How have psychology and media of the twentieth century changed astrology?

Psychology and Astrology:

Prior to the twentieth century, astrology's main purpose was to predict, with reliable accuracy, inevitable events for individuals and nations. Astrology, then, was nothing more than a tool of divination that purportedly illumined the workings of some higher force over which humans had no control. Knowledge was not power in this model of astrology; astrology's forecasts and prognostications simply enhanced a fatalistic, powerless approach to life where one waits for lighting to strike and disaster to fall.

Titles of astrological books in the twentieth century show a remarkable shift in the use and attitude toward astrology. Phrases like "client-centered," "person-centered," "choice-centered" populated the book titles of metaphysical shelves showing that astrology had rapidly gone from a fatalistic system to a model of human development that enhanced and facilitated growth, choice, and awareness. What happened? Some wise and pioneering individuals saw that the astrological language was adaptable to the insights of both depth and humanistic psychologies. The task of depth psychology—to illumine the workings of the unconscious—and the task of humanistic psychology—to assist in self-actualization and inherent potentials—were believed to be aided by the dynamics seen in the birth chart. However, the wedding of astrology to these schools of psychology implied that astrology had to radically overturn its previous attitude to fate, determinism, and just exactly "what" it was illuminating in the birth chart. Through the insights of depth and humanistic psychology, astrology was now a discipline illuminating forces and potentials within the individual (or at least forces and potentials with which the individual participates) and not some transcendent force over which humans have no choice or relationship to. Moreover, astrological symbolism did not trap one to a predetermined fate but showed a path and gateway to greater freedoms and more conscious behavior and choice.

The Importance of Media:

The proliferation of media and media-based technologies has been one the great contributions of the twentieth century, so much so that authors like Leonard Shlain argue that this is creating a profound transformation in cultural values and the way we think. Images and sound from media like television, radio, and film are carriers of information that speak to the holistic, pattern-seeking, intuitive "right-brain" capacities within us. Images and sound-not words-are the mouthpieces of the archetypes, and it is through image and sound that we grasp meaning, see universal patterns, and have a deeper understanding of intangibles like "soul," "god and goddess," and "transformation."

Image and sound as a language of qualities can show important but subtle distinctions between individuals and cultural epochs that words simply cannot convey. The hackneyed phrase, "a picture is worth a thousand words" is so overused because of its truth. Preserved in film, music recordings, and television is a wealth of information about particular cultural eras and personalities that words cannot fully articulate. Media of the twentieth century helps one to recapture "a spirit of the times;" we now can live or re-live an era vicariously through film, music, and television that simply was not permitted before.

As astrology can only be verified through a study of correlations, the importance of these media to astrology is immense. Prior to the twentieth century, if one wanted to "know" what a particular era was like one could read second or third-hand descriptions written by historians and one could get a vague sense of the important contributions, events, and daily life of that era. However, the subtlety, nuances, and cultural tenor and tones of the era-made transparent by image and sound based media-are lost in verbal translation and one could only rely on one's imagination and intuition to understand what a particular era might have been like. Astrology is enhanced tremendously by this ability to see and hear changes-some radical, some not-in cultural shifts preserved in media of the last century. Media can be seen as entertainment, as informative, or popular ephemera, however, in astrology's eyes, media is testament to how powerful and rigorous astrology can be.