This thought-provoking book challenges our beliefs about astrology, psychology and if and how these can work together.
Harding makes very important arguments in this book, going close to the central issues of astrology. As he says in his introduction, “I do not believe that either the philosophy or psychology yet exists to match the complexity and grandeur of the view that emerges as we begin to absorb the implications of astrology... Despite its venerable age, astrology has yet to find its voice in the world. It has lain at the crossroads of so many ideas, and though it may have the potential to signpost them all, in practice it has tended to take on the language of the last traveller.”
Aiming to clear up popular misconceptions held by astrologers as well as to find some alternatives that might be a match for astrology’s grandeur of view, Harding sets out on a journey that takes in a great critique of the ideas of Carl Jung and the space for his concepts within astrological practice (particularly Jungian Archetypes and Synchronicity) and much more, such as some very interesting work on subjects such as birth trauma and language. These explorations lead to the fascinating idea of a “Primal Zodiac”.
Harding uses case studies and explores astrological phenomena such as the fifth harmonic and the Saturn-Neptune cycle to support his arguments. Here there are some gems, as he explores astrological phenomena few (if any) will have considered before, such as sequenced midpoints within family groups.
The book ends with a chapter on the implications of all this for astrologers and astrology. Again a big big question is looked into; how can astrologers avoid imposing their astrological preconceptions on their clients? There are no easy answers, but again this book provokes the questions all astrologers should be asking themselves as they work with charts and people, the questions we so easily avoid. Within it are some answers, put with varying degrees of certainty, to these questions and this is one of the reasons astrologers should read it.
