Astrology In Psychoanalysis By C. Jung

Carl Jung introduced astrology into psychoanalysis. The Swiss psychoanalyst, a disciple of Freud, faced concepts that for many were closer to magic than science. Yet its principles are deep and interesting to the point of giving rise to a current that still remains valid today.

According to Jung, all the psychological knowledge of antiquity is condensed in astrology. Intuitively, the twelve signs of the zodiac become a compendium of psychic realities. They constitute what Jung called “archetypes”, or psychological patterns or models that populate the collective unconscious.

Carl Jung was convinced that there was an innate disposition in every human being to be himself. It is not acquired, it is simply born with each of us. At this point we see the influence of astrology in Jungian psychoanalysis. Astrologers are convinced that there is a tendency to live a certain way from birth.

Synchronicity or astrology in Jung’s psychoanalysis

Jung in his theory developed the concept of “synchronicity”. It is a postulate that gives space to astrology in psychoanalysis. Synchronicity refers to events that generate coincidence. They happen in unison, but apparently they are not connected. Like when you are thinking of something unusual, like a bat, and an hour later you see one from the window.

For Jung, these coincidences obey invisible threads that connect everything. This is consistent with astrological principles. According to this knowledge, there are invisible forces from the universe. These forces continuously merge and lead to events that occur in a person’s life.

The influence of astrology in Jungian psychoanalysis is evident. An unknown universal order manifests itself in a specific situation. The movements of the universe lead to precise facts in a person’s life. It would appear that this moves away from the scientific realm, but quantum physics has also faced similar postulates.

Jung calls astrology the “intuitive method”. On several occasions he declared that he could verify that certain psychological states or certain facts were correlated with the motion of the planets. “Especially afflictions of Saturn and Uranus,” he declared in 1954 during an interview.

The astrologers and Jung

For their part, astrologers agree with Jung on many points. They insist on the existence of invisible forces that impose a specific meaning on everything that happens. “The force that moves the sun and the stars is the same that moves the human soul” said the famous Spanish astrologer Lluís Gisbert.

Just as the influence of astrology in psychoanalysis can be seen, the opposite can also be observed. Many astrologers use Jung’s concepts to develop their interpretations. A very special case is that of Richard Tarnas. This academic has a very particular background: he is a philosopher at Harvard University, but also a psychologist and astrologer.

He says he approached astrology after becoming interested in Jung. His initial approach was predominantly empirical. He was surprised to find that the astral charts of Galileo, Einstein and Darwin were very similar. And also that the same planetary configuration was repeated during a Beethoven concert and the most outstanding of Jimy Hendrix. One sentence sums up his position: “Your psyche is the breath of the cosmos”.

A difficult relationship

The influence of astrology in psychoanalysis is questioned by almost all psychoanalysts. In it they see only a set of imaginary myths and legends that lack validity. In reality, classical psychoanalysis is based on the idea that the human being is master of his destiny and that coincidences do not exist.

On the other hand, there is discussion on the extreme of Cartesian rationalism that has been imposed on knowledge. In this sense it is said that there is not just one, but multiple ways of arriving at the truth. And the rational truth, the scientific one, is only one of them.

Despite everything, astrology continues to be present in psychoanalysis, at least in the Jungian current. Both followers of this current and astrologers feel ever closer to quantum physics. They assure that the way will gradually open up to a new knowledge that will challenge rational laws. We’ll see what happens…