How to Become a Jungian Therapist in Canada- Part 6

In this post, I am looking at the astrological indicators for becoming a Jungian Analyst, specifically using the varga charts, which are the Indian charts for various areas of your life. As one vedic teacher on youtube explains them, it’s like they take your birth chart and surgically open each house and interpolate a chart specific to that house. Kind of. Math is involved, and there are different formulas to calculate the placement of the planets in each chart.

This is by no means prescriptive, nor is it well-researched, these are just some conjectures on my part after maybe 4 years of contemplating my various varga charts. Nor am I an Jungian Analyst, but there will be broad themes to watch for that I think are universal.

Obviously you’re going to want to consider your birth chart, which is the most important chart. Just like with the Enneagram, just because you grow and develop, it doesn’t mean you change personality types. You still operate from the same relationship to Essence, but personal growth does open you up to being available to experience more and different things in life. So your home base will always be your birth chart, but your chart will develop layers as you get older. The chart of adulthood is your D9 or your navamsha chart, and that is your second-most important chart. (The “D” stands for “Divisional”, as in Divisional chart).

To access these charts, you can go to Astroseek, enter your birth date and time, and for your Ayanamsa, select “Tropical” (this will reflect how most Westerners understand themselves psychologically). Some Westerners discover Vedic astrology, see their Sidereal charts, and say their Sidereal (Indian) charts resonate more. I will just say that this is a years-long process to figure out which chart resonates with you, and it will often become clearer as you get older. I think Sidereal definitely captures a certain aspect of us, but it’s more of a surface photograph. Everyone needs to figure it out for themselves, but in my personal opinion, if you are a product of Western culture, there are deep things to contemplate about yourself hidden in your Tropical chart, and just because it may take a long time to validate your depths, or your shadow, or what’s hidden beyond your surface personality, it doesn’t make those insights less true. I learned Vedic astrology from Ernst Wilhelm, and for a while, I was using his Vault of the Heavens website, but if you don’t know how to read Indian charts, or you want to use Tropical and Placidus, Astroseek offers more flexibility.

Another disclaimer is that the higher up you go in the Divisional charts, the more important it is that your birth time is correct. If you are unsure about your birth time, you will have lots of rectifying to do (but also more tools to do the rectifying).

A final thing to contemplate is that Vedic astrology, just like India itself, is vast, and there are many different opinions on how to interpret the charts, planets, and vargas, One website will tell you that your bachelors degree is represented by your 5th house, and the next will tell you it’s represented by the 9th house. There are a lot of different flowers to pick in this garden, but you will want to hold these statements lightly until you’ve studied your charts, listened to and read reputable teachers, and figured out what is true for you. There is still a lot that I don’t know. Ernst Wilhelm and Ryan Kurczack are two western vedic astrologers who are interpreting Vedic astrology for a Western audience, and they do a great job. They are, however, both Enneagram type 5’s so just like the rest of us, they will have blind spots related to their type. As long as you don’t throw yourself at the feet of any one master. Respect your teachers and learn their methods, but also check in with your life to see how their teachings resonate with your experience. That’s how you’ll figure out what is true in this time of turbulence of east meeting west. This is especially true for women, who tend to fall into the ancient trap of projecting their authority onto male teachers, and we especially need to “remember ourselves”.

So here are the charts you should look at for your suitability at Jungian Analysis:

• Your birth chart
• Your D-9 (Navamsa) (adulthood)
• Your D-4 (how you make wealth)
• Your D-10 (Career)
• Your D-24 (Education/spiritual journey)
• Your D-60 (the chart for the end of your life)

That said, here are some good planetary indicators for Jungian Analysis:

• Jupiter is wisdom, philosophy, interest in other cultures, religion, broad-mindedness.
• Pluto rules the 8th house of the unconscious and depth psychology; that which is hidden under the surface. Well-aspected, he represents psychological transformation. He also rules the occult, so practices like tarot cards, astrology, etc.
• The Moon rules our emotions, our relationship to our mother (or our nurturing parent)
• Neptune rules dreams, losses, spirituality, addictions, mysticism, and our sense of one-ness with others and the cosmos. For better or worse, this is the loss of personal boundaries.
• Saturn represents our suffering, and what we repress or can’t access. He also represents our father, or our authoritarian parent.

Each planet represents quite a few archetypes, so you could go quite far down the rabbit hole of planetary attributions. For example, because Jupiter rules Sagittarius, Jupiter also rules horses and running. You may have an element of healing with horse therapy if your Jupiter is otherwise well-placed for depth psychology. Or as another example, because Saturn represents what we repress, it also represents our sexual kinks, and we may find that we can explore those themes through looking at what Saturn is aspecting (obviously in the right context, and with the appropriate professional boundaries.)

I also like to use Venus as Mars as the genders too. You may find that you connect more, or feel safer with Venus (women) or Mars (men), depending on your Ascendant lord’s relationship to either one.

Next there are the houses.

• Your ninth house represents your ability to attribute meaning to the world around you. To turn knowledge into wisdom in a healthy way.
• Your tenth house in your birth chart and D-9 relate to your career and your public reputation
• Your sixth house relates to your ability to solve problems. It will also relate to your ability to regulate your day-to-day operations as a self-employed therapist to handle your client schedule.
• Your seventh house relates to your relationship with the public, and in this context, your clients.
• Your fourth house is ruled by the Moon. This is your emotional life.
• Your 12th house is ruled by Neptune, and represents losses and spirituality.

Over the years I’ve studied my own varga charts, trying to make sense of them. Here are some things that stick out to me:

My birth chart has a big emphasis on the 8th and 9th houses, and honestly, their house rulers, Pluto and Jupiter respectively, are my favorite planets. My third lord is consistently, in almost every varga, in the 12th house, which says that my practical skills (and my speech, my colleagues) need to be related to the spiritual realm.

My D-4 chart has its most well-aspected planets, Pluto (transformation) and Venus, in the 12th house of spirituality.

My D-9 chart has the lord of the 8th house (the moon [emotions]) in its own house. My ascendant is in sagittarius, and my Ascendant lord, Jupiter, is in the 9th house.

My D-10 has Jupiter in the 12th house of spirituality. My tenth house is ruled by Pluto, which is in the 2nd house of value and worth.

My D-24 has Jupiter (higher education) in the 12th house, which means that either my higher education won’t help me with my career, or I must study spirituality in a 9th house institution to make it useful.

My D-60 (which is probably your third most important varga in life because it shows the end of your life, but also the ceiling of your accomplishments, ie your potential) has my Jupiter exalted in the 6th house of obstacles, and my 9th house lord (Mercury), exalted in the 12th house.

So I think this is a years’ long process. As you bounce back and forth between your varga planetary placements and figure out how they relate to the different areas of life, a portrait will emerge of your calling and life purpose, and how to make the most of your planets with a career. The more studying and the more contemplation, the richer your insights will be. A good place to get started if you want to understand the varga charts better is with the two astrologers I mentioned at the beginning of this article- Ernst Wilhelm and Ryan Kurczak have a wealth of videos on youtube. I have also had a reading by Laura Barat, and I found her pretty uplifting and knowledgeable.

If you have used your varga charts to make important life decisions, please post your story in the comments, I’d love to hear them.