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Astrologer's Notes:
AstroDPsychology:
A Synthesis
by Glenn Perry, Ph.D., MFT



What Is AstroDPsychology?


 As the first installment of this column, I thought I'd attempt to define what I'll be writing about. For the past thirty years, I've been studying astrology and psychology. In addition, I've been exploring how these two disciplines might relate to various spiritual models and scientific fields of inquiry. I suppose I'm a generalist or synthesizer of sorts, as I like to see how one area of knowledge can overlap with and enrich another. So far as astrology and psychology is concerned, this has been a fruitful enterprise. There are so many interesting correlations and possibilities for cross-fertilization that one could easily spend his entire life exploring the connection.


 In many ways, astrology was the first psychology in that it constituted a means for understanding the nature of the human being. Rooted in the premise that cosmos mirrors psyche, the ancients systematically recorded their observations of how the nature and cycles of the planets corresponded to the personalities and fates of human beings. Despite the current revival of ancient astrology, however, it must be argued that our progenitors practiced an exceedingly simplistic form of astrology in comparison to what we are capable of today. Here, emphasis should be on the word capable, for much of modern astrology is still mired in the dogma of the past.


Ancient astrologers were preoccupied with so called "good" and "bad" planetary positions -- malefic planets, evil aspects, debilitations, falls, afflictions, and other such ominous categories of meaning. While they were obviously aware that people were subject to a process of ageing that culminated in death, there was little or no concept of evolution, that is, of the psycho-spiritual growth of the individual. Accordingly, astrology was largely limited to superficial trait descriptions and dubious predictions of good and bad times for various enterprises. While some scholars argue that ancient astrology was actually more complex and technique-rich than its contemporary offshoots, this should not obviate the fact that our ancient forebears were wedded to a fatalistic and deterministic model of the cosmos that precluded them from appreciating how lived experience, i.e., fate, can serve as a catalyst for learning and change.


This is where psychology comes in. Unencumbered by presuppositions of a fixed character and unalterable fate, psychologists of the 19th century grounded their theories in that which was observable -- human physiology, outward behavior, and stages of development. From these early observations developed the varied and complex theories of the human personality that exist today. Modern psychology, however, is not merely interested in types of personality, but in how people come to be the way they are. This necessarily includes theories of psychopathology and psychotherapy, the former being concerned with how normal development can be derailed, and the latter being concerned with how best to facilitate a process of healing and recovery.


 If I were to define AstroDPsychology, then, I would say it is a reformulation of contemporary astrology in terms of psychological concepts and practices. Perhaps the defining attribute of a psychological approach to astrology is its focus on integrating the birth chart and, thus, supporting the human potential for growth and change. Outside of this one primary focus there is probably no uniform psychological approach, although almost by definition psychological astrology is transpersonally oriented. Transpersonal psychology is that branch of psychology that incorporates spiritual notions into its framework and as such is a more inclusive school of psychology -- "a fourth wave," as Abraham Maslow called it, following psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and humanistic psychology. One should not, therefore, equate psychological astrology with conventional notions of psychology and thereby strip it of its transpersonal dimension.


 As a transpersonal theory, AstroDPsychology adds significant breadth and depth to psychology, transforming it into a more spiritualized model that relates psyche to cosmos and thereby reconnects humanity with its divine heritage. In addition, it challenges the deterministic presumption of psychology that consciousness is merely an epiphenomenon of its biological substrate and social milieu. Biological determinism and social determinism are but modern versions of the celestial determinism that poisoned ancient astrology. Determinism is determinism, however, no matter what you presume the determining factor to be. As a transpersonal theory, AstroDPsychology holds that consciousness is its own cause, i.e., an irreducible essence that is both self-generating and capable of manifesting in biological and social conditions. This implies that material reality is a synchronistic reflection of an innate, pre-existent psychic structure that evolves over time.


 In subsequent installments of this column, I'll be exploring astrology as a personality theory and counseling tool. Specifically, we'll examine how the structure and dynamics of the psyche is mirrored in external conditions that provide a stimulus to psycho-spiritual development. Applications of the model will be illustrated in case histories of famous individuals whose charts expose both the structure of their character and the peculiarities of fate that necessarily flow from that structure.





"Astrology is a religion inasmuch as it reveals the anatomy and psychology of God."

~ Manly Palmer Hall
Glenn Perry,
 Ph.D., MFT

Glenn Perry, Ph.D., MFT

Doctorate in Clinical Psychology

Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist

Director of the Association for Astrological Psychology

Board Member of the International Society ofAstrological Research



Glenn Perry lectures and conducts workshops throughout the world on the application of astrology to the fields of counseling and psychotherapy.


He has written four books, including "Essays In Psychological Astrology," and teaches classes in Astro-Psychology at various colleges on the west coast.


Information on Glenn's books, tapes, and on-line mentorship program can be obtained at:

www.aaperry.com.

E-mail: aaperry@attbi.com

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