• Start with the Prologue

• Read Chapter 01 — Introduction

• Read Chapter 02 — Personal Statement

• Read Chapter 03 — The Architecture of Life

• Read Chapter 04 — Psychotensegrity

• Read Chapter 05 — Clinical Process of IFS

• Read Chapter 06 — Astrotensegrity

• Read Chapter 07 — The Sattvic Triad: Sun, Moon, Jupiter

• Read Chapter 08 — The Benefic Planetary Parts: Mercury & Venus

• Read Chapter 09 — The Malefic Planetary Parts: Saturn, Mars, Rahu & Ketu

• Read Chapter 10 — Clinical Applications of IFSS

• Read Chapter 11 — Case Study

Conclusion

The successful pursuit of psycho-spiritual evolution requires a framework that honors intimate interrelationship of the psychological complexities of an individual mind and the metaphysical realities of the cosmos as a whole.

As established throughout this dissertation, IFSS effectively bridges this divide. By synthesizing the evidence-based psychotherapeutic model of Internal Family Systems with the mythopoetic architecture of Vedic Astrology, IFSS provides a comprehensive, clinical map for deep healing through skillful spiritual counseling.

By conceptualizing the mind as a psychotensegrity system that mirrors the astrotensegrity of the solar system, individuals can accurately map their planetary “parts,” unburden karmic traumas, and lead their lives from the natural center of gravity that is their divine Self.

This integration rests on three primary foundational points:

First, Buckminster Fuller’s principles of structural tensegrity accurately describe the natural multiplicity of the human mind.

The psyche operates as a complex, spontaneously self-organizing system wherein vulnerable Exiles, proactive Managers, and reactive Firefighters interact dynamically around a central core Self.

Second, Jyotish provides a precise diagnostic blueprint of this internal cosmos. The planets are not merely distant physical orbs but living, archetypal energies that manifest as the specific sub-personalities within an individual’s internal family system.

Finally, the IFSS clinical procedure demonstrates how practitioners can effectively unblend and unburden planetary parts of their extreme roles and cultivate compassionate Self-to-part relationships.

The potential benefit of this research to the field of metaphysical healing is substantial. By providing a tangible, cosmological map of the psyche, IFSS allows practitioners to quickly and accurately anticipate internal polarizations and uncover the root psycho-dynamics at play.

While the therapeutic process can only go as quickly as the system will allow, the profound insights offered by IFSS can act like a lightning bolt, inspiring rapid shifts in the client’s lived experience.

These desired changes are made sustainable by engaging in the pleasant, nature-based practices that help the client foster a more intimate connection with the natural world and establish a deep sense of belonging as one whole part within the infinite tensegrity system that is the web of all beings.

While qualitative clinical narratives like the included case study demonstrate the therapeutic potential of IFSS, the advancement of this framework requires rigorous quantitative validation.

To achieve this, future studies can combine astrological analysis with the IFS Scale, a psychometric instrument developed by Lia DeLand in collaboration with Dr. Richard C. Schwartz.

The IFS Scale was designed to profile an individual’s internal system by quantifying two primary metrics: the relative strength of the core Self, and the degree of polarization among protective and exiled parts.

Through extensive factor analysis, the scale identifies the dominance of specific categories of parts within a patient’s psyche (DeLand, 7). These subscales include Pleasing/Abandoned, Addictive/Impulsive, Anxious/Pessimistic, Self-critical, Raging, and Dissociating parts.

The proposed research involves administering the IFS Scale to a large sample of clients who also possess accurately timed birth charts. Researchers could then cross-reference the psychometric data from the IFS Scale with astrological analysis to identify consistent, statistically significant patterns.

If the IFSS hypothesis holds true, specific astrological signatures will predictably correlate with elevated scores in relevant categories of the IFS Scale. For example, the research could investigate whether individuals who score exceptionally high in “Pleasing/Abandoned” parts consistently present with significant Venus placements (be they strong or afflicted).

Similarly, researchers could test whether an exalted or aggressively aspected Mars predictably correlates with high scores in “Raging” parts, or if a prominent Saturn correlates with the dominance of “Self-critical” Manager parts (Svoboda, 166).

Furthermore, the study could evaluate whether severe planetary afflictions, such as the total eclipse of the Sun and Moon by the lunar nodes (Rahu and Ketu), consistently result in lower baseline scores for Self-leadership and higher scores in extreme Firefighter categories like “Dissociating” or “Addictive/Impulsive” (Frawley, 15).

Conducting this large-scale study promises the potential to create concrete, empirically valid correlations between given astrotensegrity structures and the psychometric results of the IFS scale, demonstrating a clinical process proven to enhance and accelerate the client’s progress towards holistic Self-leadership.

Ultimately, the healing journey is a process of reclaiming one’s authentic place at the center of their own spiritual center of gravity. According to Schwartz, the Self is the “seat of consciousness” comparable to what various spiritual and religious traditions have named the “Buddha Nature,” “Christ Consciousness,” “the Atman,” or the “Divine Essence” within each person (Schwartz, 14).

What more noble goal exists than to establish consistent access to a divine Self that is inherently wise, calm, and capable of leadership? The Internal Family Solar Systems approach to spiritual counseling is a profoundly powerful ally on this evolutionary journey.

That’s the end! For now…

If you made it through this whole series, congratulations and thank you. I hope it has been of interest and perhaps even of benefit to you.

And: this is just the starting point. Taken as a whole, this paper represents just an initial sketch of the IFSS paradigm. I am actively developing and refining the model through research and clinical experimentation.

If you have thoughts, comments, questions or suggestions, I welcome feedback, be it enthusiastic, critical or otherwise, from all sincere readers and especially fellow practitioners.

Further writing, presentations and programs will follow in the coming months. If you’d like to learn more, keep in touch as IFSS evolves, or become an active participant in that evolution, please reach out!

You are warmly invited to subscribe to this publication or join the Ecotone Academy newsletter, as that is the most direct access point for updates and invitations.

Join the Ecotone Academy crew

Until then, wishing you all the best.

Telfer

• Start with the Prologue

• Read Chapter 01 — Introduction

• Read Chapter 02 — Personal Statement

• Read Chapter 03 — The Architecture of Life

• Read Chapter 04 — Psychotensegrity

• Read Chapter 05 — Clinical Process of IFS

• Read Chapter 06 — Astrotensegrity

• Read Chapter 07 — The Sattvic Triad: Sun, Moon, Jupiter

• Read Chapter 08 — The Benefic Planetary Parts: Mercury & Venus

• Read Chapter 09 — The Malefic Planetary Parts: Saturn, Mars, Rahu & Ketu

• Read Chapter 10 — Clinical Applications of IFSS

Case Study

To demonstrate the transformative potential of IFSS, it is instructive to examine a case study.

A 36-year-old female presents complaining of feeling “stuck,” seeking relief from long-standing, undesired emotional and behavioral patterns, significant anxiety stemming from personal identity disorientation, and an ongoing history of difficult romantic relationships.

In this case, the clinical assessment commenced with an IFS Scale Profile, a psychometric tool designed to measure the relative activity of an individual’s protective parts versus their core Self (DeLand).

The results indicated that the client operated predominantly from a state of highly polarized, extreme parts, with relatively little conscious access to Self energy.

Initial analysis of her astrological chart corroborated this result, showing a significant deficit in Self-leadership indicated by the fact that she was born in the hours before a total solar eclipse. In her natal chart, both the Sun and the Moon are positioned in the twelfth house, tightly conjoined with Ketu, “the great eraser.”

In classical Jyotish, the twelfth house is “a house of loss” (de Fouw and Svoboda, Light on Life, 222). Because the Sun “represents the causal body, or soul” and the Moon represents the “astral or subtle body” (de Fouw and Svoboda, Light on Relationships, 29), their total eclipse in the house of loss manifested as an inherent lack of access to Self energy.

The client experienced consistent confusion regarding her true identity, navigating life with an obscured, shadowy sense of who she is.

The most influential planet in her chart is Venus. Her ascendant is Libra (ruled by Venus) and Venus is located there in the first house. She was born on Friday, the day ruled by Venus. Venus is her atmakaraka (soul indicator) and the specific tensegrity of her chart forms a panchamahapurusha yoga, endowing her with the innate resources to be charming, kind, personable, friendly, funny and beautiful — magnetic to all who meet her.

The client reluctantly acknowledged the validity of these descriptions. However, her Venus is also hemmed in between the 12th house eclipse and her 2nd house Saturn, indicating a tendency to hide or minimize these attractive qualities.

Venus is the princess of the solar system. Therefore, clinical inquiry began with questions about her experience of “princess” energy. Her protectors immediately leapt up. The client flatly denied the existence of this exiled part, instead projecting it outward. She said: “I’m not the princess! My sister is the princess.”

This suggests the powerful Venusian part was banished in childhood as a survival strategy to remain acceptable within her family system.

The exiled status of this Venus part was corroborated by the client’s exceptionally high score on the IFS Scale in “Pleasing/Self-abandoning” behaviors. As de Fouw and Svoboda note regarding relationship synastry, individuals will often “abandon their own identity” when Venus is strained (de Fouw and Svoboda, Light on Relationships, 128); internally, this client had entirely abandoned her Venusian essence.

Beyond the suppressive influence of Saturn, Mars served as the client’s primary Protector and Firefighter. In her chart, Mars is exalted in her 4th house, also forming a panchamahapurusha yoga, indicating that she feels at home in warrior mode.

To be embattled feels normal. This placement indicates the latent potential for courageous leadership and the overcoming of any obstacle, but also shows a powerful inner critic and suggests that she will live by the sword and die by the sword.

This influence shows up most prominently in the realms of domesticity and partnership, normalizing her experience of conflict at home and in her romantic relationships.

As the therapeutic process unfolded over the course of three months, the client gradually built trust with her Protector parts — updating their understanding of her status as a competent adult and providing them with embodied evidence of her capacity to lead the system.

As the Protector parts softened their grip and agreed to give the exiled Venusian part a chance to come out and play, the client embarked upon a series of experimental threshold crossings.

She acquired new clothes and started dressing in a way that made her feel sexy. When this went well, she became a figure model, allowing herself to be deeply seen in the nude by a classroom full of aspiring artists.

When this proved profoundly empowering, she pursued her long-standing but previously suppressed desire to experiment with aerial dance and the art of burlesque, eventually performing tasteful, playfully erotic scenes for an enthusiastic crowd.

These experiences rapidly activated a dormant sense of confidence in her self-worth and the vital life-force flowing from her natural beauty and desire for pleasure.

The impacts of this shift reverberated throughout her life. She soon realized that she was not being treated well in her relationship. The repositioning of Venus automatically allowed Mars to find a more harmonious location in the system.

Previously, her Mars energy arose as explosive arguments in the relationship. Through IFSS counseling, she gained access to the strength to protect her sacred Self and the courage to overcome the “obstacle” of this relationship.

This healthier expression of Mars subsequently empowered her to apply to the master’s in political science program at a prestigious university. Upon her acceptance into this program, she left the dilapidated (very non-Venus) mobile home in which she’d been living with her former partner and moved into her own apartment in a new city and began her pursuit of a career advocating for common-sense legal reforms in public policy around marijuana and psychedelics — a perfect expression of the combined power of her prodigious Mars and Venus energy.

Clinical Lessons Learned

This case study illuminates several key lessons for the IFSS practitioner.

First, the strong reaction of her Protector parts in response to the too-early attention directed at her exiled Venus part underscored a vital IFSS principle: therapy can only proceed at the pace the protective system allows. Attempting to access the Exiled part before building trust with the Protectors ultimately delayed the unburdening process.

Second, the value of the astrological map of the internal system was proven by the practitioner’s willingness to persevere in pursuit of that Venusian part. Knowing the vital role it plays in her life, the practitioner had confidence that it was worth pursuing despite her resistance. Without that map, the practitioner might have relented and allowed the focus to shift.

Third, changes can happen rapidly. Internal shifts instantaneously influence the external environment, and vice versa. Changing one internal relationship has profound ripple effects.

This is generally a desirable result, but it is vital to consistently confirm that the client maintains sufficient access to Self energy to navigate the inevitable upheavals that arise in the process of restructuring their internal and external tensegrity systems.

Chapter 12 coming soon — Conclusion

Works Cited

• DeLand, Lia. “Initial reliability of a new measure based on the internal family systems model.” Journal of Self Leadership, 2003.

• de Fouw, Hart, and Robert E. Svoboda. Light on Life: An Introduction to the Astrology of India. Arkana Penguin Books, 1996.

• de Fouw, Hart, and Robert E. Svoboda. Light on Relationships: The Synastry of Indian Astrology. Samuel Weiser, Inc., 2000.

• Start with the Prologue

• Read Chapter 01 — Introduction

• Read Chapter 02 — Personal Statement

• Read Chapter 03 — The Architecture of Life

• Read Chapter 04 — Psychotensegrity

• Read Chapter 05 — Clinical Process of IFS

• Read Chapter 06 — Astrotensegrity

• Read Chapter 07 — The Sattvic Triad: Sun, Moon, Jupiter

• Read Chapter 08 — The Benefic Planetary Parts: Mercury & Venus

• Read Chapter 09 — The Malefic Planetary Parts: Saturn, Mars, Rahu & Ketu

The Clinical Application of IFSS

The clinical application of Internal Family Solar Systems consists of comprehensively mapping the many parts that compose the whole Self, connecting the dots within that complex ecosystem and gently reshaping those relationships to re-establish a resilient internal tensegrity structure.

The therapeutic procedure includes three distinct phases:

1. Astrological Analysis

2. Clinical IFS Procedures

3. Vedic and Ecocentric Remedies

Astrological Analysis

Before the first clinical encounter, the IFSS practitioner begins with rigorous analysis of the client’s natal astrology chart. This chart serves as a preliminary map, providing precise details about the pre-existing relationships between the client’s Self and parts.

Evaluating the interconnected dignity, aspects and afflictions of the planets allows the practitioner to formulate a clinical hypothesis about the client’s capacity to access Self energy and which archetypes are most likely functioning as Managers, Exiles or Firefighters.

Accurate chart analysis also provides insight into the appropriate “bedside manner” to adopt, indicating whether the client will respond better to slow, gentle, indirect coaxing or strong, challenging directives.

Chart analysis is multifactorial, requiring consideration of the planetary relationships established at birth as well as current transits and timing cycles which define the present moment shape of the astrotensegrity structure.

As de Fouw and Svoboda note, “While a static evaluation assesses the potentials inherent in a horoscope, a dynamic assessment estimates when these potentials will develop” (de Fouw and Svoboda, 591).

By examining current transits and the active dasha cycle, the practitioner recognizes which parts are most active right now and gauges the system’s relative readiness to engage in deep trauma work.

If, for example, a client is moving through a destabilizing sub-period (such as Moon-Rahu or Moon-Ketu), their internal tensegrity system may be too fragile for direct trauma processing, hinting that the therapy should proceed slowly and focus primarily on stabilization and Self-resourcing.

Clinical IFS Procedures

With a clear map of the astrotensegrity system, the clinical process begins. In direct encounters with the client, the practitioner employs standard IFS techniques to support the cultivation of Self-leadership by unblending Managers and unburdening Exiled parts.

The initial vehicle for this is the “6 F’s” protocol previously described, but also includes the full spectrum IFS procedures such as Insight, Direct Access, the U-Turn and the Six Steps of Unburdening, which are as follows:

• Witnessing: The Self invites the Exile to share its memory or experience. The Self acts as a compassionate witness to the pain without becoming overwhelmed by it (Schwartz and Sweezy, 150).

• Reparenting (The “Do-Over”): The Self imaginally enters the memory and does for the Exile whatever it needed someone to do at the time, such as standing up to an abuser or offering a hug (Schwartz and Sweezy, 150).

• Retrieval: The Self takes the Exile out of the remembered scene and brings it into a safe place in the present (Early, 255).

• Unburdening: The Exile is asked to locate the heavy beliefs or emotions (burdens) it carries in its body and release them. This is often visualized as releasing the burden into natural elements like fire, water, light, wind, or earth (Early, 255).

• Invitation: Once unburdened, the Exile is invited to bring in new, positive qualities such as joy, playfulness, or courage to fill the space where the burden used to be (Schwartz and Sweezy, 150).

• Integration: The newly healed Exile is reintroduced to the protective parts. Seeing that the Exile is no longer in pain, the Protectors are relieved and invited to take on new, healthier roles in the system (Schwartz and Sweezy, 150).

To supplement this protocol, practitioners employ guided visualizations, parts mapping (drawing the internal solar system), and the “mandorla” journaling practice, in which the client uses several different colored pens to write out a conversation between internal parts.

A critical semantic shift utilized throughout this process is instructing the client to speak for a part rather than from a part. Transitioning a client from saying “I am confused” to “A part of me is feeling confused” facilitates the unblending process by establishing “good space” between the observing Self and the activated part.

Vedic and Ecocentric Remedies

Given the limitations inherent to mere talk therapy, Self healing must be solidified and embodied through integrative remedies tailored to the specific planetary parts that arise.

In Jyotish, these remedies are known as Upayas. Upayas are intentional actions designed to “manipulate these images... by creating a healthy relationship between the individual’s self-image and the image of the graha” (Svoboda, 172).

Traditional Vedic prescriptions may include chanting planetary mantras, wearing gemstones, performing ritual ceremonies or offering acts of service such as donations, volunteering, etc.

Recognizing that Vedic practices may feel foreign or irrelevant to clients enmeshed in modern Western culture, the IFSS menu of remedies includes nature-based invitations that help the client cultivate a more intimate relationship with the natural world and discover a deeper sense of belonging within the web of all beings.

Examples of this include (but are not limited to):

• Dreamcraft — engaging with and embodying dreams as “the royal road to the unconscious” in order to integrate all parts into the whole system.

• Wanders — meandering in wild places, using the natural world as an external mirror for internal parts and processes. Specific examples include stalking a surprise, befriending the dark, and walking as or with a part.

• The Unsent Letter — composing a letter from the Self to an exiled part or other beloved or challenging characters from the client’s waking life. This activity can be consummated with the ceremonial burning or burying of the letter.

• ETC’s — experimental threshold crossings, which are calculated, real-world risks (e.g. singing karaoke; initiating an uncomfortable conversation; asking for a raise; making a fashion statement) taken in a safe-enough environment with the intent to help hyper-vigilant protectors learn to trust that the Self is capable of leading the system.

Chapter 11 coming soon — Case Study: IFSS in action

Works Cited

• de Fouw, Hart, and Robert E. Svoboda. Light on Relationships: The Synastry of Indian Astrology. Samuel Weiser, Inc., 2000.

• Schwartz, Richard C., and Martha Sweezy. Internal Family Systems Therapy. 2nd ed., Guilford Press, 2020.

• Early, Jay. Self-Therapy: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Wholeness and Healing Your Inner Child Using IFS, A New Cutting-Edge Psychotherapy. 2009.

• Svoboda, Robert E. The Greatness of Saturn: A Therapeutic Myth. Lotus Press, 1997.

• Start with the Prologue

• Read Chapter 01 — Introduction

• Read Chapter 02 — Personal Statement

• Read Chapter 03 — The Architecture of Life

• Read Chapter 04 — Psychotensegrity

• Read Chapter 05 — Clinical Process of IFS

• Read Chapter 06 — Astrotensegrity

• Read Chapter 07 — The Sattvic Triad: Sun, Moon, Jupiter

• Read Chapter 08 — The Benefic Planetary Parts: Mercury & Venus

The Malefic Planetary Parts: Saturn, Mars, Rahu & Ketu

The Sanskrit term for malefic is krura, which shares etymological roots with the word “cruel,” but more literally translates to “forceful in action” (Frawley, Ayurvedic Astrology, 58).

When a traumatic load renders gentle action insufficient for survival, the system relies on krura planets to forcefully protect the organism. However, because these planets operate through the lower gunas of Tamas (inertia and darkness) and Rajas (hyper-activity and aggression), their protective strategies can become extreme, painful, and disruptive to the individual’s life.

Saturn as Supreme Manager and Boundary-Setter

Saturn is the force of limitation, boundaries, and containment. Saturn represents the “principle of limit, structure, contraction, constraint, necessity, hard materiality” (Tarnas, 127).

Within the IFSS paradigm, Saturn embodies the archetype of the proactive Manager.

As the slowest moving planet, Saturn bestows the Self-energy of Calmness. Its benevolent intent is to provide the compressive force needed to hold the system together.

As the most distant planet visible with the naked eye, Saturn represents the outer limit of the Sun’s vitalizing light. Awareness of one’s limitations allows for the wise allocation of scarce resources and the humility required to do the dirty work of life — sweeping floors, cleaning toilets, and calmly confronting uncomfortable truths about the individual and life itself.

When afflicted or overactive, the humility of Saturn can feel more like humiliation to vulnerable parts. To avoid or pre-empt this pain, Saturn uses harsh self-criticism and strict control to ensure that those parts are kept locked away, justifying this imprisonment as being for their own good.

Dr. Robert E. Svoboda describes this pattern of humiliation and imprisonment in The Greatness of Saturn: “Saturn will search out the weaknesses in your personality and will expose them to full view, making you experience your limitations by making your ego self- identify with those limitations. As long as you are unable to control your own nature, you are at Saturn’s mercy” (Svoboda, 166).

Symptoms of a dysregulated Saturn are depression, anxiety, and a lack of self-worth. The cultivation of strong Self (Solar) energy provides the strong force of confidence to counterbalance Saturn’s compressive vector.

A reliable remedy is to remember Saturn’s benevolent intent and cultivate gratitude for its willingness to illuminate weaknesses so they can become integrated into the wholeness of the psyche.

The same function that keeps Exiles locked away can also hold the stable containment needed for Managers to feel safe enough for Exiles to be rehabilitated.

Mars as Aggressive Firefighter and Fierce Manager

If Saturn protects the system through cold restriction and Tamasic immobility, Mars protects it through Rajasic heat, combativeness, and goal-directed energy.

Mars is the cosmic Warrior, the planet of “power, strength, courage, aggression, which measures our ability to project force in life” (Frawley, Astrology of the Seers, 21). In the IFSS model, Mars frequently vacillates between functioning as a militaristic Manager or a destructive Firefighter.

The benevolent expressions of Mars include great discipline and strength. Many world-class athletes possess powerful Mars energy, endowing them with the drive, focus and physical power required to compete and accomplish impressive feats of athleticism. In the IFSS model, Mars bring the Self-energy of Courage, bestowing individuals with the willingness to do whatever it takes, even if unpleasant, to protect that which they hold sacred.

When functioning as a Manager, Martian parts act as a drill sergeant, utilizing strict, aggressive discipline to maintain order, often bullying other parts into submission. However, when a Manager fails (as eventually they always do) and an Exile escapes, Mars responds rapidly, willing to do whatever it takes to restore order.

As Frawley observes, ”This same aggression brings about competition, argument, conflict... and causes domination, control, violence and injury” (Frawley, Astrology of the Seers, 21). The Martian Firefighter does not care if its explosive action destroys a marriage or a career, just so long as the immediate source of pain and chaos is neutralized.

Symptoms of an overactive or afflicted Mars include fits of rage, drastic risk-taking, and impulsive violence which may be directed outward or inward.

Saturnian depression is generally stagnant; it may include suicidal ideation but rarely carries the risk of enactment. Martian influence, on the other hand, brings the impulsive energy necessary to actually follow through with self-inflicted violence.

The remedy is to direct this fierce energy into productive tasks, ensuring that the inner warrior follows wise orders from the King (the Solar Self) and thereby employs its powerful gifts as a heroic, life-saving first responder rather than serving as a mindless soldier in an aggressive war of choice.

Rahu as Obsessive Escapist

The lunar nodes, Rahu (the North Node) and Ketu (the South Node), are the shadow planets that cause eclipses. They are not physical masses, but intense intersections of gravitational tension. Because they have no physical body, they operate primarily on the subconscious and psychological levels.

In Vedic myth, Rahu is the severed head of a demon who desperately attempts to consume the Sun and Moon, but because he lacks a stomach, he can never be satiated. Rahu is “fear-inspiring,” and his form is “like bluish-black smoke” (Svoboda, 93-94).

Clinically, Rahu is the archetype of the extreme, addictive Firefighter. When the pain of an Exile becomes unbearable, Rahu hijacks the system by casting a thick smoke of illusion over the conscious mind. “Rahu represents illusion, hallucination, trance, psychosis, paranoia and other such negative mental states” (Frawley, Astrology of the Seers, 29).

To distract the Self from the Exile’s agony, the Rahu Firefighter utilizes insatiable obsession. It drives the individual toward compulsive behaviors such as binge eating, substance abuse, sexual compulsions, manic ambition or frivolous foreign travel.

Healthy Rahu energy is a magnetic force pulling toward karmic destiny. Rahu helps by compelling a person to pursue their longings, even when they are irrational or unconventional. One who is actively, consciously transforming karma into dharma can utilize the intensity of Rahu to cultivate healthy obsessions that accelerate their liberation.

Habitually though, and especially when afflicted, Rahu acts as the ultimate escapist, utilizing the all-consuming chaos of addiction to successfully avoid the underlying trauma.

Ketu as the Dissociative Firefighter

Ketu is the body from which the head of Rahu is severed. While Rahu obsesses over worldly ambition, Ketu seeks to sever the individual from material existence altogether. Ketu indicates “injury, enmity, death, negation, knowledge, liberation, psychic or spiritual insight” (Frawley, Astrology of the Seers, 15).

In IFSS, Ketu is the prime indicator of psychological dissociation. Healthy Ketu energy connects the individual to the ancestral realm, transcending the material world through the precognitive intelligence encoded into all creation.

When afflicted, Ketu is known for out-of-body experiences or spells of total dissociation from one’s surroundings. The individual may literally feel as though they are floating outside of their physical body, entirely disconnected from physical reality.

Such psychological severance may present as pathological to the outside world, but it can also be seen as a brilliant, life-saving mechanism that helps an individual survive traumatic, near-death experiences.

However, this gift is best utilized as a short-term coping mechanism rather than a consistent strategy for navigating life’s mundane challenges.

Malefic Summary

A foundational premise of Internal Family Solar Systems is that there are no bad parts. Just so, there are no bad planets.

The krura grahas are not inherently evil entities intent on destroying the individual’s life — they are powerful protectors who deliver their gifts and stimulate evolution through challenging experiences.

Though difficult to endure, such circumstances are often ultimately understood to be the best thing that ever happened — once the individual re-establishes Self-leadership and gains the retroactive perspective that these events catalyzed their growth and activated previously unknown strength, courage, discipline and perseverance.

The goal of the IFSS practitioner is not to amputate these parts or exorcise these planets. Instead, as Svoboda notes, “The true heroism is to conquer your own nature” (Svoboda, 166).

The Self (the sattvic malefic Sun) must use its naturally superior gravitational force to “conquer” the usurping parts, holding them at an appropriate distance so as to maintain the tensional integrity of the system and instruct these powerful actors to deploy their prodigious gifts with a mature intelligence that truly serves the system as a whole.

Read Chapter 10 — Clinical Applications of IFSS

Works Cited

• Frawley, David. Ayurvedic Astrology: Self-healing through the Stars. Lotus Press, 2005.

• Tarnas, Richard. Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View. Viking Press, 2006.

• Svoboda, Robert E. The Greatness of Saturn: A Therapeutic Myth. Lotus Press, 1997.

• Frawley, David. Astrology of the Seers: A Guide to Vedic/Hindu Astrology. Lotus Press, 2000.

• Start with the Prologue

• Read Chapter 01 — Introduction

• Read Chapter 02 — Personal Statement

• Read Chapter 03 — The Architecture of Life

• Read Chapter 04 — Psychotensegrity

• Read Chapter 05 — Clinical Process of IFS

• Read Chapter 06 — Astrotensegrity

• Read Chapter 07 — The Sattvic Triad: Sun, Moon, Jupiter

Benefics and Malefics

In addition to the gunas, traditional Jyotish classifies planetary forces according to their method of operation: they are either krura (harsh in action) or saumya (gentle in action) (Frawley, Ayurvedic Astrology, 58).

The natural benefics include: the Moon, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter. These planets operate through harmonious expansion, connection, and diplomacy.

The malefic planets include: the Sun, Mars, Saturn and the lunar nodes Rahu and Ketu. The Sun is the only Sattvic Malefic and is therefore considered in a slightly different light, but generally speaking, malefic planets utilize rigid compression, isolation, and aggressive tactics to safeguard the system.

Understanding the innate nature of the planetary archetypes is crucial to the successful practice of IFSS. The following section illuminates the particularities of each planet and how it commonly expresses itself within astrotensegrity systems.

Benefics: Mercury and Venus

Benefic planets represent the parts that naturally prefer to manage the system’s equilibrium through peaceful negotiation, creativity, and rational thought rather than extreme, forceful measures.

However, because they are inherently sensitive and adaptive, they are frequently forced into the roles of burdened Managers or deeply wounded Exiles. Having already discussed the nature of the Moon and Jupiter, this section illuminates the tendencies of Mercury and Venus.

Mercury as Messenger

Mercury is the planetary significator of the rational mind, speech, skill, and objective data collection (Frawley, Ayurvedic Astrology, 138).

In the IFSS framework, Mercury acts as the internal Messenger that naturally generates the Self-energy of Curiosity, allowing the individual to approach their internal world with open, non-judgmental observation.

A defining characteristic of Mercury, however, is its profound mutability. It is a highly impressionable planet that “easily takes on the influences of malefic planets if conjoined with them” (Frawley, Ayurvedic Astrology, 13).

When a system is placed under traumatic stress, the adaptable energy of Mercury is quickly co-opted by the system’s protectors.

Clinically, an afflicted or burdened Mercury commonly uses detachment and intellectualization as a management strategy. To protect the system from feeling the overwhelming emotional pain of an Exile, the Mercurial Manager will obsessively analyze data, over-think, and employ clever intellectualization or abstracting humor as a defense mechanism, effectively severing the individual’s conscious awareness from their emotional body.

Venus as the People-Pleaser

Venus represents the archetype of the Lover, governing affection, friendliness, sociability, refined sensuality, and the perfection of pleasure (Tarnas, 126).

In a healthy, Self-led system, Venusian parts function as graceful, Creative forces that maintain internal and external harmony, utilizing the innate capacity to relate with and value others.

When faced with conflict, Venus does not resort to threats; instead, she may become seductive, indulgent or attempt to bargain “by politely, directly, and honestly stating their requests and appealing to reason” (de Fouw and Svoboda, Light on Relationships, 121).

However, because Venus governs our deepest desires and the universal human need for connection, these parts are highly susceptible to attachment injuries.

In dysfunctional or hyper-critical childhood environments, this sensitive, pleasure-seeking energy is often deemed unsafe or unacceptable by sensually-repressed parents and subsequently banished to the basement of the psyche.

In this exiled state, the Venus part carries the burden of self-abandonment, shame, vanity, or superficial people-pleasing, sacrificing its authentic identity and boundaries merely to maintain a sense of connection and survive (Schwartz and Sweezy, 43).

Benefic Summary

Understanding the condition of Venus and Mercury in the birth chart provides insight into how an individual attempts to adapt to stress before resorting to the extreme, destructive measures of the Firefighters. Healing these benefic parts requires the core Self to validate their gentle, protective intentions.

Through the process of unblending and unburdening, the Mercurial Manager is permitted to drop its detached intellectualism and return to a state of playful curiosity, while the Venusian Exile is safely retrieved from the shadows to reclaim its innate capacity for authentic, joyful connection and pleasure.

Read Chapter 09 — on Malefics: Saturn, Mars, Rahu & Ketu

Works Cited

• Frawley, David. Ayurvedic Astrology: Self-healing through the Stars. Lotus Press, 2005.

• Tarnas, Richard. Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View. Viking Press, 2006.

• de Fouw, Hart, and Robert E. Svoboda. Light on Relationships: The Synastry of Indian Astrology. Samuel Weiser, Inc., 2000.

• Schwartz, Richard C., and Martha Sweezy. Internal Family Systems Therapy. 2nd ed., The Guilford Press, 2019.

• Start with the Prologue

• Read Chapter 01 — Introduction

• Read Chapter 02 — Personal Statement

• Read Chapter 03 — The Architecture of Life

• Read Chapter 04 — Psychotensegrity

• Read Chapter 05 — Clinical Process of IFS

• Read Chapter 06 — Astrotensegrity

The Sattvic Triad: The Sun, Moon, and Jupiter

In Vedic philosophy, creation at every level is governed by the three primal qualities of nature. These are known as the gunas, a Sanskrit word which literally translates as “quality,” or “attribute.”

The three gunas are Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. These are interdependent, simultaneously co-arising and inextricably embedded in the subtle sub-structure of every aspect of perceivable reality.

Tamas is the principle of density, form and physical stability. Rajas is the principle of action, activity and vital energy. Sattva is “of the nature of light, lightness, clarity, harmony, balance and intelligence” (Frawley, Astrology of the Seers, 482).

Sattva is the divine quality that brings about the upward, evolutionary movement of the soul. The eight C’s that describe the Self in IFS double as appropriate descriptors of a Sattvic state.

In Jyotish, each of the planets is primarily associated with one of the three gunas. The Sun, Moon, and Jupiter are recognized as the three naturally Sattvic planets (de Fouw and Svoboda, Light on Life, 270). Together, they form a functional triad that governs the health, integration, and spiritual evolution of the individual.

In the clinical practice of IFSS, these three planetary archetypes correlate perfectly to the three primary objectives of Internal Family Systems therapy: Self-leadership (The Sun), Unburdening (The Moon), and Unblending (Jupiter).

The Sun as Self-Leadership

The Sun is the foundational luminary of the solar system and the ultimate symbol of the core Self within the human psyche. Astrologically, the Sun represents the causal body or reincarnating soul (Atman), which indicates “character, will and individuality” (Frawley, Ayurvedic Astrology, 18).

It is the innate, undamaged center of consciousness that transcends the fragmented protective parts of the ego. As Dr. David Frawley notes, “The Sun is who we really are, and with the Sun in the chart is the problem of identity, the search for our true Self” (Frawley, Astrology of the Seers, 505).

In a healthy system, the Sun provides the steady gravitational force necessary to keep all the other planetary parts in their appropriate orbits. Without this consistent center of gravity, the system falls into chaos, and protective Manager or Firefighter parts are forced to seize control.

The Sun provides the internal family with two of the most critical “8 C’s” of Self-leadership: Confidence and Clarity. An individual with a healthy Sun possesses the clarity to accurately perceive their internal dynamics, and the confident, self-sourced authority to lead the system.

The ultimate goal of IFSS is to restore and amplify this solar Self-leadership.

The Moon as Compassionate Witness

While the Sun represents the independent, perceiving Self, the Moon represents the receptive, reflecting mind and the astral body (Frawley, Ayurvedic Astrology, 18). The Moon is the feminine force, the Divine Mother who governs the emotional flow of the waters of the body and psyche.

“As the Sun represents who we are in ourselves, the Moon shows how we relate to others, our social consciousness” (Frawley, Astrology of the Seers, 507).

In the IFSS paradigm, the Moon provides the vital Self-energy of Compassion. The Moon’s innate capacity for unconditional love, nurturing, and emotional resonance is essential for connecting with the deep trauma of exiled parts. The lunar capacity to “feel all the feels” allows the Self to successfully unburden an Exile of its accumulated pain by acting as a compassionate witness to that part’s suffering.

An individual with a healthy Moon has the capacity to connect intimately with the fears of rigid Managers and the shame of hidden Exiles, bathing them in a field of non-judgmental acceptance so they can safely release their burdens.

Jupiter as Good Space

Jupiter, known in Sanskrit as Guru (the teacher), is the great benefic and the planet of intelligence, grace, and dharma (Frawley, Astrology of the Seers, 517).

While the Sun and Moon govern the fire and water elements respectively, Jupiter governs the element of ether (space). A profound realization within Vedic science, validated by the recent discovery of gravitational waves, is that empty space is not a void that separates objects; rather, ether is the subtle substance that connects everything in the universe.

In the IFSS model, Jupiter holds the Self-energy of Connectedness, facilitating the process of unblending. When a protective part is triggered, it blends with the Self, collapsing the internal geometry and taking over the individual’s consciousness.

To restore order, the practitioner must help the client create “good space” between the observing Self and the activated part. Because Jupiter is the ruler of ether and expansion, it is the Jupiterian energy within the psyche that stretches the internal tensegrity system, creating the spaciousness necessary for parts to unblend.

An individual with healthy Jupiter energy possesses the optimism, faith, and meaning-making capacity required to trust in their potential to heal. Once the system is spacious and unblended, Jupiter coheres the isolated parts like stars in a constellation, connecting apparently disparate dots into an integrated picture of the harmonious whole.

Sattvic Summary

The activation and integration of the three Sattvic planets forms the operational heartbeat of IFSS. Accurate analysis of these planets provides preliminary insight into the client’s capacity to access the Self energy necessary to successfully engage in the therapeutic process.

Subsequent to this analysis, the practitioner can offer appropriate remedies to increase access to the Self when powerful parts attempt to hijack the system.

Jupiter creates the necessary etheric space for the parts to unblend; the Moon provides the watery, unconditional Compassion required for unburdening; and the Sun provides the fiery Confidence and Clarity required to establish and maintain Self-Leadership.

By consciously cultivating the Sattvic energies of the Sun, Moon, and Jupiter, the individual transcends the reactive behaviors of the lower gunas (Rajas and Tamas) and restores the natural health and harmony of their internal solar system.

Read Chapter 08: on Mercury and Venus

Works Cited

• Frawley, David. Astrology of the Seers: A Guide to Vedic/Hindu Astrology. Lotus Press, 2000.

• de Fouw, Hart, and Robert E. Svoboda. Light on Life: An Introduction to the Astrology of India. Arkana Penguin Books, 1996.

• Frawley, David. Ayurvedic Astrology: Self-healing through the Stars. Lotus Press, 2005.

• Start with the Prologue

• Read Chapter 01 — Introduction

• Read Chapter 02 — Personal Statement

• Read Chapter 03 — The Architecture of Life

• Read Chapter 04 — Psychotensegrity

• Read Chapter 05 — Clinical Process of IFS

Astrotensegrity Systems

“The astronomer discovers that geometry, a pure abstraction of the human mind, is the measure of planetary motion.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Having established that both the human body and mind operate as bio- and psychotensegrity systems respectively, and given Fuller’s assertion that “universe has one comprehensive coordinating system,” it follows that one can usefully apply the same geometric principles to the cosmos itself (Fuller, 247).

In accordance with the definition of a “system” as a finite entity possessing inherent insideness and outsideness, wherein its constituent components relate to one another in precise, recognizable patterns, the solar system is, in fact, a macrocosmic or astrotensegrity structure.

The planets function as isolated “islands of compression” floating seamlessly within the continuous “sea of tension” that is the fabric of space-time. Jyotish is the timeless art and science of measuring the form and subsequent function of Earth’s local astrotensegrity system.

If the Earth is an island floating in the sea of gravitational tension, the other planets are like massive boats encircling that island. For many millennia, astrologers have measured, the unique frequency and amplitude of gravitational waves each planet leaves in its wake.

As these waves flow towards Earth, they overlap and accumulate — amplifying or canceling one another out. The science of Jyotish uses the precise geometric relationships that define the system at any given moment to measure the cumulative impact of those waveforms — anticipating whether they will be harmonic, neutral or chaotic when they reach the Earth.

The subjective art of Jyotish integrates the synergetic principle that the “behavior of whole systems [are] unpredicted by the behavior of their parts taken separately.”

Form determines function. Therefore, as the prevailing astrotensegrity system stretches and warps, so do the physical and psychological phenomena of human experience.

Planets as Archetypal Parts

IFSS does not view planets as inert, distant rocks, but as living, multivalent archetypal beings. In his seminal work Cosmos and Psyche, cultural historian Richard Tarnas utilizes a Platonic-Jungian framework to explain that planetary movements coincide with patterns of human experience that “closely resemble the character of those planets’ mythical counterparts” (Tarnas, 125).

Tarnas notes that archetypes act as “the deepest patterns of psychic functioning,” serving as both cosmic metaphysical principles and psychological complexes (Tarnas, 125). This mythopoetic framing is mirrored in the traditional Vedic understanding of the planets.

In Sanskrit, the word for planet is graha, which literally translates to “seizer,” “grasper,” or “that which catches hold of” (Svoboda, 160). As Dr. Robert Svoboda notes in The Greatness of Saturn, the nine grahas “are much more than giant balls of matter... The nine grahas are a group of powerful astral forces which inhabit the corporeal planets in the same way that human personalities reside within physical bodies” (Svoboda, 162).

The grahas act as the executive officers of the Law of Karma, seizing human consciousness to deliver the equal and opposite reactions to past psychological and physical actions.

This concept of “seizing” serves as a bridge to Internal Family Systems. In IFS, when a part is blended, that part literally seizes the central Self, flooding the psychological system with its specific energetic signature.

Therefore, IFSS posits that grahas are the macrocosmic blueprint for the internal parts. The archetypal essence of each planet expresses itself as a specific member of the internal family. In that way, the unique astrotensegrity system of an individual (their birth chart) serves as a mythopoetic map of their internal system.

Form determines function. Therefore, analyzing the form of an astrotensegrity structure — defined by the exact geometric relationships (aspects) and relative dignity (exaltation or debilitation) of all the planetary parts — provides insight into the function each part will perform within the system as well as the cumulative experience that results.

A skilled IFSS practitioner will know whether a given planet is more likely to express itself as harmonious ally of the Self, or if it will be forced into an extreme, burdened role of Exile, Manager or Firefighter.

The precision of these insights allow the practitioner to accurately anticipate problematic dynamics, emphasize innate strengths and generally guide the counseling process with confidence, clarity and compassion.

While a complete elucidation of the intricate theory and practice of Jyotish is beyond the scope of this dissertation, it is useful to summarize the primary planetary archetypes in order to demonstrate their relevance to the clinical application of IFSS.

Here is a chart summarizing how the planets correspond to the 8 C’s of the Self and the identifiable sub-personalities:

Read Chapter 07: on the Sun, Moon and Jupiter

Works Cited

• Schwartz, Richard C., and Martha Sweezy. Internal Family Systems Therapy. 2nd ed., The Guilford Press, 2019.

• Tarnas, Richard. Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View. Viking Press, 2006.

• Svoboda, Robert E. The Greatness of Saturn: A Therapeutic Myth. Lotus Press, 1997.

• Start with the Prologue

• Read Chapter 01 — Introduction

• Read Chapter 02 — Personal Statement

• Read Chapter 03 — The Architecture of Life

• Read Chapter 04 — Psychotensegrity

Unblending, Unburdening, and the 6 F’s

The standard clinical methodology of Internal Family Systems aims to restore equilibrium to the internal system through three primary goals: Unblending, Unburdening, and the cultivation of Self-Leadership.

When a part is activated, it frequently blends with the Self, hijacking the individual’s seat of consciousness and flooding the system with its specific emotional state or extreme agenda.

A stable tensegrity system requires tensioned space between its compressive elements in order to maintain its structure; without this space, it collapses. To initiate healing, therefore, the clinician must help the client unblend the observing Self from the activated part, creating the space (tension) necessary for a harmonious relationship within the system.

The process of restoring geometric space is accomplished via the “6 F’s” protocol:

1. Find: Once established in sufficient Self energy, the client is guided to locate a part. Parts are identifiable as thoughts, feelings, memories, images, somatic sensations or numbness (the conspicuous absence of any of the above).

2. Focus: The client directs their attention toward the part, acknowledging and honoring it as a distinct and complex entity in its own right.

3. Flesh Out: The client employs curiosity to learn about the part, asking what it looks like, how old it is, what job it performs, and what it wants and needs.

4. Feel Toward: The practitioner asks how the client feels toward the part. If the client feels anything other than the 8 C’s, it indicates that another part has hijacked the process. Steps 1-4 are then repeated with this newfound part. The process does not proceed until sufficient Self energy is present. The presence of the 8 C’s (e.g., compassion, curiosity) confirms that the Self is successfully leading the inquiry.

5. Befriend: The Self builds a trusting relationship with the part, validating its positive intent, honoring its tireless sacrifices, and creating an internal alliance.

6. Fears: The Self asks the protector part what it fears would happen if it stopped performing its extreme job. The Self provides reassurance and addresses the fears by demonstrating that it is capable of handling the internal system and the external environment. The Self then offers the part the opportunity to be reassigned to a more appropriate and enjoyable role in the system.

Once the Managers and Firefighters trust the Self enough to relax their tensional grip, the system opens, allowing the Self to access the Exiles. The Self can then act as a compassionate witness to the Exile’s past trauma.

Through a process known as unburdening, the Exile releases the extreme beliefs and emotional pain it has carried and is consciously welcomed back into its appropriate place within the system. (Schwartz, 150).

The impact of this unburdening is profound. Because a tensegrity system is interconnected, relieving the Exile of its burden instantly relieves the Managers and Firefighters of their necessity to protect.

Adjusting the location of an Exile within the internal tetrahedron necessarily changes the side lengths and internal angles defining its relationship with the Self and other parts.

Such skillful adjustments bring the system closer to its natural shape, restoring the Self to its rightful position as the center of gravity where it can coordinate the harmony of the whole system.

Read Chapter 06: Astrotensegrity as the Map of Your Internal Planets

Works Cited

• Schwartz, Richard C., and Martha Sweezy. Internal Family Systems Therapy. 2nd ed., The Guilford Press, 2019.

• Start with the Prologue

• Read Chapter 01 — Introduction

• Read Chapter 02 — Personal Statement

• Read Chapter 03 — The Architecture of Life

Internal Family Systems as Psychotensegrity

If, as discussed in Chapter 03a, geometry is the study of relationships, it is a promising hypothesis that the physical principles of synergetics and biotensegrity can also provide an accurate map of the geometric relationships between the subtle, mythopoetic characters that compose the human mind.

If physical nature is indeed governed by one universal coordinating system, then the psyche, too, must operate as a dynamic psychotensegrity system organized according to the same spontaneously self-organizing principles of tensegrity systems.

This view of the mind as one continuous whole composed of many parts was pioneered by Dr. Richard C. Schwartz, who developed the IFS model in the 1980s. Rooted in his early clinical work as a family therapist, Schwartz observed that individual clients exhibited internal dynamics that mirrored the dysfunctional family systems he was treating externally.

This observation led to the foundational assumption of the IFS paradigm: the human mind is naturally multiple, and multiplicity is an innate, healthy state rather than something to be pathologized.

In a harmonious psychotensegrity system, these discrete sub-personalities, or “parts,” orbit harmoniously around an undamaged center of gravity known as the “Self.”

The Self represents the seat of consciousness and is the natural leader of the internal system (Schwartz, 43). Sub-personality parts are considered to be innate to the psyche, neither created nor destroyed.

The fundamental premise of IFS is that there are “no bad parts.” That is, every part carries benevolent intent for the system. However, the naturally healthy relationship between Self and parts becomes distorted in response to childhood attachment injuries, trauma, or excessively repressive or punitive environments.

Depending on the particular survival strategy deployed by these burdened entities, they are categorized into three primary archetypes:

1. Exiles: The most vulnerable members of the system, Exiles are highly sensitive parts that carry the burdens of past trauma, including feelings of worthlessness, terror, and shame. To protect the overall system from being overwhelmed by this pain, they are locked away in internal prisons and trapped in time, constantly seeking acknowledgement, redemption and care.

2. Managers: These are proactive, protective parts that attempt to control the individual’s internal and external environments to ensure “dangerous” Exiles never escape. Operating under the motto “never again,” Managers utilize strategies such as perfectionism, people-pleasing, intellectualization, and self-criticism to maintain safety (Schwartz, 24).

3. Firefighters: When Managerial strategies fail and an Exile breaks loose, Firefighters leap into action to impulsively extinguish the emotional fire. They utilize extreme distraction or numbing strategies such as substance abuse, dissociation, binge eating, or rage without regard for the collateral damage to the individual’s life or relationships.

The 8 C’s of the Self

A revolutionary and defining aspect of IFS is the assertion that beneath the myriad of conflicting, protective parts lies an innate, undamaged core known as the “Self” (Schwartz, 43).

While parts are sub-personalities that develop and adapt in response to life experiences, the Self is not a part. It is the fundamental “seat of consciousness” that is present within every individual from birth. In a healthy psychotensegrity system, the Self serves as the natural leader of the internal family, acting as the gravitational center around which all other parts orbit.

When protective parts trust the system enough to soften their distorting grip, the Self emerges spontaneously, like the ever-present Sun emerging from cloud cover.

Through decades of clinical observation, Schwartz notes that when clients accessed this core state, they consistently exhibited a specific set of characteristics of Self-leadership he codifies as the “8 C’s”:

• Calmness: A grounded, steady state of the nervous system. Calmness does not mean the complete absence of emotion, but rather the ability to remain present and regulated while emotional turbulence arises within the system. It allows the individual to observe parts without urgently needing to fix or avoid discomfort.

• Curiosity: An open, non-judgmental desire to understand the experiences, fears, and motivations of parts. Instead of asking “What is wrong with me?” curiosity invites the question “What is this part trying to tell me?”

• Compassion: The capacity to meet every part — even (especially) those exhibiting destructive or extreme behaviors — with unconditional positive regard. Compassion: creates the internal safety needed for wounded Exiles to reveal themselves without fear of rejection.

• Clarity: The ability to perceive one’s internal dynamics and external reality

  objectively, free from the distorted beliefs and intense emotions of burdened parts. Clarity provides the discernment necessary to differentiate parts from Self and make grounded decisions.

• Confidence: An inner trust in the Self’s capability to lead the internal family, tolerate uncertainty, and handle whatever emotional distress arises without needing to rely on the rigid control strategies of Manager parts.

• Courage: The willingness to approach deeply wounded Exiles and painful traumatic memories without turning away, dissociating, or becoming overwhelmed. Courage allows the individual to maintain internal safety while facing vulnerability.

• Creativity: A spontaneous, flexible openness that allows the system to release

  rigidity and embrace a playful approach in order to discover new, adaptive solutions for the individual’s life.

• Connectedness: A profound sense of belonging and harmony. Internally, connectedness creates peaceful alliances among the various parts. Externally, it fosters secure attachments with other individuals, the living planet, and the cosmos as a whole.

Within the IFSS framework, the Self is analogous to the Sun. Just as the Sun provides the gravitational force that holds the solar system together, the Self provides the stabilizing, compassionate leadership necessary to keep the planetary parts in their appropriate, harmonious orbits.

Just as there are no bad parts, there are no bad planets. Therefore, healing in the IFSS model does not come from amputating or eliminating protective parts, but rather from restoring the Self to its rightful place at the center of the internal solar system.

The Internal Tetrahedron

Internal Family Solar Systems utilizes Buckminster Fuller’s synergetic geometry to describe how Self and parts interact.

Fuller mathematically demonstrates that the tetrahedron is the “minimum system” of the Universe, representing the most efficient way to enclose volume and differentiate an “insideness” from an “outsideness” (Fuller, 400.05).

The structure of the human psyche mirrors this internal tetrahedron. The Exiles, Managers and Firefighters form the three points of a two-dimensional drama triangle; the Self resides at the peak vertex, the fourth point needed to create a three-dimensional tetrahedron, serving as the only viable escape route from the infinitely self-recursive cycle of Victim, Perpetrator and Savior enacted by Exiles, Managers and Firefighters.

Just as a physical tensegrity structure achieves stability through a network of continuous tension and discontinuous compression, a psychotensegrity system achieves systemic equilibrium through the relationships between its parts. The parts function as “islands of compression” — dense, localized behavioral responses — suspended within the continuous tensional web of the Self’s consciousness.

Because the mind is a tensegrity system, it obeys Fuller’s law of synergy: the behavior of the whole system is unpredicted by the behavior of its parts taken separately (Fuller, 101.01).

In a tensegrity structure, you cannot change one thing without changing everything. Therefore, altering the status or location of a single part automatically, instantaneously rearranges the entire system.

Skillfully redefining the location of just a single part requires the whole system to adjust, setting off a cascade of relational changes that can rapidly return a distorted system to harmonic equilibrium with minimal intervention.

Read Chapter 05: The Clinical Process of Internal Family Systems

Works Cited

• Schwartz, Richard C., and Martha Sweezy. Internal Family Systems Therapy. 2nd ed., The Guilford Press, 2019.

• Fuller, R. Buckminster, and E. J. Applewhite. Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking. Macmillan Publishing Co. Inc., 1975.

• Start with the Prologue

• Read Chapter 01 — Introduction

• Read Chapter 02 — Personal Statement

Chapter 03: Findings & Discussion

This chapter synthesizes the foundational principles of Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy with the cosmological framework of Vedic Astrology (Jyotish) grounded in the structural physics of Buckminster Fuller’s Synergetics.

By examining the human psyche as a tensegrity system, this section establishes the Internal Family Solar Systems (IFSS) modality as a comprehensive map for clinical psycho-spiritual intervention and evolutionary healing.

Synergetics and Tensegrity as the Architecture of Life

The subtle structure and function of the human psyche is intimately interrelated with that of the cosmos as a whole. The mind, the body, the Earth and the galaxy all operate according to one comprehensive coordinating system. They arise, exist and transform according to the same set of universal laws. They are each whole entities unto themselves which are composed of many parts which relate to one another in a pattern, creating a complete and complex system.

Inventor, futurist and systems theorist R. Buckminster Fuller defines a system as “the first subdivision of Universe” (Fuller, 400.011). According to Fuller’s framework, any valid system must possess inherent “insideness and outsideness,” dividing the entirety of the universe into the events occurring outside the system, the events occurring inside the system, and the geometric set of events constituting the system itself (Fuller, 400.011).

In her analysis of Fuller’s work, Amy Edmondson notes that “geometry is the science of systems — which are themselves defined by relationships. Geometry is therefore the study of relationships.”

These dynamic relationships serve as the structural language used to describe how the discrete parts of any system coordinate to form a cohesive whole (Edmonson, 39). This geometric coordination is the foundation of Synergetics, a term Fuller coined to describe his “explorations in the geometry of thinking” (Fuller, 247).

Synergy is defined as the “behavior of whole systems unpredicted by the behavior of their parts taken separately” (Fuller, 101.01). Fuller proposed that physical stuff and metaphysical phenomena do not operate according to different sets of rules.

Rather, the physical and metaphysical share “one comprehensive coordinating system”. To accurately comprehend the nature of this universal coordinating system, one must abandon the classical, linear models of physics and embrace the “energy event” geometry of tensegrity.

In classical Newtonian mechanics, structures are built upon the principle of continuous compression. Buildings are constructed as a “stack of blocks,” dependent upon gravity to hold them together in a continuous transfer of accumulating compression down to the ground (Gordon, 156).

Such familiar structures (stone walls, Greek columns, modern skyscrapers) are rigid, base-heavy, and unidirectional. They resist downward compression well but are highly vulnerable to horizontal bending and twisting shear forces. If a skyscraper is tilted off its plumb line, or if a stone column’s center of gravity falls outside its base, that leverage forces it to fracture and tears the structure apart (Levin, 472).

Tensegrity is a portmanteau of the words “tension” and “integrity” coined by Fuller and initially put into practice by sculptor Kenneth Snelson.

Compared to Newtonian mechanics, tensegrity operates on an entirely different set of physical laws. Fuller defines tensegrity as a system in which “shape is guaranteed by the finitely closed, comprehensively continuous, tensional behaviors of the system and not by the discontinuous and exclusively local compressional member behaviors” (Fuller, 700.011).

In a tensegrity system, the rigid compression struts never touch one another. Instead, they act as “islands of compression in a sea of tension” (Carstens and Kuhl, 34).

Because the compression elements are suspended within a continuous network of tension, the structure distributes stress globally rather than locally. When a load is applied to a tensegrity structure, it does not create a localized dimple that compromises a single hinge.

Instead, the entire structure spontaneously adapts. As it compresses, the internal tension increases uniformly, causing the system to grow exponentially stronger under the load.

As a result, tensegrity structures are omnidirectional and independent of gravity. Unlike a stack of blocks dependent on gravity to maintain their structural integrity, tensegrity structures remain stable whether they are right-side up, upside down, underwater, or floating in zero-gravity.

Biotensegrity and Astrotensegrity

For centuries, biomechanical engineers attempted to apply classical Newtonian physics to living organisms, treating the human skeleton as a rigid framework of levers and columns upon which soft tissues are merely draped like curtains.

However, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Stephen M. Levin observed that biological organisms simply do not obey these linear mechanical laws. Levin coined the term biotensegrity to describe the application of tensegrity principles to biology.

If the human spine operated as a rigid, gravity-dependent column, and the limbs operated as classical levers, the mechanical forces generated by simple, everyday movements would far outweigh the strength of biological materials.

As Levin notes, if governed by simple Newtonian mechanics, “the human bony spine would bend with less than the weight of the head on top of it and limbs will tear off with the leverage of a fly rod held in a hand” (Levin, 515).

Furthermore, a classical column model cannot account for the omnidirectional mobility of living creatures. A post-and-beam model cannot possibly explain the structural integrity of a worm, the neck of a flamingo, the tail of a monkey, or the wing of a bat (Levin, 482).

If animals were built like skyscrapers, dinosaurs would have been crushed under their own weight, and pterodactyls could never have flown.

As it is, living organisms are biotensegrity structures. The bones act as discontinuous, floating compression struts enmeshed within the continuous tensional network of muscles, ligaments, and fascia. When initial force is applied, the system distorts easily but, as the load increases, the system dynamically adapts and the whole structure becomes rapidly stiffer and stronger, absorbing and dissipating the energy rather than breaking (Gordon, 156).

This is why a grasshopper can jump 100 times its own length and land without shattering its delicate legs — the energy of the impact is absorbed globally as the biotensegrity system soaks up the shock.

Biotensegrity also applies at the cellular level. Donald E. Ingber, Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, has published research finding conclusive evidence that tensegrity provides the best explanation for the cytoskeleton of the cell, its movement, and its behavior.

For example, when the extracellular matrix (a sea of tension) imposes a compressive force upon an individual cell (an island of compression), that cell absorbs and dissipates the energy globally. As the geometric structure of the cell adjusts to the squeezing pressure, this new form eventually dictates a new function, initiating apoptosis (cellular suicide) in order to release tension and create more space in the larger system.

Conversely, if the tension in the extracellular matrix is too low and the system gets stretched out, the cell expands, eventually adopting a geometric form that stimulates the function of mitosis (cellular reproduction) to fill the space and restore the harmonic balance of tension in the network (Ingber).

Expanding from the micro to the macrocosmic scale, the solar system also acts as an astrotensegrity system. Historically, classical physics struggled to explain planetary mechanics because it relied on the logic of continuous compression, but as Buckminster Fuller observed, “Earth does not roll around Mars as would ball bearings” (Fuller, 645.01).

Instead, nature isolates all her major compressional functions in “spherical islands that are vastly remote from one another and intercohered only by Kepler’s and Newton’s invisible tension: gravity” (Fuller, 792.51).

The planets serve as dense islands of compression floating within a continuous sea of gravitational tension.

The Vedic concept of ether — asserting that outer space is not an empty vacuum but a physical, tensional fabric — was recently validated by groundbreaking experiments in astrophysics.

In 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) first detected gravitational waves, confirming a foundational component of Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity: that gravity is a literal manifestation of the curvature and undulation of spacetime (Miller).

As massive planetary and celestial bodies orbit, they operate like speedboats zooming through the ocean of the ether, leaving intersecting gravitational waves in their wake. These undulations literally squeeze and stretch the fabric of space-time.

Therefore, the physical space between the planets is not an empty void, but a dynamic, vibrating tensional network that stretches, warps, and ultimately binds the planetary “islands of compression” together in perfect tensegrity.

If “universe has one comprehensive coordinating system,” and it accurately describes the structure and function of physical phenomena from cells to the solar system, it follows that it also describes the inner physics of the human psyche.

Read Chapter 04: on Psychotensegrity

Works Cited

• Fuller, R. Buckminster, and E. J. Applewhite. Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking. Macmillan Publishing Co. Inc., 1975.

• Gordon, J. E. Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down. Da Capo Press, 1978.

• Levin, Stephen M. “Continuous Tension, Discontinuous Compression, A Model for Biomechanical Support of the Body.” Bulletin of Structural Integration, 1982, pp. 31-33.

• Carstens, S., and D. Kuhl. “Non-linear Static and Dynamic Analysis of Tensegrity Structures by Spatial and Temporal Galerkin Methods.” Journal of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures, vol. 46, no. 2, 2005, pp. 116-134.

• Ingber DE. The architecture of life. Sci Am. 1998 Jan;278(1):48-57. doi: 10.1038/scientificamerican0198-48. PMID: 11536845.

• Miller, M.C., Yunes, N. The new frontier of gravitational waves. Nature 568, 469–476 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1129-z

• Start with the Prologue

• Read Chapter 01

The inspiration for this dissertation arises from my personal healing process and professional path as a Wild Mind Guide and IFS-informed Ayurvedic Astrologer.

I have navigated my own existential anxiety and debilitating depression since childhood. This internal dissonance has interfered with my capacity to share the many gifts I carry.

The inconsistent expression of my true Self has been a compounding factor for my troubled mental health, adding weight to my frustrating sense of being randomly abandoned on a strange and dangerous planet.

This unsettled experience of life compels me to seek deeper answers than those offered by my family and generic society. I have followed the breadcrumbs of awakening through dreams and synchronistic experiences, leading me to ashrams and eco-villages where I discovered yoga philosophy, Ayurveda, Vedic Astrology and nature-based therapy.

It was (and still is) a source of profound relief to discover that the most ancient extant wisdom traditions on the planet offer a coherent map of the cosmos at every scale, describing how the subtle stuff of consciousness densifies into material reality.

The revelation of the five elements of Ayurveda and the comprehensive insights of Jyotish vastly enhanced my access to inner peace, outer ease and personal freedom.

As I established a more harmonic inner state, I began to help others as a certified Ayurvedic Doctor and professional astrologer. In pursuit of new tools to enhance the impact of my clinical practice, I sought training in the Internal Family Systems model of psychotherapy. The IFS approach added a new layer of depth to my Self-awareness and proved valuable to my clients when combined with Ayurveda and Jyotish.

The revelations contained in my 2020 Master’s project — The Periodic Table of Ayurvedic Elements — took it one step further, illuminating how the metaphysics of Ayurveda and Vedic Astrology correlate with Nobel Prize-winning astro- and biophysics.

To discover that the best of modern science validates the intuitions of the ancient sages infused a new sense of confidence in the potency of my inner and outer efforts.

The IFSS approach to Self-healing and spiritual counseling proposed here represents the best of what I’ve learned so far, both personally and professionally.

It has proven invaluable to my own evolutionary process, and promises great potential to serve many other people as they seek to become their most authentic Self and deliver their soul gifts to a world in desperate need of increased coherence.

This is the most inspiring outcome I can imagine. It would be a tremendous blessing if my personal journey were to be of benefit to others. May it be so.

Read Chapter 03:

• Start with the Prologue

Introduction

“I am confident that humanity’s survival depends on all of our willingness to comprehend feelingly the way nature works.” — Buckminster Fuller

Modern psychology is in crisis. Vague theories lacking universal relevance and studies that can’t be replicated leave the field struggling to provide adequate support and true healing for the millions of people facing mental health issues (1).

The root of the problem is paradigmatic. The field of psychology has evolved in parallel with a reductionist, scientific materialist view of reality in which helping professionals are chasing individual symptoms as if they are independent phenomena, rather than parts of a larger system. This myopic approach misses the forest for the trees. Neuroscience alone cannot map the mysterious but massive influence of spirit and soul.

Meanwhile, many “holistic” practitioners rely too heavily on single-source theories, operating on the assumption that gut-health or sugar or glyphosate is the root cause of all conditions, physical and mental, regardless of any scientific data or lack thereof (2).

In this context, there is strong need for a scientifically-valid modality inclusive of the full spectrum of human experience — soma, soul, psyche and spirit. To survive and thrive, humanity requires a system of inner and outer pattern recognition rooted in the understanding that human hearts and minds are intimately interwoven within the web of all beings.

Internal Family Solar Systems (IFSS) synthesizes the evidence-based psychotherapeutic framework of Internal Family Systems (IFS) with the mythopoetic map of Vedic Astrology (Jyotish) to provide a comprehensive clinical modality for Self-healing and spiritual counseling.

By conceptualizing the mind as a tensegrity system reflecting the structure of the solar system, individuals can map their internal planetary “parts,” lighten psychological burdens, and lead their lives from their authentic Self.

To effectively support this thesis, this dissertation explores three primary points of intersection between physics, clinical psychology, and Vedic Astrology:

1. The Psyche as a Tensegrity System

First, the paper illuminates the geometry of consciousness through the lens of Buckminster Fuller’s definition of tensegrity, wherein a system is stabilized by continuous tension and discontinuous compression.

The IFS model is founded on the assertion that the whole of the human psyche is naturally composed of distinct parts, echoing the tensegrity aphorism of “islands of compression floating in a sea of compression,” in which you cannot change one thing without changing everything.

Because the mind operates as a tensegrity system, a shift in one internal relationship instantaneously alters the entire psychological structure.

2. Vedic Astrology as the Map of the Internal Cosmos

Second, this research demonstrates how Jyotish serves as an archetypal map of the psyche. Jyotish proposes a fractal reality wherein celestial bodies are precisely mirrored within the human mind and body.

By evaluating an individual’s astrological chart, the IFSS practitioner can accurately anticipate how distinct planetary parts might take on healthy, protective or extreme roles in the internal system and subsequently propose appropriate remedies.

3. The IFSS Clinical Methodology

Third, the dissertation describes the clinical application of IFSS as a tool for Self-healing and spiritual counseling. IFSS provides a structured protocol for using Jyotish to enhance and accelerate the process of unblending merged parts, unburdening exiled pain and cultivating healthy Self-to-part relationships.

When the central Self is empowered to serve as the center of gravity of the internal system, planetary parts are relieved of their extreme roles and can return to their natural orbit.

Relevance

The relevance of this topic lies in its capacity to translate the intangible stuff of soul and psyche into tangible experience and practical applications of a living wisdom. IFSS provides an accurate map to help navigate the ethereal territory of psycho-spiritual evolution.

Through this process of internal harmonization, individuals can step into a more authentic expression of who they truly are, and find their true place of belonging within the web of all beings.

Read Chapter 02:

Citations:

1. Hutmacher F, Franz DJ. Approaching psychology's current crises by exploring the vagueness of psychological concepts: Recommendations for advancing the discipline. Am Psychol. 2025 Feb-Mar;80(2):220-231. doi: 10.1037/amp0001300. Epub 2024 Jan 25. PMID: 38271030.

2. Beres, Derek. ""Good Energy" Has Very Bad Data." Re:Frame Substack, 25 Oct. 2024, derekberes.substack.com/p/good-energy-has-very-bad-data. Accessed 28 Feb. 2026.

This journey began in 2016 when, in the midst of my four-year Ayurvedic Doctor program, I felt inspired to pursue a project that was outside the scope of that institution.

I wish I could claim to be self-motivated enough to have just done the project independently, but alas, the idea just lingered, unformed until I found UMS — an online correspondence course in which I could earn a degree for completing this research.

The result, in 2018, was a Master’s degree in Metaphysics for my thesis titled “The Periodic Table of Ayurvedic Elements.” The purpose of this project is to illuminate the archetypal geometry that serves as a Rosetta Stone, accurately translating between modern biophysics and Sankhya philosophy, the structural foundation for Ayurveda and Vedic Astrology.

NOTE: the public-facing summary of this project is available on Youtube.

Watch the Complete Presentation

In 2020, I completed my training with the Internal Family Systems Institute as an “IFS-informed” practitioner. While incorporating the power of parts work into my clinical practice, I became curious about how it might fit into my established cosmological model.

This was the genesis of the current work. Six years later, after much more study and clinical experimentation, I finally completed this dissertation, titled “Internal Family Solar Systems” — the integration of IFS, Vedic Astrology and Buckminster Fuller’s concept of tensegrity to form a comprehensive model of “the geometry of consciousness.”

Over the coming days, I will publish the complete paper broken up into digestible parts. To begin, here is the letter I received notifying me that my dissertation had been accepted. It provides a concise summary of the themes and relevance of this work.

May it be of benefit.

May 05, 2025
Dear [Telfer],

It was a pleasure to read your dissertation, Internal Family Solar Systems. I appreciate the depth of thought you brought to this work.

Your dissertation presents a highly creative and ambitious synthesis of Internal Family Systems therapy, Vedic astrology, and Buckminster Fuller’s concept of tensegrity.

You were able to effectively weave together psychological theory, metaphysical philosophy, and spiritual counseling into a cohesive framework that feels intellectually grounded as well as personally authentic.

The concept of viewing the psyche as an internal solar system was especially compelling and provided a memorable structure for understanding complex emotional and spiritual dynamics.

I appreciated the honesty and vulnerability within your Personal Relevance chapter. Your willingness to share your own healing journey gave the dissertation warmth and sincerity, while also illustrating the lived experience that inspired your research. This personal connection strengthened the overall impact of the paper and made your passion for helping others very clear.

Your Findings & Discussion chapter was particularly strong. The detailed explanations of the planetary archetypes and their parallels within Internal Family System parts work were thoughtfully developed and demonstrated a strong command of both systems.

I found your discussion of the 8 C’s of Self-leadership and their correspondence with the Sun, Moon, and Jupiter especially insightful. The integration of clinical applications, case study material, and practical healing methods also added depth and relevance to your proposed IFSS modality.

Overall, your dissertation offers a unique contribution to the field of metaphysical studies and spiritual counseling. Your work encourages a deeper exploration of healing beyond conventional models and invites consideration of the interconnectedness of psyche, spirit, and cosmos in a fresh and meaningful way.

I hope you continue developing and sharing this work, as it has the potential to resonate deeply with many people seeking holistic approaches to healing and self understanding.

Congratulations again on earning your Doctorate, and best wishes as you continue this important work.

Blessings,
[Dissertation Committee member]

Read Chapter 01:

Meet the National Family (Part Four)

The Scapegoated Children: Victims and Exiles

In Part Three, we explored the roles of the Protectors and Managers—the Rigid Patriarch obsessed with an outdated status quo, and the Enabling Caretaker who sacrifices justice for a hollow peace.

To truly understand why these Protectors are working so frantically, we must look at who they are trying to manage, suppress, and hide away.

In the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model, Exiles are the innocent, idealistic parts of the whole who have been shunned, shamed, and blamed as a threat to the survival of the system.

In our national family drama, these are the archetypal scapegoated children presently embodied by women, people of color, immigrants, anyone openly expressing a queer identity, and the working class in general.

These groups carry the system’s most painful secrets. They bear what we can call the Burden of Reality — the undeniable truth about systemic injustice, economic oppression, deep-seated racial trauma, and the hollow, contradictory nature of the childhood myths our nation tells about itself.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I recognize that referring to marginalized communities as children can be seen as infantilizing, diminishing their innate dignity and their complex, adult agency within the given circumstances. That is not at all the intent here.

The purpose of this essay is to expand and deepen the National Family System metaphor. In IFS, the archetypal role of the Exile is most commonly a precious childhood part carrying profound gifts that the Protectors and Firefighters actively suppress for fear of their transformative power. In a healthy system, reintegrated Exiles are highly honored contributors to the vitality of the whole.

Because their very presence makes the rest of the family—particularly the Protectors—feel uncomfortable or “guilty,” they are ruthlessly shamed and silenced.

The Patriarch views these Exiles as a profound threat; they are seen as foreign, unacceptable, and disgusting, requiring drastic measures to ensure they are sent back to whatever containment or “other” place they belong so they cannot damage the family’s fragile identity.

For multiple consecutive presidential administrations now, they are literally putting kids in cages, making this abstract metaphor an all-too actual reality.

Meanwhile, the Enabling Caretaker relies on their victimization to feel a sense of purpose, fundraising based on promises to help that never materialize, ultimately telling the Exiles to “stop crying” and stop provoking the Patriarch just to keep the peace.

The Truth-Tellers and the Fire in the Basement

In a healthy, unblended family, these children would be the truth-tellers. They would be the ones pointing out the cracks in the foundation so the family could heal and grow beyond the inherited burdens of generational trauma.

But in our blended nation, they are entirely blamed for the family’s stress. Because their innate gifts are continually suppressed and their voices outright dismissed, they are forced to take drastic measures just to be heard.

These Exiled parts have Firefighters of their own who, when their survival is threatened, act out through vigorous protests, “illegal” forms of collective resistance (providing safe harbor for undocumented people, for example), extreme expressions of righteous anger (property destruction) or conspicuous rejection and withdrawal from the stagnant, Patriarchal two-party system as a whole.

We’ll explore these Firefighter parts in the next installment of this series, but for now it is important to remember that these extreme responses are not acts of malice. It is a desperate survival strategy. It is the only way they can get the adults in the room to finally look at the fire raging in the basement.

The Example of Minneapolis

My hometown remains under siege as the Firefighting agents of the pathological Protector impose conformity to the antiquated paradigm of the Patriarch.

The immigrant community and their neighbors are placed in the role of the Scapegoated Children pleading with their “Parents” for their very humanity and the validity of the life they have built.

While the Parents of the system debate their right to exist, the community itself engages in a scramble of solidarity to take care of its own. This is the Scapegoated Child doing the work of the parent because the abusive Adults have abdicated and abandoned their appropriate duty to protect.

Neighbors are organizing to feed one another, to provide legal protection, and to create networks of physical safety that the official Family at best refuses to provide and at worst actively sabotages.

The Patriarch responds through DPS/ICE (The Reactionary Firefighters), attempting to “restore order” by forcibly removing the Exile and sending them back to a “containment” or “other” place where they can no longer “damage” the family with their foreign ways.

The Battered Enabler (Establishment Politicians) offers sympathy but remains too terrified of the Patriarch’s rage to stop the deportations, effectively allowing the abuse to continue in the name of political “realism.”

For example, establishment Democrats advocate for peripheral reforms – the removal of masks; clearly marked vans for abducting people — instead of courageously confronting the need to fundamentally reimagine of the form and function of the system.

The Exiles in Minneapolis are left to fight on two-fronts: desperately trying to keep each other alive while screaming for the Caretakers and Patriarchs to acknowledge and ameliorate the material causes of their suffering.

Until the national family is willing to look at that fire, acknowledge the Exiles’ pain, and unburden them from the systemic trauma they have been forced to carry, the family will remain trapped in this cycle of suffering.

On the international scale, the Palestinian people are the world’s most prominently exiled community. The dominant players exert active effort to erase their existence. If they are acknowledged at all, their very humanity is publicly challenged if not outright denied. The mere fact of their existence exposes the hypocritical brutality of the Patriarchal actors.

In response to the unacceptable status quo imposed upon them, Firefighters (e.g. Hamas) acts out with bursts of chaotic violence as an ineffective strategy to meet the Exiles valid need for survival, acknowledgement and dignity.

The adolescent United States plays a central role, egging on its fellow bullies around the world, finding self-validation in the cruelty of their companions.

A natural outcome of our collective evolution from adolescent to adult will be an increased capacity for compassion to replace that cruelty. An authentic, adult Self possesses the calm, clarity and courage to acknowledge and integrate the unique gifts offered by every part of the system.

The key question for our national family is: Can we find the courage to listen to the children we have scapegoated, rather than punishing them for showing us the truth?

Part Five is coming soon.

In the next installment, we’ll illuminate those playing the role of Rescuer/Firefighter — namely, the DPS and ICE agents enforcing conformity to the system as-it-is, as well as the rebellious Leftists who recognize that the system is beyond reform and instead insist on a radical reimagining of the whole macro-family dynamic.

Meet the National Family (Part Three)

In order to untie our familial knot, we must first identify the characters playing out this drama.

In any family system — especially one in the middle of a breakdown — individuals often stop being themselves.

Instead, they become their role.

They take on specific, rigid identities designed to protect the family from further pain or collapse.

It is vital to know that the intent to help is sincere. IFS makes the (perhaps radical) assertion that all parts are inherently benevolent, motivated by a valid human need, even if their behavioral strategy for meeting that need is problematic or Self destructive.

In the throes of its pubescent evolution, the United States finds its various political and social groups blended into the following archetypes, following the Internal Family Systems model with help from Karpman’s Drama Triangle.

• Protectors, Managers, Perpetrators:

  • The Rigid Patriarch (Trump Regime)

  • The Enabling Caretaker (Establishment Democrats)

• Victims/Exiles:

  • Women

  • The global majority (people of color)

  • Non-European immigrants

  • Everyone openly expressing any form of queer identity

  • The working class in general

• Saviors/Firefighters:

  • Conformists (CPB/ICE)

  • Rebels (Left-Wing Activists)

Disclaimer: these are generalizations, rough sketches of socio-political groups necessarily simplified in order to describe the collective archetypes at play. Please also forgive in advance the gendered language and receive it in service of the “common family” metaphor.

We’ll explore the Victims and Saviors in subsequent installments.

For now, let’s examine the Protectors, Managers, Perpetrators category.

The Rigid Patriarch (Trump Regime)

In the teenage psyche of the United States, this is the part that clings desperately to childhood safety.

This role acts as a Protector part, obsessed with an old story of a mythical past where the family’s identity was clear, certain, and unchallenged.

His straining for dominance is evidence of existential vulnerability. He is hyper-vigilant to threats because he is terrified of becoming obsolete in the emerging paradigm.

To this part, the changing body of the nation — its shifting demographics and evolving values — feels like a literal death.

Until now, this Protector archetype (read: rich white men, in general) has been instrumental to the child’s survival. He did what he had to do to make sure the nation survived the war of childhood.

He fought hard to create an initial identity that would establish our acceptance and viability within the family of nations. If he had to exile some parts of the national body to obscurity, imprisonment or slavery in the process, so be it.

However, in the transition to adulthood, acceptance is taking a back seat to authenticity and his deepest fear is that he’ll lose all influence and have no role to play whatsoever.

If he isn’t in control, he doesn’t know if he’ll have anything to contribute. If he has nothing to contribute, he assumes he’ll be relegated to the same Exile status he imposes upon the parts he perceives as useless or threatening to the survival of the whole.

Loyal to the old story, he considers it his job to maintain the status quo at all costs. He considers it his sacred duty to resist the encroaching evolution by remaining rigid, digging in his heels to hold the crumbling structures upright, even as the sand shifts beneath his feet.

For example, this looks like the teenage bully who taunts other kids who don’t follow the “rules” of being cool; the one who enforces “in-group” and “out-group” dynamics only to ensure his own status in the hierarchy; the one who performs confidence by diminishing others; the one who abhors weakness in others as it reminds him of his own weakness, which he is not allowed to show.

On the national stage, Donald Trump performs this role to perfection. His macho veneer is plainly thin. He is hyper-sensitive to any sort of criticism or even inquiry into his methods, lashing out in response to even basic questions about his approach to leadership.

Anything that deviates from what he decides is acceptable (a Puerto Rican pop star, for example; or any kind of queer identity; or god forbid, melanated skin) is seen as a threat which he must ruthlessly crush, if only to reinforce the rules of what is “in” and what is “out.”

The evidence (both explicit and deductive) in the Epstein files indicates that he does indeed have a pathological relationship with (pre)pubescent children.

His grave responsibilities as the patriarch do not allow him to access his own innate innocence. Innocence is, to him, weakness. Weakness is dangerous. Therefore, in order to survive, he is duty-bound to eliminate any expression of innocence.

Let’s be clear: the actions alleged in the Files are horrifically sick, incomprehensibly twisted and utterly unforgivable. There is no excuse. And — if we hope to understand and prevent such behavior in the future, we must be courageous enough to examine its root cause.

In this effort, I find wisdom in framing the motivation for such abhorrent behavior as a strategy to ensure the survival of an adolescent ego.

If he sincerely believes the maintenance of his authority is a life-or-death issue, then he has a biological imperative to do whatever it takes to maintain it. He abuses others to keep himself alive. The acceptance of his friends depends on it, and his egoic survival depends on that acceptance.

We also see this archetype expressed through “alpha-male” culture (e.g. Andrew Tate, groypers), where insecure men perform dominance over women and minorities in order to reclaim the mythic masculine power these oppressed groups have somehow stolen from them.

The key question for these distorted Protector parts is: what are you protecting and why?

The Enabling Caretaker (Establishment Democrats)

In our national family, this role functions like a battered spouse who has learned that their survival depends on managing the Patriarch’s moods.

This part is more invested in maintaining calm, cordiality at the dinner table rather than allowing the chaotic clarity of the truth to come through.

Even though they may long to be free from the dominating Patriarch their fear of his wrath is debilitating, so they cower and placate to “keep the peace.”

In their view, if the Patriarch is provoked, the whole house might burn down — so they defend the abusive status quo to avoid a dangerous confrontation.

Ultimately, this part sacrifices justice in service of a hollow peace.

They perform the exhausting and ultimately futile labor of appeasing the abuser. To do this, they must often silence the children.

They tell the Exiles to stop crying, stop provoking the Patriarch, because they know that they — and the children — will be the ones to pay the price when he explodes.

This part is a Caretaker, not a Caregiver. They do not nurture the family toward health or serve others with true generosity. They rely on the suffering of others to give them purpose, thereby (subconsciously, usually) ensuring the Victim remains victimized, even as they apparently strive to save them.

Performative and ultimately ill-fated heroism allows the Caretaker to indulge in the role of victim. They are martyrs — oppressed in equal parts by ungrateful Victims and the overbearing Patriarch.

As a result, no one heals and the family secrets stay buried.

Ultimately, this part is trapped in a tragic loop: defending the very status quo that is crushing them simply because they are unwilling to risk the loss of their status if the truth comes to light.

In our national family, this role is performed by establishment Democrats and the many Republicans who professed opposition to Trump but do nothing to stand in his way.

These enablers insist on the essential validity of the system as it is, believing that if they just give the Patriarch enough of what he wants, he will allow things to return to “normal.”

This doomed-to-fail strategy employed by the abdicant Protector directly harms the Exiles. Playing it safe is a betrayal of those who have no safety.

Those pleading for justice are told to wait for the midterms; to be more realistic; to make reasonable, respectful requests; to stay calm and work through proper channels.

As our nation emerges from adolescence into adulthood, the battered wife that is the establishment fears losing everything.

If the children — whose need for protection gave her life purpose — grow up, move out and establish an authentic identity of their own, then she is left alone with the abusive Patriarch, forced to reckon with who she truly is at her core, without the veil of caretaker to protect her self-image.

This explains the DNC’s consistent resistance to any form of truly revolutionary politics. Their sabotage of Bernie Sanders is one example; their refusal to endorse Zohran Mamdani is another.

Any ideology or praxis that defies “the rules” set by the Patriarch is a survival threat. For their own good, the Caretaker must suppress the children’s impulse to address and resolve the unacceptable material conditions of the family’s status quo.

In this way, the Protector becomes a Perpetrator as they attempt to subdue the rebellious youth. Their sincere attempts to keep the peace become oppressive in their own right, trapping the Exiles in devastating and often deadly circumstances. Their loyalty to the status quo is the ultimate betrayal.

Once again, we must ask: what are you protecting? And why?

Part Four is coming soon.

Introduction

In 1858, Abraham Lincoln famously warned that “a house divided against itself cannot stand.”

He was speaking of a nation split by the institutional sin of slavery, but his words offer a hauntingly literal diagnostic for our current era.

Right now I have a harrowing sense that a new civil war could be brewing. Do you feel it too?

The signs and symptoms become more and more morbid by the day.

However, if we look closer at the vitriol, gridlock, and exhaustion that define our current socio-political circumstances, a different picture emerges.

The United States does not look like a war between two coherent armies; it looks like the complex dynamics of a dysfunctional family drama.

It is a system in the midst of a nervous breakdown, where the “adults in the room” are missing in action.

This leaves the most frightened and reactive members of the family to fight for the steering wheel.

Our Collective Adolescence

I believe the United States is currently a teenager in the throes of a messy, reactive puberty.

After a turbulent birth and feisty-but-triumphant childhood, we are now collectively struggling to form an authentic, adult identity for the first time.

Like most any adolescent enthralled in the crisis of growing up, we are blended with our most extreme emotions.

The Internal Family Systems (IFS) approach to psychotherapy uses the term blending to describe being so overwhelmed by a single feeling — like fear or rage — that we lose access to who we really are.

We don’t feel the emotion, we are the emotion. We stop having a reaction and start becoming the reaction.

When blended, our complex, multifaceted individuality is hijacked by a simplistic, single-minded part on a war-path to satisfy its all-consuming need for recognition.

The crisis of adolescence requires us to shed the initial identity structures we developed in order to make ourselves acceptable-enough to our family and society. This provisional identity was a childhood survival mechanism, and it served us well enough.

However, crossing the threshold into adulthood means releasing that adolescent ego to make room for a more mature identity that is authentic to our true nature. Only then can we access the courage and creativity required to show the world who we actually are and give the gifts only we can give.

This authentic, adult identity is what we call the Self. It is the appropriate center of gravity of your individual psyche, around which the many beautiful, complex parts of your personality orbit.

As we struggle to define and develop an authentic National Self, the voice of that calm, clear, compassionate adult who ought rightly to lead the way is drowned out by a cacophony of reactive, adolescent parts fighting for attention, influence and ultimately, survival.

Purpose & Hypothesis:

The aim of this essay is to describe the psychodynamics of the current body-politic, driven by the evidence-based aspiration that unblending all the parts of our national family system might allow our natural Self to emerge and lead the United States into a new era of nurturing, generative adulthood.

To summarize: we are a nation in transition, but we are currently stuck in a developmental loop.

We are living in a home led by a Rigid Patriarch obsessed with preserving the past who is married to an Enabling Caretaker devoted to keeping the peace at the expense of justice.

We are caught in the trap of Reactive Siblings who are so busy fighting each other that they hardly notice that they’ve set the house ablaze.

To move forward, we don’t need another debate or a better compromise — we need a National Unblending.

To finally address the deep, generational burdens that have kept all parts of our national family in pain for far too long requires a thorough truth and reconciliation process.

We must acknowledge the full spectrum of perpetual victims, vicious perpetrators, and problematic saviors keeping us trapped in this cycle of suffering.

Acknowledgement opens the opportunity to unblend and unburden all involved, creating the prerequisite conditions for authentic Self leadership.

Read on for Part Three.

Prologue

“Nature has one comprehensive coordinating system.” — Buckminster Fuller

A “system” is defined as “any entity whose parts relate to one another in a pattern.” For example, your body is a system — a coherent organism composed of many parts like bones, ligaments and organs.

Likewise, society is a system, composed of people, businesses, the built environment and various ideological state apparatuses (Althusser).

The art and science of systems thinking (Meadows) shows how systems function according to similar principles at every scale. The same forces that organize galaxies and atoms also define your individual psyche.

It follows that the relational patterns defining the architecture of your mind would also apply to what Carl Jung calls the collective unconscious — our shared repository of ancestral, evolutionary memories and primordial symbols known as archetypes.

Archetypes arise in many forms, the most basic of which are geometric structures. The five Platonic solids are archetypal shapes that underpin much of the material reality we perceive around us.

For example, the orbital patterns of the planets in the solar system are organized according to the Platonic solids; the distance from one planet and another can be accurately measured using cubes, tetrahedra and dodecahedra.

The subtle architecture underlying all of material reality is relevant to any and every area of inquiry, including the structure and function of the individual and collective psyche.

Internal Family Systems and other forms of therapeutic parts work seek to illuminate the relationships between the various parts that together compose the whole psyche.

In her book “A Fuller Explanation,” elucidating the work of Buckminster Fuller in plain language, Amy Edmondson writes:

Geometry is the science of systems — which are themselves defined by relationships. Geometry is therefore the study of relationships.

The collective psyche is a system that operates according to the same organic principles as every other aspect of material reality.

The structure of a system determines its functional outcomes. Therefore, if we aspire to change the outcomes of any given system, we must investigate its structure and find the trimtab — the point of greatest leverage, where the smallest effort will create the most significant impact.

One feature of a system is that “you cannot change one thing without changing everything.” If you have an equilateral triangle, and you shift one of the points even slightly, every angle changes, every side length changes, and the whole entity is altered.

This fact can be both blessing and curse. The altered outcomes of a whole system depends on the skill and intention with which you adjust its parts.

In the subsequent parts of this essay, we’ll explore the present-day socio-political dynamics in the United States, regarding them as a coherent system analogous to the structure of a nuclear or internal family system.

The goal is to identify the primary parts that compose the whole, define the relationships between them and propose some skillful adjustments that could shift our wobbly geometry into a structure more stable, more resilient, and more likely to generate desirable outcomes for all involved.

Read on for Part Two.