Astrology and Depth Psychology: Finding Meaning in the Heavens

Click / tap the image to visit Mark's website.

The Soul Speaks - The Therapeutic Potential of Astrology, by Mark Jones

I can highly recommend this book as a very readable and engaging introduction to the important links between astrology and depth psychology. Chapters include; Therapeutic Astrology, Counseling Skills for Astrologers, Saturn: Guardian of Our True Potential, and Astrology and Soul Psychology.

Discover Astrology as a Language of Meaning

Although I'm not an astrologer, it has been a language and way of making meaning that I have become increasingly familiar with over the years, weaving as it does throughout various strands of spiritual and psychological understanding.

Astrology can be approached in many ways. Here, I am less concerned with prediction or certainty, and more with its symbolic and imaginal language, how it might speak to the psyche in a way that resonates with depth psychology. Much of my work as a psychotherapist and creative mentor is underpinned by the exploratory theory and knowledge that depth psychology embodies.

In this sense, astrology can be understood not as a system of fixed meanings, but as a symbolic field, one that invites reflection, much like dreams, images, or active imagination. What matters is not whether it is “true” in a literal sense, but how it opens a relationship to the psyche.

A Friendship and Shared Enquiry

The author of this book is a friend, and I have had the pleasure of helping out at several of the masterclasses he has held at his home in south Wales over the past few years, most recently at the beginning of this September.

Mark is an extremely knowledgeable and experienced psychotherapist as well as an astrologer, and this combined with a dedication to spiritual life is his particular synthesis.

Mark Jones presenting at his 2025 Masterclass, Sacred Marriage. One of my artworks can be seen on the wall at the left of this photo.

Astrology and Depth Psychology combined as a Relational Practice

Despite me knowing so little of astrology, there is rarely a moment during his extremely lucid presentations where I feel lost, because his work is so imbued with depth psychological understanding and wisdom from spiritual traditions, which are my familiar ground.

Mark regards the astrological consultation as a relational space, a 'counselling dynamic', where the astrologer is not there to give the client an abstract stream of secret knowledge or predictions about their life, but to engage with them in a process of exploration which can be aided by the astrological insights that their chart might offer.

This way of working has much in common with my approach to Art Psychotherapy, where the image, symbol, and relational process guide exploration.

Astrology, Science, and the Sense of Connection

One of the key themes of the recent class was how a precise awareness about the positions of planets and stars in relation to places on earth, has been a way in which humans have participated in a deeply engaged way with their world for millennia.

Yes, there is much about some versions and applications of astrology that can be considered ridiculous. Much like many other disciplines not all forms are equal. But too often the whole enterprise has been condemned and dismissed by the intensely rationalist and materialist bias of today's version of science.

Further Learning and Reflection

Whether you're new to astrology, a therapist wondering what possible clinical application it could have, or an experienced astrologer, I would recommend looking at Mark's website where there is a variety of teaching material, and links to videos and podcasts.

For those drawn to explore similar ideas in conversation, you will find other articles on this blog which may be of interest to you.

This brief reflection offers a glimpse into how astrology and depth psychology can meet within a shared field of symbolic understanding. Both invite a way of seeing that values relationship, imagination, and the living conversation between psyche and cosmos. Whether or not one holds a belief in astrology, engaging with it in this way can offer another language for reflection, one that sits alongside image, myth, and landscape as ways of approaching the inner life.

In this way, astrology stands alongside these themes as a way of encountering meaning that is not reducible to reductive explanation, or being 'explained away', which rather than offering answers only served to remove the vital sense of meaning and wonder that is a source of sustenance for the soul.

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Andrew Phillips is a Psychotherapist, Visual Artist and Creative Mentor.

As an HCPC registered Psychotherapist I offer online therapy sessions for individuals in the UK, working with a soul-centered approach informed by Depth Psychology. For further information and to make an enquiry, please visit the Psychotherapy section of my website.

On my website you will also be able to find out about the Mentoring sessions I offer, which are also available for those who live outside the UK. There are also galleries of my artwork, and an online shop.

If the themes of this article are of interest, you might enjoy my regular newsletter Numinous Landscape, which features similar content on the themes of depth psychology and therapy, spirituality, and art. To subscribe just go to the bottom of any page on the site, add your details to the the form, and check 'subscribe'.