Mapping the Psyche Volume 1: The Planets and the Zodiac Signs

250 Pages·2016·5.176 MB·English

by  Clare Martin

Mapping the Psyche
An Introduction to Psychological Astrology
Volume 1: The Planets and the Zodiac Signs
Clare Martin
Published in 2016 by
The Wessex Astrologer Ltd,
4A Woodside Road
Bournemouth
BH5 2AZ
www.wessexastrologer.com
© Clare Martin 2016
Clare Martin asserts the moral right to be recognised as the author of
this work.
Cover Design by Jonathan Taylor
Cover picture, Emblema 5 Auri Potabilis Chimice Praeparati
The tree of life and the influences of the heavens.
17th century engraving by Wolfgang Kilian (1581–1662), Augsburg
US National Library of the History of Medicine
A catalogue record for this book is available at The British Library
ISBN 9781910531167
Previous edition by the CPA Press (2007) 9781900869324
No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by
any means without the written permission of the publisher. A
reviewer may quote brief passages.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Lesson 1: Introduction to the Planets
The Solar System
Planetary Symbols
Planetary Correspondences
Vertical Thinking
Lesson 2: The Cast of Characters
The Seven Planets of the Old World
The Sun
The Moon
Mercury
Lesson 3: Venus and Mars
Venus
Mars
Lesson 4: Jupiter and Saturn
Jupiter
Saturn
The Old World
Lesson 5: The Outer Planets
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
Chiron
Lesson 6: Introduction to the Signs of the Zodiac
The Zodiac in Time
The Symbols for the Zodiac Signs
Planetary Rulers of the Signs
Planets in Exaltation, Detriment and Fall
Lesson 7: Constructing the Zodiac
Number Symbolism
The Tetractys as a Developmental Model
Polarity in the Birth Chart
Lesson 8: Modes and Elements
Modes: Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable signs
The Four Elements
Lesson 9: The Fire and Earth Signs
Aries
Leo
Sagittarius
Taurus
Virgo
Capricorn
Lesson 10: The Air and Water Signs
Gemini
Libra
Aquarius
Cancer
Scorpio
Pisces
Bibliography and Recommended Reading
Introduction
Astrology is a form of imagination emerging from nature and having
direct relevance for everyday life. It is an applied poetics, a vision of life
on earth stimulated by movements in the heavens, which can take us
into areas of self-reflection as no other system of symbols and images
1
can.
Over the years of teaching introduction courses in astrology, I have
often wondered why, in this day and age, when we should know
better, so many of us continue to be drawn to astrology. When I ask
a new group of students what brought them here at this time in their
lives, I often get the impression that they have not chosen astrology
but that it has chosen them. It is not uncommon to hear students say
that they have been interested in astrology for years and, in a sense,
have been resisting it for years, but have found that, in the end, it
won’t go away. And so we eventually find ourselves in a class, not
really knowing what it will mean to us, if anything, or where it will
take us, because something in us has decided that it is time to learn.
These classes are for that ‘something’ in us which I have
gradually come to think of as a kind of shamanic calling. Could it be
that astrologers are actually ‘chosen for their role by the spirits of the
universe’?2 Certainly, many of us have experienced the standard
signatures of the shamanic calling: that astrology comes upon us in
spite of ourselves; that we often attempt to avoid making a
commitment to astrology, for the very good reason that astrology is a
demanding vocation which we sense will change our lives forever;
that as we become mediators between the worlds, with one foot in
the other realms, we can no longer live fully in the world. Ultimately
astrology is not a technique but an initiation into a way of life which,
because of its mysterious familiarity, often feels like a coming home.
Astrology is ‘a saving kind of knowledge, an apprehension of the
mysteries which run deep in nature and in the individual, a transforming
knowledge which can only be acquired through learning that is far
3
beyond intellect alone.
Astrology and psychological astrology are difficult to define
exactly. Perhaps astrology can best be described as a mythical and
magical language and, as with all languages, every astrologer will
develop their own way of interpreting and communicating its
meaning. This course draws primarily on the work of C. G. Jung,
who has given us a particular vocabulary which enables us to restore
astrology to what I believe to be its rightful place, as one of the four
great pillars of western esotericism, along with kabbalah, alchemy
and magic.4 In the esoteric traditions, the universe is perceived as
‘an organic, alive and sacred whole, in which everything is woven
together in one cosmic web, where all orders of manifest and
unmanifest life are related, because all share in the sanctity of the
original source’.5
For psychological astrologers the relationship between astrology
and alchemy seems to be particularly significant. Historically, these
twin sciences were not only strongly linked, but inseparable. The
alchemists were practical people, and their approach is useful for the
psychological astrologer since it encourages our active participation
and personal engagement with the natal chart. In other words, there
is a job to be done.
The basis of alchemy is that nature, and natural man, are not
created perfect. In our original state, we are ‘a confusion of spirit,
soul and body’, unconscious of ourselves to a large degree, and
therefore, according to Jung, capable only of collective functioning.
The astrological birth chart remains exactly the same for our entire
lives. There is no guarantee that we will be any more integrated,
evolved, or conscious by the time we die than when we were born. In
our natural state we live under the sometimes tyrannical dominion of
the planets. But what we do with our birth chart, and how we choose
to live it, is up to us. A psychological approach works against our
natural state in the service of increasing consciousness.
The alchemists were deliberately working against the natural
order of things by helping nature do what she could not do for
herself.
Nature does not produce anything that is perfect in itself; man must
bring things to their perfection – this work is called ‘alchemy’... Things
are created and given into our hands, but not in the ultimate form that is
proper to them... In the seed is inherent from the beginning the purpose
and function... For alchemy means: to carry to its end something that
has not yet been completed; to obtain the lead from the ore and to
6
transform it into what it is made for.
Alchemy is fundamentally optimistic. ‘The opus alchemicum not
only changes, perfects or redeems Nature, but also brings to
perfection human existence’.7
Like the alchemist and the magician, the psychological astrologer
participates actively in a dialogue with nature. A psychological
approach is not unlike the ‘great work’ or magnum opus of the
alchemists. Both involve a careful and deliberate cooperation in the
task of creating consciousness. This is no easy option since it
involves prolonged periods of self analysis, the courage to confront
and integrate our own hidden darknesses, to recognise our self
righteousness, defensiveness and deepest fears, and the decision to
take personal responsibility for ourselves, rather than being content
to live as passive victims of what we suppose to be our pre-
determined ‘fate’.
The process of psychological differentiation is no light work; it needs
the tenacity and patience of the alchemist, who must purify the body
8
from all superfluities in the fiercest heat of the furnace.
The illusion that all our problems are caused by outside forces or
can be blamed, for example, on our birth charts comes to an end
when we start to take back our projections and to look at things from
within. The process of individuation, of ‘deliberately working against
the natural order of things’, leads to the creation of what Jung called
the ‘Self’, an internal structure which gives us a ‘feeling of standing
on solid ground, on a patch of inner eternity which even physical
death cannot touch’.
The magnum opus had two aims: ‘the rescue of the human soul
and the salvation of the cosmos’.10 This means that, however small
and unimportant our individual efforts may seem, we will
nevertheless be playing our own small part in helping nature do what
she is unable to do for herself:
Once a vision of life as an organic whole is accepted in principle,
humanity becomes in one sense a co-creator with nature, in so far as it
can foster, ignore or destroy its identity with nature, for nature’s
continued existence depends ultimately on the kind of consciousness
11
we bring to bear on it.
Notes
1. Thomas Moore, The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life.
2. Caitlin Matthews, Singing the Soul Back Home: Shamanic Wisdom for Every
Day.
3. Frances A. Yates, description of Hermetic knowledge in Giordano Bruno and
the Hermetic Tradition.
4. Thorwald Dethlefsen, The Challenge of Fate, p.13.
5. Anne Baring and Jules Cashford, The Myth of the Goddess, Preface, p.xi.
6. Paracelsus, quoted in Inner Alchemy, Parabola, Volume III, Number 3.
7. Mircea Eliade, Inner Alchemy, Parabola , Volume III, Number 3
8. C. G. Jung, Psychology of the Transference, p.132
9. Marie Louise von Franz, C.G. Jung, His Myth in Our Time.
10. C. G. Jung Speaking in a 1952 interview, Eranos Foundation.
11. A. Baring and Jules Cashford, The Myth of the Goddess, p.681.
LESSON 1
Introduction to the Planets
The Solar System
The astrological tradition is thousands of years old, originating from
the meticulous observations and careful recordings by the
Mesopotamian priest/astrologers of the ever-changing positions of
the seven planets visible to the naked eye, both in relation to each
other and against the backdrop of the stars and constellations. A
‘horoscope’ (or time map) is a representation of the positions of the
planets as viewed from the earth at a particular time and place on
earth. Astrology has always been and remains a geocentric system
since, although the Sun is in the centre of the solar system, the earth
is nevertheless our home, and it is from the earth that we take our
bearings.
Audience: So it was basic observation and record keeping which
was the origin of astrology in the first place?
Clare: That’s right. Mesopotamia has always been referred to as the
birthplace of western civilisation, and it was here that the art, craft
and science of western astrology was first forged. Mesopotamia is a
largely flat desert land with wide horizons and huge night skies. It is
therefore not surprising that the first myths are often celestial stories
or that the heavenly bodies were considered to be deities – living
powers whose relationship to human beings was both obvious and
taken for granted. Now that we no longer look upwards or watch the
planets moving through the night skies we have lost our instinctive