Richard Tarnas FULL Interview

Charles McClelland and Kelly Lee Phipps interview Richard Tarnas at the Baltimore NCGR Conference in 2007. Richard authored Passion of the Western Mind and Cosmos & Psyche, both seminal works in the fields of Philosophy and Astrology. Clips of the full interview appear in Return of the Magi: A Documentary of Authentic Astrology.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Astrology
• Metaphysics
• Richard Tarnas
• Kelly Lee Phipps
• Horoscope
• Cosmos & Psyche

[KellyLeePhipps]

One of the chapters in Cosmos & Psyche covered the Uranus/Pluto conjunction which occurs in an alternating patter every 113/141 years due to Pluto's elongated orbit. The one that occurred in the 1800's brought us the Civil War, and then a cycle later we had the Civil Rights Movement of the Sixties, and then Jupiter aligned with Uranus and Pluto, and the Moon aligned with all three and a man landed on the Moon:

[KellyLeePhipps]

One Great Leap for Mankind. The Jupiter/Uranus 14 year cycle always heralds scientific breakthroughs, but Pluto intensified and empowered it, and it just so happened that the Moon was conjunct (aligned with) Jupiter, Pluto, and Uranus when the Apollo landing happened...amazing! And the book is full of research on events like this and their corresponding planetary alignments that symbolized them perfectly.

[rommelhower]

As a student of history, I find this man's agenda to be a downright lie... a colossal deception. To call this outlandish superstition a "science" of history is like calling demonologists who "studied" witches in the 17th century anthropologists. This man should not be given an opportunity to spread these lies. Listen to what he is saying... Planets govern the "organizational structures that affect our society"? This should be illegal.

[KellyLeePhipps]

Astrologers have been suppressed by the left-brain Western scientific and religious elite for 2000 years. Read his book, Cosmos & Psyche, and see the evidence speaks for itself. The cycles of the planets and their various archetypal motifs correspond precisely with events, people, and cultural phenomena that occurred. The truth hurts... What IS illegal in this free country is your attempt to silence him through your ignorance!

Watch and weep as astrology rises to prominence again!

[ThePastIsNothing]

Happy Jupiter Return, Richard !

[jannevellamo]

@rommelhower You're suggesting some kind of a witch hunt against astrologers. Exactly what good would that do? How many souls would be saved? After clapping them in irons, should we burn them as well? I say you may know your history, but you have learned nothing from it. The first lesson you should learn, is that any society willing to outlaw astrology, will also outlaw historians who refuse to rewrite history as that society wants it written, regardless of the facts. I'm no student anymore.

[amatorynumber]

How does this fit with the new theories of reality such as biocentrism, system's theory, the holographic universe theory, etc? We live in very ontologically and epistemologically confusing yet EXTREMETLY EXCITING times!!!!! I am happy to be here :-)

[amatorynumber]

I have read 'The passion of the Western Mind' recently and I was absolutely shocked by its brilliance (although the epilogue seemed somehow obscure to me) and I am now a bit shocked at discovering the intellectual evolution of this man. I have always believed that there was some truth in astrology although I thought the stars was just an ancient metaphore to explain observable human traits. I am very confused and very excited right now!

[vmcavin1]

@rommelhower I'm not exactly the biggest fan of astrology either, but I have come across Tarnas' Passion of the Western Mind, which proves that Tarnas is a rigorous scholar with a depth of historical understanding. Have you read it? Just curious. His book seems to have wide acceptance: it is used in many University classes across the country.

[guitaoist]

sorry? a harvard professor of history too broad?

[119musicalsouls]

Whatever the flaws may be I still think Tarnas has written two brilliant books (Passion of...and Cosmos and Psyche). Read them thoroughly before you judge.

[119musicalsouls]

Tarnus does see it as all of the things you described but he also sees the correlations because he has studied them for 30 years. Having been watching them critically for 40 years you cannot remain stubbornly blind forever. A good scientist is skeptical but not biased to the point of sleep. An open mind, intensive study and an ability to weed out the BS is necessary to find what is true or false. Useful depends upon the viewer.

[119musicalsouls]

You may be right. I think 20 degrees is wide but lets not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Tarnas has done some good work. I have been writing a more stringent history of cycles - I have been doing astrological calcs for 40 years since the age of 13 and have studied several systems. I think all of us have something to contribute to this study. Tarnas has acted as a translator so that scholars and ordinary people unfamiliar with astrology can get a glimpse regardless of the flaws.

[LedgerLines000]

however if you take the maximum windows for cycles in which he also includes squares, then you've got 20 on the axials and 15 on the quadratures... that does add up to 140 out of 360 or 38.9 %... and that is the absolute maximum... funny how you just throw out 45% arrogantly and then criticize tarnas for "adjusting the math" and lacking discipline when you havent taken the 5 seconds to just plug the numbers out and find out that its nowhere near 45%... have a nice day

[LedgerLines000]

20 degrees on either side of a conjunction and opposition adds up to 80 degrees out of a full 360. that's 22% buddy... not to mention that he much more strongly stresses the 15 degree window over the 20, which adds up to 60 out of a full 360, or 16.7%