The Passion of the Western Mind is a complete guide to Western civilisation and the philosophical ideas that have shaped our world view. From Plato to Hegel, from Augustine to Nietzsche, from Copernicus to Freud, Richard Tarnas described profound philosophical concepts simply, but without simplifying them. Ten years in the making, The Passion of the Western Mind was hailed as an instant classic on publication. In it, Tarnas provides a compelling account of the evolution of the Western mind and its changing conception of reality. Advances on several fronts - in philosophy, psychology, religous studies and the history of science - have shed new light on this remarkable evolution and Tarnas draws together these advances to set forth a new perspective for understanding out culture's intellectual and spiritual history. The result is a complete liberal education in a single volume.

Tarnas demonstrates the existence of a consistent correspondence between planetary movements and the unfolding of human history. He maintains the present is most comparable to the period 500 years ago, an era of extraordinary turbulence and creativity.

How can we better understand the significance and implications of the ecological, economic, and cultural crises we now face? What are the deeper forces at work shaping the contemporary zeitgeist and connecting the major events of our time? Is it possible to place our moment in history in the context of great cyclical and diachronic patterns of change? Responses to these and other related questions are explored in this second issue of Archai: The Journal of Archetypal Cosmology. The nine essays featured here use archetypal astrology to shine a light on the deeper dynamics of history and contemporary culture. Contributions include cultural historian Richard Tarnas's analysis of the major world transits of the last five years, focusing especially on the Saturn-Uranus-Pluto T-square, and the second part of his exploration of the Saturn-Neptune complex. Also included are the second parts of Rod O'Neal's in-depth analysis of the Puritan movement and Keiron Le Grice's exploration of archetypal themes in the music of Bruce Springsteen. The other articles cover a wide variety of topics relevant to an archetypal understanding of contemporary culture such as the global financial crisis, the Israel-Palestine conflict, the gay rights movement, the history of rock and roll, and recent achievements in the sporting world.