The Beauty of Multivalence

“Art is the imposing of a pattern on experience, and our aesthetic enjoyment is recognition of the pattern.”

–– Alfred North Whitehead, Dialogues (1954)

When I arrived at CIIS/PCC I had no interest in studying astrology. Due to my constricting relationship to Indian astrology, I was stubbornly confident that planetary movements had absolutely no relationship to my unfolding life on Earth. My inability to empathize with Indian astrology stems from the fact that there is not much room for free will and participation – my life is predetermined in this worldview. Thus, by walking through the enchanted gates of archetypal cosmology I have been able to reclaim the autonomy of my life. With this new found freedom, I live in a cosmos that is not only scientifically astonishing, but psychologically magnificent as well. Archetypal astrology has also played the role of a magical bridge from postmodern relativism to participatory pluralism. And while the ability to discern between these two ways of being is still an area to philosophize with, I am certain that the dimension of multivalence in archetypal cosmology plays a crucial part in navigating this perplexing territory. As a way to explore and aesthetically showcase the multivalent nature of the planetary archetypes, I have created this film to portray a few of my major complexes and how they have unfolded over the course of my lifetime.