Astrology and the Age of Extinction: Reading the Sky in a Changing World
It is the defining crisis of our time. We call it the Anthropocene, the Climate Emergency, or the Sixth Mass Extinction. Science measures it in parts per million of carbon dioxide, but at the Wilfred Hazelwood Clinic, we ask a different question: What does it mean psychologically and astrologically? Why is the Earth rebelling now?
Our lead therapist, Martyn J. Shrewsbury, combines his training in Social Anthropology and Jungian Studies to explore the cosmic archetypes behind the headlines. When we look at the sky, we see that the environmental crisis is not just a failure of policy; it is a synchronistic alignment of planetary forces demanding a fundamental shift in human consciousness.
The Return of Sedna: The Angry Sea Goddess
In 2003, astronomers discovered a distant planetoid in the far reaches of our solar system. They named it Sedna, after the Inuit goddess of the sea. In Inuit mythology, Sedna was a mortal woman betrayed by her father and cast into the ocean. When she tried to cling to the boat, her fingers were chopped off, transforming into the whales, seals, and walruses. She became the ruler of the deep, a vengeful deity who withholds food when humanity violates the taboos of the land.
Astrologically, the discovery of a planet is never a coincidence; it marks the entry of a new archetype into the collective consciousness. Sedna has an 11,400-year orbit, a cycle that dates back to the end of the last Ice Age. Her return coincides precisely with the melting of the polar caps and the rising of the oceans.
Martyn interprets this as a psychological reckoning: "Sedna represents the return of the repressed feminine, the deep, cold fury of nature that has been exploited and betrayed. She is not a gentle Mother Earth; she is the ocean that swallows cities. Her discovery is a cosmic warning: the pact between humanity and nature is broken, and the debt is due."
Uranus in Taurus: The Earth Shakes
Closer to home, the planet Uranus (radical change, disruption, technology) entered the sign of Taurus in 2018 and will remain there until 2026. Taurus is the sign of the Earth, agriculture, stability, and nature. Uranus is the lightning bolt that strikes the tower.
When the planet of disruption enters the sign of stability, the result is literal and metaphorical earthquakes. We are seeing the disruption of food supply chains (Taurus), the collapse of traditional banking and currency (also ruled by Taurus), and the undeniable volatility of the climate itself. Uranus demands innovation, but it destroys stagnation. It is forcing us to reinvent how we eat, how we farm, and what we value. The "status quo" of exploiting the Earth is no longer an option under this transit.
Pluto in Aquarius: The Tech Solution or the Tech Nightmare?
As of 2023/2024, Pluto has moved into Aquarius, where it will stay for twenty years. Aquarius rules technology, the future, and the collective. On one hand, this transit promises incredible breakthroughs in green energy, carbon capture, and fusion power. It suggests that humanity’s salvation may come through a radical technological leap.
However, Pluto is also the shadow. In Aquarius, the danger is dissociation, the belief that we can upload our minds to the cloud and leave the dying planet behind (a classic "Puer Aeternus" fantasy common in Silicon Valley). Martyn warns against this detachment: "We cannot solve the crisis of the Earth by leaving it. Pluto in Aquarius asks us to use our collective genius to heal the planet, not to escape it."
The Jungian Perspective: The Loss of the Anima Mundi
Ultimately, the climate crisis is a crisis of soul. Jung believed in the Anima Mundi, the Soul of the World, the idea that the world is not dead matter, but a living, ensouled being. The scientific materialism of the last few centuries has "de-souled" the world, turning nature into a resource to be extracted.
From a psychological perspective, what we repress eventually returns as fate. We have repressed our connection to the wild, to the instinctual, and to the feminine. Now, that repressed energy is returning as "fate" in the form of uncontrollable wildfires, floods, and storms. We are projecting our own inner chaos onto the weather.
Stewardship over Dominion
Astrology does not predict the end of the world, but it does predict the end of an era. The transition from the Earth-heavy focus of the last two centuries to the Air-focused era of Aquarius suggests a lighter, more conscious footprint.
At the Wilfred Hazelwood Clinic, we believe that healing the planet begins with healing the psyche. By reintegrating the Sedna archetype, respecting the deep, dark waters of the unconscious, and embracing the Uranian call for radical change, we can move from a psychology of dominion (conquering nature) to a psychology of stewardship (co-existing with nature). The stars are not falling; they are guiding us, if only we are brave enough to read them.
