My philosophy about astrology
3 principles that guide my work
Hi, there!
I hope you had a fantastic weekend.
In this opportunity, I want to let you know about my approach to astrology rather than a specific transit.
I usually think about my work as an astrologer and what I want to offer to the world.
But thinking about this topic doesn’t mean everyone else knows my reflections on it.
So, today, I want to share three principles that guide my work as an astrologer and writer.
In no particular order, here we go.
3 Principles That Shape My Approach to Astrology
1. Astrology is archetypally predictive
In an essay called “Introduction to Archetypal Astrology,” Richard Tarnas wrote the following:
“The main thing to understand here is that astrology is not concretely predictive, but archetypally predictive. That is, the birth chart and transits indicate which universal principles are emphasized, in what combination, and when. They do not give information such as “You will get an offer of a job as editor-in-chief for a large publishing firm on April 26, 2004,” or “You will meet your soul mate on the beach at Waikiki at sunset on New Year's Day in 2005.” It may not be impossible for a gifted clairvoyant to do something like this, but astrology has a different character.”
I wholeheartedly agree with Tarnas that astrology is not concretely predictive but archetypally predictive.
Let’s backtrack a little bit to understand this statement better.
In this excerpt, what Tarnas mentions as “universal principles” is what Carl Gustav Jung calls “archetypes.”
I think Jung needs no introduction. But if you don’t know him, he was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who collaborated intellectually with Sigmund Freud. His notion of archetypes has a significant influence on psychological astrology.
But where do archetypes come from?
Jung posits the existence of the collective unconscious. All people share this part of the human psyche. It contains information passed down from ancestors that creates myths, legends, and religious beliefs.
Archetypes are universal images and ideas that reside in the collective unconscious.
This is why Tarnas considers that astrology is archetypally predictive. Planets, signs, houses, and transits are universal principles. But how they manifest in someone’s life can’t be predicted concretely.
An example will help clarify this issue.
One of the archetypes Jung mentions is that of The Wise Old Man, also known as Senex. Planet Saturn is one of the ways this archetype manifests in your life.
Specific characteristics associated with the Senex/Saturn archetype can be enumerated. Some of them are responsibility, hard work, limits, boundaries, and seriousness.
Related: Saturn’s Themes and Their Activation During The Saturn Return
But it’s impossible to pinpoint EXACTLY how those characteristics will manifest in your life during a Saturnian transit.
We need to consider your specific life circumstances, birth chart, and other transits occurring at the same time. Even still, there is always a degree of uncertainty that will never disappear.
As an astrologer specializing in the Saturn return, I can give you the tools to go through this transit. However, I can’t predict precisely what will happen to you.
Furthermore, I think there’s no point in trying to decode the future in detail.
Rather than asking, “What will happen to me?” change it to “What is this transit asking me to do? What qualities do I have to embody right now?”.
This applies to the Saturn return, other transits and the birth chart as a whole.
Not all archetypes are active at the same time. This is why some years are better for some activities and others are better for others.
2. There are 50 shades of gray to every birth chart placement or astrological transit
On the one hand, the doom-and-gloom astrologers predict the worst-case scenarios. On the other hand, the love and light astrologers gaslight you into believing everything is sunshine and rainbows. I don’t align with either of those positions.
I have a stellium in Sagittarius. Believe me when I tell you that I’m a very optimistic, glass-half-full type of person.
When I struggle, I no longer ask myself, “Why is this happening TO ME?!” Instead, I reframe it to “What is this situation trying to teach me? What do I have to learn here?”
This doesn’t mean that I reframe the thought and immediately feel better. But it does add some nuance to the situation I’m experiencing.
Astrology served as fast food lacks nuance. Every take is so black or white that I found the absence of complexity concerning. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, can be a hundred percent something.
Even the darkest times offer a silver lining, while the brightest times have some darkness, too.
As J. Cole puts it, there’s beauty in the struggle and ugliness in the success.
I don’t view astrology as black or white. There are many shades of gray regarding the Saturn return and every other transit or placement.
Remember this when you consume astrological content.
Take everything with a grain of salt.
Imagine that you watch different astrological channels in an old television set.
If you choose the astrological channel Doom-And-Gloom, grab the remote and add a little brightness to that channel. If you don’t, you’ll feel helpless and anxious.
Instead, if you usually consume the Love and Light channel, reduce the brightness. If you don’t, you’ll feel delusional and like YOU are the problem. When those outrageously exciting predictions don’t come true, you may blame yourself and feel ashamed.
A third option is to turn off the astrological TV completely.
I have stopped consuming some astrological content on both sides of the spectrum.
When I watched many programs on the Doom-and-Gloom channel, I was constantly anxious and worried. I always prepared for the worst. My thoughts were grim and dark.
Conversely, when I engaged with the Love and Light channel, I got pumped up with all the fascinating predictions. Then, I would feel bitter and angry because none of those rewards came to my door.
I felt like I was the problem. Like I wasn’t doing enough. Like I wasn’t worthy of the good things that only happen to others.
Luckily, right now I have a very sober, down-to-earth approach to astrology and life.
Sometimes life sucks. And it will suck for a while. But not forever.
Also, you could make your dreams come true and realize that they are actually nightmares.
Have you ever heard about the arrival fallacy?
I’m getting slightly off-topic here, but I promise you this is interesting.
Before I let you know about the arrival fallacy, a word from our sponsor (me!)
Last days to join The Astrology of 2025 workshop for 18 USD! 🌃
I’ll give a two-hour virtual workshop on all the cosmic movements of 2025 this Thursday, January 23rd.
Join me to see my astrological philosophy in action!
The deets:
When: Thursday, January 23rd, 2025
Time: 6-8 pm London time (1-3 pm EST)
Where: Online in Google Meet
Tickets: Only £15 (around 18 USD)
Bring your journal and a nice pen!
I don’t know when I will do another event like this one, so let’s meet up!
Save your spot now: https://shorturl.at/BoTWT
Thank you for your time, and let’s go back to the newsletter.
Where were we?
Oh, yes, I wanted to mention the concept of arrival fallacy, aka how our dreams come true as nightmares.
The arrival fallacy is the belief that reaching a specific goal will bring long-lasting happiness.
This belief is a fallacy (aka, a lie) because you can’t know NOW how you will feel in the future.
Our brains are wired to anticipate rewards. Achieving goals triggers a release of feel-good brain chemicals.
But this boost in mood is temporary. It leads to a "high" and then a return to the baseline mood.
You can even feel dissatisfied once you achieve that goal because the expected permanent happiness does not materialize.
Remember, everything has fifty shades of gray.
3. We live in bubbles
The different algorithms we interact with curate the content to make us stay longer on a specific platform.
If you like memes and interact with them often, your algorithm will keep feeding you memes. If you engage with political content, the algorithm will keep you glued to the screen by showing you political content. If you watch videos of kittens, prepare to see even more of those.
You get the idea.
My algorithms are showing me something different than your algorithms. While there may be some overlap, they are terrifyingly refined and customized from person to person.
This is what I mean when I say we all live in different bubbles.
We tend to think that everyone else thinks the same way we do or experiences the same problems.
Well, they don’t.
A friend of mine recently broke up with her boyfriend. She told me, “Everyone is breaking up.”
I’m like, “Everyone?”
She also mentioned three other couples from her circle who had also broken up. Moreover, she engaged with content on social media about dealing with a breakup. Therefore, the algorithm kept showing her content about celebrities getting divorced, being single after a long-term relationship, and so forth.
My algorithms didn’t show me that at all.
Right now, I’m interested in the damaging effects of Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok on our mental health.
I’m not on those platforms. And even though I KNOW that billions of people use them daily, I sometimes forget about it. It’s not my bubble, so I tend to believe that everyone is leaving social media behind to consume content elsewhere.
Some people are certainly leaving social media, as some people are certainly breaking up. However, we tend to magnify certain situations based on our own biases.
Anecdotes are not statistically relevant. At the same time, worldwide statistics may not directly impact our existence.
We have the internet and live in a globalized world. However, the algorithms are not different from the lives of our ancestors in small villages.
The same algorithmic-driven existence applies to astrology.
I could interpret the Pluto in Aquarius transit as connected with the expansion of Artificial Intelligence.
Someone interested in political movements could see the transit as radicalized groups destroying communities with misinformation.
Others could consider that aliens will conquer the Earth and vanish the human race for good.
There are even some manifestations that I can’t articulate because my mental bubble doesn’t include them.
The TL;DR of my approach to astrology
Astrology is archetypally predictive. Using symbolic language, we can analyze transits or birth charts, but we can’t know exactly what will happen.
And this is OK. We are not supposed to know the details. Instead, I focus on the learning experiences or the potential that every transit offers.
No transit is one hundred percent “good” or “bad.” There are 50 shades of gray to every birth chart placement or astrological transit.
Some astrologers tend to focus on the most negative perspectives. Others choose to focus only on the brightest aspects of astrology.
Try finding an approach that works for you.
That approach will be connected with your specific birth chart, background, life circumstances, and psyche. You have your own bubble. We all do. We live in bubbles, carefully curated and customized to satisfy our existing biases.
Remember that not everyone lives or feels what you’re living or feeling. This doesn’t mean that we can’t find common ground.
We can find common ground, but we don’t have to assume everyone has the same starting point.
Want More?
Read Richard Tarnas’ essay “Introduction to Archetypal Astrology”
Listen to this podcast where I spoke a little bit about my philosophy
Join The Astrology of 2025 workshop to experience my approach in action!
Thank you for being here, and I truly hope to see you at the workshop.
With love,
Valentina