Jung's Personality Types & Astrology

By Donna Lee


Throughout recorded history (and probably before!) humans have created typologies. Astrology is one among the many. Some of the other typologies include: bodily types, such as endomorph, ectomorph, and mesomorph, as well as bodily "humors," such as sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, and melancholy, used in ancient medicine, as well as phrenology (typing according to the shape and distinguishing marks of the head), and the perhaps more familiar palmistry. Here, I'd like to look at more recent typological developments—namely, the psychological type theory of Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), the eminent Swiss psychiatrist, through the lens of astrology.

Jung was a contemporary of Sigmund Freud, but he broke with Freud and expanded upon and deepened Freud's original findings. Jung developed a different school of psychology, which he called analytical psychology, because he felt that he could use parts from all schools of psychology, as well as innovate his own theories. He, like Freud, with his theory about the Oedipal Complex, used many themes from ancient sources, like various mythologies (especially ancient Greek). Jung also used astrology in his practice. He stated that whenever he had difficulty determining a patient's psychological type, he would have a horoscope cast for the individual.

Unfortunately, the various types tend to clash with each other because their characteristic responses to life experiences are so different. We see this also when people with one element or sign predominating (say, fire) try to relate to others with conflicting signs or elements predominating (in this case, water and/or earth). If one comes to understand the differences between one's type and other types, as with any understanding one gains, one may gain more patience and tolerance for those of differing types; hence, the study of astrology.

As do some astrologers, Jung believed that this typology is inborn and does not drastically change over one's lifetime, regardless of one's surroundings. In other words, some of us naturally respond to our environment in one way as opposed to another right from the beginning of our lives as infants. Understanding, then, seems to be the best remedy.

Jung's typology has six different parts with eight different possible combinations. The six parts are introversion vs. extroversion, intuition vs. sensation, and thinking vs. feeling. The eight different possible combinations come from a joining together, as it were, of one of each of the three pairs of opposites to form a typical response to the world. Introversion and extroversion determine whether one's energies tend to flow back into one's self or out into the world, respectively. As Jung himself stated, "a certain completeness is attained by [the remaining] four. Sensation establishes what is actually given, thinking enables us to recognize its meaning, feeling tells us its value, and finally intuition points to the possibilities of whence and whither that lie within the immediate facts."1

To explain further, Jung differentiated between sensation, intuition, and feeling, which all might be lumped together in some people's thoughts as "feeling," although of what he meant by thinking, everyone would probably have a clearer idea. For, we may say that we are "feeling" someone touch our skin, or that we have a "feeling" that such and such a stock price might rise, or that we are "feeling" touched by the wonderful present our daughter bought us, all expressing different states of consciousness—as Jung named them: sensation, intuition, and feeling, respectively.

Finally, Jung stated that sensation and intuition are irrational functions because they merely give us information, but do not help us make judgments about it, while feeling and thinking are rational functions because they help us make judgments; in the case of feeling, value judgments, and in the case of thinking, logical judgments.

Because the psyche is an energy system with a balance between the opposites of the conscious ego and unconscious contents (as is astrology, and as all other systems based on energy are considered to be in dynamic equilibrium with energy always moving back and forth between opposites), when one function predominates, its opposite is always unconscious and unknown, except when it breaks through to consciousness in some unforeseen, uncontrolled way, because it is less developed and less supple. This makes the subordinate function much more difficult for us to use in the service of our conscious wishes and desires. In this area, we tend to be much more dependent upon others to satisfy the needs that it relates to and to project upon others our own weaknesses without realizing that what we believe we are seeing in others is really a part of unrealized, unclaimed (unclaimable, we may believe!), despised parts of ourselves.

Introversion is characterized by someone who tends to value what happens inside himself/herself much more than what happens in his/her outer environment. These people have fertile imaginations and are not easily swayed by popular notions or fads. In astrological parlance, these people would have many or all of their natal planets located below the horizon (Ascendant/Descendant axis). Extroversion is just the opposite and is characterized by those with many or all of the planets above the horizon.

When thrown into collective situations, like parties or public occasions, the introverts (those with most of their planets below the horizon) tend to feel uncomfortable and may be awkward in relating to the others present. They may make terrible social gaffes, which will normally cause them to turn inward toward their stronger function and become wallflowers or otherwise aloof. The people around them may see them as unapproachable and shy.

The extroverts (those with many or all of their planets above the horizon), on the other hand, may feel awkward if they have to spend much time alone or need to make decisions based on their own interpretations of situations rather than using the conventional wisdom of the social set they find themselves in. What's good enough for others in their social milieu is usually good enough for these natives.

Those with many planets in fire signs (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) would tend to be intuitive types. They are the inspired, idealistic ones who tend to be the trailblazers and to see how things could or should be rather than how they are. They are mostly uncomfortable having to conform to the status quo and would rather try to change it to better suit their ideals. They also are extravagant with money and may feel unfairly restricted if they have to live within a tight budget.

Those with many planets in earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) would tend to be sensation types. These people tend to have the best grasp of things as they are and to be most matter-of-fact about what they find around them. These people tend to be slow and deliberate and do not like change or things that may be unfamiliar to them. They tend to trust and depend on the tried-and-true. They will usually be uncomfortable if they are forced by circumstances to do new and different things. When this happens, they may stubbornly resist change and make the inevitable that much more difficult for themselves.

Those with many planets in air signs (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) tend to be thinking types. They give an aura of being highly intellectual and logical even if they tend to be uneducated in the classical sense. They tend to think before they act and to act based on logical rather than emotional considerations. Others may find them aloof and even cold. They are usually not comfortable with the intensity of their own or others' emotions and tend to drown in the same when they have to relate on an emotional rather than a purely logical level.

Those with many planets in water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) would tend to be feeling types. They are very sensitive to emotional currents and are also probably most prone to make value judgments of all kinds. They are not comfortable relying on their intellectual capabilities and may think of themselves as intellectually inferior. They may very much admire great intellectual ability and/or wisdom in others, which is merely their own unconscious thinking function projected onto others.

Finally, intuition tends to be most compatible with thinking (as fire signs tend to be most compatible with air signs), and sensation tends to be most compatible with feeling (as earth signs tend to be most compatible with water signs). However, these do not always match up so tidily in life. There are many with an admixture of earth and air, etc., and there are those with sensation and thinking, etc., mixed. The only remedy in both cases is to come to know oneself as well as possible through a combination of psychological and astrological study and by using one's already well-developed strengths in the service of trying to better develop one's weak spots!

1. Jung, C. G. Modern Man in Search of a Soul. New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1933, page 93.



This article originally appeared in Dell Horoscope, The World's Leading Horoscope Magazine.



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