The Benefits of Astrology

Glenn Perry, Ph.D..

Objective

• Map of Consciousness

• Self-help or Diagnostic Tool

• Patterns of Growth & Development

• Appreciate Synchronicity

• Strengthens Spiritual Understanding

• Best Way o Learn Astrology

Map of Consciousness

• Hierarchy of Basic Needs

– Signs as core archetypes

– Planets as psychological faculties

• Aspects as Personal Myths

– Overall story structure

• Surface Personality Traits

• Environmental Events

Signs As Basic Needs

Aries Survival, Being, Autonomy

Taurus Stability, Security, Pleasure

Gemini Learning, Communication

Cancer Nurturance, Caring, Belonging

Leo Validation, Self-esteem

Virgo Work efficiency, Competence

Signs As Basic Needs

Libra Intimacy, Relatedness, Beauty

Scorpio Transformation, Power

Sagittarius Meaning, Truth, Expansion

Capricorn Structure, Perfection, Order

Aquarius Perspective, Insight, Change

Pisces Transcendence, Unity, Bliss

Signs As Major Archetypes

Aries Warrior, Pioneer, Noble Savage

Taurus Earth Mother, Fertility Goddess

Gemini Student, Messenger

Cancer The Great Mother, Child

Leo Hero, King, Father, Player

Virgo Craftsman, Novice, Apprentice

Signs As Major Archetypes

Libra Love Goddess, Young Maiden

Scorpio Wizards, Healers, Monsters

Sagittarius Guru, Preacher, Philosopher

Capricorn Senex, Wise Old Man, Judge

Aquarius Prometheus, Liberator, Inventor

Pisces Mystic, Sage, Saviour, Victim

Planets As Faculties

Sun Ego, Will, Expressive Function

Moon Memory, Nurture, Receptivity

Mercury Mind, Intellect, Reason, Analysis

Venus Aesthetic, Sensual, Affection

Mars Assertion, Initiative, Autonomy

Planets As Faculties

Jupiter Morality, Faith, Theory

Saturn Superego, Authority, Order

Uranus Observing Ego, Witness, Revelation

Neptune Imagination, Visionary, Empathy

Pluto Integrative, Healing, Sexual

Aspects As Personal Myths

Mars• need for autonomy

• faculty of assertion

• warrior archetype

• aggressive action

• fierce, bold, vital

• fights, accidents

Saturn• need for order

• faculty of super-ego

• father archetype

• disciplined control

• cautious, stoic, cold

• delays, obstacles

Mars square Saturn Belief

“People in authority try to suppress my freedom. I have to fight against those who

seek to oppress and dominate me.”

Mars square Saturn Belief

“If I don’t control my impulses, I could get in trouble and be punished. I must be careful to

assert myself in ways that support the prevailing order. My aggression must be in

the service of the dominant authority.”

Mars square Saturn Belief

If I am to attain my goals, I must assert myself

with great persistence and determination. Obstacles build strength and fortitude.”

Mars square Saturn Traits

• Aggressive ambition. Willingness to ignore rules and challenge authority.

• Frustrated or inhibited action. Fear of punishment. Sullen anger.

• Identification with authority. Tendency toward bullying and domination.

• Unyielding stamina, persistence, and courage in the pursuit of one’s goals. Tough. Indomitable. Iron willed.

Mars square Saturn Events

• Harsh, cruel father (or hardworking).

• Fighting for or against authority.

• Thwarted ambition. Blocked actions.

• Violence. Accidents. Broken bones.

• Tests of strength and endurance.

• Overcoming obstacles to success.

Famous Personages with Mars-Saturn Hard Aspects

Adolph Hitler, Marquis de Sade, Sigmund Freud, Martin Luther King, T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia), Ernest Hemingway, Joe Louis,

Douglas MacArthur, Harry Houdini, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen.

“One can expect with considerable assurance that a given well-defined

psychological situation will be accompanied by an analogous astrological configuration.”

C.G. Jung

As A Diagnostic Tool

• Objective reference point.

– Only theory with external referents.

• Accelerates insight into...

– strengths & talents.

– challenges & wounds.

• Deepens empathic rapport.

• Facilitates interpretations.

Strengths and Talents

• Sign emphasis.

• Conjunctions, Trines, and sextiles.

• Elevated planets.

• Planets on angles.

• Fire signs, planets, and houses.

Sun-Jupiter Conjunct in Leo

• Sun signifies identity & image.

• Leo is proud, showy, dramatic, fun.

• Jupiter expands, inflates, inspires.

– Faith, optimism, great expectations.

– Signifies good fortune, luck, prosperity.

– Potential excess and overexpansion.

• Result: Super Leo. Larger than life.

The Deion Sanders Show!

• Deion “Prime Time” Sanders.

• Multi-sports Hero. Baseball/Football.

• Defensive player of the year. Superstar.

• Flashy, showboat, popular, high profile.

• “Must be the money” song/entertainer.

• 30 million dollar man. Richest ever.

• Supreme good fortune. Overpriced.

Sun Conjunct Pluto in Leo

• Sun Leo expresses pure joy.

• Pluto darkens, deepens, intensifies.– Death instinct, shadow figures, cults.

– Sexual, erotic, primitive, healing.

– Passionate, powerful, penetrating.

– The daimonic, loss of control, evil.

– The peak experience, transformation.

• Result: Intense, powerful creativity.

Jerry Garcia andThe Grateful Dead!

• Eptimized the 60’s revolution.

• Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll.

• Biggest touring band in history.

• Enjoyed cult status -- “Deadheads”

• Called “a healer” by his fans.

• Music on the frontier, the edge, breaking the laws -- “Outlaws”

Challenges & Wounds

• Hard aspects to Saturn.

• Focal planet of T-Square or Yod.

• Planets in 8th or 12th houses.

• Hard aspects to an outer planet.

– (Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto)

Psychopathology

Aries/Mars Antisocial Personality

Taurus/Venus Borderline Personality

Gemini/Mercury Learning Disorder

Cancer/Moon Histrionic Personality

Leo/Sun Narcissistic Personality

Virgo/Mercury Obsessive-Compulsive

Psychopathology

Libra/Venus Dependent Personality

Scorpio/Pluto Paranoid Personality

Sagittarius/Jupiter Manic Syndrome

Capricorn/Saturn Dysthymic Disorder

Aquarius/Uranus Schizoid Personality

Pisces/Neptune Schizophrenia

Deepens Empathy

• Confirms and enhances understanding.

• Helps you appreciate the uniqueness of people.

• Draw on knowledge of your own chart.

• Draw on personal experiences of transits to your chart.

• Draw on work with other clients who had similar configuration.

Facilitates Interpretations

• Bridges past, present, and future.

• Alerts you to recurrent patterns.

• Stimulates and accelerates the formation of hypotheses.

• Enables you to quickly see parallels between present and past experience.

• Keys you to ask the right questions, thus keeps you on track.

Patterns of Growth andDevelopment

• Each sign is a developmental stage

– zodiac cycle is analogue to life cycle

• Universal developmental landmarks

– Saturn return is passage to adulthood

– Pluto square Pluto is mid-life crisis

• Idiosyncratic personal cycles

Developmental Stages

Aries 0-18 months Autonomy

Taurus 2-4 yrs Security

Gemini 4-7 yrs Learning

Cancer 8-12 yrs Belonging

Leo 13-18 yrs Identity

Virgo 19-26 yrs Competency

Developmental Stages

Libra 26-35 yrs Relationship

Scorpio 35-45 yrs Transformation

Sagittarius 45-56 yrs Wisdom

Capricorn 56-68 yrs Authority

Aquarius 68-80 yrs Perspective

Pisces 80 - death Transcendence

Universal Cycles

• Hallmarks of development

• The Saturn Return at age 29

• Pluto square Pluto in early 40’s

Personal Cycles

• Tells the precise time of an event.

– Diagnostic time machine.

• Shows approximate duration and acute phases.

• Reveals the meaning of the experience.

• Targets periods of crisis and opportunity.

• Assists in making a prognosis.

“I have observed many cases where a well-defined psychological phase or an

analogous event has been accompanied by a transit, particularly the afflictions of

Saturn and Uranus.”

C.G. Jung

Pluto Opposed The Sun

• Major Identity Crisis.

• Emergence of shadow figures, personal demons. Pain and suffering.

• Potential power struggles, or financial crisis. Disempowerment.

• Death and regeneration experiences -transformation, transition.

Sun conjunct Saturn

“Physically this transit can signify a period of low energy....you are likely to feel depressed and dispirited. Even worse, the sense of tasks left

undone will press down upon you. Emotionally, you feel isolated and alone...Do not dwell on

feelings of loneliness and depression.”

Robert Hand

From Planets in Transit

Pluto square Moon

• Moon symbolizes mother/women.

• Pluto square Moon signifies:

– Deep mother-wound. Trauma.

– Fear of pathological mother.

– Repression of feelings & dependency needs.

– Expectations of devouring females.

– Potential power struggles with women.

Yod of A Pisces Moon

“I feel like I’m standing at the edge of this huge hole that can never be filled.”

Appreciate Synchronicity

“Synchronicity can be defined as the simultaneous occurrence of a certain

psychic state with one or more external events which appear as meaningful

parallels to the momentary subjective state.”

C.G. Jung

Metaphorical Thinking

• Outer reality reflects an inner, archetypal reality.

• Subjective and objective mirror one another.

• Events are derivatives of consciousness, analogues of psyche.

• What you experience is who you are.

Astrological Acausality

• Planet is not cause but corrolary to a psychological process.

• Planet is both process and content.

• Every event has meaning and purpose.

• Seeing the archetypal in the concrete.

• Underscores personal responsibility.

• Only model that is not deterministic.

Strengthens the Spiritual Life

• Deepens a sense of connection to the Universe.

• Confirms and clarifies a sense of our life’s purpose and meaning.

• Increases our capacity for surrender and trusting the Universe.

Deepens Connection To God

• We live in a meaningfully ordered and intelligent cosmos.

• Parts and cycles are intelligible and predictable.

• As above, so below; as within, so without. Interpenetration.

• The macrocosm and the microcosm. Human mirrors cosmos.

Clarifies Our Life’s Purpose

• Confirms our sense of identity.

– Who we are is who we are suppossed to be.

• Affirms a sense of destiny.

– What we are doing is what we should be doing.

• Substantiates the Universe’s intent.

– We fulfill a purpose in the whole scheme of things.

Trust and Surrender

• Realize what can and cannot be controlled.

• Conscious Evolution. Let go and let God. Non-attachment.

• Relaxing and learning from transits.

• Strengthening the transcendent function --the observing ego.

How To Learn Astrology?

• Memorization of parts.

– the core psychological meanings.

• The art of synthesis.

– Observations of transits and people.

• Aesthetic satisfaciton & intellectual pleasure.

– Self-reinforcing process.

– Becomes part of everyday life.

Take A Class!

• Benefit from a consistent system.

– State of the art, postmodern approach.

• Learn to use astrological programs.

– Solar Fire and Winstar

• Value of interactive learning.

• Have a personal consultant.