Table Of ContentTh e Cosmic Egg Timer
Introducing Astrological Psychology
by
Joyce Hopewell
and
Richard Llewellyn
HopeWell
Knutsford, England
First published in the U.K. in 2004 by HopeWell.
Second revised 2011 edition was reworked and improved
and did not include the cartoons from the original.
This third edition further revised 2018, with illustrations newly in colour.
HopeWell
130 Grove Park, Knutsford
Cheshire WA16 8QD, U.K.
Copyright © Joyce Hopewell & Richard Llewellyn 2018.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, sorted in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
Edited by Barry Hopewell.
Cover image courtesy of agsandrew and Shutterstock.
ISBN 978-0-9956736-2-5
Dedicated to
Bruno and Louise Huber, pioneers of this wonderful new
synthesis of astrology and modern growth psychology.
About the Authors
Richard Llewellyn began studying astrology with the Mayo
School, gaining their Diploma in 1981. On discovering
the work of Bruno and Louise Huber at their Astrological
Psychology Institute (API) in Zurich, he became inspired by
their psychological approach to astrology, soon gaining the
API Diploma. Supported by the Hubers Richard co-founded
the UK-based correspondence school API(UK) in 1983,
served as principal and then principal emeritus for many years.
He also completed a three year professional training with the
Psychosynthesis & Education Trust.
Joyce Hopewell’s early career was as a teacher and social worker.
After being awarded her API Diploma in 1987 she took over as
principal of API(UK) in 1991, and has been principal emeritus
of the newly formed Astrological Psychology Association
since 2006. Joyce has a Diploma in Personal Psychosynthesis,
has featured in a popular monthly astrological psychology
programme on local radio, and produced a regular blog on
astrological psychology.
Both Richard and Joyce have extensive experience of astrological
counselling, course tutoring and facilitation of experiential
workshops in astrological psychology and psychosynthesis.
Each has spoken at international astrology conferences.
Contents
1. Introduction 1
3. The Five Levels of Human Existence 12
4. Looking at the Whole Chart 19
5. Aspect Patterns 28
6. The Planets and Psychological Drives 45
7. The Signs 61
8. The Houses and the Environment 80
9. Nature versus Nurture 97
10. Life Clock 110
11. Psychological and Spiritual Growth 122
12. Bringing It All Together 132
Bibliography 154
vi
1
1. Introduction
“The basic concept of astrological psychology is based on the understanding of
man as a whole; he has a psyche which is linked with the environment, but
he is also a spiritual entity who can be responsible for itself.”
Bruno and Louise Huber, API code of ethics
There is today an increasing desire of people to understand and develop
themselves, and find their own true role in assisting humankind to
find a just and sustainable way of living on the Earth. There are many
paths towards this goal, including various religions, philosophies and
psychologies. This book focuses on one of these – astrological psychology.
Since ancient times astrology has helped people to understand
themselves and their place in the universe. The twentieth century saw the
development of the modern science of psychology. As this unfoldment
proceeded, there came an increasing awareness that astrology and
psychology can offer complementary insights into the development of
the human being.
Pioneers in investigating this convergence were the Swiss astrologers
and psychologists Bruno and Louise Huber, who developed their own
simplified psychological approach to astrology after years of research in
collaboration with Roberto Assagioli, founder of the growth psychology
known as psychosynthesis.
The method developed by the Hubers both cut down and extended
traditional approaches to astrology. The most important and best
correlated features of astrology were included, and less important features
omitted. Radical new approaches were incorporated – notably the use
of colour and intuitive images in the birth chart, the psychological
meaning of patterns of aspects, recognition of cycles of energy in the
astrological houses, the Family Model which enables understanding of
key childhood influences, and the Life Clock which highlights influences
at work at different times of life.
The result is a powerful tool, both for self-understanding and for
helping others in their own lives. Detailed exploration of the Huber
approach invariably changes the lives of those so engaged, and enables
them to touch the lives of others.
2 The Cosmic Egg Timer
The Hubers’ teachings were initially presented in the German
language. They founded the Astrological Psychology Institute (API)
at Zurich in 1968, offering courses leading to a professional Diploma
qualification.
After studying extensively with the Hubers, Richard Llewellyn and
Pam Tyler founded an English-language correspondence school of
astrological counselling in 1983. Since then over a thousand students
from across the world have passed through this school, originally
API(UK) and then the Astrological Psychology Association. Joyce
Hopewell was for many years its Principal and is now Principal Emeritus.
As well as being prime source material for those learning astrological
psychology, we hope that this work will be of interest to the general reader
seeking more insight into themselves and their own growth process.
It should be of particular interest to astrologers and psychologists/
counsellors who are not familiar with the Huber approach, but wish to
gain an insight into it.
Making effective use of this book
You are likely to gain much more from this book if you read it in
conjunction with looking at your own birth chart, drawn in the Huber
style. If you do this, you will not only better understand the material
presented, but also find out more about your own inner self – who you
are, where you have come from, where you are going and what might be
the blockages to your own growth.
You could also look at the charts of one or two family or friends,
perhaps gaining some insight into what makes them tick. But beware
that the chart does not dictate what you are; it shows potential that may
or may not be realised in any particular human being.
We hope that this taste of what can be unveiled and achieved will
whet your appetite to further your study and practice of this exciting
approach to astrological psychology. Be aware that you will need to
study the subject in greater depth before you can consider using this
approach in a practical counselling situation. For resources to help your
further study, see the website www.astrologicalpsychology.org.
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2. Astrological Psychology in Context
“Astrology must be reborn and must perform again for our modern world,
made chaotic by an unbridled and false individualism and by the sudden
opening of psychological dams, the task of practical integration that has
always been its own.”
Dane Rudhyar, The Astrology of the Personality 1936
Historical Context
Occasionally on a clear night, even in the modern world, you might
happen on a dark place, miles from any bright lights. Standing there,
are you not awe-struck by the wonder of the heavens? Surely there is
meaning, as well as beauty, here.
In these days of electric lighting it is easy to forget just how important
the stars and planets were for our ancestors. The heavens were naturally
the subject of observation and speculation, and correlations were often
noticed between events on earth and configurations of the heavens.
It seems likely that the Sumerians established the basis of modern
astrology around 6000BC. Since then astrological ideas have gone
through periods of popularity, and through periods of neglect and
denial.
A notable flowering came in the ancient Greek era; in 560 BC
Asklepius established at Kos the first of many temples based on three
prime disciplines – astrology, mythology and interpretation of dreams.
Astrology was then a prime tool for understanding the human psyche.
In the second century AD Ptolemy established a synthesis of
Hellenistic astrology/ astronomy that has been influential to this day.
After the so-called Dark Ages, the 15th century European
Renaissance was fired by the rediscovery of Greek ideas, leading to
the religious Reformation and the rise of modern science. Astrologers
such as Johannes Kepler and Marcilio Ficino were prime movers in this
process, as was the alchemist Isaac Newton.
This rise of science has led to the technological wonders of the modern
world. However, with the coming of the so-called Enlightenment, the
new scientific emphasis on objectivity, reductionism and materialism
soon began to dominate public discourse in the West, generally
disparaging astrology and even spirituality.
4 The Cosmic Egg Timer
The last century has seen the culmination of a number of trends
which apparently threaten the future of humanity itself – massively
rising world population, an aggressive capitalism founded on the oil-
based economy, leading to environmental degradation and massive
species loss, destruction of indigenous communities and their way of
life, not to mention ever-more-destructive and inhumane methods of
warfare.
Humanity is in crisis. Our civilisation, as many in history, is
threatened with various disasters largely of its own making. What
can be done to address such a crisis, and how can astrology, often
denigrated through the ages by both religion and science, help?
Psychology and Spirituality
Just as the 20th century began to see the worst fruits of materialism,
it also saw the green shoots of a new and sustainable way of looking
at things. With the creation of the science of psychology in the early
1900s, notably through the work of Sigmund Freud, we began to
understand what makes human beings tick.
Carl Jung’s psychology moved on and embraced symbolism
and dreams, adding the concept of synchronicity – meaningful
coincidence. The psychological knowledge of the Greeks was being
reclaimed and carried forward.
Increased exposure to Eastern religions was also leading to new
ideas of spirituality gaining ground in the West, driven by major
figures such as H. P. Blavatsky and
Alice Bailey.
Roberto Assagioli began to bring
these threads together by establishing
the psychology of psychosynthesis,
which takes into account the
transpersonal or spiritual dimensions
of experience. Assagioli developed a
model of the personality – the Egg –
that encapsulates its conscious and
unconscious aspects and its link with
the divine.
In the middle of the Egg is the
conscious personal self, surrounded by
its field of conscious self awareness (the Assagioli’s Egg
