Astrology, Psychology, and the Four Elements: An Energy Approach to Astrology and Its Use in the Counceling Arts

The book "Astrology, Psychology and the Four Elements" by Stephen Arroyo is an interesting viewpoint of astrology that emphasizes an individual's psychological make-up from an astrological perspective. Published in 1975, Mr. Arroyo divided the book into two parts. The first part he entitled "Astrology & Psychology", which contains eight chapters. The second part he entitled "The Four Elements: An Energy Approach to Interpreting Birth Charts", which also contains eight chapters (numbered from nine to sixteen). What differentiates this book from other typical astrology books is that it is not merely a look-up table for trying to interpret a person's birth chart. In the first part, Mr. Arroyo compares the works of various psychologists (such C. G. Jung, Sigmund Freud and O. Hobart Mowrer), physicians (such as Alexander Ruperti), philosophers (such as L. L. White, Hans Stossel, Irving F. Laucks and Pascal), biologists (such as Père Tielhard de Chardin) and writers (such as Goethe) with various astrologers (such as Dane Rudhyar, David Hamblin and Marc E. Jones), mythological experts (such as Joseph Campbell) and people claiming clairvoyant abilities (such as Edgar Cayce). From these (and many others whom I have not named), Mr. Arroyo creates a synthesis to describe a more humanistic and holistic approach to both psychology and astrology, and encourages psychological counselors interested in astrology to utilize tools from astrology to assist in understand their patients. He also lays the foundation for viewing the zodiacal signs with regard to the seasons of the year in which they fall with their corresponding psychological meanings. In the second part, Mr. Arroyo describes various astrological components, such as the signs of the zodiac (from a more elemental perspective), the planets (from an "energy regulator" perspective) and the houses. He emphasizes that a simple mechanistic approach of chart interpretation often falls short when the impact of the elements themselves are not fully taken into account, as well as not taking into account how particular individuals may make decisions that overcome what might otherwise may be misinterpreted as "difficult" aspects, when they might actually be good. His descriptions of the elements were well thought out, as were his discussions of elemental imbalances. In the final two chapters, he touches briefly on chart comparisons between people and the houses. Overall, I found "Astrology, Psychology and the Four Elements" to be a very interesting read. I rate the book with 5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning some basics about astrology.

Arroyo's book is excellent. It gives a wonderful introduction of the astrology-psychology relationship. His research is very well grounded and documented. His style is clear and "down-to-earth". This a book every humanistic and begginer astrologer should read in order to have an overview of the new astrology tendencies.Highly reccomended!

This is a very good book to start with, if you want to UNDERSTAND astrology deeply. The first part of the book might be irrelevant (this book is base on Arroyo's M.A seminar, and so the first part dedicated to academic-style justification of astrology as a respectable psychological tool) if you aren't interest into "proving" astrology. I do not want you to get the impression that this part is not good, I mention that fact as an advice that you can feel free to start with the second part.The second part deals thoroughly with the four elements, a knowledge that to my opinion, is a must to understand astrology and for developing a clear, systematic vision of more advance interpretation. It makes so different when one's interpretations are based upon the elements, as the signs and the planetary aspects become more understandable and less consider as "doctrine" knowledge. A must to begin with!

In this book, Arroyo takes all the complexities of modern astrological symbolism and boils them down to basics. His writing style is clear and uncluttered with jargon. This is not a "cookbook" to be referred to again and again for the author's interpretation. This book teaches the fundamental priciples of signs, planets, houses, and aspects from which the student can proceed to make her own interpretations. A real gem.