The Astrological Keys to the Faust Myth: Part 1

To find out if we have a Faust myth in our natal chart, we must ask ourselves three questions. The author uses Jacques Berthon's reading grid in his analyses.

The first question would be: is the Sun dominant, or is there a Sun-Pluto red aspect? The dominant Sun would correspond to a conjunction to the Ascendant, a conjunction to the ruler of the Ascendant or a Sun-Pluto red aspect.

The second question would be whether Pluto is dominant or in red aspect or conjunction with the ruler of the ascendant, so it would be enough to have a dominant Sun and a dominant Pluto to have a Faustian myth.

The third question would be whether there is a mercurial frame.

If we answer yes to all three questions, then we have a Faustian myth in our chart.

The author tells us that in an astrological chart there can be small or large Faust myths. It's all about the gradient and we're never in the all or nothing, so the big Faust myth is a dominant Pluto, a dominant Sun or a red aspect beetwen the Sun-Pluto in a mercurial frame.

There are three ways of working the Faust myth into a theme: either you look for an Orpheus myth that complements the Faust myth, and then the emergence from the shadow of Faust will be an art. That is to say, it is through an artistic work that we can get out of the confinement, the shadow and the fear of our own metamorphosis or, the desire to control in order not to enter into a process of metamorphosis.

The second way out will be a strong Uranus in our chart (Prometheus), representing a number of people born with a Pluto-Uranus conjunction in Virgo from the mid-60s onwards. When this conjunction is part of a Faustian myth, there is automatically Uranus (Prometheus) next to it, which allows for an opening through the creativity of ideas. It is the ability to give strength and power to our inventions, to give them depth and density, Faust-Prometheus. A great example is Wagner, who was a true Faustian, but with Uranus conjoined to the Black Moon in Scorpio. It was therefore through innovation and constant invention that he managed to avoid suicide and to emerge from the shadow of the Faust myth.

What is suicidal temptation?

It is 'simply' the fact of being associated, identified with the shadow, and therefore having the impression that there is no other way out. When the author talks about the shadow, he is referring to anxiety, depression, the feeling of being in the dark night of consciousness, of not knowing where one is going or what one is doing, etc. Moreover, one of the pathologies of the Faust myth is blindness, the loss of light. Aurobindo, who had a myth of Orpheus and a myth of Faust, decided at the age of 54 to lock himself in his room and meditate for 24 years. This is very interesting in relation to the myth of Faust and the 24 years of service of Mefistófeles before Lúcifer took his soul. In any case, during Aurobindo's 24 years of meditation, he also lost his sight in the last 18 years of his life. At the same time he did this Faustian work of redemption, i.e. the descent of the supra-mind into the cell consciousness. All this to say that if we approach Faust only on the psychological level, it will necessarily be difficult, because it is about guilt, fear, failure complex, lack of relationships with others, psychological confinement, etc.

However, this descent into the underworld within us has two great qualities that allow us to discover our inner wealth: "Pluto represents the rich", the gifts that we possess deep within ourselves like no other. The second step is to express these gifts and see that, thanks to Orpheus and Prometheus, we have two openings through art and/or invention. The third way is intrinsic to the myth, with the elements that the author gives in his description of the myth, i.e. marriage, the light version of guilt, which means that through guilt we cut off something in order to return to our Sun.

For those who have a Faustian myth in their chart, the author suggests looking at where the Sun is and developing activities around the meaning of the Sun house and the mode of the Sun sign in order to get out of the Plutonian/Faustian confinement. It is therefore not a question of developing mercury, thought, as these become confining, justifying or self-justifying or critical systems, but of returning to the simplicity of the Sun, returning to the Self.

As a psychic index, Faust has no parental images and in particular has no paternal images and has an exclusive love for the mother.

Faust can be placed in the sign of Scorpio.

However, not all Scorpios necessarily have a Faust myth and not all Faustians necessarily have a Sun in Scorpio. This is a symbolic grid in relation to the Zodiac and not a grid to know if we have a Faust myth. It is also a reading that allows us to understand the myth better.

The sign opposite the Scorpion

The general principle is to look at the sign opposite to the one that represents the myth, the Scorpio being the sign of the myth, and on the opposite side, that is 180* from the Scorpio, we will find the Sign of the Taurus will be the sign that allows us to avoid falling into the traps of myth. This is how life invites us to work in order not to be crushed by the mythological story. The Taurus is a kind of protection in the myth of Faust.

Signs in quincunx with Scorpio, a 150* from Aries and Gemini

These signs will be the qualities of energy that we need to integrate, to improve, that will be therapeutic. If we develop them, they will allow us to get out of suffering.

Signs in trine to Scorpio at 120* Cancer and Pisces

They will be the way in which we manage to expand the qualities that the myth puts at our disposal, allowing us to get out of the limitations of the shadow side of the myth.

Signs in square to Scorpio, at 90* Taurus and Leo

These are the breaks in patterns, the breaks in patterns that we must make in order to get out of confinement, so these are the two great crises, of action and of consciousness. In other words, the two great transformations that we must go through.

Signs in sextile to Scorpio, 60* Virgo and Capricorn

These are the tools and aids that the myth proposes us to fulfil our destiny.

Signs adjacent to Scorpio, Libra and Sagittarius

The next sign will be the one towards which life asks us to go, and the previous one will be the one to be avoided at all costs.

In the following example, the author explains the nuances to be brought to the sign that precedes the one concerned by the myth.

In fact, the author tells us that Libra (Orpheus) must go to Scorpio, but at the same time the author tells us that Orpheus is a way out of the Faustian myth.

The nuance requires precision in order to understand it properly.

For example, if we consider the relationship between the sign Virgo and Libra, we know that Libra does not like computers and does not like Virgoan analysis either. Libra follows the sign Virgo, and whenever one sign follows the other, there is a break in the pattern in form, but Libra will continue to apply the qualities it developed in Virgo. It will apply the analytical and reflective qualities it has developed in Virgo to the relationship, to the form, to another form. In effect, the next sign uses the essence of the previous sign to apply it to a new form which is its true field of experience and it will challenge the form of the previous sign.

With another example, Scorpio rejects the superficiality, the social politeness of Libra and yet will use the ability to connect with others in an energetic mode (Scorpio) and not in an appearance mode (Libra). The Scorpio is in contact with others, but this will be on the order of the invisible in others whereas the Libra learns to recognise others and the way to recognise them for her will be through what is visible in others. The Scorpion will use this ability acquired in Libra by considering the other, but he will use it in the field of the invisible.

Similarly, when one moves from Scorpio to Sagittarius. Sagittarius is desperately optimistic and rejects the pessimism of Scorpio, the latter will say that it is realism, but to escape this psychic confinement of the "realism" of Scorpio, Sagittarius will adopt a psychic attitude which is optimism.

The following astrological signs are in reaction in form and continuity in essence.

The Sagittarius is a great connoisseur of man, he is a manager, a leader, he is a teacher that he has acquired in Scorpio. He has acquired this knowledge of the secret motives of humans in Scorpio, but he will use it for projects in the name of optimism and faith in life to challenge the Scorpio form. This is why the Pisces, the last sign of the zodiac, can do anything. Because it is open to everything and is inhabited by all the essences and that is why Aries can do everything, but in a different way because it is not polluted by any essence. These are the two signs which are universal, but universal in the verticality of the intuition of the beginnings in Aries and the capacity for synthesis and spiritual diplomacy in Pisces.

We will apply this symbolic and non-analytical reading grid to the Faust myth.

If we start with the sign opposite Scorpio, Taurus will be, for the person who has a Faustian myth, a way of not letting himself be crushed by the myth itself. It is by returning to the body, to the wisdom and intelligence of the body, that he will emerge from the complexity of his representations. The darkness that the Faustian raises within him in his creative process is periodically cleansed by the consciousness of the body. Instead of denying the body or using it as an object of enjoyment, the Zodiac invites him to use it as a tool for cleansing painful emotions and as a place of wisdom. Seeing thus, that the intelligence of the body is at least as often right as that of thought. Thus, a Faust who is only in Faust will use the body in the sense of the object body, of sensuality and see it as a tool of pleasure. If we want to work correctly on the myth, the story tells us, to help you free yourself from your anguish, your suffering, your shadow, it will be necessary to go through listening and observing sensations. So to be quite concrete, what could help a Faustian to get out of his suffering would be, for example, a naked walk in the mountains or doing some gardening. In any case, it is to return to this common sense and to the simplicity of the obvious that the sign of Taurus proposes.

Quincunxes are therapeutic signs for a Faustian.

There are two key ideas that will lighten Faust's burden and at the same time reduce his pride: Gemini and Aries. Gemini invites us to see that nothing is God or the Devil, that everything is never all black or all white, but that it is always a dialogue between light and shadow. The reality of nature is therefore a perpetual dialogue between opposites. Faust is so whole that he finds it hard to understand, but when he realises that his theological quest and his quest for power are in fact of the same essence, he begins to see things differently. Aries will say to the Faustian: "Your belief system is based on the fact that you can only evolve by encountering darkness and suffering. In other words, you can only transform yourself by immersing yourself in hardship, whereas Aries will say, no, it's contact with the life force that will heal you, not just contact with the shadow. As we can see, these are two therapeutic places that say that not everything is light or shadow (Gemini). And Aries reminds him that the vital force and the greatest healer, "Jason, who went in search of the Golden Fleece, the fleece of the ram", means the healer. We must always remember that it is the Self that heals, not psychoanalytic plunges into the depths of the psyche.

Pluto

Pluto in sign and house informs us about the nature of the Faustian myth; for example, Friedrich Nietzsche, who was a Faustian, had Pluto in Aries and brought with him the idea of the superman. Pluto in Aries testifies to an attempt to create a new world.

In fact, the astrological keys complete the structure of the Faust myth, which is given to us not by the story of Faust, but by the zodiac, allowing us to see how each myth will emerge from its confinement. On the other hand, to understand the message of Faust or the myth in question, whether Narcissus or Prometheus, we need to look at the sign and house of Pluto for Faust, the Moon for Narcissus and Uranus for Prometheus, and so on. The Faustian message of a Pluto in Libra is to immerse oneself in the whole Faustian adventure in order to develop artistic talent. Nietzsche, who had Pluto in Aries, went through the whole Faustian adventure to bring hope of new life to humanity. Goethe, who had Pluto in Scorpio, wrote Faust; he was fascinated by the myth itself!

Thus, the sign of Pluto will indicate the quality of the energy that the Faustian will explore with all his soul.

The astrological keys to the Faust myth: Part 2

Translated and adapted from Luc Bigé's https://reenchanterlemonde.com/mythologie/#faust by @SatyamAstro/Nicolas Roessli and supported by DeepL.com