the-astrology-book

Synodic Period
SYNCHRONICITY
Synchronicity (from the Greek syn, meaning “together,” plus chronos, meaning
“time”) is a term popularized by the great Swiss psychologist Carl Jung to explain what
might be called “meaningful” coincidences. He defined synchronicity as an “acausal
(i.e., noncausal) connecting principle.” Jung used synchronicity to refer to connections
between events that had no discernible connection. Under normal circumstances,
a correlation between two events often indicates that some sort of causal link
exists between them. For example, at the time of the first cold snap every year certain
birds migrate south. If the same pattern recurs year after year, it can be concluded that
event A (cold snap) causes event B (bird migration).
There are correlations, however, with no obvious “causes,” which are normally
referred to as coincidences. For example, a person is humming a particular song that
suddenly begins to play on the radio.
Where Jung departed most radically from mainstream psychology was to assert
that quite often these coincidences are not coincidences; rather, the universe is structured
so that such correlations occur all the time, and, further, that while there is no
causal connection, these correlations are meaningful. A useful example for understanding
“noncausal connections” is the correlation between the time on two clocks: just
because they both show the same time, should it be concluded that one exerts some
kind of force on the other, causing it to read the same Obviously not. Similarly, Jung
postulated that the universe, for reasons and by processes not yet understood, is set up
like clocks that have been set in motion so as to infinitely reflect the same “time.”
Although not always explicitly stated, synchronicity is assumed in certain forms
of astrological research. For example, an accepted astrological practice is to assign
newly discovered celestial bodies a tentative meaning that can be derived from associations
with their name. This initial step is based on the well-established observation
that the designations astronomers assign to newly discovered celestial bodies are not
coincidental—that by virtue of some sort of non-apparent, synchronistic process, nonastrologically
inclined astronomers give astrologically significant names to things.
Some astrologers also adopt synchronicity to explain astrological influence
more generally. Rather than limit the scope of synchronicity to the exploration of the
meaning of new celestial bodies, they view the relationship between the stars and
human life as two clocks that read the same time. This contrasts with the view that
astrological influence is a “force” exerted by the planets and other celestial bodies that
is radiated to Earth like the forces of gravity or electromagnetism.
Sources:
Brau, Jean-Louis, Helen Weaver, and Allan Edmands. Larousse Encyclopedia of Astrology. New
York: New American Library, 1980.
SYNODIC PERIOD
A synodic period (from the Greek, meaning “to meet or travel together”) is the period
a heavenly body takes to move from one conjunction with the Sun to the next. A syn-
THE ASTROLOGY BOOK
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