Advanced Techniques:
Part Two
In the previous article, Alfred Witte was described as an astrologer
who felt that the classical astrology practices by his contemporaries
failed to explain the experiences of World War I and the chaos of
life in post-war Germany. In his search for an improvement to astrology,
he resurrected some ancient and almost forgotten techniques and
added some new ones. The new form of astrology that he taught became
known as the Hamburg School of Astrology.
Several of Witte's students came to the USA. They wrote about Witte's
work and taught American astrologers. Uranian Astrology traces to
Hans Niggemann, a student, colleague, and friend of Witte. It was
Hans Niggemann, after he came to the USA, who coined the name "Uranian
System of Astrology" for the English-speaking astrologers.
(I had the honor and privilege of being Hans' student and a close
friend until his death.) As the Uranian System evolved in the United
States, another group of Witte's students continued work in Germany,
and a third group, headed by Reinhold Ebertin, developed a simplified
version of the Uranian System, which became known as Cosmobiology.
The Uranian System of Astrology has three major elements which
distinguish it from the more classical approaches. These are "Planetary
Pictures," the use of a movable dial, and the use of additional
astrological forces known as the Trans-Neptunian Planets (TNP.)
These eight Trans-Neptunian "Planets" receive the most
opposition from astrologers who are loath to experiment with new
ideas. I always refer to the Trans-Neptunian "Planets"
with quotation marks because I know that they are hypothetical,
and have not been sighted to date. I am intrigued by the possibility
that these Trans-Neptunian "Planets" might be found as
we further explore the De Kuyper Belt at the farthest reaches of
our solar system.
Midpoints and a movable dial, in modified and simplified form,
are used by the Cosmobiologists. But, in lieu of the eight Trans-Neptunian
"Planets" of Uranian Astrology, Cosmobiologists use a
single unseen "planet" beyond Pluto which is called Transpluto.
As stated earlier, the "father" of Cosmobiology was Reinhold
Ebertin, whose mother, Elsbeth Ebertin, was part of the Hamburg
School with Witte and Niggemann. Reinhold Ebertin's "The Combination
of Stellar Influences" is the "bible" for Cosmobiology.
The book, originally written in German in the 1940s, was finally
translated to English, and Cosmobiology was formally introduced
to the United States.
Typically, when I teach my most advanced astrology students, I
guide them through the "Combination of Stellar Influences"
and Cosmobiology on their journey to Uranian Astrology and the richness
that it provides.
Cosmobiology makes extensive use of Midpoints. These are defined
as the point equi-distant between two planetary positions. For example,
if planet A is located at 10 degrees Aries, and planet B is located
at 20 Aries, the midpoint of A and B would be located at 15 Aries.
There are many midpoints in a horoscope. Mars, for example, has
a midpoint with Jupiter, another with Saturn, another with Uranus,
and so on. The midpoint of A and B is written as A/B. For the examples
using Mars, they would be written Ma/Ju, Ma/Sa, Ma/Ur, and so on.
The location of Midpoints can be ascertained with the use of a
movable dial (90 degree or 360 degree dial), by hand calculation,
or, nowadays, with the use of a printout from modern astrological
computer programs. Ebertin has defined the meaning of each possible
Midpoint, and Cosmobiologists use Ebertin's definitions plus their
own experience for analysis when these midpoints are activated.
Such an activation might occur natally by a hard aspect from another
planet in the horoscope, or by a similar hard aspect from a planet
advanced by Solar Arc Direction, or by a similar hard aspect from
a Transiting planet. Cosmobiologists also find it useful to compare
two charts using both planets and midpoints.
Typically, I teach my students of Cosmobiology and the Uranian
System to examine a traditional horoscope in a traditional manner,
in order to gain whatever insights might be available from this
"flat" chart. For example, Marc Edmund Jones' Planetary
Patterns, Dane Rudhyar's Lunation Cycle, location of the Part of
Fortune, Retrograde Planets, the cycles of Saturn, the transits
of the outer planets, and the position of the Secondary Progressed
Moon can best be seen in this way. There are teachers of Cosmobiology
and Uranian Astrology who prefer to omit the analysis of the "flat"
chart.
I was one of the earliest students of Cosmobiology and found the
study exciting and rewarding. It was certainly an improvement over
the classical astrology that I had been practicing. But I felt that
it was not enough for me. I had questions that were not answered
by classical astrology or by Cosmobiology. Then I met Hans Niggemann
and the Uranian System and I moved ahead. A whole new world opened
for me as I studied Uranian Astrology.
In Part Three, I shall further describe the Uranian System of Astrology.
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