Interview
with Dr. Claudio Maddaloni

Courses with Dr. Claudio Maddaloni

 

You have been a psychiatrist for many years, what led you to look for a link between psychology, a young science dating back a couple of centuries, and the millenary science of astrology? Between the psyche and the stars?

What stimulated me to become interested in astrology was my conviction that this ancient science, considered a sacred science, had a lot to tell us. It is, above all, a very complex system, actually systems, of psychology which describe all of the psychological types such as introverts and extroverts and their related thought constructions, emotions, etc. And it does this in detail!

Vedic astrology, moreover, which is till this day practiced in India, explains how the planets influence our energy and thus our psyche.

Astrology is the science which takes into account the charkas, the subtle energy centers, the true “inner stars” which are located in both our physical and energy bodies. In my opinion, astrology is the most evolved amongst the sciences which deal with human energies. It deals with the mind and with its expressions, not with something that is foreign to our nature, but with something that is an integral part of ourselves, the “stars” within us. From this prospective, the planets are equivalent to the charkas.

Do you think that astrology can make a valid contribution to psychology? In what way? What would be its major contribution?

Astrology connects to the experience of yoga. It tells how the Sun, that would be our Consciousness, rotates on an inner pathway within the astral spinal column. It explains how the Sun, in the aspect of Light, goes around this inner zodiac in what we might call the light trail, transforming our awareness. So the zodiac represents the circular motion of the sun along the inner pathway of evolution.

You have studied both Western and Vedic astrology. What differences and advantages do these two approaches offer?

Western astrology is more psychological and projects, as we find in Western myths, the ego. Vedic astrology, on the other hand, largely refers to karma and to the Eastern knowledge of yoga and of the transformation of the subtle bodies.

I know you are practicing daily meditation on the path of Kriya Yoga. Did your work change since you began to meditate and became interested in astrology?

The regular practice of mediation has permitted me to refine my energy by perceiving it, purifying it and deepening my inner listening. The practice of Kriya Yoga offers a direct path towards the inner awareness of energy and of its manifestations.

My clinical work, therefore, has changed proportionately: Today I am no longer able to listen to the words of someone only on intellectual, psychological and emotional levels. Now I am aware of the subtle vibrations which, at various levels, the person is living and which he is transmitting to me while he is talking about his personal situations. This subtle form of listening makes a big difference in being able to understand things as they truly are and also in helping that person change his present reality.

I understand you developed a new method which takes care of the spiritual aspects and the evolution of the patient. Is this correct?

This is actually an ancient method. But only with the awareness born in the third millennium has it become possible to understand how we can refer these methods to our inner life and not project them externally. A well-known saying in psychology says that which is unconscious is projected. Today this inner science is less “unconscious,” and we can therefore better understand its true sense.

This method of therapy consists in transforming the blocked energies from the past into the present moment. In order for this transformation effect to remain stable after the therapy session, it must be transmitted to the patient in such a way that he has to do a serious internal work with his mind and energy.

When you speak about “spiritual psychology” what do you exactly mean?

I mean a therapy which cures the causes of mental phenomena at their roots, at the matrix, and which enables the patient to become more conscious, and to have greater control over the instruments of his spiritual evolution.

It is our higher Self which heals. It is the spiritual consciousness of man which permits him to become aware of the “mental mechanics,” to use a term from Fiorella Rustici. Thus the analytic psychology of Jung, the psycho-synthesis of Assagioli, the transpersonal psychology, all of these are ways which are bringing psychology towards the spiritual. In my opinion, in order to complete this progression, these sciences need to go in the opposite direction: They need to start from their spiritual matrix and move finally towards the psychological field.

Do you think this method would be useful to different kinds of therapists?

Yes, I think that therapists from the various schools can benefit from this new energetic approach which has been born from a long history of clinical experience, which I bring to the seminars. Above all, those who are clinical therapists can benefit. In clinical experiments I have seen that this method is the quickest and most effective because it uses energy to effect a transformation of energy.

In these courses you talk a considerable amount about energy and the charkas. Is it indispensable to have a background in yoga and astrology in order to attend the seminars?

No, it isn’t necessary to have a theoretical background in these areas, but it is important to have a lively interest and an openness and willingness to do serious inner work.

If you had to describe the psychiatrist or psychologist of the future, what would he be like?

A normal and complete person; a person who is aware and intelligent and endowed with compassion; a person who has personal experience of inner transformation and clinical experience, of course. In a word, a person who is “religious” in the original sense of the word: he who honors the gods, and these gods are those energies which live within us.

I know you have a spiritual name, Madhur, what does it mean?

It means “divine sweetness,” which signifies such feminine qualities as non-violence. I believe it is also one of the names of Lord Krishna. For me this name is a teaching and a discipline. I want to conclude this interview by saying that I offer these seminars to the inner, eternal Master, which in both Eastern and Western traditions is spoken of as energy, consciousness, dreams, the psyche. I pray that the Masters will guide and instruct us so that these seminars might contribute to the inner path and knowledge of those who participate, and that they might be useful to the many therapists who are seeking to transform and enrich their approach to their work.

 

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Courses with Dr. Claudio Maddaloni