Astrological psychology
Huber Method
Astrological psychology is a branch of psychology that uses astrology as a diagnostic tool. It is fundamentally based on the psychological concepts of depth psychology, but also on ideas from humanistic and transpersonal psychology. In terms of its conceptual model, it is most closely related to Roberto Assagioli’s psychosynthesis.
Unlike most psychologies that begin with pathological conditions, astrological psychology starts from a concept of the human being as organic, self-regulating, and therefore subjectively healthy.
The central theme of astrological psychology is precisely the search for the reasons why a person “feels ill.”
THE ACTIVITIES
Teaching, counseling, and therapy activities using astrological psychology have a very clear motivation: to increase a person’s learning capacity and stimulate their own thinking, avoiding offering pre-packaged solutions. In other words, it’s about providing individuals with an effective tool to help them understand themselves. Self-knowledge translates directly into greater freedom, creativity, and joy in life.
One of the most important characteristics of astrological psychology is its holistic approach to the human condition. This approach is considered not only in the psychological conceptual model but also in the selection and use of specific astrological techniques.
Methodology and Technique
The methodology used by Astrological Psychology to facilitate the ultimate goal of self-knowledge is based on maintaining a “non-dual” conception, whereby perceived external reality is a reflection of internal reality. The chosen techniques satisfy the basic requirement that all their parts harmonize in a complementary way.
It is an integrated and complete method, although this does not mean it is closed to new developments, observations, and refinements.
Traditional astrology techniques have been omitted. While these may be logically valid within the relevant interpretive framework, they are not necessary or integrable into the overall proposed methodology.
The discarded techniques are primarily prediction techniques, both classical and modern. These techniques, which undoubtedly work in specific instances, typically frame events as something that comes to us from the external world; that is, they adhere to the dualistic conception of reality.
Astrological psychology maintains that the forces that determine how external events are subjectively perceived, experienced, valued, and responded to are actually the experiences or events of the personality’s inner world. These inner world experiences can be traced and understood using a technique called age progression.
The age progression, or age point, is a kind of clock that starts at the moment of a person’s birth and progresses through the horoscope, indicating how the person engages with the different areas of their chart throughout their life and how, in this way, their character is shaped in a continuous learning process.
The selection of technical methods has also been considerably influenced by an important organic requirement: simplification. One of the main characteristics of the modern human intellect is logical-linear causal thinking, which functions in an essentially analytical way. This type of thinking tends toward breaking down the whole into its parts, that is, toward focusing on the details and losing sight of the overall picture.
The use of a large number of techniques does not solve the problems of interpretation; in fact, it complicates the interpretation further. In astrology, it is often taught that an interpretation is correct only if it can be confirmed by several different techniques. In contrast, the principle of astrological psychology is entirely opposite, considering that if several techniques are required to achieve clarity, it indicates that the available resources of primary astrological symbolism have not been sufficiently utilized.
In this sense, in astrological psychology, the primary elements are clearly defined: they are those mentioned by Ptolemy, which can be classified into four levels of the chart: aspects, planets, signs, and houses.
The definitions of these elements are very precise, and they are used consistently in interpretation, always keeping in mind the existential level being considered.
Bruno y Louise Huber
THE HUBER METHOD
The methodology and set of techniques that today are used by Astrological Psychology, were initially investigated and developed by Bruno and Louis Huber, founders of A.P.I. the acronyms of the Astrologishes Psychologishes Institut in Adliswil, Switzerland (1962-2012).
Bruno and Louise Huber dedicated their lives to the investigation, development and application of Astrological Psychology. More than 50 years of intensive research focused on psychological counseling and therapy allowed Bruno and Louise Huber, among others, to structure a form of astrological psychology that offers a new way of interpreting a birth chart, examining and giving meaning to the levels of human life, from the central core of the psyche to the environment in which we live.