Psychological Astrology - The horoscope from the aspect of social psychology

 

Psychological Astrology - Astrological Aspects and Mental Conflicts

 

Psychological Astrology - Astrological Aspects and Defense Mechanisms of Ego

 

Psychological Astrology - Houses and Human Psychosynthesis

 

The Horoscope from Humanistic Psychology's perspective

If Social Psychology gives emphasis to the roles and the restrictions that they create, Humanistic Psychology has the purpose of highlighting those forces that make the human special and separate him from the mass. This psychology does not have to do, so much, with the creation of social or psychodynamic models, as with the promotion of the potential each one of us contains inside towards the direction of our personal development.

This Psychology today we call Person Oriented Psychology, but formerly was called Humanistic Psychology.

Humanistic Psychology, which is considered to have been born, in essence, by Carl Rodgers, draws, its origins, among others, from Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler. Adler, along with Freud and Jung, was one of the three major exponents of the Psychoanalysis' movement in the early 20th century. But, while, Freud and Jung consider human to be, in essence, captive of his personal or collective subconscious, Adler was the first who strongly disagreed, considering that the Ego, namely the conscious mind of human, is the one that takes the decisions in every person’s life. In a few words, while the founders of Psychoanalysis (Freud) and of Analytical Psychology (Jung) were thinking that human was basically not free, Adler believed in human’s freedom of taking decisions, despite the obstacles of the subconscious. 

Based on the Adler’s point of view about the importance of Ego, many psychotherapy schools appeared, which tried not to dissolve the Ego as Psychoanalysis did, in order for the Unconscious to appear, but on the contrary, to strengthen it, providing it with world understanding tools and skills of communication. And, in general, increasing, we could say, human’s knowledge in order for him to take as many decisions as possible freely, and knowing the consequences. The commitment to the free human who decides knowing the possible outcomes, but also taking on the responsibility for whatever choice of his, is also an important point emphasized by Humanistic Psychology.

The difference between Humanistic Psychology and previous psychological schools was that it added one more factor to the psychological outlook of the human being. While until then, various schools (psychoanalysis, behaviorism, etc.) were trying to explain human psychology based on mechanistic models and internal conflicts, Humanistic Psychology made the point that mechanistic models, various kinds of categorization and typologies did not serve psychotherapy, because, in reality, they were not trying to get into every human’s place and see how he conceives things, but they were trying to fit human into category boxes, forcing him to comply with rules and norms and thus indirectly subjugating him to the established Social System.

On the contrary, Humanistic Psychology considered the Subjective Experience is the most important factor to view a human Person. For Humanistic Psychology it does not matter, if what each of us feels at a certain moment is real. As long as we feel it, it is completely real to us and that is enough. In Astrology, the application of this principle drives us to adopt a position of refraining from interpreting the Person’s chart according to the norms and beliefs of Astrologers who do the interpretation, but instead letting the person evaluate his chart on his own while we are trying to get into his place and understand him.

Accepting, though, the view that the Subjective Experience is what matters, Humanistic Psychology made an additional leap towards comprising both Holistic Philosophy and Metaphysics. It started examining anything that was a part of the Subjective Human Experience and not just the generally and “scientifically” acceptable phenomena. Thus it started to examine the so called metaphysic experiences as well as it tried to view the person holistically, meaning that it could not exclude a big part of human experience, like metaphysical experience, just because they did not comply with the restrictions of physical science.

One branch of Humanistic Psychology, the so called Existential Psychology, started examining the Existential Anxieties of people whereas humanistic psychologists began to experiment with alternative therapies, astrology and divination and in general with all practices that seemed to have an effect on the Subjective Experience of the Human, regardless whether they have been scientifically proven or not. Of course, this had a dire consequence after a point, the fact that Humanistic Psychology was to be disputed for its scientific invalidity, but, the step towards examining the Human Subject as a Whole, had already been made.

The question of human freedom

The purpose of Humanistic Psychology according to Carl Rodgers was no longer to focus on the problems of people, but on their opportunities. Life has a purpose, a meaning, which is learning, evolution, awareness. The person’s mental health, which for Psychoanalysis was based on solving internal conflicts and for Jung on the union with the Other and the avoidance of alienation, for Humanistic Psychology was based on the unification of human experience in order for the person to find meaning in what is happening, to feel that he is able to cope with everything, that life is in his hands, that he is the one who makes the decisions and that he, finally, is free.

This freedom of the human, which comes from raising his awareness, his skills, his abilities, his confidence to interact with the world, is the biggest gain of Humanistic Psychology, a gain that among others affected the Educational System and helped it escape producing technicians and laborers with specialized knowledge and become a system that is supplying human with tools to interact with the world in a better way and become more free.

In Astrology, this consideration is translated to an interpretation of the chart, not as a set of problems and predeterminations, but as a set of opportunities of evolution. So for example hard astrological aspects are not considered to create problems, but give opportunities to become better and more skillful, planets without dignities do not suggest a lack of ability, but the need to substitute something that is missing with something that the person can achieve. The entire view of the astrological chart, transits, or progressive systems changes in order to display how the human personality evolves, the changes it goes through, the challenges and the lessons it has to learn and not just the facts that are about to happen in a somewhat unavoidable way.

Destiny and Freedom

Integrated to the studies of Humanistic Psychology, though, is also Metaphysics. And that, because human, according to the Humanistic approach, does not deny the presence of forces which seem to determine Destiny. Humanistic approach considers however, that as much human needs the Divine Powers, so do they need him to accomplish the Divine Plan (if one is assumed to exist). Human from the Humanistic perspective, does not consider the flow of spiritual energy to come from above to the earth only, but he considers emanating spiritual energy himself towards the world as well, and furthermore that the Divine Plan (if any) is always up to him, as he is the one who is going to put the final details or produce the final outcomes of any situations.

The Divine Plan, in other words, does not define predefined events that must happen, but Principles that have to be respected and Balances and Analogies that need to be maintained. If these are respected, the final way of living his life is up to the man himself.

Lastly, Humanistic Psychology, we have to say, is revolutionary to some degree. It refuses to formulate personality theories like other psychological approaches, refuses to categorize people and to contribute that way to their compliance to the Establishment. It symbolizes the transition from the human who complies with laws to the human who transcends them and unleashes, literally, a burst of creativity to the world. Mental Cure for Humanistic Psychology is not the restoration of the individual to a “Functional” state but his encouragement in order to become as unpredictable as possible. 

Because then, he would be really creative, when he puts his own ideas into realization, and not those of whom he imitates or he is obliged by others to follow.

Therefore a Humanistic Astrologer has as a purpose to help his client to see how His own chart works and not the charts of others in general. A Humanistic Astrologer is not interested in what Mars in Aries means in general, but what Mars in Aries in that very specific chart might mean and even more, he is obliged to help his client interpret that Mars by himself and assess his own challenges instead of using general interpretations that might apply to others.

Of course, the nature of Astrology, as we inherited it from our ancestors, does not fit perfectly to this model, as it contains a great deal of typologies and general interpretations, which categorize the experience. So, it is a challenge for us astrologers to apply the principles of Astrology Consulting to clients, despite this, at least apparent, contradiction and if necessary to review some astrological principles, provided it serves the development of diversity, creativity and of people’s originality, because at the times we live, this is what humanity needs more in order to progress and not the return to the old good tested solutions.

Forecast Horoscopes and the Person-in-the-Environment theory

A variation of looking at the chart from the Social Psychology perspective is to consider it from the perspective of the Person-in-Environment theory. The Person-in-Environment theory is a method commonly used in Social Work and has its background in psychosocial theories of Psychology. Its basic feature (which is making it a precursor of Systemic Theory and brings it close to Social Psychology) is that it does not treat human as a patient, who requires psychotherapy, because he has some specific psychological problems (like the most psychotherapy schools usually do), but as a person who lives in a specific situation and is obliged to improve his functionality in this situation rather than cutting himself off from this situation.

That means, in practice, that the psychotherapist or the social worker who supports the person, tries to find ways of strengthening him in the current state of living and therefore, necessarily, he makes diagnosis and treatment "per occasion". With this methodology he is developing, in essence, a series of treatments each for a different occasion instead of one single treatment that is addressed to the client. It is not the client who is problematic, but it is the relation of the client to that particular situation which is dysfunctional. The client needs help, specific for his situation, and not generally, because he, allegedly, has a troublesome personality. And if his situation changes, he might need different support or no support at all. So the client is not stigmatized as "sick" or dysfunctional but instead, the current situation is analyzed and specific help is given.

The basic characteristic of this approach is that it takes the “external” factor more into account, in supporting a person and abandons the psychoanalytic model that was looking at the overall environment exclusively as a result of our own mental defense mechanisms (projections, displacement, etc.)

But, what does this differentiation mean for astrology? And where can it be useful in the interpretation of a natal or a progressive chart? In modern astrology, in the last years, we have given special emphasis to planetary forces and to the way that these, through the aspects, symbolize esoteric conflicts or projections or displacements. What we have begun consciously or unconsciously to underestimate however is the importance of the Ascendant.

If the Ascendant in the natal chart suggests, as we saw in previous chapters, the person’s personality, what is it that manifests though the Ascendant in the Progressive Chart, or the chart of Solar Return?
The Ascendant, in such cases, could be said to symbolize the “Situation”. This is the situation in which we are at the specific period and which we are called to deal with through the astrological chart. According to the approach of “the Person-in-the-Environment” theory, the situation that the Ascendant symbolizes has some degree of “independence” from the subjectivity of each one of us. In other words, in an astrological forecast chart, a dipole is created. On one side is the person in interest, who is symbolized by the Natal Chart, and on the other side is the situation that he has to deal with, which is symbolized by the forecasting chart that is summarized in the Ascendant.

The idea of “independence” of the Ascendant from the subjectivity of the planetary influences in the natal chart, will not look especially strange to those students of astrology who examine the Ascendant in a Solar Return’s chart. There, for instance, the specific degree of the Ascendant or its sign can give us general information for the Situation the person is going to be in the entire next year and that, before we get into the details of the interpretation of the aspects.

But to those who work more with the Natal or the Progressive Chart with the rules of the Projection that Jungians astrologers use, when interpreting the 1st – 7th axis in a chart, it would be a bit difficult to imagine the Ascendant as an isolated status indicator and they will find it difficult to differentiate it from the “Self” of the “Other”.

The answer to this is that this subjective approach is quite satisfactory in the case of the natal chart, however it is not sufficiently satisfactory in the case of the forecasting charts.

So, when the Ascendant is calculated as a random moment in time, it must necessarily become independent from the subjectivity of the natal chart and be treated along with the forecast chart in total as an independent “subject”, a “situation”.

Of course, this situation is not completely independent of our choice. The Progressive chart and the chart of Solar Return are not made from zero but they derive from the Natal chart. Even in horary astrology charts we will many times see ascendants that form some kind of aspect with one of the major planets of interested person's natal chart. This indicates that the interested person “chooses” to interact with the “situation” in a specific moment of time when his conscious or some part of his psyche pushes him to this direction.

So, the ascendant, in this case, could be seen as that time when the person “chooses” to come out, chooses to interact with others, and chooses to come to a dialogue with the “situation”. Through this choice of his, the querent gives some element of subjectivity to the situation, in the sense that it deals with it through a filter. However, the situation remains different and has a certain degree of objectivity and independence from the querent.

So, as we said before, a dipole is created in the forecast chart, where on the one side we have the ascendant (but also by extension the house placements of the entire forecast chart) which symbolizes the “situation” the person is in - even if this situation the person is comprehended, to some degree, subjectively through the filters of his natal chart (especially when this chart has some relevance to the forecast chart) - and on the other side, the querent is placed as a subjective entity, which symbolically is symbolized by his natal chart. The relationship (synastry) of the forecast chart with the natal chart can give us a picture of what we call a Person-in-the-Environment assessment.

Studying the aspects between the Natal Chart and the Forecast Chart, we can comprehend the person’s “position” in a situation and to advise him to take action within this situation. Even more by having the ability to separate to some degree the situation from the querent, we can also explain to him more clearly the “situation” but also the subjective attitude we see he has adopted. Bringing to the surface this dipole, we give the querent the opportunity to recognize how he interacts with this environment and to let him make his final decisions for how he wants his case to develop.

The horoscope from the aspect of social psychology

The horoscope from the aspect of social psychology

Human development, is always taking place via interaction with the environment. Social psychology emphasizes this fact very strongly, even supporting that the human is not born with some kind of preorganized mental structure, but his is fully shaped through his relationship with the environment, the roles he adopts and the principles and standards with which he grows up.
In astrology these terms described by social psychology have corresponding significators in the chart. Each planet in the chart for example can be seen as a role that a person is called upon to play and which is imposed, somehow, by the environment. The sign of the planet shows us the resources from which this role is going to get its values from, as in social psychology we believe that roles and values are interconnected. As for the role models we imitate, we could look for them in planets in signs, or if they don’t work properly, we could look for them in their dispositors.
These roles, however, are not independent of each other, instead they interact with each other. When we have difficult aspects, then we have the so-called conflicts between our roles - as they are described by social psychology. Whereas, when the aspects are easy, the roles can be compatible and work well with each other.
The signs the planets are, however, matter, even if the planets don’t have aspects with each other. If the signs are incompatible with each other, then there are value differences, even if there is no direct conflict in the environment. For example a person with Sun in Leo and the Moon in Scorpio, might think “I will never become like my mother” even if the Sun and the Moon don’t form an aspect to each other.
But how does the human become an individual in relation to the roles he adopts? In social psychology we say that he integrates a part of these roles into himself and so he constitutes what we call a personality. This personality could correspond to the Ascendant in the natal chart. The Ascendant will show us which roles we have adopted by looking at the aspects it forms with the planets in the chart. Easy aspects show that we integrate these roles voluntarily. Willingly. Difficult aspects show that we integrate them because we are pressed by the environment. The lack of aspects shows that these roles exist in our environment, but we are not embracing them necessarily.
Important of course, is also the role of the ruler of the Ascendant, which indicates personality’s favorite role or its guiding role model. Here it is worth mentioning that the role of house rulers and dispositors is also an important element of interpretation as it shows us how our environment can be supportive or not supportive to one of personality’s functions, or in other words to the roles it has adopted. Especially, when a planet does not have sufficient dignities (namely it cannot play the role by himself), the interaction with the dispositor and the house ruler turns out to be critical.
Besides the Ascendant, though, great importance in the chart have also the Moon and Saturn because they indicate the two basic components of (a) imitating and (b) enforcing roles and behaviors in an environment of social imitation (or) and learning.
What is the meaning of the dispositor and the house ruler, though that we mentioned above in chart’s interpretation? In order to understand it better, let’s examine it in a vivid example. Suppose we want to have a seminar in another city. Suppose we are astrologers, healers or something else and we are invited to teach a seminar. There are some factors that affect the outcome of this seminar.
• The first factor is our ability to teach the seminar. This is what in astrology we call dignities. Do we have sufficient knowledge on the subject? Or are we ignorant?
• The second factor is our co-workers. These are the aspects. Does our wife or our boss allow us to go teaching the seminar or do they put obstacles in our way?
• The third factor is the one who has invited us to go. The host of our seminar. This is the ruler of the house. Is he helpful to our purpose or does he make it difficult for us? Will he have made arrangements to gather people? Will he have organized the place properly? What educational equipment is he going to give us? And here, the aspects of the ruler play a significant role, of course, because they affect this outcome (for example, the host’s wife can make trouble because he gave us so many benefits).
• The fourth factor is astrologically called the dispositor. It’s interesting that the Greek name for this astrological term is “horeegοs”, which actually means in English "the sponsor". Now that makes the analogy very interesting. Who is the sponsor? Sometimes he is the same with the one who has invited us, namely our host.  Indeed, very often, astrologically the dispositor and the ruler of the house identify with each other, because a planet in the house is in the same sign with the cusp of the house.
Now, when the host and the sponsor are the same, this means that the one who has invited us, is also our sponsor, which means, he also pays for us and the hotels or the tickets. But in other times, the sponsor (astrologically dispositor) differs from the host (astrologically the house ruler). Maybe, for example, the tickets and the hotels are to be paid by our company and not by the one who has invited us there.
The aspects between a planet in the house and the ruler of the house and also the aspects between the planet and its dispositor are important for the interpretation of the chart. And sometimes they can affect significantly the issue of the dignities. Maybe, for instance, I am unprepared for the seminar, but my sponsor (i.e. my company), sends me the notes I had from the previous seminar by e-mail at the last minute. So, it saves me at the last moment. Similarly, I may have forgotten to bring my laptop, but the host lends me his own.
Of course, the opposite can also happen. I might be well prepared but the host (i.e house ruler) might put me to teach in a place that looks awful. Or my company (i.e. dispositor) might have forgotten to get me tickets.
Theoretically, of course, as long as I am properly prepared, (i.e. I have dignities), I have the power to overcome or anticipate all these. Theoretically. In practice, this is something that I have to prove.
This means that the environment is able to help or to prevent a person from expressing a planet properly in its rightful place, namely in its house. And it is important to investigate these kind of interactions in order to monitor such effects.
In addition to the above, it is worth noting that receptions, namely the dispositor of the planet, is possible to act as an example, for the behavior of a planet, even if it does not form an aspect to it. Then, it is possible to act as a role model, as it is called in social psychology, or in other words as an example to be followed. Of course there are many different cases here. One case is the initial planet to have dignities, so it has no need to follow the role model, but instead it decides for itself. In other words it gets its values directly from the sign it is in.
A second case is if it turns to its dispositor for guidance, but its dispositor is not dignified as well, in which case we have the so called examples to avoid, namely examples that do not lead us to the right path and transmit anti-social values. Last, the dispositor can indeed be dignified, so it becomes a model for imitation and promotes its values to the planet it affects.
This role model mechanism however, can also include other planets besides the dispositor. You see the dispositor is nothing else but the planet which rules the sign our natal planet is.
But what about the other planets, the planet in exaltation or the planets in fall or detriment in the sign the natal planet is? Do they also act as examples for imitation or avoidance? In another article published in Greek sometime ago I was making the following observations...
“...so, if our Venus is in Aries, which are the role models that she will be called to imitate? Mars, the Warrior, and the Sun the Majestic, of course, which is in exaltation in Aries. So, Venus, who up until now was a mannerist and a diplomat and was getting involved only when it was helpful, must now engage into situations and act spontaneously and will not give a dime about what others say about her. This is the example to follow. Will she do it? That depends on the person that has this Venus in his chart. That, however, is what is required”…
.…”in the same sense, our sign gives examples for avoidance. If I have, Venus in Cancer, for instance, I should make her behave maternally as the Moon, ruler of the sign suggests, or giving as Jupiter suggests, the planet in exaltation, but in parallel, in no case, should I make her behave directly as Mars would suggest, the planet in fall in this sign. I will get nowhere like this. I must avoid direct confrontation, like hell. This is the scenario that I have to play on the theatrical stage of the horoscope and for that I will be judged”…
….”Now, what does this mean for the planets which are already in fall or detriment? If Mars is in Cancer in my horoscope, and it is in fall, then yes, Mars has a problem to express itself, but in the same sign, Jupiter has his exaltation. So if I consider Jupiter to be my role model (and if I also have a Mars/Jupiter aspect in my chart to help me out a little bit) how well will my Mars express himself imitating Jupiter! No one will be aware of what is happening.”…
…”What is the conclusion? Falls and exaltations are useful as a modeling tool. They show us roles that have been played well and roles that have been played badly. They give us examples for imitation and examples for avoidance. But, what we will do is our choice. If we know how to be good actors, we will survive just fine following our sign’s suggestions. But if we don’t adjust to our roles, I cannot see us entering the drama school. We are going to fail our exam…”
From all the above we conclude that we get values from various directions and we need to study the chart in order to see what our role models are, which we get our values from. The influence of the house ruler or the dispositor can also indicate cases of social learning, namely not from personal experience, but by imitating others, or by being affected by the environment or by people that we consider have some authority. At the same time, further dignities like exaltation, fall and detriment can work as educational examples of success or failure in performing a role, examples we at some point decide either to follow or reject.
In all these, of course, the role of Ascendant and its ruler is important, because it signals the process of integration or rejection of values that a person goes through. The combination of personal choice and influence by the environment is what creates eventually the human personality.