In episode 386 Chris Brennan addresses a controversial lecture that was recently given by Deborah Holding where she denied the historical existence of the whole sign house system in ancient astrology.
Holding claims that whole sign houses did not exist in ancient astrology, and that the concept was only invented in the 1990s by Robert Hand and Robert Schmidt of Project Hindsight.
Chris sets out to present evidence that contradicts Holding’s claims, demonstrating that there is ample evidence for the existence of whole sign houses in ancient astrology, and to provide a commentary on the distortions and misrepresentations made in her lecture.
During the course of the commentary Chris emphasizes the importance of separating the historical debate from the current practice of astrology, and criticizes Holding for denying the historical existence of whole sign houses based on personal preferences rather than objective evidence.
Chris also discusses the concept of whole sign house denialism, which is the attempt to deny the existence of whole sign houses in ancient astrology and dismiss or suppress any historical evidence that it existed, as well why it is important to address false claims in order to set the historical record straight.
This is a recording of a livestream that was broadcast on February 9, 2023.
It is best to watch the video version on YouTube, because there are lots of visual elements, although most of the information is contained in the audio.
This episode is available in both audio and video versions below.
Timestamps
- 00:00:00 Introduction
- 00:01:24 Houlding’s lecture details
- 00:02:36 Houlding’s claims summarized
- 00:03:09 Her central false claim: ‘Zero’ historical astrologers
- 00:05:14 Whole sign house denialism
- 00:08:45 History vs. contemporary practice
- 00:11:36 Reconciling house systems
- 00:13:27 Why this response is necessary
- 00:16:30 History of the debate
- 00:19:43 Responding to the lecture release
- 00:21:31 Scholarly refutations of Houlding
- 00:24:43 Rhetorical question for the audience
- 00:27:02 Commentary and fair use
- 00:29:02 Further resources on house division
- 00:33:35 The ‘sneak diss’ tactic
- 00:37:50 Commentary begins
- 00:40:10 Houlding quotes Co–Star
- 00:43:17 Claim: Whole sign houses didn’t exist pre-90s
- 00:48:19 Popularity of whole sign houses
- 00:53:25 Dismissing Equal Houses
- 00:58:32 The ‘psychology’ behind the movement
- 01:03:33 Houlding’s principal claim & James Holden
- 01:09:55 James Holden’s 1982 paper
- 01:14:00 Ancient sources defining whole sign houses
- 01:22:42 Examples of ancient horoscopes
- 01:27:26 Dorotheus of Sidon’s use
- 01:30:03 Project Hindsight coins the term
- 01:40:41 Vettius Valens’ chart examples
- 01:49:52 Precursors: German & French astrologers
- 02:00:23 Medieval Islamic tradition
- 02:11:00 The traditional astrology revival
- 02:16:40 Tensions between Lilly revivalists & Project Hindsight
- 02:22:48 Robert Hand’s background
- 02:31:52 Robert Schmidt’s background
- 02:44:53 Mischaracterizing Project Hindsight
- 03:00:34 Robert Zoller’s split from Project Hindsight
- 03:10:52 Project Hindsight’s broad interests
- 03:22:53 Debunking Project Hindsight’s alleged narrow focus
- 03:36:34 Core Argument: Zero evidence
- 03:47:48 Houlding’s conceptual argument
- 04:00:34 False claim: Valens only used quadrant houses
- 04:07:34 Calculating the Midheaven from the Ascendant
- 04:17:12 Schmidt’s theory: Topics vs. strength
- 04:24:43 The edited Robert Schmidt clip
- 04:52:46 Misrepresenting Valens’ Book 9
- 05:07:42 Valens’ definition of Equal Houses
- 05:22:53 Presentation of chart diagrams
- 05:46:42 Dismissal of the Indian tradition
- 06:01:28 Wade Caves’ conceptual argument
- 06:18:02 Conclusion: ‘It’s not a real system’
- 06:26:50 Final thoughts and conclusion
- 06:33:35 Astrologers and historical research
- 06:40:05 Rob Hand quote on evaluating ancient astrology
- 06:45:03 Final conclusions and moving forward
- 06:54:57 Saturn-Neptune correlation
Watch the Video Version of This Episode
The video recording of this livestream is available on YouTube:
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Transcript
A full transcript of this episode is available: Episode 386 transcript
Listen to the Audio Version of This Episode
Listen to the audio version of this episode or download it as an MP3:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:42:08 — 368.5MB)
So appreciate your dedication and passion to truth and fairness and to Astrology for us all. Brilliant presentation of the facts. I wish you the very best ~ Kindest regards
I’m wondering how to get access to the 50pp chapter on houses that you offered as a free gift during this episode?
You can download the PDF of the house division chapter here: https://hellenisticastrology.com/brennan-house-division.pdf
Hi Chris –
Great job, this was brilliant and I learned so much as I always do on your Podcast. A deep Buddhist bow to you, I know how much work this took not to mention the energy zap it must have taken from you. I plan on listening to both Rob Hands and Demetria’s responses also.
Always the best,
BJ