Co-Constructed Interpersonal Perceptions Of Self: Meaning-Making In The Astrological Consultation

Abstract

This research study employs qualitative narrative analysis in order to develop an understanding of co-constructed meaning of self-identity within the astrological practitioner-client relationship. The literature review includes theoretical perspectives from interpersonal communication, the social construction of reality and of self-identity, and transpersonal studies. Three emergent themes from six narrative interviews are discussed in regard to co-constructed constitutive interpretations of self-identity: (1) cultural stranger/insider standpoint, (2) worldview metaphors, (3) and recognition of a socially embedded self. The consultation narrative illustrates the constitution of identity in interaction with an other who is afforded the status of "professional" regarding the interaction itself. Like therapeutic interactions between self and health care practitioners, the interaction between consultant and the astrological information seeker is a context unusually sensitive to the information that makes self visible to the evolution of identity. Such interaction carries a cultural expectation of the constitutive nature and power of communication. <p>