Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 31 minutes ago
Like synchronicity on a broader scale, astrology shows Humanity the loving care of the Universe.
Synchronicity offers a way to understand astrology without pretending the planets cause events in a mechanical sense. Rick frames synchronicity as the broader phenomenon: meaningful correlations between inner states and outer events that appear patterned rather than random. Astrology, in that frame, becomes a powerful subset—an “astrological synchronicity”—because the movements of planets and the rhythms of human affairs line up with striking regularity.
The key move is interpretive: the planets function more like a clock than an engine. A clock doesn’t cause 11:30—it indicates the time. In the same way, planetary cycles “point to” archetypal fields—Saturnian limits and maturation, Plutonic death-rebirth dynamics, Uranian liberation and upheaval—within which human lives and history unfold.
That’s where free will enters. Astrology is archetypally predictive, not concretely fated: it illuminates the score, while people still choose the melody.
Richard Tarnas, PhD, is Professor Emeritus at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where he was the founding director of the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness department. During his thirty years there he taught courses in the history of ideas, depth psychology, archetypal cosmology, cultural history, and the evolution of consciousness. He has also frequently lectured on archetypal studies and depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, and was formerly the director of programs and education at Esalen Institute in Big Sur. He is the author of The Passion of the Western Mind, a narrative history of the Western world view from the ancient Greek to the postmodern that is widely used in universities. His second book, Cosmos and Psyche, received the Book of the Year Prize from the Scientific and Medical Network. He is a past president of the International Transpersonal Association and was a long-time member of the Board of Governors for the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco.
Like synchronicity on a broader scale, astrology shows Humanity the loving care of the Universe.
Synchronicity offers a way to understand astrology without pretending the planets cause events in a mechanical sense. Rick frames synchronicity as the broader phenomenon: meaningful correlations between inner states and outer events that appear patterned rather than random. Astrology, in that frame, becomes a powerful subset—an “astrological synchronicity”—because the movements of planets and the rhythms of human affairs line up with striking regularity.
The key move is interpretive: the planets function more like a clock than an engine. A clock doesn’t cause 11:30—it indicates the time. In the same way, planetary cycles “point to” archetypal fields—Saturnian limits and maturation, Plutonic death-rebirth dynamics, Uranian liberation and upheaval—within which human lives and history unfold.
That’s where free will enters. Astrology is archetypally predictive, not concretely fated: it illuminates the score, while people still choose the melody.
Richard Tarnas, PhD, is Professor Emeritus at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where he was the founding director of the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness department. During his thirty years there he taught courses in the history of ideas, depth psychology, archetypal cosmology, cultural history, and the evolution of consciousness. He has also frequently lectured on archetypal studies and depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, and was formerly the director of programs and education at Esalen Institute in Big Sur. He is the author of The Passion of the Western Mind, a narrative history of the Western world view from the ancient Greek to the postmodern that is widely used in universities. His second book, Cosmos and Psyche, received the Book of the Year Prize from the Scientific and Medical Network. He is a past president of the International Transpersonal Association and was a long-time member of the Board of Governors for the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco.
