The Zodiac as a mirror of the Being and as a reading grid

Thus, while neither astrology nor archetypes can be explained by science, we may perceive reflections of astrology in science. Some contend that the future may therein be deciphered. However, with the exception of certain works in mundane astrology, one might safely say that most astrological predictions would come out false if exhaustive studies were conducted. The supposed accuracy of certain predictions thus lies in simple statistical odds. If isolated national and world events, such as the changing of a government majority or the fall of the soviet block, have been successfully predicted, this accuracy most likely stems from the predictor's sense of history and geopolitics. Astrology does play its part, but only as a resonance on the grid of possibilities that makes up the infinite game of "astrological aspects".

Apparently, the solitude which often accompanies power leads certain heads of state to surround themselves with astrologers. We may only hope that their official advisors adopt the scientific methods of futurology which, while less poetic and spectacular, are better adapted to the modern world. For everything dealing with projections on the future prior to the astrology/astronomy split may be found today in scientific predictions. In fact, one of science's roles is to predict the future while specifying the limits of this predictive power. Astrology should no longer attempt to assume such a role. In fact, one might note that neither the founders of psychoanalysis nor contemporary therapists have encouraged predictive practices. The unconscious knowledge of absolute knowledge that resides in the deepest layers of the psyche allows one to "fly over time". In fact, this knowledge is out of time or moreover, it is distributed throughout all dimensions of time including the past and the future. Nonetheless, it is a diffuse knowledge, not allowing for the precise and exact description of a future event. One may simply obtain the more or less beclouded image of emerging possibilities which Marie-Louise von Franz calls the "quality of possible events".[26] The use of astrology to meditate on the unconnected events of the past in order to stitch them together and invest them with meaning remains valuable. However, too much speculation about the future, can become detrimental for it turns one's attention away from the here and now. This distances astrology from its only possible meaning at the dawn of the XXI century: to present us with the contradictions arising from the non-integrated aspects of our personalities as reflected in the birth chart, and to permit a dialogue with these contradictions, ultimately leading to the awareness of the Self - the essential wholeness of our psyche.

On another plane, astrology is called the "mother of the sciences". One might imagine that astrology's rich symbolic structure could inspire science to elaborate new tools, aimed at the exploration of the constantly elusive aspects of the real. As Jung contended, archetypes carry out an overall movement known as circumambulatio. By this, he means that they rotate around the central archetype, the Self - orchestrator of the overall organization. The zodiac of the 12 signs is a mandala (symbol of the totality) which perfectly illustrates the wheel of archetypes. It is harmoniously structured by the numbers and principally by the numbers four (the elements of fire, earth, air and water) and three (the qualities which are cardinal, fixed and mutable). In fact, it can be considered as a rich reading grid that uses a potential conceptual language, a sort of "qualitative mathematics". Thanks to its square and opposition features, the circular structure of the zodiac allows for both a diachronic and synchronic reading. Well before it permitted the delineation of an individual or collective narrative, astrology was perceived by the ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Indian, and Islamic traditions as the reflection of creation and the evolution of the world. Before anything else, astrology is therefore cosmogony. Today, scientific cosmology brandishes proof to show that the universe has a history. The universe had a beginning, will have an end, and by certain interpretations, is susceptible to cyclical evolution. Remarkably, the different stages of this history match the meanings behind the twelve signs of the zodiac. As new cosmological theories lose footing in the approach towards time zero, the zodiacal structure may clarify certain relationships, perhaps leading to a new scientific approach to the singularity of the universe's origin. Of course, this use of astrology must not confuse the manifested totalities studied by science with the potential totality illustrated by the zodiac.

Author: Alain Negre