Astrology claims that - as chemistry does for matter - the human being can be reduced to a certain amount of ‘basic units’. The classification is arbitrary, like any classification. But could there be practical evidence? I do believe there is claim for that.
Astrology teaches that there is harmony, analogy, sympathy and antipathy between the different zodiac signs as there is between the individuals being born under their ‘influence’. The horoscope is the geometrical projection of the celestial configuration at the birth for a specific date and a specific place. Every individual is represented therein through the polarity of the seven planets plus Sun and Moon, being interpreted as psychological factors.
The great astrological synthesis is like a mysterious keyboard with the help of which our ‘instinctive rhythms’ are able to discover a world of ‘analogies’. These analogies, taken from the most different realms of life, allow us, before any description of a type, to point out the resonances that a person might experience. Our endeavour is, with the help of a misunderstood language, to create clues and indications in the sensuous realm and thereby enrich our interpretation.
Conrad Moricand, foreword to ‘Mirror of Astrology’ by Max Jacob, 1949
The Swiss astrologer Conrad Moricand, 1887-1954, drawing by Amedeo Modigliani, 1916