| abstract
| - In archetypal astrology, planetary configurations in the solar system are thought to bear a significant and coherent correspondence with archetypal themes and patterns evident in human experience. Archetypal astrology combines techniques drawn from conventional forms of astrology with an understanding of archetypes and the psyche emerging from the psychological theories of C. G. Jung, James Hillman, and Stanislav Grof. The term archetypal cosmology is used to refer to the academic discipline based on archetypal astrological analysis. Richard Tarnas' book Cosmos and Psyche is an example of archetypal astrology. Tarnas believes that "nature of astrology is to be archetypally predictive, not concretely predictive": That is, when we know what a particular planetary alignment is, there is a wide range of ways in which that particular transit or natal aspect can manifest in our life and still be precisely reflecting the archetypal principles involved. But you cannot predict exactly which way it's going to come out in advance on purely astrological terms. I believe that an understanding of astrology as archetypally rather than literally predictive is both more true to the reality of astrology and more empowering in its support of human autonomy. It supports the ever-evolving capacity of the individual human being, with her free will and reflective consciousness, to bring forth the highest potential manifestation of a given archetypal complex, rather than simply be a puppet of it. The beauty of the astrological perspective and the gift it represents is that it provides us with a capacity to know what energies are constellated at a given time; this gives us a greater freedom to express these energies and embody them in a more intelligent and life-enhancing way, rather than just react or "act out" the archetypal complex in a predetermined or fatalistic way. In Cosmos and Psyche, Tarnas explores correlations between planetary cycles and discernible patterns in world cultural history and biographies of prominent individuals. Since 2008, Tarnas’s work has been carried forward by a new academic journal, Archai: The Journal of Archetypal Cosmology, edited by Keiron Le Grice and Rod O’Neal, which includes figures such as Stanislav Grof, Chris Bache, Robert McDermott, Brian Swimme, and Jorge Ferrer on its advisory board. According to the website for the Archai journal, archetypal astrology combines “rigorous astrological methodology with the archetypal perspective emerging from modern depth psychology” to analyze the “shifting patterns and cycles of world history, culture, art, and individual biography.”
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