters , © 1973–1975 Princeton University Press and Routledge. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-1-138-23072-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-23073-6 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-30451-9 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC Contents List of fi gures vii Acknowledgments viii List of abbreviations ix Introduction 1 PART I Contexts and opinions 13 Introduction 13 1 Astrology’s place in the modern West 17 2 Jung’s views on astrology 23 3 Planets and gods: astrology as archetypal 32 PART II Astrological symbolism in Jung’s writings 37 Introduction 37 4 Planetary and zodiacal symbolism 39 The signs of the zodiac 39 Sun symbolism 46 Sun and moon symbolism 50 Venus and Mars symbolism 54 Mandalas, birth charts, and the self 58 5 Fate, heimarmene , and ascent through the planetary spheres 69 6 Astrology and medicine 76 vi Contents PART III Astrological ages 83 Introduction 83 7 The symbolic signifi cance of the precession 87 Astrological ages and cultural transition 87 From the age of Aries to the age of Aquarius 89 Astrological ages and Christian symbolism 102 The coming age of Aquarius 107 8 The sign of the fi shes 111 9 The prophecies of Nostradamus 129 10 The historical signifi cance of the fi sh 135 PART IV Explanations of astrology 141 Introduction 141 11 As above, so below: the microcosm-macrocosm correspondence 153 12 Astrology as a projection of the unconscious 161 13 Astrology as a mantic method 167 14 Astrology as causal infl uence 173 15 Synchronicity and the qualities of time 177 16 Number and archetypes 185 17 Acausal orderedness and the unus mundus 190 APPENDIX Gret Baumann-Jung 197 Introduction 197 Appendix: Gret Baumann-Jung, “Some Refl ections on the Horoscope of C. G. Jung” Spring (1975), 35–55 198 Index 217 Figures 4.1 Mandala painting 41 4.2 Serpent representing the orbit of the moon 48 4.3 Roman symbols 52 4.4 Androgynous divinity 53 4.5 Cybele and her son-lover 53 4.6 Horoscope, showing the houses, zodiac, and planets 59 7.1 Zodiacal map 91 7.2 Constellation of Pisces 93 7.3 Pisces 103 A.1 C. G. Jung’s birth chart 199 Acknowledgments We are indebted to the Jung family whose support and permission to gather Jung’s writings on astrology in one place made this volume possible. We also would like to thank our colleague Susan Rowland, for making our introduction to Routledge, and Susannah Frearson, our editor at Routledge, who shepherded this project with grace and ease. Thanks also goes to the Graduate Research Library at Pacifi ca Graduate Institute, California, who made Jung’s Collected Works available to us in electronic form, and to Toni D’Anca for the photo of the Orphan Stone. Safron would like to personally thank Keiron Le Grice, her co-editor in this project, and her husband, Glen Slater. Keiron expresses his thanks to Safron Rossi for collaborating on the project and for the original idea for the book and to his wife, Kathryn Le Grice, for her ongoing support. Safron Rossi Keiron Le Grice Abbreviations The reader will fi nd three kinds of numbered notes at the end of each chapter. This is due to the material being mainly drawn from Jung’s previously published works. All notes without brackets are Jung’s original notes from the Collected Works or original notes by the editors of C. G. Jung Letters, the three volumes of Jung’s seminars or the Red Book. Notes that are followed by [EDITORS] or placed entirely in square brackets are by the original editors of the Collected Works . Last, notes by the editors of this current work are indicated by their initials in brackets, Keiron Le Grice [KLG] and Safron Rossi [SR]. Works by Jung are identifi ed by the following abbreviations. CW The Collected Works of C. G. Jung . Edited by Gerhard Adler, Michael Fordham, and Herbert Read; William McGuire, Executive Editor; trans- lated primarily by R.F.C. Hull. Princeton (Bollingen Series XX) and London (Routledge), 1953–1983. 21 volumes. Letters C. G. Jung Letters . Selected and edited by Gerhard Adler in collabora- tion with Aniela Jaffé; translations by R.F.C. Hull. Princeton (Bollingen Series XCV) and London (Routledge), 1973, 1975. 2 volumes. Works by other authors cited in the endnotes are identifi ed by title, author, or both. For more information on Jung’s sources, see bibliographies at the end of the CW volumes. Introduction The astrological horoscope, Carl Jung observed in a letter of 1954, “corresponds to a defi nite moment in the colloquy of the gods, that is to say the psychic archetypes.” 1 This statement, one of many similar assertions made throughout his life, is illustrative of Jung’s belief that astrology can provide symbolic insight into the workings of the human psyche. Astrological charts, cast for specifi c moments in time, might be construed as something like a symbolic portrayal of the universal principles, or archetypes, once personifi ed by the gods and goddesses of ancient myth. Indeed, astrology, Jung remarked in a letter to Sigmund Freud, “seems indis- pensable for a proper understanding of mythology.”2 However, despite Jung’s abid- ing personal interest in astrology, and his serious exploration of it, his views on the subject have received scant attention from scholars in the fi eld of depth psychology. By contrast, Jung’s ideas have been readily embraced by many practicing astrologers and authors of astrology books, perhaps in the hope that the associa- tion with Jung might lend to astrology a degree of credibility otherwise lacking, given the natural affi nity between the two fi elds. This book – a compilation of Jung’s writings in this area – is intended for readers in both depth psychology and astrology. Yet the ideas explored herein are also relevant to any of us searching for deeper life meaning and a greater sense of order in life or for a way to explore the mysteries of human experience. Questions of the human being’s place within the cosmos, of the limits of ratio- nality and causal determinism, and of the scope of human free will and the exis- tence of what was once recognized as the workings of fate or destiny remain critically relevant to us today.

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