{"id":468,"date":"2019-03-11T19:27:05","date_gmt":"2019-03-11T20:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malvinartley.com\/blog.malvinartley.com\/?p=468"},"modified":"2019-03-17T09:03:47","modified_gmt":"2019-03-17T10:03:47","slug":"a-few-words-on-midpoints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malvinartley.com\/blog.malvinartley.com\/2019\/03\/11\/a-few-words-on-midpoints\/","title":{"rendered":"A few words on Midpoints"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have been asked to post a few words on my use of midpoints in many of the charts on this blog. I find midpoints to be quite indispensable in many cases of delineation, especially when rectification of the chart is needed, as we saw with the recent Israel piece<\/a><\/span>. They are quite a useful tool in cases of rectification. But they are also very descriptive in terms of psychology, national horoscopes and in cases of medical astrology, but especially event charts. We will get to why they are so effective and also important after a little history.<\/span><\/p>\n

Midpoints in astrology emerged out of Germany in the 1920s, starting with Alfred Witte, the force behind the Uranian school of thought in astrology. The school was formalized in 1925 by the physical founding of the Hamburg school<\/a><\/span>. That date is of more than a little interest, especially to students of Alice Bailey\u2019s works, as the 25th<\/sup> year of every century is a year, as a median date, when new occult dispensations are given out. That also happens at the 75th<\/sup> year. 1925 marked a period wherein there were some of the most significant advances in applied science<\/a><\/span> for the 20th<\/sup> century, especially in the realm of physics. That was also an era of profound geopolitical shifts and events that would shape the remainder of the century.<\/span><\/p>\n

Regarding geopolitical shifts, Witte began his investigations of midpoints during the first World War, when he was stationed on the Russian front. He was seeking a way to time the artillery barrages by the Russians, because conventional astrology, with its reliance on houses, standard rulerships and Ptolemaic aspects, was found to be lacking. Witte<\/a><\/span>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026established a sophisticated system of spatial reference and founded the Hamburg School. He was an occultist, psychic and astrological author. While serving on the Russian Front during WW I, 1914-1918, he attempted to predict the times that Russian artillery barrages would take place based on astrological records he kept of the sequence. He insisted that anomalies must be due to an incomplete reference and that other planets, as yet undiscovered, were responsible. The advocate of an esoteric and experimental astrology, he was the initiator of Uranian Astrology and one of its most progressive innovators.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus, midpoints are a more scientific approach to astrology, and as such, given the timing, it might be said that they were part of the dispensation that was given out to the world in that period. However, midpoints in astrology originated much further back than Witte\u2019s use of them. They were originally investigated by\u00a0Guido Bonati<\/a><\/span>\u00a0(1123\u20131300 ?) to refine timings in event charts. But his investigations involved Arabian Parts, primarily. Of interest to note is that his book, Liber Astronomiae<\/em>, was published in 1277 (re: the 75th<\/sup> year of any century), and remained a classic book on astrology for two centuries. Bonati\u2019s work was also based in predicting military events, and like Witte, he is said to have met a violent end. We\u2019ll return to Witte a little later.<\/span><\/p>\n

To round out the historical part of midpoints, there was another adherent to the system, one of Witte\u2019s unofficial students, whom I have referenced several times: Reinhold Ebertin, founder of the Cosmobiology school of thought. He described his system as follows<\/a><\/span>:<\/span><\/p>\n

Cosmobiology is a scientific discipline concerned with the possible correlation between the cosmos and organic life and the effects of cosmic rhythms and stellar motion on man, with all his potentials and dispositions, his character and the possible turns of fate; it also researches these correlation and effects as mirrored by earth’s plant and animal life as a whole. In this endeavor, Cosmobiology utilises modern-day methods of scientific research, such as statistics, analysis, and computer programming. It is of prime importance, however, in view of the scientific effort expended, not to overlook the macrocosmic and microcosmic interrelations incapable of measurement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ebertin didn\u2019t use Witte\u2019s hypothetical planets, preferring instead to use only verifiable data. My work follows more on the Cosmobiological model than on Witte\u2019s Uranian astrology, not to discount Witte\u2019s work in any manner. Witte was the founder, the pioneer, and there was a certain purity in his approach, whether or not one agrees with his four hypothetical planets (later expanded to eight by one of his collaborators). With the preceding in mind, what exactly is an astrological midpoint? As the name suggests, it is the exact mathematical midpoint between two planets, angles of planets and angles. The formula, then, is (a+b)\/2=c, where \u2018a\u2019 and \u2018b\u2019 are the main points, and \u2018c\u2019 equals the midpoint, since we are talking about mathematical precision. In astrology it is expressed, for example, as Sun\/Jupiter=Mars.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the midpoint system appears simple on the surface, it can become quite complex when other planets form midpoints to the same midpoint, for example: Sun\/Jupiter=Moon\/MC. And there are frequently more than two planetary patterns that interact in such a manner. And, to top it all, the entire picture has to be taken into account, such as the prevailing conditions around the event or birth, conventional astrological factors in evidence, such as singular transits or progressions to planets or angles, house placement and so forth. One point of real interest here, though, is that neither the Uranian school or Cosmobiology use house systems as a general rule. The angles are the only points that are taken into account (Ascendant or Horizon axis, and the Midheaven or Meridian axis). We can add to this as well the Vertex axis. Let\u2019s define some terms, then.<\/span><\/p>\n