One of Carl Jung’s key concepts of personality development is individuation (becoming a distinct individual separate from the group or the family). He combined psychology with Alchemy which had Astrology embedded in its foundation. You could not be an Alchemist without a knowledge of Astrology because timing was an integral part of the work. With its rich symbolism, Alchemy brings with it the realization that we are all part of the Cosmos (the macroscosm) that is alive and evolving.
When a client comes in for a consultation, the birth chart is a detailed and substantial diagnostic tool to see the issues from both an astrological and psychological perspective. These are only going to be helpful to the client to the degree he or she truly embraces a new worldview that life is both meaningful, and purposeful with an enduring knowledge that nothing happens by accident.
By the time we are in our 40s or at least 50s, we know situations, people and events are repeating. (This goes for countries too, not just individuals.) Change is so frighteningly slow that most of us will continue to do the same things over and over expecting a different result until we are backed up against a wall. Jung called this a neurosis which he defined as “A psychological crisis due to a state of disunity with oneself, or, more formally, a mild dissociation of the personality due to the activation of complexes.” Our shadow is a complex and we are all neurotic to some extent as no one knows their whole self. He also said we don’t know what the unconscious is up to so psychoneurosis is an attempt at self-healing.
As the saying goes, it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks but if those new tricks are necessary, we are guaranteed to be forced to look at what we are doing to sabotage ourselves. Our unconscious Self (God within, an antimony) that is both dark and light, will set it up for us to meet just the right person that reflects our own unconscious shadow or we walk into the exact situation we thought we had worked through long ago. Once again, we experience another betrayal or difficulty in a relationship or marriage, financial or job loss, accident or debilitating illness that symbolizes a place we are still stuck, where we have become lop-sided and it becomes clear, it is hurting us. Accepting that what we manifest is for our benefit is not an easy pill to swallow individually or collectively. Real and lasting transformation can and does occur with consistent effort, but no one does it overnight. It takes time to integrate even when we think to ourselves that sounds good, I will apply it, but can we honestly say we give this worldview our consideration daily?
Sometimes when bad things happen, it’s crystal clear in retrospect by the planetary symbolism of the transits of the planets to our natal birth chart and sometimes it is a complete mystery. This lets us know we are not in charge or control and our evolution will move forward with or without our ego as the director.
Carl Jung called the archetype of the Self, the objective greater personality within us that generates and integrates life. Surrendering our will to this greater center is individuation’s most important goal. The Self is the one producing symbols, dreams and synchronicities in our everyday experiences that are acausal. They are not cause and effect and it is meaningful. In AION, Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self he says,
“… the task of individuation imposed on us by nature, and the recognition of our wholeness or completeness, as a binding personal commitment. If he does this consciously and intentionally, he avoids all the unhappy consequences of repressed individuation. In other words, if he voluntarily takes the burden of completeness on himself, he need not find it “happening” to him against his will in a negative form. This is as much as to say that anyone who is destined to descend into a deep pit had better set about it with all the necessary precautions rather than risk falling into the hole backwards.”
Not everyone willingly does “deep psychological work” but you will know it’s for you if you are drawn to want to know more. You will take classes, read books and seek mentors to guide you. Eventually, a mentor can teach you to become your own co-creator with the Self and author of your life by letting you go. Detaching from their influence produces even more inner authority because your guidance is coming directly from your unconscious. Daily, you can start journaling, recording your dreams and talking directly to your inner Self to keep your process going forward. Growth is the important factor to embrace as we have free will to take what is given to us as the natal birth chart and turn it into a gold mine should we decide to do the work of seeing our many selves clearly.
Here is an example of an Astrological relationship consultation.
Me: “Why did you come to see me?”
He told me he was an industrial engineer. He said, “I do supply chain, purchasing, sourcing, logistics in oil and gas and have been in business for myself for 15 years but I have not been lucky with my partners. For the last year I had a relationship with a partner who had a lot of money. Usually, because I am an engineer, I am the one with the know-how but every time I have a partner, it turns out bad. The last one used me. I even gave him sponsorship for U.S. citizenship but as soon as he became a resident, he kicked me out. I told myself no more. No more partnerships after 15 years experiencing men who I partnered with that turned against me. I am recently also having trouble with my wife. I wanted to go to a different city. The issue was financial as you know when you have a partner, it can be difficult as both people need to be willing to go and we have two children, ages 9 and 12.”
I said, “In your natal birth chart you have the Sun in the 10th house of career, so Houston is a good place to own your own business for the industry you are in, but the planets Uranus and Pluto are opposite your Sun (180˚ aspect). Uranus is the planet of originality, independence and a strong desire to do your own thing. In other words, beating to your own drum and not liking for anybody to tell you what to do. With Pluto also in a 180˚ aspect, you would also draw people to you that are powerful, who you must pit yourself against in power struggles. One of the things I teach people is to see their unconscious, because if we don’t see it, it keeps being put in front of us. In Jungian psychology, it’s called the shadow. Our shadow is everything about us that we don’t know about, that we deny or repress for the sake of our ego ideals, so the way we usually see it is to project it out onto another person. They are like that, we are not. Pluto is also about integrity and owning your own power so when somebody tries to be in power over you, they may misuse their power and ride roughshod over you. It’s a challenge to have the Sun opposite both Pluto and Uranus because when you are on the other end of it, you wonder why is this happening to me again?”
Him: “Yes, right.”
Me: “So it’s really important for you to understand how you contribute to that situation by manipulating, by not being completely up front, by using your gift with words, (Moon in Gemini) to skirt around issues, possibly using humor when difficult conversations need to be addressed.”
Him: “Yes, yes.”
Me: “It’s important to get to the point with people and be truthful and it’s also important to put your cards on the table and let it fly, like, this is it. Our integrity lies in being vulnerable to what we really want to have happen. To say, here it is, this is how I see it. Now how can we do this together? How can we meet halfway? It’s not your way or my way but a synthesis of the two that can create more for both of us. So, negotiation with men because this all started with your father (the Sun). You need to learn you’re not an island. Compromise means everything in these partnerships you create with two oppositions to the Sun from two outer planets.
Him: “Well, that’s what I’m learning right now.”
Me: “Also the fourth and tenth houses where these planets are symbolize the father and the mother on the outside and on the inside. What’s conscious in one parent is going to be unconscious in the other and vice versa so they’re both the same. They may look like they’re different, but they’re not, they’re the same. As we are growing up, we watched how they negotiated issues. We do what they did in our marriages and in our business partnerships. We split up the energy. I’ll be this part of you, if you’ll be this part of me. And your Moon is in Gemini on the AC (first house) rising so the Moon is our emotions. This tells me that you’re kind of youthful, like a child, curious, always friendly, very social, like to meet a lot of people, want to be upbeat and humorous and learn new things all the time. But that part of you can also get scattered and unfocused. So, then somebody comes along and goes, “Okay, now focus. This is what needs to be done to succeed and you do it but, they have to tell you. So, you buckle down, get to work and take orders, but you don’t want to lose the other part of you. You don’t want to get rid of the curious, whimsical and fun, out meeting people wheeler dealer kind of person, because that’s also a part of you. But you also want to discipline yourself and not rely on others to become the Father figure. Look at the person that’s taking the boss or authority role not as your enemy, but as your friend. You may look at the person and feel you’re my enemy because you’re pushing me around and trying to control me. Instead, go inside and tell yourself, I need to push myself around, because that’s how the universe is training me. The Universe is showing me a mirror of myself that I don’t want to see. I don’t want that part. I don’t want to grow up. I don’t want to be told what to do either because I also want to do my own thing. I want to be independent, make my own decisions and I want to be original, be inventive and bring in new ideas. How can I get those across? The way you get them across is by building structures that work and bringing in new energy. You can’t just do one or the other. You have to do them both, because both are in you. This right here in the chart is Sun conjunct Saturn in the 10th house. That tells me you’re also extremely responsible. There’s a very responsible person inside of you, a very hard-working person and with Moon in Gemini rising very challenged to be gullible about people.”
Him: He smiled and nods when I said the word gullible.
Me: “You may need to learn to withhold trust until that person is trustworthy, not automatically assume that it’s all good especially when it looks like it’s too good to be true. Make sure everything is in writing, every negotiation, every aspect of the job. If this is your part of the agreement, say Ok, but I want it in writing. This is how I understand it to be. Write it down as then you have proof. This is what you are bringing to the table, and it is a 50/50 split. I have the know-how and expertise. You have the money. Does that make sense?”
Him: “Yes, yes, of course. That happened with this last partner. I was a partner with him 50/50 and at the end, he told me, no, you don’t have anything because I didn’t have anything written. Yeah, now I see that. I didn’t have any proof.”
Me: “Well, you’re young still (early 40s). You’re going to do it again, and next time you’re gonna have proof, aren’t you? Yes? So hey, the universe was giving you a lesson. And this is how I look at God as the Universal transcendence. God brings these people to us. We don’t like them, but God brings these people to us so that we can grow. So that we can strengthen and move forward, and we can go inside ourselves and say, okay, we still have a lot of energy. We still have a lot of ideas. We still have a lot of drive. We’re going to go forth, and this time we’ve learned to protect ourselves.”
Him: “I think that this one, he already taught me something, believe me, sometimes you need a slap. You know, he already gave it to me, yeah.”
Me: “And trust me, whether you know it or not, you slapped him back. Something about you bothered him, and he needed to see it too.”
Him: “Yeah, well I’m very human, you know. I’m honest, very honest. I started that business from zero. He had the money, but he didn’t know anything. He had a lot of problems with his family, both his parents and I kept telling him every day, talk to your father, talk to your mother. Sometimes he hated his father and every day I telling him you know, life is beautiful. I don’t know, at the end if he believed me or not, but I bet he did, hopefully.”
Me: “I bet that he’ll miss you. How much do you want to make a bet? He’ll miss you because you were a part of him he didn’t know how to be. That’s why he drew you, because it was also in him, or he wouldn’t have drawn you into his life. He, too, is a part of you that you didn’t know how to be. You need to learn to be more ruthless and cautious. I’m telling you — that’s the truth. You need to be more ruthless. You need to own your own power. You need to present yourself by saying “I am an authority and I bring equal value. You may have money, but I have equal value in what I bring to the table. And therefore, we are going to write all this down.”
I won’t write the entire consultation word for word but there was a lot more. As my teacher Pittman McGehee, D.D. used to say to us in class at the Jung Center, “We are all a traveling road show of people.” Our birth chart can help us see that.
He told me he was afraid to confront because he was afraid of becoming violent so he stuffed it down when he was upset. (Mars conjunct the South Node in Scorpio). He was afraid of becoming too emotional (water sign) so it was important for him to learn the art of confrontation without succumbing to violent emotion. To be able to do it with strength because he was not going to get rid of that, he needed to learn to use it more effectively instead of bury it which would periodically explode as rage. I told him Mars in Scorpio tells me you’re secretive, you withhold and keep a lot inside. You might be talkative, but you’re also secretive and manipulative.”
He smiled and I said, “Yeah, it’s interesting how it’s a dichotomy, because you think of yourself as very open, right? You think of yourself as very open because you’re a good talker. Well, our Mars is symbolic of how we go after what we want so Mars in Scorpio is very determined, can get obsessed and compulsive about getting something done, but at the same time, doesn’t let everybody know what it’s up to. So, your strength would be in putting the cards on the table and also saying to the other person, “Okay, what you just did wasn’t fair to me. It wasn’t equal. To have a good partnership, we have to be equally honest and equal responsibilities.” Then your Venus (planet of love and affection) is in square to Jupiter which can indicate that sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes that you would overextend, overdo, over give of yourself. Okay, so that part of you also needs a place to be. Use it with your kids. Use all that generosity and good times lovability with your family where it’s more healthy. Every part of the chart needs an outlet. Does that make sense?”
Him: “Yes, of course, of course. 100%.”
This is just a small 15 minute excerpt of what we spoke about for an hour. There was more about his wife, feelings that she was another child to be taken care of, his conflicted feelings of both loyalty and wanting to escape the commitment, their lack of communication and sadness over the loss of being intimate with her, his dreams and fears of what was ahead of him in his career, etc. This is how a consultation with an Astrologer can be — a discussion of real problems and feelings. I encouraged him to open up communication with his wife, read my workbook with her and to let the past go.
In my work with clients, I strive to help a person understand and incorporate Jung’s concepts as inner work guidance for his or her problems. Our birth chart is a gold mine of celestial instructions as each planet is symbolic of our psyche. As we go through different cycles/stages of our personal development and bring our unconscious content to consciousness, our Astrology becomes a road map of the soul. Soul is how Jung described our relationship between our ego and the Self.
I want to end with saying we do indeed have free will. Carl Jung said this, “I will do gladly that which I must do.” We do have choices to make all along the way and as Jung said in Two Essays on Analytical Psychology, paragraph 78,“Seen from the one-sided view of the conscious attitude, the shadow is an inferior component of the personality and is frequently repressed through intensive resistance. But the repressed content must be made conscious so as to produce a tension of opposites, without which no forward movement is possible. The conscious mind is on top, the shadow underneath, and just as high always longs for low and hot for cold, so all consciousness, perhaps without being aware of it, seeks its unconscious opposite, lacking which it is doomed to stagnation, congestion, and ossification. Life is born only of the spark of opposites.”
Rebeca Eigen
Rebeca Eigen, an astrologer for 25+ years and author of The Shadow Dance & the Astrological 7th House Workbook specializes in relationships. From every day decisions, to critical life-altering moments, Rebeca shares with you her practical wisdom and guidance for your life’s journey in becoming who you are meant to be.
https://www.shadowdance.com/
