Synchronicity

Definition

Synchronicity is Carl Gustav Jung's idea of an acausal connecting principle — a way that events can be linked by meaning rather than by physical cause. Modern astrology uses it to explain how the planetary positions at a given moment can describe the character of that moment, including the moment a horary question is asked or a chart is cast, without anyone claiming the planets reach down and influence affairs on Earth.

In Tradition

In Western Modern psychological and depth-astrology schools — Liz Greene, Howard Sasportas, Clare Martin, Richard Idemon — synchronicity is the most cited modern justification for astrological practice. Clare Martin frames it as Jung's evidence that the psyche is not only subjective but objective — out there in the world as well — and that is the bridge between Jungian depth psychology and astrology as a discipline for discerning meaning.

In Practice

Astrologers use synchronicity to say why a chart cast for a particular moment can carry information without the planets exerting any physical force. In horary work it supports the discipline of waiting until a sincere question has fully crystallised before casting the chart, since the asking-moment itself is treated as significant. In psychological and counseling work it grounds the view that life-events and chart-symbolism take part in the same patterning — which is why dreams, omens, and meaningful coincidences are read alongside the chart as parts of one shared field of meaning.

Historical Origin

Jung introduced the term in *Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle* (1952), drawing on his collaboration with the physicist Wolfgang Pauli. It enters modern astrological literature through the depth-psychological school descending from Jung — taken up by Liz Greene and Howard Sasportas in the Centre for Psychological Astrology lineage and continued by Clare Martin. The framing connects to ancient cosmic-sympathy doctrine, but its modern astrological use is post-1950s.

Etymology

Origin: Greek. Meaning: From syn (together) + chronos (time) — "happening at the same time with meaningful connection".

Further Reading

• Clare Martin, Mapping the Psyche, Volume 2
• Liz Greene, The Astrology of Fate