Cosmos & Psyche
June 30, 2006
http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/june30.html
Dear Friends, Far and Near:
It's not every day that a really exciting astrology book
comes out. Sometimes you have to wait 30 years. As an astrology teacher, I have
two main complaints: 1. There are nearly no good introductory astrology books,
and by that I mean ones that cover the basic territory and don't fill your head
with prejudices; and 2. Few are intellectually satisfying enough to be worth
the time and effort reading. Usually it's just the same stuff over and over
again.
Few people would call Cosmos and Psyche by Richard Tarnas an
introductory work, but I do. In this brand new book, 30 years in the writing
and which came out about two months go, Tarnas introduces us to the subject of
astrology starting with the foundations of why it works, including exploring
the phenomenon of "synchronicity" as documented (not theorized) by
Carl Jung in the early 20th century. Synchronicity is when an event or personal
experience in life is strikingly symbolic, and relates to some deep inner
process we are going through at the time. From there, Tarnas moves onto archetypes,
which are basically living symbols shared by much or all of the human race and
which, together, form much of the psyche. Anyone who has seen a tarot deck has
been introduced to archetypes.
Working from this very solid ground of 20th century
psychology, Tarnas begins the discussion of astrology. I was expecting a book
on planetary cycles and long phases of history. I was not surprised to see his
excellent discussions of biographies and the ways people express their charts
and, from these examples, change the world.
What DID surprise me is that at the beginning of this
discussion, be gives a table of planetary symbols, and uses very simplified
astrological charts with just two or three planets that you can figure out even
if you've never seen or read a chart before. Then you get many excellent
discussions of astrology working in the lives of notable people, including
scientists and writers, as well as many examples of astrology in the historical
process -- kind of like we do here at Astrology Secrets Revealed, only in
Richard's distinctive style and with a heck of a lot more experience than any
of us have.
Along the way, he does a few really beautiful things. One is
he peels away the veneer of skepticism that has plagued astrology for
centuries, showing in very plain language why it is that astrology is a
perfectly functional idea; that is, demonstrating, despite the false claims of
scientists, why and how it works. Few astrology books ever get into the
philosophy underlying why astrology works so well, and the ones that do often
go over everyone's head.
But more fun is that he reveals what science and modern
philosophy has done to the world, which is take away all the magic of
existence. He explains that astrology seems weird only in a
"disenchanted" world, where everything is reduced to formula and we
never look beneath the surface.
This all being said, I want to offer a couple of cautions
that should not stop you from enjoying this book. One is that Richard's writing
style is solid. He assumes nothing. You will definitely put your university
education to work reading this work (it's about time, isn't it?). Second,
you're not going to be able to "look yourself up" and "understand
your chart" by looking up placements. But I can pretty much assure you
that when you're done reading it, you'll know what to do with an astrology
chart, you will see the world in a very different light, and most likely have
the confidence start working with astrology on your own. Astrology will become
real to you, it will make sense, and you may find yourself wondering why
everyone else is not seeing the obvious.
The book is available in
You can also get it from Amazon.com for only $18, in a first
edition.
This week we have two questions focusing on
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