Astrology and psychological astrology are difficult to define exactly. Perhaps astrology can best be described as a mythical and magical language and, as with all languages, every astrologer will develop their own way of interpreting and communicating its meaning. This course draws primarily on the work of Carl Jung, who has given us a particular vocabulary which enables us to restore astrology to what I believe to be its rightful place, as one of the four great pillars of western esotericism, along with kabbalah, alchemy and magic. In the esoteric traditions, the universe is perceived as 'an organic, alive and sacred whole, in which everything is woven together in one cosmic web, where all orders of manifest and unmanifest life are related, because all share in the sanctity of the original source'.

For psychological astrologers the relationship between astrology and alchemy seems to be particularly significant. Historically, these twin sciences were not only strongly linked, but inseparable. The alchemists were practical people, and their approach is useful for the psychological astrologer since it encourages our active participation and personal engagement with the natal chart. In other words, there is a job to be done. The basis of alchemy is that nature, and natural humanity, are not created perfect. In our original state, we are 'a confusion of spirit, soul and body', unconscious of ourselves to a large degree, and therefore, according to Jung, capable only of collective functioning. The astrological birth chart remains exactly the same for our entire lives. There is no guarantee that we will be any more integrated, evolved, or conscious by the time we die than when we were born. In our natural state we live under the sometimes tyrannical dominion of the planets. But what we do with our birth chart, and how we choose to live it, is up to us. A psychological approach works against our natural state in the service of increasing consciousness. The alchemists were deliberately working against the natural order of things by helping nature do what she could not do for herself.

Astrology is a form of imagination emerging from nature and having direct relevance for everyday life. It is an applied poetics, a vision of life on earth stimulated by movements in the heavens, which can take us into areas of self-reflection as no other system of symbols and images can.

Astrology is 'a saving kind of knowledge, an apprehension of the mysteries which run deep in