In the episode I trace the history and origins of the astrological technique called midpoints back to two students of Placidus who lived in the 17th century, and then tell the story of its recovery and popularization by German astrologers in the early 20th century.
For the past twenty years, the history of midpoints has been shrouded in mystery. Many astrologers have speculated about its origins, with myths tracing the technique back to the 13th-century astrologer Guido Bonatti, the 2nd-century astrologer Claudius Ptolemy, or assuming it was invented from scratch by Alfred Witte and the Hamburg School around the 1920s. After spending a while researching the history, I’m excited to present the conclusions I came to and help set the record straight.
It turns out that the midpoint technique actually originated in 1675. That is when two students of the famous astrologer Placidus, named Francesco Brunacci and Francesco Maria Onorati, introduced the concept of what they called “equidistances” in an appendix to the second edition of their teacher’s work, Physiomathematica.
However, this technique almost didn’t survive. Throughout the episode, I discuss how the midpoint doctrine went through two distinct periods of suppression: first by the Catholic Church and the Inquisition in the late 17th century, and later by the Nazis in Germany during the 1930s and 1940s.
We follow the lineage of the technique from its near-erasure in Italy, to its survival via a subtle reference by the 17th-century astrologer Antonio Francesco de Bonattis (not to be mistaken for Guido Bonatti), and finally to its rediscovery by Albert Kniepf in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. From there, we explore how the technique was championed and popularized by Alfred Witte and the Hamburg School and Uranian Astrology, as well as by Reinhold Ebertin through his approach called Cosmobiology, eventually becoming a staple of late 20th-century astrology.
This is episode 529 of The Astrology Podcast.
Timestamps
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:45 What is a Midpoint?
00:03:56 The Mystery of Historical Origins
00:08:49 17th Century Origins of Midpoints
00:16:55 Introduced by Students of Placidus in 1675
00:31:20 Did Ptolemy Mention Midpoints?
00:34:01 Placidus’s Works Banned by the Inquisition
00:38:41 Antonio Francesco di Bonattis in 1687
00:43:39 Rediscovery and Popularization in Germany
00:45:01 Albert Kniepf Recovers the Technique
00:46:06 Alfred Witte and the Hamburg School
00:49:39 Reinhold Ebertin and Cosmobiology
00:54:06 Suppression of Astrology During WWII
01:01:45 Popularization of Midpoints After WWII
01:03:55 Summary and Conclusions
01:10:16 Special Thanks and Sources
01:16:35 Endcards
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