Astrology, Alchemy and the Mandala

Webinar Description

Alchemy was fundamental to Jung’s idea of the individuation process and to his vision of the mandala as an image of the path towards wholeness and inner integration. The mandala thus becomes a visual representation of the alchemical journey, including its spiritual quest of ‘squaring the circle’. Such a journey implies commitment to our own self-awareness and psychological development, reflected in the mysterious and often perplexing language and imagery of the alchemical work.

Such language and imagery readily translate to the birth chart as our own personal mandala. The chart becomes an image of the prima materia or material to be worked on, as well as the vas bene clausum, the well-sealed vessel in which the work takes place. It is also the possibility of the wholeness and selfhood so vividly reflected in the mandala’s symbolism. It contains the alchemical King and Queen, the fiery spirit and the inner ground of the soul, whose transmutation and union produces the philosopher’s stone that confers immortality and turns lead to gold.

This webinar will outline some key principles of the alchemical work, relating alchemical imagery and processes to the birth chart and to the mandala as the image Jung chose to symbolise the complex and continual process of realising the self.

Carole Taylor has been a consultant astrologer, as well as a tutor at the Faculty of Astrological Studies, for over two decades. She has fulfilled a variety of key roles at the Faculty, including President and Director of Studies, contributing extensively to the course material and co-tutoring workshops in Bali, India, China and the USA. She has a busy client practice that includes ACG, Relocation and Local Space techniques. She holds an MA in Myth, Cosmology & the Sacred from Canterbury Christ Church University and is a tutor on the Sophia MA in Cultural Astronomy & Astrology at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David.