The famous Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung was born in Kesswil, Switzerland (47n36, 9e20) on 26 July 1875, in his own words “when the last rays of the setting sun lit the room.”  The precise time of birth is uncertain but, if Carl’s words are accurate, he was born very close to sunset. According to astro.com, Jim Eshelman calculated that astronomically the last rays of the sun (without parallax) lit the room at about 7:41 PM LMT.

In 1775 Switzerland there was no unified “Swiss time.” Each town or city used its own local mean time (LMT) based on the sun’s position at that specific location. Birth times cited in Astro.com from various sources include 7:24 PM Bern Mean Time, 7:37 PM Thurgen, 7:24 PM near Zurich, 7:30 PM Bale, and so on. Local times could vary by several minutes in neighboring places.

Carl’s daughter Gret Baumann-Jung, a practitioner of astrology, reports her father’s birthtime as 19:32 LMT (7:32 pm LMT) and she published the chart she uses for her father in the book Jung on Astrology (2017). Her paper was delivered in German at the Psychological Club Zürich in October 1974. Unfortunately, there are varying birth times recorded for C. G. Jung, and it is not clear whether this is the chart Carl Jung used for himself, or whether this is his daughter’s best guess as to the actual chart. The inclusion of the asteroids near the western horizon suggests that this is Gret Baumann-Jung’s chart for her father rather than the one Jung used for himself because he died in 1961 and the four major asteroids (Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta) weren’t widely incorporated into astrological practice until the 1970s-1980s.

Gret’s chart for her father, cast for 7:32 PM LMT, seems to fit the facts fairly well. The sun is just above the western horizon and about to set. A problem with this chart is that the Asc at 2 1/2 Aquarius means the MC lies at 29 Scorpio 56′, just 04′ of arc away from Sagittarius. If he were born a mere 15 seconds later on the clock, the MC would be in Sagittarius.

Which MC makes more sense symbolically? A Scorpio MC, ruled by Mars, fits Jung’s interest in depth psychology and ancient wisdom; however, a Sagittarius MC, ruled by Jupiter, is a good match for his international recognition as a teacher and author in search of knowledge and wisdom.

The final term (bound) of Scorpio belongs to Saturn which is Rx in its domicile Aquarius in the 1st house (the self). The first term (bound) of Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter which is direct in Libra in the 8th house (ancient occult knowledge). Jupiter and Saturn form a mutually applying trine. Mars (ruler of Scorpio) is stationary direct and peregrine in Sagittarius in the 11th house from which it forms a harmonious sextile with both Jupiter and Saturn.

A case could be made for either MC, Scorpio or Sagittarius. I lean toward Sagittarius because Jupiter conjoins the fortunate fixed star Spica in Libra in the 8th house, which seems fitting for a revered psychoanalyst who explored the hidden depths of the psyche and left a lasting legacy for future students of analytic psychology.

We can use predictive techniques to help decide between a Scorpio and a Sagittarius MC. A significant 10th house event occurred when Jung was 25 years old. In his autobiography Jung writes: “On 10th December, 1900, I took up my post as assistant at the Burghölzli Mental Hospital, Zürich.” His age on that date was 25.37 years old.

At age 25 his Lord of the Year by profection of the Ascendant sign is Jupiter, ruler of Pisces, the 2nd sign from the Ascendant. The activatin of Jupiter by profection, with Sagittarius ruling the 10th sign, would make sense in a year of great professional advancement. The Lord of the Orb at age 25 is Saturn (natally the Sun is hour lord) which partners with the Lord of the Year, Jupiter. Saturn occupies the 1st house in its domicile Aquarius and rules the 12th house of hospital and mental health institutions. Saturn also trines the MC.

If we consider the directions (Placidus, zodiacal, without latitude, Naibod key) of the MC directed to Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn around December of 1900, in Janus software we find: Mars without latitude to the MC in October of 1898, the Sinister Sextile of Jupiter to the MC in June of 1901, and Dexter sextile of Saturn to the MC in Novermber of 1901, which means that the MC of Gret’s chart for her father is a bit too early in the zodiac and should probably be in the first degree of Sagittarius.

If we adjust the time of birth and recalculate the directions, we find in Janus software that on 10 December of 1900 Mars without latitude crosses the MC by primary motion with a birth time of 19:18:35 LMT; on that same date with a birth time of 19:29:06 LMT the Sinister Sextile of Jupiter reaches the MC by primary motion; and with a birth time of 19:30:49 LMT the Dexter sextile of Saturn arrives at the MC by primary motion on 10 December 1900.

If we look at the directions around the time of his passing (6 June 1961), with a birth time of 19:27:11 LMT In Janus software, the opposition of Mars comes the the Ascendant on 12 September 1961, about 3 months after the event. This implies that the original MC is too early in the zodiac and ought to be in early Sagittarius. If we adjust the birth time in Janus to 19:28:14 LMT, the directed opposition of Mars arrives at the Ascendant on 6 June 1961.

Isaac Starkman, who specialized in rectification, using techniques developed by Alexander Marr, tested many events from Jung’s life and concluded that he was born around 19:28:20 LMT, with the Ascendant at 2 Aqu 54′ and the MC at 0 Sag 11′. My own experimentation with rectifying Jung’s chart comes to a virturally identical conclusion. Here is the rectified chart.

Starkman’s Rectified Chart for Carl Jung:

I found that different software gave very slightly different results, probably because of the level of accuracy of their calculations. Sometimes the coordinates were slightly different. I didn’t use the precise coordinates of Jung’s birthplace, just the city. What was most compelling was that the “rectified” time from a group of events, using primary directions, produced a birthtime of 19:28:18 LMT (quite close to Starman’s 19:28:20 LMT. When I ran the Placidus primaries for 1961, it showed the opposition of Mars on the Ascendant on 1 June 1961, just 5 days from the date of Jung’s demise at age 85.

Using the 19:28:18 LMT chart, in the distributions (circumambulation) from his Sun (hyleg in this chart), timed with mean solar arc, at age 85 his divisor was Saturn, and in April of 1961 Saturn’s partner became Mars, which crossed the Dsc by primary motion on 1 June 1961, almost exactly on the date of Jung’s passing.