“Who looks outside dreams; who looks inside awakes.” — Carl Jung

        The key to understanding how astrology works is in recognizing that while astrological charts reveal our immutable archetypes, our charts are alive and change as we do.  This can sound irrational at first but is actually quite true as an evolutionary process.  The chart's planets, signs, and aspects each possess particular unchanging qualities that manifest in different ways as we grow.   The best example of this dynamic is our own lives.  We are born with our unique identity, yet as we grow into our lives our experiences change how we see things, both past and future, and how we express ourselves.  One doesn't become an entirely different person, but rather more of what one has always been.  The same is true of charts:  While the original structure of our personal birthchart doesn't change, as we mature the chart's features respond by revealing ever deeper layers of meaning because our perceptions have changed.  In fact, astrology itself as a discipline has followed this same process.  Over millennia it has evolved from its beginnings as a way the ancients tracked the stars to guide their agricultural practices, to a method monarchs used to influence outcomes in their realms, to its current ability to bring light and agency to our psychological world.  Astrology has changed as we have evolved in our understanding of what it can reveal and thus how it can be used. 

         I worked in science for almost 40 years and had the opportunity to experience scientists' perspectives on the topic of astrology.  Most would mask their skepticism with indulgent listening, or they would counter with the common response: “It can't be proved!"  The only possible answer to that was, and indeed still is: "You're absolutely right.  Astrology can't be proved.  Yet."  

        Science is a truly brilliant endeavor but it is subject to the limitations of accepted knowledge.  That very limitation can inspire curious and open-minded scientists, leading them to extraordinary discoveries.  Yet it's worth noting that science doesn't make things real; it makes them obvious.  The truth about how astrology works already exists and won't become obvious until science asks the right questions, the formuation of which is dependent on the passage of time and experience.  Over the eons, what were once puzzling questions or inflexible laws have been subjected to evolving scientific enquiry, overturning accepted facts and expanding the boundaries of our understanding of what is real.   In that sense, I agree with Albert Einstein's observation that "opinions about obviousness are to a certain extent a function of time."

       All this said, most depth astrologers work from the premise that while our charts have this unique ability to both reveal and respond to our circumstance, astrology isn’t predictive.  It won’t tell you who you should marry or where you should go to school, whether your mate will leave you or when your grandmother will pass away.  What it will give you is greater awareness of your ability to choose how you want to engage with life.  It will reveal the specific resources you were born with that you can use to navigate your experience.

        Archetypes are universal, recurring patterns of human behavior and character that appear across cultures and history.  The word comes from the Greek "arkhetypos", meaning "original pattern." Because archetypes are ancestral, that is, from an original root, all humans share them.  Dr. Richard Tarnas, arguably the father of archetypal astrology, defines archetype as “a universal principle or force that affects, structures, and permeates the human psyche and the world of human experience.  One can think of them in mythic terms as gods and goddesses.”  Primitive humans lived instinctively with these “gods” and “goddesses”, experiencing the world as enchanted by unseen forces from which they took direction and comfort.

       This mysterious intelligence—the archetypes—exists as subtle patterns in the psyche.  They act as storytellers, connecting soul and mind by revealing innate dynamics we don't normally perceive. The soul’s messages appear in the chart through planets—the archetypal gods and goddesses—which communicate in complex ways through signs, houses, and aspects. Together, these elements shape how the archetypes uniquely influence our responses. An astrological session brings these stories to life so we can benefit from their wisdom.

Fate vs. Destiny

The Three Fates: Clotho, the spinner, Lachesis the alloter, and Atropos the cutter. John Melhuish Strudwick (1849–1935), “A Golden Thread” (1885).

‍ ‍“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate”. — Carl Jung

        Psychologist Carl Jung’s statement suggests that fate is a force within the psyche, one that seems to act autonomously and shape the events of our lives.  He also believed that as we become aware of the psyche’s nature and its archetypal needs, we begin to participate more consciously in shaping our circumstances through the power of choice.  Awareness transforms our experience from "things happening to us" into events over which we can exercise greater sovereignty.   In this way, fate becomes destiny: a way of living that allows us to shape our outcomes in alignment with our truest nature.  Astrology offers us access to the archetypal tools that help us create our lives from inner authority.