An Unofficial Guide: Analysis of the Jungian “Identity” Theory through Ancient Astrology 🌘
It would come as no surprise to the collector of so-called Carl Jung “Deep Cuts” to discover that there is an impressive fluidity and a seamlessness between the universal astrological narrative (imperfect, diverse, disputed, and debated as it is) and the ever-broad, psychedelic, and universal-consciousness flavors that season Carl Jung’s theories of Self, Identity, Shadow, and a variety of complexes.
It begs to be manifest in retrospect that Jung would have written more on the subject — and especially on how astrology influenced either his thought process or the rituals that beget the creation (or revelation) of his systems and theories.
After a long, hard chew: here lies the outline of how I have put the pieces together in conceptual marriage…
Take it with a grain of salt.
The Jungian “Self”
Definition
The totality, the general experience, and characteristic(s) or qualities of the psyche (or one’s experience of consciousness [awareness] and unconsciousness [unaware nature] combined); including all of its potential transformations. It is the organizing force behind the personality, and is responsible for bringing out the highest transformations in each stage of life that circumstances can allow. It has a desire for actualization through a narrative journey within and “without of” itself: it is forward-looking and seeking.
Its Goal
The goal of the Self is wholeness and completion, which Jung calls the process of individuation, the purpose of which is to develop one’s fullest potential and dreams. `
Its Nature
It is a distinguishing feature of Jungian psychology that the theory is organized from the point of view of the Self, not from that of the ego, as early Freudian theory professes. The ego, along with other structures, develops out of the Self which exists from the early stages of life and social awareness. The Self is partially rooted in biological realities (such as temperamental personality, which is statistically measurable) but also has a sensitivity to an infinitely wider range of experience and tangibility, including the realms of the cultural and the religious, as well as the depths of which all human beings are capable of doing, feeling, and being in the narrative history of human existence and accomplishments (including the collective unconscious). It is therefore capable of being projected onto figures or institutions which carry power: God, institutions, kings and queens, society, nations, and so on. The nature of the Self affects one’s perception of these as symbols.
Where is“The Self” in your astrological birth chart?
The nature of one’s self is found in both the Sun sign and the Moon sign. We think of the Sun sign as the “energized” outward-facing Self (the personality half of the self that reaches near the Persona). Conversely, the Moon is the “requiring energy and attention” inward-facing Self (the emotional, non-verbal half of the self that reaches downward towards the unconscious).
Planets that are in aspect to the Sun or the Moon tell us about what we can do to engage in these external-internal halves of ourselves, what tensions they face, what harmonies they allow, and what types of attention they require. The nature of which are determined by the harshness or ease of the planetary aspects. The house that our Sun or Moon fall into gives us insight as to what specific area of our lives we receive energy and reprieve for these two distinct halves. The Moon will also describe the maternal nature of one’s mother and their relationship to the mother archetype.
The Jungian “Persona”
Definition
The hyper-conscious and “agreed upon” aspects of one’s personality that they are willing to show to the world. Think of it as your inner Public Relations expert who agrees which aspects of your Self/personality to show to external society, and which aspects to hide.
Its Goal
It is arguably impossible to be a well-functioning member of society without a Persona. However, one must do the diligent work of monitoring the Persona to do two things. Firstly, to make sure that one is not identifying with the Persona and chronically neglecting parts of the Self are desiring of attention and nurturing — lest the chronic neglect lead to these aspects being relegated to the unconscious “shadow self” due to how little attention it has received. In the real world, this would look like someone who identifies wholly with the qualities that they portray in a career setting, and then they go home to treat people in the same manner as in the role that they play in their job setting. For example, a boxer who treats everybody as an aggressive opponent (unintegrated compassion). And second, the Persona needs to be flexible enough to allow the Self to transform into new versions of itself as it grows along its journey of actualization. The Persona must not be too comfortable and attached to itself that it is mistaken for the True Self, which must be fluid and open enough to allow for maturation and growth.
Its Nature
The Persona is often first borne in early childhood, as it is a social-adaption mechanism and given that our first socializing agents were our parents or early-childhood caregivers. The early and fundamental Persona is crafted based on the qualities that received positive attention in early childhood. Such as being intelligent (but perhaps not emotionally intelligent), being “tough” (but perhaps not being compassionate) or even being too emotionally available (not having proper boundaries or a healthy degree of “selfishness” for fear of abandonment). This process occurs between the ages of 0–4.
In later years, the Persona is crafted more consciously as we build our social identities based off of qualities that we admire in other people and that we also desire to be seen as. This process occurs between the ages of 10–21.
Where is “The Persona” in your birth chart?
The Nature of one’s Persona can be found in two places. The intuitive, highly-integrated persona that was developed as a result of early-childhood experiences is defined by the 1st House. It is arguably the “House of Ego” and serves a very necessary function. The ruler of this house (and any planets within it) describes the manner of our socialization, our preferred style of dress, and the way we are immediately perceived.
The 10th house is our idealized, maturely-constructed persona. This describes the highest version of what we would like our persona to develop into. It is our “work persona” and how we most desire to be seen by others.
The Jungian “Shadow”
Definition
The Shadow includes all of the qualities and characteristics about ourselves that we do not like and cannot accept. They are typically opposite to our social “Persona”, and have been unintegrated to the point that we no longer have a conscious relationship with these aspects. However, just because they are not made conscious, does not mean that they do not exist. They merely take on a subconscious life of their own and affect the way that we socialize.
Its Goal
The Shadow is a sort of “holding cell” for the unintegrated parts of Self. It gives depth to our personality and psyche — and by no means should it “not exist”. However, one must develop an intimate relationship with the hidden self, if not bring it to light for others.
Its Nature
Without developing a relationship to the Shadow, we will spend so much unconscious energy fighting to not be these parts of ourselves, that we will spend a lot of conscious mental energy in tension and discord with other people in our lives who we project these parts of ourselves unto. This is where we get the idea that “people obsess with and criticize others for displaying characteristics that they do not like or do not accept within themselves — and in fact, have very little to do with the person or institution on the receiving end of the criticism”. It can create real problems for one’s personal development and one’s personal/intimate relationships. Shadow work, while deeply painful and vulnerable, can help us to see ourselves in a greater picture and allow us to take full advantage of our personal power. If we only accept the parts of us that are “acceptable”, then we are leaving out aspects that may lead to individual empowerment. For example, unintegrated aggression (identifying as a “peace-maker” and pacifistic personality who despises conflict) will be socially advantageous in some ways, but in other contexts will lead to the individual to being highly manipulable and controllable by forces perceived to have greater power or influence over them. Which is not good.
Where is “The Shadow” in the Natal Chart?
Characteristics that would comprise the neglected “Shadow” would be found in two places. In the descendent, or 7th house cusp (opposite to the 1st house of Persona) which details how we perceive other people — and therefore, which characteristics feel furthest away from our identity. And the deeper, even more hidden, and even more demanding of spiritual healing are any planets that fall into the 12th house of personal undoing. Planets in this house are aspects of ourselves that may have been “beaten” out of us, or that we were socialized to be deeply ashamed of. Therefore, while it is possible that we are more vaguely aware of these aspects in a felt sense— we are more timid and terrified of integrating them because we do not believe that we can control or understand these parts of ourselves. Whereas the descendant can be healed by choosing to align ourselves with people who naturally display these characteristics and choosing to learn from them in a state of humility.
The Jungian “Anima and Animus”
Definition
These are a complicated set of dual compensatory archetypal complexes (independent archetypes in the unconscious that are a reaction to experiences in life) that are in relationship to the feminine and the masculine.
Its Goal
The Anima (the unconscious feminine archetype) and the Animus (the unconscious masculine archetype) are both shaped by early childhood experiences with individuals from these genders and how we reacted to them. These complexes, like every complex, need to be examined and modified to balance the extremity of perceived experiences with the reality of one’s emotional reactions that stem from early childhood experiences — so as to be able to integrate aspects of the opposite (or given) gender, and to be able to relate to the problematic gender in a healthy and beneficial way.
Its Nature
The Anima and Animus, like all complexes, function under the illusion of being a self-protection mechanism, when in reality, it is a deep psychological wound that is needing to be recognized, healed, and integrated into Self. We all have aspects of masculine and feminine inside of us (and most of us have a dominance of one over the other), so it is important to have a healthy relationship with these very primal archetypes. These are the archetypes most likely to affect the health of our sexual expression, our selection of a mate, and our relationship to those belonging to the afflicted gender archetype (which could include one’s own children). If the male figures in one’s childhood were particularly tyrannical, controlling, dominating, and punishing — then one, whether man or woman, develops a negative “Animus” through which they project these traits unto all people — particularly masculine individuals — who display even positive traits masculinity, such as protectiveness, assertiveness, and autonomy. Conversely, if the female figures in one’s childhood were particularly passive, lacked in boundaries, were hysterical, emotionally manipulative, and over-indulging, then they will create an “Anima” which they use to project and unto all feminine people, even if they display the healthy feminine traits of patience, nurturing, compassion, emotional discernment, relatedness, and empathy. Sometimes, one develops a dark relationship with the archetype, wherein they experience a particular version of the gender expression in childhood, and as a result, they seek out the traditionally negative characteristics of the archetype to a degree of dangerous extremity in sexual or romantic experiences and partners.
Where is the Anima/Animus in the birth chart?
The Anima (or self-perception of the feminine archetype) is located in relation to planetary aspects made to the moon such as squares, conjunctions, or oppositions. Also, the cusp of the 4th house and any planets within it can tell us about what triggers the characteristics that we associate with the feminine sense of home and safety. The Animus (or self-perception of the masculine archetype) is traditionally found in the nature of the 10th house, its cusp ruler and any planets within it. For example, many people with the planet of Neptune (the planet of mirage, confusion, and illusion) in the 10th house have an Animus characterized by an early childhood father figure who was either missing, never known, was institutionalized, inside and outside of the home sporadically, or was merely incredibly difficult to understand to the point of extreme confusion.
