Katabasis: Descending to the Underworld

Katabasis in myth describes the descent into the underworld. This ‘going down’ entails journeying into the depths of the earth or of oneself, leaving the upper world behind to wander in the dark. It is a time of solitude, doubt, fear, alienation, mourning and losing our sense of who we really are. Exploring stories of katabasis such as Orpheus, we will look at what it means to journey underground psychologically and how transits to our chart can trigger this descent. How does the encounter with the dark and irrational change us and what can we bring back with us. In the latter part of the webinar we will explore a way of finding our own myth of katabasis.

This video is taken from a live online webinar given for the Mercury Internet School of Psychological Astrology (MISPA) by John Green in 2021. Duration: 2 hours 23 minutes