Jung's concept of the shadow has much in common with the astrological meaning of Pluto. As lord of the underworld, Pluto is naturally associated with things dark and shadowy. When Pluto forms a hard aspect to another planet, that planet's functions tend to be split into opposite halves and mixed with the wounded-healer archetype. The dark, projected side appears to be wounded, while the light, inflated side feels imbued with healing potential.

 

Because a split archetype tries persistently to return to its original integrity, the individual becomes obsessed with transforming or destroying whatever has been projected. Yet, if wholeness is to be restored, such planets require healing from the inside. In so doing, extremism is mitigated and buried potentials recovered. In this book, five different manifestations of the shadow are explored. Chapter One examines astrologers' vulnerability to inflation and delusions of omniscience.

 

Chapter Two provides an astrological case history of Dr. Laura Schlessinger, the infamous talk show shrink who may embody the dark side of the helping professions. In myth and cinema, perhaps there is no better example of the shadow than Darth Vader, whose fall and ultimate redemption is dramatically illustrated in the chart of George Lucas, our subject of Chapter Three.

 

Chapter Four analyzes another shadowy figure of cinematic magic, King Kong, a uniquely 20th-century version of the Pluto and Persephone myth. Finally, we explore the Saturn-Pluto opposition of 2001-2002, which strikingly illustrates the collective dimension of the shadow as manifest in the war on terrorism that reached a crescendo during this period.