Astra inclinant, sed non necessitant”
The stars incline, but do not determine
Synastra is rooted in the heritage of a thousand-year tradition of natural astrology, as it was taught in mediaeval European universities. We practise a rational science of self-knowledge, radically distinct from divination and contemporary New Age currents. Our approach rests on the precision of the Swiss Ephemerides and the study of symbolic correspondences between celestial configurations and individual psychic structures.
Read the full article on natural astrologyA mediaeval university heritage
In the Middle Ages, astrology was by no means a marginal belief, but a high scientific discipline taught at the great European universities such as the Sorbonne in Paris, Bologna and Padua, within the Quadrivium alongside astronomy.
While astronomy calculated celestial positions, astrology studied their physical effects on the sensible world. This distinction was not considered an epistemological rupture, but the natural continuation of the same inquiry into cosmic order.Astrology in the Middle Ages
At the Faculty of Medicine, physicians were required to master astrology perfectly. The zodiac signs each corresponded to parts of the body, the seven planets were understood as corresponding to organs and the four humours. No diagnosis, no bloodletting was performed without consulting the lunar ephemerides.Astrology and medicine
“Celestial bodies are causes of dispositions in lower bodies, but the human soul, being spiritual, cannot be subjected by necessity to celestial bodies.”
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I-II, q.9, a.5
Theologians defined strict boundaries: natural astrology was accepted, but fatalism was condemned. The stars incline the tendencies of the soul without constraining the will, and the human soul, being spiritual in nature, cannot be subjected to celestial bodies by necessity. This conception of astrology has been refined: celestial bodies should not be seen as influencing man, but as symbolising a synchronicity between potentialities of our being and celestial movements.Free will and astrology
Astrology in mediaeval universities
Quadrivium
Taught alongside arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music
Medicine
Compulsory subject for medical students until the 17th century
Theology
Scholastic debates on the limits of astral determinism and free will
Natural philosophy
Study of secondary causes and sublunary influences in the cosmic order
Great chairs
Paris, Bologna, Padua, Oxford: centres of European scholarly astrology
This university tradition endured until the scientific revolution of the 17th century, when the Newtonian mechanisation of the cosmos radically altered the epistemological framework.
Our epistemological position
A clear demarcation between rational science and contemporary pseudo-sciences
What we practise
Free will
Human will transcends celestial inclinations
Rational science
Rigorous methodology founded on the Swiss Ephemerides
Self-knowledge
Exploration of psychic structures and potentialities
Scholarly tradition
Heritage of mediaeval university astrology
Synchronicity
Symbolic correspondences, not mechanical causality
What we reject
Read the full passageFatalism
Negation of free will and absolute determinism
Divination
Predictions of future events and fortune-telling
New Age
Karma, chakras, vibrations, twin flame
Magical practices
Rituals, talismans, planetary invocations
Commercial fortune-telling
Commercial horoscopes and sensationalist predictions
Synchronicity, not causality
Our understanding of the relationship between man and the stars differs radically from that of the Ancients. Where mediaeval thinkers postulated a direct influence of celestial bodies on the sublunary world, we conceive astrology as a science of symbolic correspondences and synchronicity.
Planetary configurations do not cause individual psychic structures according to a mechanistic model of efficient causation. They are rather their synchronous reflection, the symbolic expression within the cosmic order. The natal chart maps not influences endured, but structural resonances between the individual microcosm and the celestial macrocosm.
This conception entirely preserves free will while maintaining the hermeneutic validity of astrological analysis. Celestial configurations reveal potentialities, dynamic tensions, energetic orientations, without ever determining the concrete choices of existence. Astrology thus becomes a tool of self-knowledge and understanding of the past, freed from all divinatory pretension.
The Celestial Grammar
Three fundamental constituents form the grammar of astrology, or to use a musical metaphor: the notes, the scale and the score to create harmony.Harmony and energies
The Planets
Inner faculties of man, using the differentiated energy of the signs to accomplish the work of the houses. They represent talents but also challenges to overcome.
The Signs
Primordial energies from which man draws to accomplish the works his soul gives him to realise, according to his free choices and degree of consciousness.
The Houses
Twelve fields of experience and domains of application where planetary and zodiacal energies concretely unfold in incarnate life.
The Twelve Astrological Houses
Being & Body
Incarnation and personality
Talents & Possessions
Material resources
Learning
Communication and studies
Home & Roots
Origins and interiority
Expression & Creativity
Personal works
Health & Labour
Service and daily life
Relationships & Marriage
Otherness and union
Transformation
Crises and rebirths
Philosophy & Travel
Quest for meaning
Career & Opus
Social accomplishment
Ideals & Friendship
Collective projects
Inner Life
Trials and transcendence
Man is an inner solar system, reflecting within himself the outward movement of the planets.
A given planetary position simply provides a potentiality, an energetic reservoir, which can serve to accomplish distinct works whose value depends in part on the individual, and whose nature depends entirely on the individual. It is not the planet that mechanically determines destiny, but man who, through free choices, actualises these powers as virtues or vices.
Man, made in the image of God, possesses free will, a will and an intellect that can be illuminated from above. It is precisely this awareness of being free AND of possessing these energies that allows us, through our intellect and our will, to consciously use what would otherwise be forces acting upon us at the primordial level.
The more man elevates his consciousness, the more he acts consciously, the more he is master of himself. Certain spiritual faculties, symbolised by the planets, are truly activated only when the individual's consciousness is sufficiently elevated. Thus, the sky chart is not a prison, but a map of possible paths, a score whose interpretation depends on the musician.The inner solar system
The natal chart reveals potentialities; spiritual life and free choices determine their actualisation as works of light or shadow.
Our Sources
Our approach draws on the works of recognised masters and on decades of personal research.
Our references in the articleDidier Bétourné
Traité d'astrologie contemporaine
Our principal influence and master in the astrological approach. A reference work combining intellectual rigour and symbolic depth.
M. Senard
Le zodiaque, clé de l'ontologie appliquée à la psychologie
A profound metaphysical understanding of zodiacal symbols in their ontological and psychological dimension.
Personal research
20+ years of astrological practice since 1997
Decades of research, study and practice to refine our understanding and method of interpretation.
Discover your natal chart
We offer you a means to better know yourself, to wisely use your energies, and to discern the paths that open before you according to your free will.
