Astrology and Spiritual Emergencies
“The
mystic, endowed with native talents … and following … the instruction of the
master, enters the waters and finds he can swim; whereas the schizophrenic,
unprepared, unguided, and ungifted, has fallen or has intentionally plunged and
is drowning.”--Joseph Campbell, Myths to Live By
As a counselor I am most interested in working with clients who are undergoing “spiritual emergencies,” including many who are displaying what is normally considered to be psychotic behavior. Under this theory, developed by Stanislav Grof, things such as near-death experiences, UFO encounters, and past-life experiences are seen as a normal part of spiritual unfolding in humans. People who have these non-ordinary experiences are often diagnosed as psychotic and then drugged, perhaps for the rest of their lives. Even if the non-ordinary experience is not upsetting to them, the reactions of others are very wounding. They are often told they are “talking crazy” and are taunted and ridiculed, even by loved ones. My experiences as a child of being told I was crazy because I was interested in such phenomena (my father repeatedly threatened to commit me to the local insane asylum) have inspired me to help others in that position. I recognize that I do not yet have sufficient training and experience to work with clients who are displaying psychotic behavior. I plan to pursue a Ph.D. in order to learn more about identifying and treating spiritual emergencies.
Grof strongly advises that therapists learn to tell the difference between a psychosis and a spiritual emergence: “It is important to recognize spiritual emergencies and treat them appropriately because of their great positive potential for personal growth and healing, which would ordinarily be suppressed by an insensitive approach and indiscriminate routine medication.” Instead, Grof suggests that the client merely be accompanied and supported on their journey. In mild cases, working with a support group or a spiritual teacher may be sufficient; in the most extreme (psychotic) cases, 24-hour therapeutic assistance may be required. Grof explains: “The most important task is to give the people in crisis a positive context for their experiences and sufficient information about the process they are going through.” In Spiritual Emergency (1989), a book edited by Stan and Christina Grof, California psychiatrist John Weir Perry describes how he uses no medication with psychotic patients (mostly schizophrenics) in the early stages of hallucinatory symptoms and instead provides a safe and supportive container:
This rationale of handling spiritual emergencies, no matter how disturbed the person, is that in the high-arousal state when the archetypal unconscious is energized and activated, the psyche autonomously does its own work in its own fashion. What it needs for this is not ‘treatment’ but rather a coming into close and deep relationship with another individual who empathizes and encourages but does not interfere. A therapeutic environment is far more effective than medication.
My primary goal as a therapist with any client is to create a safe container of trust and acceptance that will help facilitate positive change. The model of counseling I am continually developing is very eclectic in nature. In addition to basic assessment and counseling skills, I have many techniques in my therapeutic “bag of tricks,” including Jungian archetypes and dream analysis, gestalt techniques such as the “empty chair,” guided visualizations, psychodrama, shamanic journeying, past life regression, and other transpersonal approaches. There are many other techniques that I would like to be trained in, including soul retrieval, psycho-pomping, EMDR, the Somatic Experience, and others.
Combining Astrology and Psychology
Of all the techniques I have used, I have the greatest confidence in astrology as a way of monitoring a client’s progress through their own personal cycle of spiritual emergence. I was excited to discover this long-time observation on my part confirmed by Grof in his book, The Cosmic Game (1998), when he acknowledged the usefulness of astrology in tracking spiritual emergencies: “[I]n all these situations the content and timing of non-ordinary states are closely correlated with planetary transits.” From a psychologist’s perspective, symptoms of a spiritual emergency can manifest in various forms, ranging from mild depression or anxiety to full-blown psychosis. In every case, astrology provides additional information that helps me understand the archetypal patterns that are being activated within the client at any given time.
While studying Carl Jung’s work on archetypes, I was pleased to find that he used astrology in therapy with his clients, especially those he considered to be the most difficult, and that Jung’s daughter, Gret, became one of the most well-known astrologers in Switzerland. Jung was inspired by the four elements devised by “oriental astrologers,” (earth, air, water and fire) when he outlined his four personality types of sensation, thinking, feeling and intuition (Jung, 1974). In his letters to Sigmund Freud, Jung told him that his evenings were largely taken up with the study of astrology “in order to find a clue to the core of human psychology” (McGuire, 1994). Although Jung did not write often about his use of astrology, he did so in his book, Synchronicity (1973):
Although the psychological interpretation of horoscopes is still a very uncertain matter, there is nevertheless some prospect today of a causal explanation in conformity with natural law. Consequently, we are no longer justified in describing astrology as a mantic method. Astrology is in the process of becoming a science.
Like Jung, I have always viewed astrology as a science, although I believe it is humanistic in nature rather than empirical.
Astrology and Dreams
I am also fascinated by the use of astrology to interpret dream symbolism. An astrologer friend of mine in Texas is writing a book on a technique she has developed to do so. Her theory holds that symbols in a dream can provide pointers as to which areas of the client’s birth chart hold the key to the healing they need. For example, a client who dreamed about the cowardly lion from the Wizard of Oz was experiencing Neptune square her Sun (ruler of Leo the Lion) at the time of the dream. Insight into healing her current problem (fear of the dark and of sleeping alone) was obtained by exploring the Sun in her chart, its sign and house, and the aspects it shared with other planets (including related childhood wounds).
It has occurred to me that humans also receive messages from everyday symbols during their waking hours. For example, one day I was walking with a fellow astrologer while attending the Kepler College of Astrological Arts and Sciences, when she stopped to pick up a heart-shaped stone. “I can’t believe how many hearts there are around me lately,” she said. ”Everywhere I go, I see hearts.” I asked her if she were experiencing any transits involving Venus (which rules love), and she answered that Pluto was trining her natal Venus. These types of “coincidences” reinforce Jung’s concept of synchronicity. I am reminded of his story of a time when he was studying the symbol of the fish in history and, within a 24-hour period, he encountered the fish symbol six times in his daily life (Jung, 1973). I wonder whether the prominence of the fish archetype in his life during that time indicated that some part of Jung’s chart involving Neptune/Pisces/12th house (or a related transit or progression) was crying out for attention.
Astrology as a Therapeutic Tool
Whenever I work with clients using astrology during sessions, I always emphasize that their own free will as to how they choose to live their lives is much stronger than any astrological influences in their charts. I also stress the fact that the birth chart shows the hand they were dealt at birth, but they are in charge of playing that hand to their best ability. I always assume that the client has done at least some work on their own since birth and take this into consideration. Whenever possible, I encourage the client to explore the archetypal imagery in their chart on their own, and to come to me with any questions. I immediately challenge any statements by the client such as: “Of course my temper is out of control, I have Mars conjunct Uranus in my chart.” I promote astrology as a means for locating issues the client needs to work on to gain greater self-awareness rather than as an attempt to excuse unacceptable behavior.
Astrology can be very useful in getting to core issues early in the therapy process. This is especially true when a client understands the archetypal symbolism of astrology and has a desire to work with it. Even in cases where the client is not open to using astrology, I can have the awareness that certain archetypal energies are present in their lives by transit and progression and “hold the space” for the client to bring those energies into the session. I can do this without ever mentioning astrology or archetypes at all.
One example of this is a client who smiled widely at me from the beginning of the session as I described some of the highlights of her chart. When I noticed her Moon in Scorpio shared many difficult aspects with other planets, I wondered if her relationship with her mother was troubled (Moon represents mother in the chart, among other things). I also saw that Pluto (in the sign Scorpio at that time) was approaching the degree of her Moon in Scorpio (Pluto conjunct Moon), and I knew that one common manifestation of this transit is facing the inevitability of losing “Mom.” Many people actually do lose their mothers during this time, but the issue of the loss of a female relative (usually Mom) is almost universal. I asked my client about her relationship with her mother, and she continued to smile at me as a tear ran down her cheek. She told me her mother was dying and she hadn’t been on speaking terms with her for many years. I told her that her psychological strength was growing, represented by visiting Pluto, and that she could expect to find that facing such core issues regarding her mother would be easier during this Pluto transit than it had been at other times when she may have tried (feeling confident I could offer her hope). I later learned that she had flown across country to be with her mother when she died, and she was transformed at a very deep level in the process (Pluto rules such transformation). I remember wondering at the time (over 20 years ago) whether she would have ever mentioned her dilemma regarding her mother in our one session together if I had not known to ask. This is especially true because she had Moon in Scorpio, and probably has a tendency to be secretive about her feelings.
I have also found that the kind of hopelessness that leads many people to attempt suicide is usually evident in the astrological archetypes (or transits) that are present during these times. Astrological counselor Noel Tyl has recently written about his research into suicide ideation and planetary transits and progressions. Tyl found correlations between suicide attempts and the planets Saturn (associated with obstacles, depression and frustration), Neptune (associated with depression, hopelessness and substance abuse) and Pluto (associated with preoccupation with death). Transits involving Uranus, especially in harsh aspect to Mercury, which involve impulsive thinking, also seem to be problematic times. Tyl found that most did not really want to die but were merely trying to stop the pain they were experiencing. Clients in Tyl’s case studies were more likely to attempt suicide when these planets were triggering planetary configurations in the birth chart that were indicative of core psychological issues. Curiously, Tyl found that suicide attempts occurred more often when “daddy” issues were being triggered than with “mommy” issues (Tyl, 1999). By being aware of these “triggers,” I can give clients hope that their life situation will soon become more tolerable and convince them to contract with me not to harm themselves (or others) until some date well after the triggering transit has passed. Again, I can do this without mentioning astrology in the therapy session.
Limitations of Astrological Counseling
When using astrology to track spiritual emergence(ies) in a client, it is necessary to have their exact birth time (or at least a very close approximation). In the case of the woman with Moon in Scorpio mentioned earlier, I could not have been sure of the timing of that transit if I did not know the exact degree of her Moon (which changes by about 12 degrees during 24 hours). Transiting Pluto moves only about two degrees a year, so I could have been off by as much as six years. Transits to the Ascendant are also impossible to pinpoint without an accurate birth time. With more recent American births, this information is readily available on most birth certificates. Clients who already have a working knowledge of astrology will probably know their birth time, but it could be difficult with older people or foreign births.
Even if I have an accurate birth time, there are some clients and some situations in which I would not use astrology in the therapy session. In his book, Therapeutic Astrology (1996), Greg Bogart, Ph.D., advised caution in the use of astrology in the context of psychotherapy:
If astrology can be utilized by some to strengthen their choice-making and meaning-making capacities, we should also be clear that there are some people who do not possess the requisite ego strength to use astrology productively, or even safely in a therapeutic setting. … One needs to use astrology with wisdom, just as one would not give a five-year-old a chainsaw or present an unprepared individual with the profound Kabbalistic meditations or the secrets of the Tibetan Budhist Kalachakra. Some questions I ask myself when considering whether or not to introduce astrology into the counseling situation are the following: Does the client show evidence of avoidance, escapism, dissociation, magical thinking, or other though disorders? If any of these are present, I would not utilize astrology in the therapeutic setting.
Of course, astrology is not the only tool that an astrological counselor needs. This awareness was my primary motivation for returning to school to study counseling skills. Bogart sums it up:
In addition to reflection on the birth chart, a therapeutic astrologer uses the basic tools of psychotherapy: empathic listening, efforts to change to client’s thinking and behavior, exploration of material arising from deep unconscious realms. We address all the major issues: sex, love, and money, work and family. We return to childhood memories and heartbreaks, and our most painful feelings. We put to rest the past and plot our future. Living in synchrony with the orderly movement of the planets, we begin to understand how skillfully we are carved by the hand of time.
References
Bogart, G. Therapeutic astrology: Using the birth chart in psychotherapy and spiritual counseling. Berkeley, CA: Dawn Mountain Press, 1996.
Campbell, J. Myths to live by. New York: Bantam Books, 1984.
Grof, S. The cosmic game: Explorations of the frontiers of human consciousness. State University of New York Press, 1998.
Grof, S. & Grof., C., Eds. Spiritual emergency: When personal transformation becomes a crisis. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1989.
Jung, C.G. Psychological types, Collected works, Vol. 6. Princeton University Press, 1974.
Jung, C.G. Synchronicity: An acausal connecting principle. Collected works, Vol. 8. Princeton University Press, 1973.
McGuire, W. The Freud/Jung letters. NJ: Princeton/Bollingen, 1994.
Tyl, N. Astrological timing of critical illness: Early warning patterns in the horoscope. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1999.