As subjects face this material, they release enormous amounts of tension in aggressive motor discharges, shaking and tremors, projectile vomiting, episodes of choking and determined coughing—in an atmosphere of what Grof calls Dionysian or volcanic type of ecstasy. At certain points, they can also become convinced that they are dying. As people

Whatever someone is going through in the transformational journey, the key is to trust the process. Surrendering deeply to the feelings of depression and encagement associated with Saturn and BPM II, for example, automatically consumes their effect in the psyche and allows the material to move in a more liberating direction. Actively facing and

Grof's expanded cartography of psyche not only integrates the entire range of biographical, perinatal, and transpersonal domains that routinely emerge in deep self-exploration, but shows how they are connected. Most importantly, his clinical research confirms that there is a finite amount of negative material in the individual psyche.

Both of these drives—expansion and integration—entail growth out into the world, but in different ways. Expansion makes something bigger by incorporating the surrounding area into itself. The process of integration, on the other hand, consists of recognizing a commonality with the surrounding area and adopting a new identity that includes both it

The next layer of experiences that people encounter in deep self-exploration Grof termed the perinatal layer (from peri, meaning “surrounding” and natalis, meaning “birth”). Perinatal experiences are based around the memories of birth labor and delivery, combined with dramatic encounters with dying and impermanence in human life. As Grof's patients

People's birth charts record the “cosmic state” of the archetypes at the moment of their birth, reflecting patterns of experience that will unfold and express themselves in many different forms throughout their lifetimes.

Wilber writes that our deepest inner yearnings are to reconnect with divine consciousness, and if we do not have access to genuine transcendent states, we will have an automatic tendency to fill the void with material and social substitutes. He calls this drive for wholeness the Atman project.8

individuals who undergo these transformative processes automatically develop an interest in spirituality of a universal, non-sectarian, and all-encompassing nature. They also discover within themselves a sense of planetary citizenship, a high importance given to warm human relationships, and the desire to live a more simple and satisfying life in

Later, in adulthood, Pluto also governs the process that pushes this unresolved material up into awareness where it can be finally worked through and completed. Pluto's driving energies must be faced on an emotional level to be released. When left buried inside, the ego must consume enormous amounts of energy to suppress them, squandering the