Mirrors of the Past: Time and Historical Consciousness in Contemporary Western Astrology
Comparative Studies in Society and History October 17, 2024 Omri Elisha
Invocations of history in Western astrology form an 'astrological historicity'—a temporal orientation guided by archetypal principles from New Age metaphysics and psychodynamic self-theories. While this reinforces therapeutic spirituality, it also enables social and political awareness, including critical recognition of racial and social injustice linking past, present, and future. Astrological historicity emulates modern historicism with linear temporality and developmental themes yet relies on nonlinear frameworks of recurring cycles, correspondences, and synchronicities, creating a complex heterotemporality for world-historical circumstances. This occult knowledge production reveals astrology's cultural appeal as an intellectual resource for expressing frustration with reigning political-economic systems.