In the intricate tapestry of human development and self-discovery, few practitioners can bridge the gap between the esoteric and the psychological as seamlessly as Greg Bogart. A seasoned psychotherapist and respected author, Greg brings a unique blend of meditation, hatha yoga, Jungian dreamwork, existential psychotherapy, and psychosynthesis into his practice. His distinctive approach is further enriched by the cyclical wisdom and archetypal symbolism of astrology. A native New Yorker, Greg’s journey into the depths of the human psyche began at Wesleyan University and continued as he ventured to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1986. There, he completed his graduate studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) and Saybrook University, earning his LMFT license in 1991. His dedication to understanding the human experience extends beyond traditional psychotherapy, encompassing a profound expertise in astrological counseling, with certifications from both the International Society for Astrological Research (ISAR) and the National Council for Geocosmic Research (NCGR). In addition to his private practice, Greg is a lecturer in psychology at Sonoma State University, where he teaches courses such as “Transitions in Adult Development,” “Depth-Oriented Psychotherapies,” “Myth, Dream, & Symbol,” and “Existential & Transpersonal Psychologies.” His rich academic background includes teaching roles in the Counseling Psychology and East-West psychology programs at CIIS, John F. Kennedy University, Dominican University, and the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. Join Mystic Mag as we delve into an enlightening conversation with Greg Bogart, exploring his multifaceted approach to psychotherapy, his integration of astrological insights, and his commitment to guiding individuals through the profound transitions of adult development.
Can you explain how you integrate the cyclical wisdom and archetypal symbolism of astrology with traditional psychotherapy approaches like Jungian dreamwork and existential psychotherapy in your practice?
I practice what I call therapeutic astrology and one of the first things that distinguishes this is that it involves conducting a series of sessions rather than just one. When I started out as an astrologer, during a session I might simply read the chart and tell someone that something is going to happen or is likely to happen. But when I got trained in psychotherapeutic methods, I learned to focus on working through issues in a person’s life over some period of time. For example, during a Saturn transit that might last six months or a year, we go through various stages of hard work to achieve the purpose of that transit. It’s not just a one-time event. And we don’t just say, “This is good, this is bad.” Instead of viewing Saturn as a malefic influence we set ourselves to work on the tasks Saturn seems to indicate for us. We can approach the transit as an opportunity for maturation and working to accomplish some specific and practical goals.
You ask about existential psychotherapy specifically, and this focuses on themes of authenticity, congruence, and genuineness. Astrological study clarifies the particular kind of complex individual the birth chart portrays and reveals images of the authentic self we can grow into. It shows a roadmap of how we can live in accordance with our spiritual blueprint and maps out precisely the stages of constructing the edifice over time, through study of transits and progressions. Existential therapy explores themes of death and rebirth, endings, and impermanence as a spur to more vibrant living in the here and now, so we savor each moment and experience, and this perspective can be especially helpful while going through some powerful Pluto transit, for example if we’re coming to terms with a loss, bereavement, or some past or recent trauma that has been blocking us. Existential therapy explores meaninglessness and depression and the need to find our own meaning in life. And it addresses our existential aloneness, which can spur us to seek connection, to create more meaningful relationships and to find a purpose in the world, a purpose larger than ourselves (as taught by Victor Frankl). And astrological symbolism is so helpful in delving into all of this.
Existential psychotherapy emphasizes inward searching, to find our own answers. As an astrologer I try to search for the meaning of a transit or a natal planetary placement. We can ask questions like: Why did we write our astrological script this way? What is intended? What can I learn from this and unfold from this?
Psychotherapy often looks at the family system, and understanding family systems gives a whole new meaning to the 4th House in the birth chart as a zone of ancestral, intergenerational influence, where we come to understand how our emotional state is affected by family dynamics as well as unresolved ancestral issues.
I find that psychology’s developmental perspective greatly enhances astrology’s insights. For instance, when we look at a Saturn transit, we don’t just see it as an isolated event. We see it as a moment in a Saturn cycle with defined phases, helping us recognize an orderly development of various personality functions. This understanding of life cycle stages helps us locate the meaning of events as part of a larger unfolding cyclical process. Take the Jupiter-Saturn square that is forming between August 2024 and June 2025. This moment has special meaning as an important phase and turning point in the cycle that began at the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in 2020. At that time, something was decided; a defining intention was formed four years ago. And now at the waxing square it’s time to take action, to complete the task, and move it forward. And we can look forward and anticipate the ultimate peak and fulfillment of the cycle at the opposition, from December 2029 through November 2030. So we have a future horizon to envision and plan for. This cyclical perspective allows us to view our lives as a cohesive narrative with different developmental stages or chapters, where every phase has meaning as part of the cycle as a whole. These insights derived from Dane Rudhyar’s teachings on the importance of cycles in the practice of humanistic astrology.
Existential therapy also emphasizes the here and now. In astrological sessions, we revisit the past and touch on past wounds or traumas. We integrate those experiences and heal the past, and we envision the future and its potentials. But the most powerful changes occur in sessions when we fully illuminate the feeling quality and the immense potentials of this present moment, when we come to more fully know where we stand at this moment, and what life is asking of us and what intentions are forming inside us. That can be immensely healing and therapeutic.
The work of C. G. Jung is another important foundation for the union of astrology and psychotherapy. Jung transformed by astrology by approaching it as a mythological language. In Jungian work, we bring the archetypes into our understanding of planetary symbols and we look at each planet as having the character of an archetype, a pattern of transformation—Moon: emotional attachments and transformations; Mercury: evolution of our thinking and transformations of perception, cognition, and communication. Mars is the archetypal warrior and athlete, who asks us to awaken our energy and life force and act with vigor, drive, and motivation. And so forth. And we can use this understanding of archetypes to look at the connection between astrological symbols and dream symbols. We can track parallels between what is happening astrologically and what is occurring in our unconscious as it produces dream symbols. Jungian psychology brings a mythological or mythopoetic perspective to the planetary drama, greatly enlarging the meaning of astrological symbols. Also from Jung , and also from Dane Rudhyar, we get the understanding that astrology is a roadmap for individuation. The chart doesn’t just show things that happen to us or things we have to endure or suffer. It is a map of our path to wholeness, unfolding what we were born for. We view transits as a series of steps, tasks, stages, or initiations along that path of individuation.
Another relevant idea from Jung’s the union of opposites, where consciousness is achieved through the union of opposing forces. This helps us understand our own contradictions. For example, if someone with a heavy Saturn emphasis in their chart also has a strong Uranus influence, there might be a tension between the stable, conventional saturnian side and the wavy, radical, unconventional, uranian side of themselves. The Jungian astrological perspective is that we can unify the polarities and opposing trends of our personalities to achieve wholeness. This principle also aids us in our human relationships, through which we complete one another, creating movement and dynamism through the union of opposing forces. We learn to tolerate the fact that other people are different, they aren’t organized in the same way we are, and instead of bemoaning our differences we can recognize the value of connection with another person who seems like our complete psychological opposite.
In the book “Astrology’s Higher Octaves” I explore the connection between astrology and dreams. I like to identify a transit and its meanings, and then look at current dreams a person is having to see how they reflect the astrological symbolism, noting correspondences between planetary and zodiacal archetypes and dream symbols. For example, a woman experiencing her first Saturn Return transit dreamed of climbing a staircase and encountering her former boss, who was sitting at a large, solid oak desk that symbolized achievement and professional success and making it in the world. At the same time, she was experiencing a Neptune transit, and the same week she had a second dream about a woman who was falling down drunk, reflecting issues she was facing regarding a pattern of excessive binge drinking that was causing depression, discouragement, hangovers, and affecting her job performance, and all of this was interfering with the process of trying to meet her career goals. Here we see simultaneous activation of the Saturn and Neptune archetypes and this woman’s growth in consciousness involved working through this tension of opposites.
Mapping these connections is incredible because both astrology and dreams reveal how the unconscious sees us and how change is trying to occur within us, in accordance with the archetypes or typical patterns of transformation, through the evolutionary phases and types of experiences indicated by planetary and zodiac symbols. This perspective differs from that of traditional astrology, which viewed planets as good or bad. I think that instead of thinking of planets like Pluto, Mars, Neptune, and Saturn as malefics, we can see them as stressors. Professor George Vaillant’s theory of Mature Adaptation describes the inevitability of stressors and different ways to cope with them. Looking at this astrologically, under the influence of Neptune, we might be susceptible to maladaptive coping, such as inaction, numbing out, dissociation, hallucinations, delusions, addictions, projection, overly inflated or deflated thinking, not seeking help or refusing help when it is needed. In contrast, high adaptive coping involves taking action, seeking and accepting help, delaying gratification, making plans, having a sense of humor, and altruism—trying to help others. Astrologers can apply a framework like this for assessing how a person is responding to life’s pressures, so we can make needed adjustments and course corrections. Part of what makes astrology therapeutic is that we try to use its insights in a practical way to make changes that will improve our lives.
In your course “Transitions in Adult Development,” what are some key insights or theories you emphasize about navigating major life transitions, and how do they apply to your clinical work?
You’re referring to a course that I taught for many years at Sonoma State University. Two of the key theorists we study in that course are Erik Erikson and his one-time student Daniel Levinson, who wrote “The Seasons of a Man’s Life” and “The Seasons of a Woman’s Life.” Levinson presents the idea that adulthood is a process of successive structure-building periods and structure-changing periods. There are periods when you’re building the structure of an occupation, a relationship, or a family, as well as the structure of residency in a home, either as a tenant or owner. There is also the structure-building of one’s commitments to different movements, organizations, and activities. We build the pillars of our life structure, usually centered around work, love, family, home, creativity, and hobbies. This matches up well with the architecture of Saturn transits.
For example, at age 7 to 8, during our first waxing square of Saturn to its natal position, we typically learn what Erik Erikson calls industry versus inferiority. Children are acquiring skills in math and language and reading skills, and learning to manage their time and focus their attention on tasks and task completion. They learn productivity, finishing tasks, following instructions, and accomplishing a series of benchmarks in their education.
At age 14 and 15, at the Saturn opposition, individuals start to clarify their identity, priorities, and areas of interest or commitment. We begin to declare what is important to us and the defining goals that begin to form our identity, which we then attempt to enact throughout adulthood.
Around age 21 to 22, during the Saturn third quarter square, we face the maturational tasks of early adulthood, which typically involve forming stronger relationships and also embarking on an occupational path, becoming more self-sufficient, and building the structures of learning a trade or entering a field of employment. During this period Levinson says we built our first provisional life structure. By the Saturn Return during the “age 30 transition,” we make adjustments and commitments that define our adult life structure for many years. At age 36 at the next Saturn square we enter what Levinson calls the Settling Down period when hopefully we become fully engaged in the life we’ve chosen and begin to see advancement.
Levinson also identifies the fact that these structure-building periods are followed by structure-changing periods, characterized by an urgent need to alter the structures we’ve built. This might occur at any age under the influence of a great variety of planetary transits or progressions, especially involving the outer planets. For example, the Uranus opposition at ages 40 to 42 is typically a structure-changing period when we feel a strong urge to more fully individuate, to break away from something, to alter our life structures and commitments, to go in a different direction and take steps toward greater independence or authenticity such as changing careers, relationships, our location or residence, or some aspect of identity.
The key insight is that there is intelligence in both phases: in structure-building, sustaining effort, as well as in altering parts of our life-structure. This dismantling can feel disruptive and lead to periods of transition and uncertainty when new structures have not yet formed. We need the intelligence to go through these structure-changing periods with a sense of humor, trust in what is happening, and excitement about change, rather than fear or resistance to change.
Who have been your most significant influences or mentors in this integrative path?
I’ve already mentioned that Erik Erickson had a huge influence on my work with his discussion of eight stages of lifespan development. Take, for example, his insight that toddlers face the challenge of achieving autonomy versus shame and self-doubt, at a time corresponding to the first Mars return. During this period we grapple with the issue of autonomy—being able to do things for oneself rather than being dependent. The second Mars return, around age four, is when we develop initiative and are driven to achieve goals.
In later life stages, such as adolescence, early adulthood, midlife, and older adulthood, transits to our natal Mars can be challenging if we lack autonomy, initiative, or motivation. Earlier I mentioned that during the elementary school years of industry versus inferiority, we learn task management, task completion, time management, and the satisfaction of doing work well. In subsequent stages of the Saturn cycle, we hopefully mobilize those same capacities, identifying work we need to complete, managing our time, and organizing ourselves to meet deadlines. I could go on about Levinson at greater length but I’ll leave it at that for now.
Dane Rudhyar has been another key influence as the originator of humanistic astrology, which focuses on choice, self-determination, and self-actualization. In the book “Planets in Therapy,” I’ve written a 50-page chapter called “Rudhyar’s Astrology in Plain Language,” which summarizes his ideas. His spiritual, philosophical perspective infuses the work I do as a counselor.
Noel Tyl was another influence. He studied psychology at Harvard and wrote about astrology from the perspective of psychological concepts and personality theory. He emphasized remediation, the idea of making corrections in how we respond to our planetary influences. He famously said, “You can’t change your planets, but you can change your behavior.”
Liz Greene is a brilliant writer who combines astrology with Jungian archetypal psychology. Stephen Arroyo was the first marriage and family therapist to use astrology in his couples counseling work and to write about it. As a marriage and family therapist myself, I have followed in his footsteps. Arroyo’s writings on synastry are crucial, and “Astrology, Karma, and Transformation” is one of the best astrology books I’ve ever read. Alexander Ruperti, who wrote “Cycles of Becoming,” should be on everyone’s reading list. His book beautifully discusses planetary cycles and interplanetary cycles, like Jupiter-Saturn, Jupiter-Uranus, and Saturn-Neptune, in a humanistic and developmental context.
Zipporah Dobyns was a PhD in clinical psychology and a tremendous astrologer. Her books presented psychological understandings of astrology. My work is also influenced by Reinhold Ebertin, who developed cosmobiology and the study of midpoints.
Lastly, I had a personal teacher named Andres Takra, a sidereal astrologer from Venezuela who mentored me and taught me much of what I know. I’ve discussed him in several of my books.
What type of services do you offer?
I do astrological consultations and psychotherapy, often combining the two. I also conduct dream work sessions. I teach at Sonoma State University, offering different classes. My services include natal astrology for individuals, couples, and families. Additionally, I teach classes through various venues such as the Jung Archademy, Organization for Professional Astrology (OPA), International Society for Astrological Research (ISAR), and National Council for Geocosmic Research (NCGR).
One of the most significant services I offer is my books. With 44 years of astrology practice, I have poured my experience into them. My works include Astrology and Spiritual Awakening, Astrology and Meditation: The Fearless Contemplation of Change, and a trilogy consisting of Planets in Therapy: Predictive Technique and the Art of Counseling, Astrology’s Higher Octaves, and Astrology as a Therapeutic Art: Healing Human Relationships. These books describe the practice of therapeutic astrology to which I have dedicated myself. I’ve also authored In the Company of Sages, and two books documenting the power of dream interpretation: Dreamwork and Self-Healing, and Dreamwork in Holistic Psychotherapy of Depression. You can find more information about these works at my website: www.dawnmountain.com.
