Joseph Campbell: Power of Myth
Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) was an American professor of literature and comparative mythology. He wrote several popular books and appeared on television.
Campbell had a different take on the question of God. He skirted around the question, but in 1987 he replied: "I don't think you can call a person an atheist who believes in as many gods as I do." I am sure that many atheists would find this answer quite perplexing. That truth can't be boiled down to a simple "yes" or "no" answer speaks to a different approach. Can Astrology shed some light on Campbell's attitude? The natal chart for Joseph Campbell is shown below.
While Campbell is very decidedly Aries, with his Sun, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter being in Aries, he is different from the four Aries atheists I described in the Four Horsemen blog. Campbell's most influential planets are his Aries planets which form a T-square with Neptune and Uranus. Neptune's energy of the transcendent and Uranus' energy of the unconventional are channeled to the expressive planets in Aries. The Neptune energy is not under attack by Mars, as I described in the Four Horsemen blog, but is in a harmonious quintile. Neptune is also somewhat disciplined by the sesquiquadrate to Saturn.
The British astrologer Roger Elliot describes the combined energies of Mercury, Uranus and Neptune in individuals as being "deliberately attracted to weird ideas for their own sake". Maybe it is true in a sense, since Campbell explored myths of many different cultures. But, it was not just sheer madness. Campbell's Uranus was also contacted by Saturn, and his known Ascendant was in Libra, which is known for a balanced approach. Campbell was seeking patterns and order in these varied stories and myths. To him they said something general about the human psyche.
In "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" Campbell wrote: "Heaven, hell, the mythological age, Olympus and all the habitations of the gods are interpreted by psychoanalysis as symbols of the unconscious. The key to the modern systems of psychological interpretation therefore is this: the metaphysical realm = the unconscious. Correspondingly, the key to open the door the other way is the same equation in reverse: the unconscious = the metaphysical realm." I think, this is difficult for the atheists to comprehend because they operate on the assumption that the human psyche can and must be made totally conscious and rational.
Campbell had a different take on the question of God. He skirted around the question, but in 1987 he replied: "I don't think you can call a person an atheist who believes in as many gods as I do." I am sure that many atheists would find this answer quite perplexing. That truth can't be boiled down to a simple "yes" or "no" answer speaks to a different approach. Can Astrology shed some light on Campbell's attitude? The natal chart for Joseph Campbell is shown below.
While Campbell is very decidedly Aries, with his Sun, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter being in Aries, he is different from the four Aries atheists I described in the Four Horsemen blog. Campbell's most influential planets are his Aries planets which form a T-square with Neptune and Uranus. Neptune's energy of the transcendent and Uranus' energy of the unconventional are channeled to the expressive planets in Aries. The Neptune energy is not under attack by Mars, as I described in the Four Horsemen blog, but is in a harmonious quintile. Neptune is also somewhat disciplined by the sesquiquadrate to Saturn.
The British astrologer Roger Elliot describes the combined energies of Mercury, Uranus and Neptune in individuals as being "deliberately attracted to weird ideas for their own sake". Maybe it is true in a sense, since Campbell explored myths of many different cultures. But, it was not just sheer madness. Campbell's Uranus was also contacted by Saturn, and his known Ascendant was in Libra, which is known for a balanced approach. Campbell was seeking patterns and order in these varied stories and myths. To him they said something general about the human psyche.
In "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" Campbell wrote: "Heaven, hell, the mythological age, Olympus and all the habitations of the gods are interpreted by psychoanalysis as symbols of the unconscious. The key to the modern systems of psychological interpretation therefore is this: the metaphysical realm = the unconscious. Correspondingly, the key to open the door the other way is the same equation in reverse: the unconscious = the metaphysical realm." I think, this is difficult for the atheists to comprehend because they operate on the assumption that the human psyche can and must be made totally conscious and rational.
