Your Hidden Face: Projection in the Horoscope

Swiss psychologist Carl G. Jung referred to projection as "an unconscious, that is, unperceived and unintentional, transfer of subjective psychic elements onto an outer object." If a person projects such "subjective psychic elements" onto an outer object, he will not see that outer object accurately. Rather, he will see some mixture of the outer object with the "subjective psychic elements" and thus not see the object objectively. In looking at the world and relating to it, a person will see, not the world "as it really is," but as a mixture of his own (generally unconscious) psychic contents with external elements. . . . from Chapter One By studying horoscopes with Jung's words in mind, and aided by the observations of quantum physicists, Middle Way Buddhists, and general semanticists, we can develop clarity and insight about our own projections and those of others-and about the projections that wreak such havoc in national and international affairs. In the end, we can begin to understand something about the ongoing connection between mind and world, between what we reject from ourselves and what we encounter in experience, between self-conception and self-acceptance. We may even get a glimpse of something akin to "truth." After introducing the basic idea of projection from a Jungian point of view, Tim Lyons takes the reader on a journey through various types of projection indicated by specific horoscope factors: gender-based projections; projections indicated by aspect, house, and sign; projections related to Saturn and the Moon; collective projections and the outer planets; projections in international affairs. He also investigates the relationship between projection and perception. By referring to numerous horoscopes of well-known people, he illustrates how the relevant principles manifest in people's lives.