Archetypal astrology explores the relationship between planetary alignments and thematic patterns in both the human psyche and the larger world. It is rooted in Jungian and Grofian depth psychology. Stanislav Grof, the world's leading researcher in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, and Richard Tarnas, noted philosopher and cultural historian, worked in collaboration to pioneer a way to use astrology to predict the kinds of experiences that emerge in deep self-exploration in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, Grof Breathwork, and Jungian dreamwork. In the case of depth psychology, practitioners illuminate the contents of the unconscious, but in the case of archetypal astrology, they study the planetary archetypes in relationship with human life. According to Tarnas, the study of archetypal astrology can help us unshackle ourselves from unknown influences that might lurk in the shadows of our lives and guide us to know our true self and how it relates to the world.
Unlike other schools of astrology, archetypal astrology focuses primarily on planetary aspects and transits rather than zodiac signs or houses. Renn Butler describes Grof's clinical research:
Stanislav Grof's patients began to confront powerful and detailed memories from birth labor, accompanied by dramatic encounters with human morality and a search for higher meaning. Grof calls these sequences perinatal, from "peri" which means "around or near" and "natalis" pertaining to birth. He found that the perinatal material tends to emerge in four basic patterns or clusters of experience, which he termed the Basic Perinatal Matrices.
Tarnas and Grof were able to see a correlation between these four powerful patterns of experience during birth, and the archetypal meanings associated with the four outer planets in astrology: Neptune, Saturn, Pluto, and Uranus. Their work offers an analytical framework to help people understand and process their birth trauma. Further, adding in the effects of other planets interacting with the four outer planets offers use of the entire constellation of archetypes to explore and process trauma post birth to present.
Tarnas posits that archetypal astrology does not determine fate, but offers the recognition of patterns made visible by individual and world aspects and transits in a natal chart. Exploring these patterns can offer a more conscious and creative way to engage with archetypal forces influencing a given moment. If you understand the energies playing out, you have the opportunity to be proactive instead of reactive in response. Lastly, it is less about when you are going to meet “the one” and more about when you are going to meet your higher self and grind through the harder aspects of the Basic Perinatal Matrices.
If you just ran across this and are curious about exploring more, consider digging into some archetypal astrology literature, dipping your toe into the ocean of archetypes by getting a reading, or taking a class.