Astrology and Psychology

This short chapter (Part III, chapter 2) turns from the mechanics of the chart to its inner meaning: what astrology says about the mind and soul, and how the planets can be read as faculties of our own psyche to be reintegrated through spiritual practice. It is the most explicitly devotional and least technical chapter so far, and the framing throughout is Frawley's own spiritual psychology, drawn from Vedānta and yoga rather than from predictive Jyotiṣa.

Vedic psychology is impersonal and aims at the non-ego

Frawley opens (continuing a thought from the previous chapter) by setting Vedic astrology apart from both intellectual knowledge and emotional reaction. Vedic astrology, he says, is not concerned with intellectual knowledge about the stars but with reestablishing our connection with the Divine and cosmic forces working through them; and it does not regard emotion as a path to truth either — emotion, like intellectual thought, is a reaction of the surface mind, which must be stilled before truth can be perceived. What should guide us is not our emotional needs and compulsions but the feeling of oneness (AoS ch.11, p218).

Vedic psychology is therefore impersonal and aims at the non-ego. It teaches that we are all different combinations of the same cosmic forces coming through the planets and stars; the ego — our sense of personal identity — is a fiction, an illusion that does not really exist. We all share the same basic nature, superficial and deep, and must all pass through the same basic life experiences, good and bad, for the growth of consciousness. No soul gets special treatment; our apparent differences come only from being at different stages of one process, not from being really separate, better, or worse than one another (AoS ch.11, p218).

As souls we have the same potential and the same basic problems to work out in our destiny, and the spiritual goal is to go beyond outer influences — above all the need to be somebody in the external world. In this light the birth chart is "the picture of our ignorance," the pattern of desire and karma in which we are caught; the purpose of astrology is not merely to tell us what that pattern is but to help show us the way out of it. We are not limited to the birth chart — it represents only the present phase of our activity in manifestation, a particular energetic pattern of experience we are trying to understand and master in this incarnation. It is a structure we ourselves have created (though not entirely in this life), and one we can change in time by changing our daily action (AoS ch.11, p218). [modern: Frawley]

Vedic psychology thus has a spiritual orientation focused on the destiny of the soul — its movement from ignorance to knowledge, from bondage in the cycle of rebirth to liberation into the Divine. Here astrology reaches its limit, because the soul is our eternal being, beyond the influence of the stars. Astrology, for Frawley, is only one aspect of the real science of life, which is yoga and meditation, and it must always move in that direction to be of lasting value; if it caters too much to the outer goals of life it defeats its real purpose. This very lack of spiritual knowledge in much popular, personality-oriented astrology, he notes, has led many practitioners of yoga and meditation to dismiss astrology altogether — but the fault lies not in astrology itself, only in a superficial way of applying it (AoS ch.11, p218). [modern: Frawley]

Becoming conscious of the soul — the inner Sun

The basis of Vedic psychology, then, is to direct us to the spiritual life, which begins by becoming conscious of the soul within. This is an awakening to our inner Sun, the light of truth within us, which is the real light of the world — to begin to see the universe within us and our self behind the universe. It means no longer looking to the outer world for our definition of who we are, but returning to our internal light and eternal nature; questioning our identification with body, senses, and mind, and coming to rest in our true nature as a conscious being rather than an object or persona in the world. It is to reconnect with the soul's will in incarnation: to grow in consciousness and unite with life (AoS ch.11, p219). [modern: Frawley]

From this insight, Frawley says, we must reorient the faculties and domains of our life represented by the planets, making them orbit the inner Sun of truth-perception. This reintegration is the yoga inherent in astrology's symbolism, and it can be practiced even by someone who does not use astrology or know their birth chart, because it is a universal symbolism for the development of consciousness: we meditate on the qualities and meanings of the planets within us and reintegrate their forces in our own minds (AoS ch.11, p219). [modern: Frawley]

The planetary yoga of reintegration

He then walks through the planets one by one as faculties to be harmonized to the inner Sun, in a deliberate order. The passage is a meditative sequence, not a technical doctrine, so its tagging is his own framing throughout. [modern: Frawley]

• The Moon — the indicator of our receptivity — must be harmonized first, made receptive to the Sun of truth rather than to the influences of the outer world. This requires becoming conscious of our dependence on the Divine (cosmic intelligence) as the source of our being, learning to surrender, realizing the limitations of the conditioned mind, and not mistaking its fluctuations for true awareness (AoS ch.11, p219).
• Mars — the indicator of our energy and motivation — must be harmonized next, by directing the will toward spiritual practices: service work, yoga, mantra, and meditation. This does not mean neglecting our duties but using them to develop skill in right action; no longer seeking power and achievement outwardly but opening to the flow of grace, seeing through the manipulative structure of society and of our own ego, doing our work well but not seeking results — becoming one with the process rather than calculating what we will get from it (AoS ch.11, p219).
• Mercury — our rational process — must then be brought into play on a higher level, reoriented toward the knowledge of inner truth rather than outer information. This means no longer believing in the reality of the known, the measurable, and the quantifiable; seeing through the glamour of names and forms and "the fiction of numbers"; being sensitive to the unique being in things that reflects the eternal; and learning to think for ourselves and arrive at the truth of things rather than merely taking in what others have said (AoS ch.11, p219–220).
• Jupiter — our will to truth and growth — must then be employed to seek expansion in the realm of consciousness, uniting our life-energy with the cosmic life around us and existing as a source of grace, beneficence, and good will. This requires seeing our true good not as expanding outwardly but as surrendering and growing inwardly, becoming conscious of the good of all and of our role to guide and help others along the path of light (AoS ch.11, p220).
• Venus — our devotion and affection — must then be harmonized, directing love and creativity toward the unfoldment of cosmic wonder and joy. This is to see that the joy and beauty in things come from the Divine, from consciousness or our own deepest Self; joy does not belong to outer objects but is only reflected on them by our attachment. We reclaim our own joy and contentment in being and consciousness, so that life becomes a form of worship and all beauty is recognized as a reflection of the spiritual heart (AoS ch.11, p220).
• Saturn — must then seal the process, giving it firm form and structure in our daily activity. This needs consistency, concentration, and seriousness to bring things to conclusion; dedication, calm, coolness, and willingness to persist in adversity — to greet even suffering or opposition as a friend; and detachment, the capacity to be alone, and the ability to abide in stillness, in a moment-by-moment awareness that overlooks nothing but remains at the essence (AoS ch.11, p220).

Having reordered the seven, Frawley turns to the lunar nodes and the hidden side of the psyche. It is not enough, he says, to clear things up on the surface or even at deeper levels — we must eradicate the seeds of falsehood from the deepest recesses of the mind. This means dealing with Rāhu, the illusion-power of the mind, the power of secret or hidden desires: facing all the ghosts and demons of our subconscious, including the most elemental fears and desires on which this world of ignorance is built, and understanding the habits, addictions, and dependencies that sustain our attachment to appearances (AoS ch.11, p220). Finally we must deal with Ketu, our capacity to negate ourselves: being careful not to sabotage ourselves in the process or turn back at the moment of victory, learning to negate ourselves into the Divine and not into the undivine, and following the process of negation to the ultimate point of pure affirmation — seeing our Self in all beings and all beings in our Self (AoS ch.11, p220–221). In this way we return to the Sun of truth with the full manifestation of its powers, the integration of all its rays (AoS ch.11, p221).

Frawley adds a caution about the sequence itself: while it can be looked at as an unfoldment in time, it is more an unfoldment of related qualities and will not follow the same line of development in each individual — it is "like the tracing of a lotus from the central point." And though this is largely a work we must do for ourselves within our own minds, the remedial measures of astrology can be helpful tools to facilitate it (AoS ch.11, p221). [modern: Frawley]

Psychological indicators of the planets

The chapter then gives, under a single heading, a one-paragraph statement of the higher psychological meaning of each graha — for each planet, what it represents in the psyche and the central spiritual issue it poses. These compress standard Jyotiṣa graha-psychology (the Sanskrit faculty-terms in parentheses are traditional) into Frawley's own spiritual reading (AoS ch.11, p221–223).

The Sun

The Sun on its higher level represents the true or Divine Self (Ātmā), just as on the lower level it represents the ego or self-image. Its main issue is identity: our true identity is in consciousness as consciousness, not according to anything we identify with — whatever we identify with is a form of darkness. Our true nature lies in the capacity to illumine things, not in the things the mind illumines; our true being is in the light, and is the light. We find that true light only by going within, for any external light we reflect, however great, creates darkness within us (AoS ch.11, p221).

The Moon

The Moon represents the mind or consciousness generally (Manas), our feeling potential. Its main issue is peace and receptivity of the mind, achieved by surrender of the mind to the Divine — not by any mental activity or achievement, nor by surrender to any personal or social force. Our feeling sensitivity need not be denied or controlled; it merely needs to be directed rightly, opened to the presence in things, the Divine significance of each thing and each moment (AoS ch.11, p221). [traditional]

Mars

Mars represents the need of energy to transform itself — all energy is seeking a result, all life requires a direction and a goal. Its issue is in directing our energy toward real transformation, an enduring achievement, the change of our own consciousness — not toward a momentary goal. Yet as long as we pursue primarily the outer goals of pleasure, wealth, and status, a momentary goal is exactly what we pursue; the real transformative result is the ability to draw our consciousness into the realm of oneness, not to gain some specific limited end (AoS ch.11, p221–222).

Mercury

Mercury represents the power of judgement (buddhi). It can weave a net of information and speculation that traps the soul in the realm of the senses, or a ladder of values and principles by which the soul can ascend. Its main issue is right discrimination — whether we direct our reason toward organizing the impressions gathered from the senses, or toward discriminating truth from falsehood, the eternal from the transient. The latter changes Mercury into the God of wisdom (AoS ch.11, p222). [traditional]

Jupiter

Jupiter represents the law of our nature, our creative intelligence, and where we find grace and beneficence in life. Its main issue is aligning ourselves with the flow of Divine grace, the inner good rather than the outer social good — projecting a spiritual creativity that raises the world and ourselves, not merely a material creativity that furthers outer powers and structures. It is to be beneficent in the presence of the Divine, not merely good in order to gain the admiration of others, and it requires an optimism grounded in the knowledge of the eternal (AoS ch.11, p222).

Venus

Venus represents our capacity to project love and beauty. Life comes from bliss and expresses bliss; we all want eternal happiness. Its issue is how we define our happiness — outwardly as pleasure or inwardly as joy. We can seek it in transient things and so lose it, or seek it in the eternal and truly find it. True joy, Frawley says, comes only through suffering, while mere pleasure usually results in suffering; because we do not see the end result and cling to what comes immediately, we are trapped in the illusion of outer happiness. The higher Venus energy arises through devotion — through defining our object of love as consciousness itself, the being in all beings (AoS ch.11, p222). [modern: Frawley]

Saturn

Saturn represents the power of our actions: if we do something regularly it sets a certain force in motion, and this power of our action goes with us from life to life — our destiny is mirrored in our daily activity. Its issue is to create an ongoing conscious action toward improving our condition and expanding the powers of truth and peace in life — really to put into practice what we have learned rather than merely acknowledge it mentally, and to have the patience and attention to bring things to conclusion and perfection (AoS ch.11, p222–223).

Rāhu

Rāhu represents the illusion-power of our unfulfilled desires, which operate at a subconscious level to distort our perception. This projection-force of the mind is a powerful creative force that can also be used for creative meditation once we have gained control of it. Rāhu is the challenge to master our secret wishes in life and to accept what is — the present — as the truth (AoS ch.11, p223). [modern: Frawley]

Ketu

Ketu represents the illusion-power of our fears and our attachment to what we have already accomplished, which prevent us from positive action and change. Ketu shows the death we are in flight from in life — and this death we fear is not really physical death but the death of the ego. It is only when we embrace death as a creative force, a power of renewal and transformation, that we can go beyond its shadow (AoS ch.11, p223). [modern: Frawley]