“The same Necessity governs the soul’s movements as well as the motions of the stars. As souls pass beneath her seat, so on her lap turns the spindle ruling the planetary motions. What happens to soul and to Stars is on the same web. So one tries to puzzle out the compelling necessities of the soul by consulting the motions of the planets. As Paracelsus explained, a physician of pathologies cannot consider himself as such unless he has knowledge of the other half of the soul in the planetary bodies. But astrologers have taken this correspondence literally, rather than imaginally. For it is neither the actual stars nor the astrological planets that are the rulers of personality. Astrology is a metaphorical way of recognizing that the rulers of personality are archetypal powers who are beyond our personal reach and yet are involved necessarily in all our vicissitudes. These powers are mythical persons, gods, and their motions are not described in mathematics but in myths.”
Hillman, James. Mythic Figures
