I wrote an article in last week’s newsletter that critiqued the work of Parke Kunkle who claimed that the way that the signs are presented in astrology today is wrong and has been for many centuries. Of course, his real purpose, noticeably unexpressed, was to debunk astrology, using arguments that are basically the same ones used by scientists for many years. We did receive one lengthy reply to my article from Mike which was well thought out and which, I believe, deserves a proper response. You can read his reply at the end of the article here:

The first thing I must add is that I agree with some of his critique. Astrologers have put themselves in a position where they are open to parts of the valid critique being made here. The critical question is this: Can astrology make consistent, reliable and concrete predictions? The answer, despite the claims by John Frawley and others is that it cannot. Much of Mike’s critique is actually due to his own misunderstanding of what astrology can be when it is practiced in the proper manner. But he is hardly alone in this view. Let’s get really truthful about this. If astrologers could make concrete and reliable predictions, they would be flooded with clients, some of whom would be rich, and they would, in turn, become rich themselves. Unfortunately we know that few astrologers are rich. In fact, every rich astrologer I know either made their money in a field other than astrology or they inherited it. To practice and even be amazed at the wonders of astrology does NOT mean we must give up our common sense.

The next area to examine concerns Mike’s critique of astrology as a ‘vaguely worded set of personality profiles.’ This is where he begins to go off the rails due to his own lack of knowledge and experience with high quality astrological practice. He clearly knows nothing about it, which is not entirely his fault. Like most people who rely solely on ‘rational’ thinking as the only way of knowing or revealing truth, it is easy to prematurely dismiss any field of study that they “know” (or believe) is invalid on its face. Why would Mike study any field for 1-2 years in order to test its depth or possible promise, if he has already dismissed it out of hand? He won’t, of course, and neither will the vast majority of scientists and their followers.

Astrology as an Archetypal Language

As I have written many times in this newsletter, astrology is archetypal in nature. This means that all of us, because we are human, share basic human themes. So, what is an archetype? One definition is that an “archetype expresses the most primordial and common responses of all human beings to the most basic of life situations. They can appear as symbolic images in dreams, as well as in all myths or religious conceptions. These images have enormous psychic power and can sway vast collectivities, resulting in wonderful heights and the lowest of depths. They have a dark as well as light side and manifest in different ways depending on the times and culture of the specific person or collective.”

This informs us that all of the building blocks of astrology (the signs, planets, houses, aspects, etc.) are the same for each of us. The truth is that we share much more with each other than we tend to think. Our similarities may be greater than our differences. What makes us different and unique from one another then is the very specific way all of the common building blocks come together. To understand this requires interpretation and as in all professions, there are practitioners with a wide variety of skills. But what is important to know is that a natal chart is very complex. We are so much more than our Sun sign and it is very unfortunate how few people understand this. In fact, in some charts, the quality of the Sun can be quite weak. So, why do scientists even attempt to judge astrology? It would take 1-2 years of effort and study before a person could begin to be able to interpret a natal chart. Are scientists going to spend this amount of time on a subject that they ‘already know’ is way off base? Of course not. For some reason though, they believe they have the right to opinions about a subject of which they know practically nothing. This is their arrogance and demonstrates, seemingly without their awareness, that they approach science as they would any belief system with its own dogmas. This has been its history and it still happens today.

Consciousness Does Matter

If we approach astrology as an archetypal language, it will immediately infer there are freedoms available to us potentially. Archetypes manifest in a multiple of ways, from higher to lower ways of expression. Astrology does not control us as some people think if we bring consciousness to bear in all of our behaviors, attitudes, beliefs systems and motivations. Again, psychology tells us this over and over again.

It is better to think of astrology in terms of levels of abstraction from the general and thematic down to the specific way an archetypal principle manifests for a particular person. I am referring to some of the amazing work of Alfred Korzybski who wrote a seminal book called “Science and Sanity”, which outlines the importance of the principle of levels or ladders of abstraction. This approach is so different from the way most people think about astrology. This is what Mike is doing when he speaks about the problem of personality profiles. His concern is valid. He just doesn’t know that higher quality astrology is aware of this and consciously discriminates between how we are both similar to and different from each other. In other words, astrology does not strictly speaking yield a perfect understanding of a particular person’s personality. It does accurately describe tendencies and alternative ways of being that can range depending on how conscious (self-aware) or unconscious the person is. In other words, if we are open to learning, to self-discovery and alternative ways of being, we can move to higher ways of being-in-the-world.

One example is a person with Mars on their Ascendant. That person could a very assertive, even acerbic personality. But with awareness and understanding, that assertiveness can move from being mere belligerence and argumentativeness to discrimination and the careful picking of one’s battles. It is more up to us than we may think. We do not have to be slaves to our chart…. unless we make no effort to become self-aware.

At the end of his critique Mike comments on the fact that a planet has no more influence on us than a person sitting next to us. Again, this assumes that astrologers believe that the planets are causing us to do something. I know that this is how astrologers do speak and I have done it myself. But the truth is that astrologers do not know how astrology works only that it does. There are other theories for why it worked, including the notions of ‘synchronicity’ which is a concept popularized by Carl Jung. Scientists have been criticizing him from the beginning, but the quantum physicists are much more cautious as they do not pretend to know how connected every bit of matter is to every other bit. To them, the universe is much more unknown that scientists think. Sometimes, I think that what scientists lack most is simply a lack of imagination, though this is not at all true for many of them

At the end of Mike’s critique he attacks astrology with the famous P.T. Barnum quote that a sucker is born every day. To me, he has come full circle for it is he who, in his ignorance, has fallen prey to his faith in science and rigid logics, by exposing his own bias and even blindness.

As I have said before, people resonate with astrology not out of mere superstition, but due to the fact that it does speak to our psyche and soul. The recent controversy reveals how much astrology is valued and will always be. So to scientists everywhere, surrender, you’ve lost, and take note that “Resistance is futile.” Your uneducated attacks only serve to give us life.

One of the questions I am often asked by clients and students alike is – “Can astrology tell me what my purpose really is?” I looked at the astrologer advertisement section of the recent issue of ‘The Mountain Astrologer,’ and found that one of the common themes of these ads is that astrologers are openly saying that astrology can ‘tell you’ what your purpose is. Sometimes they will say ‘Soul-Purpose.’ The mere mentioning of this will be so hypnotic that the reader of this ad could feel very enticed by its potential promise and so might want a reading so that they can learn what their purpose really is. It is indeed, a truly important human need, is it not?

Why is it so important to us? Perhaps, the most basic reason is that most of us feel, at least at some point, lost in life. We want to know such things as what we should be doing, where will I find fame and fortune, will I be successful and then we believe or hope that astrology can answer these types of questions, so we go to astrologers for our answers. It is my view that this subject can be so fascinating that one can jump headlong into a search for answers without asking one very important question, which has two basic parts. They can be described as follows:

What are the actual assumptions of my question?

Will the answer being told to me by another person actually be sufficient or truly satisfying?

The Assumptions

It can be helpful to really look and discover what it is that one is seeking. What is the nature of the drive in us that seeks to discover our purpose? Where are we looking and how can we find it in that place? Can a person tell another person what their purpose really is? These are some of the questions that can be ignored in our sometimes frantic and vague search.

The thoughts I will express here are certainly not the last word on the matter, but hopefully it can give us a good starting point. What I have discovered when I’m with a friend or client who is asking this type of question is that they are experiencing an ‘emptiness’ along with a great fear of that ‘emptiness.’ There is a consideration that if that emptiness is filled, that one will feel better, and that the way to filling it, will come from knowing one’s purpose. But what is one seeking when they look for ‘purpose?’ Is it an answer that is focused on an external role, job or relationship that, once found, will hopefully take away the pain and doubt caused by this dreaded ‘emptiness?’ It is my view that what we are really seeking is relief from a fundamental anxiety that all of us feel, simply because we exist. It is arising out of the fact that we are alive and we don’t know whether or not our life has any meaning. We are in real doubt about this and hope that if we find our purpose, we also will find our meaning.

But will we? If I tell someone that their purpose is to be a chef, CEO, spouse and/or parent, will that really help us? Sure, it can be helpful to learn of the role we can play in the world. I do not mean to trivialize this need. But will it give us the relief we are actually looking for in an existential sense? In fact, can any external factor give us this? Will money, success, fame, etc. give us the meaning we are seeking? I don’t think it will and my guess is that most of my readers don’t believe it either.

So, if astrology is to be of any real assistance to us in the deeper sense of which I am speaking, astrology needs to be capable of more than just advising us in external matters. For it to be helpful to us in our existential challenge, it must help us discover meaning. If it attempts to answer these important questions only by focusing on external factors, is it not limiting itself greatly and making itself irrelevant to the question of meaning and a sense of purpose that goes beyond the roles we play in life? And finally, if astrologers do this and only this, are we not contributing to the illusion and false hope that if we only know what we should be ‘doing’ in the external world, that we will suddenly become filled with a great sense of meaning and thereby cease to feel that quite genuine experience of ‘emptiness’ and the fear we have of that?

Astrology at Its Best – A Tool for the Discovery of Meaning

So, yes, astrology can contribute to our discovery of our purpose in the external world, but that is not when astrology is at its best. What astrology is capable of being is a tool that opens us to having a different relationship with our life and with the world in general. This is what can help us and can even begin a process where we can deal directly with the issue of ‘emptiness’ or lack of meaning we feel. How can astrology enter this area of life, an area usually reserved for religion, philosophy, psychology, etc.?

Actually, it is this factor that causes me to prefer teaching to consulting people only. Yes, an astrological consultation can be helpful as we navigate our way through our everyday life and confront the present problems we face. Astrology is indeed capable of assisting us in this. But when we begin to learn more about the world of astrology, something much bigger and more profound can occur. I asked several graduate students to tell me how the immersion in astrology affected them and all said that it changed their world. However, it changed them more on the inside than the outside. Their view of their life had become richer and their understanding of time and their relationship to it has transformed them. How can the study of astrology do this?

Here are some of their edited and shortened synopses, some of which have to be in my words rather than theirs:

1. When I realized (not just cognited) that my life revealed by my birth chart was linked to already existing archetypes, I felt that I was connected to Life itself and to time as well, i.e. past, present and future. I found that this feeling of deep and profound connection was reducing my sense of alienation and emptiness that had been my constant companion.
2. The more I studied my transits, the more I felt that at certain moments, I really was free to make choices that could send me in a much better direction than where I had been. I just needed to be more conscious of my programming or patterns, which astrology helped me to see, so that I could choose to operate in a different way. I didn’t see astrology as forcing me to do things or controlling me, but as a tool for discovering my patterns which were controlling me and as way to greater freedoms.
3. The more deeply I got into the planets, signs, houses and aspects, the more I understood better ways to deal with my life. I had no idea there were so many levels to life. The more I understood, the more I felt free and could see that life is not meaningless.
4. It’s all about learning. That’s what life really is. I can go through life unaware of what I’m doing and never really learn from life or go through it with awareness and find that each day is an amazing opportunity to discover new things and grow.
5. When I had learned the astrology basics, I began to look at both good and bad events in my past. I looked at transits, progressions, solar arcs, etc. I was shocked to see that what was happening to me in my life, all the events which I believed were just random events, turned out to be cycles of unfolding and not random at all. Events which I thought were disconnected from one another, turned out to be completely connected. I just couldn’t see it at the time. I was so immersed and focused on the crisis that I couldn’t see it in a broader perspective. With time and perspective, this changed and a deeper pattern was revealed so that I began to feel that I was evolving rather than just revolving like being on a merry-go-round. Life had meaning, after all.

Astrology Reveals Life as a Process

When we see, even in a small way, that life is not a random, meaningless set of events, our way of Being-in-the-World changes and life becomes a much richer, meaningful set of opportunities from which we can learn and grow. Each day becomes full of meaning and discovery.

I’m certainly not suggesting that astrology is the only way, the only path to this, but it is one way. And when it is used in this way, it becomes one tool of transformation where we no longer feel that life is meaningless and empty. This is why I used astrology as a therapist and now use it as a teacher. When practiced in the ways that I’ve described, astrology can be a very powerful way of assisting us to move to higher levels of consciousness and even evolution.

This subject of this newsletter article has been motivated by the crisis of a close friend of mine. May it help this person as well as many of my readers. As always, I encourage you to respond to this article and express how it affected you.