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- Herausgeber: Bookmundo
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
In twelve chapters - corresponding to the themes of the signs of the zodiac - the author presents us with twelve different perspectives from which the topic of astrology at the time of the Reformation presents itself. It is the time of insane forecasts of the deluge, the time of huge political and religious upheavals. The Peasant Wars are the beginning of the end of feudal rule. With the Reformation, Christianity experienced what is probably the most severe upheaval since its founding. Book printing and the founding of universities stand for the end of the "Dark Middle Ages", for a time when education and intellect will regain their rights - although at the same time the darkest superstition is spreading, although an inquisition begins its mass murders. A highly recommended read for all friends of astrology! [Review of the German edition of Dr. Rüdiger Plantiko]
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Seitenzahl: 418
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024
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JGH Hoppmann
Astrology of the Reformation
Faust, Luther, Melanchthon and the art of reading the stars
with a foreword by Günther Mahal in English translation and horoscope interpretations of Astronomia Teutsch from 1580 in original medieval German
once dedicated to my children Heide-Leocardia, Fion-Jasper and Jarla-Finela
© 2023 Jürgen GH Hoppmann • ISBN 978-9403694-092 • Publisher: Bookmundo Direct • Typesetting and cover design: ArsAstrologica, using two photos by Jürgen Hoppmann and a painting by Waltraut Geisler, Jauernick-Buschbach • Translated from »Astrologie der Reformationszeit« • Publisher: Clemens Zerling Verlag, Berlin 1998 ISBN 3-88468-069-2 • translated with DeepL Pro
The work including its parts is protected by copyright. Any use is not permitted without the consent of the publisher and the author. This applies in particular to electronic or other duplication, translation, distribution and public access. Detailed bibliographic information is available from the German National Library at dnb.d-nb.de.
Foreword
sive astrology sit ars sive scientia
cert una pulchra fantasia
Astrology, whether art or science, a
In any case, she is a beautiful fantasy
[Philip Melanchthon]
You don't have to be a proselyte of Astrology to find this book fascinating and exciting: a historically grounded and differentiated presentation of how the man next to Luther - in complete contrast to him - read the messages in the sky, perceived obligations and heeded instructions for action. Philipp Schwarzerdt, known as Melanchthon, interprets horoscopes, although not as professionally as a contemporary he does not admire very much, the legendary Doctor Faustus from Knittlingen.
In the midst of the spirit watershed of the epoch, during which one has long since become accustomed to recognizing humanism, Renaissance and Reformation as frequently intertwined guiding principles of only temporary dominance, in the midst of an era of ostentatious (albeit less always factual) farewell to the supposedly dark Middle Ages and The little big man from Bretten, the neighboring town of Knittlingen, which remained in the Electoral Palatinate in 1504, adheres to its postulated homogeneities in a large-scale way of thinking, which can still be found today in severe watering down in every Bunt-Postille and which survives repeated sorting into the wastepaper basket of mere superstition has.
Melanchthon's astrology: this is not an individual special path of a blind person. He shares his faith (for that is how one must call an astral certainty that goes beyond the epistemic) with many famous contemporaries, just as little as with simple minds that are easy to dupe, often with scientists, who made important achievements in their sober subjects.
That what was observed in the sky and was often used for far-reaching conclusions could not yet be neatly separated into astrology and astronomy in the early or mid-16th century, into dull belief and bright science (as the allocations, which have been clarified several times, read today): we now know that, as well as the intertwining of alchemy and chemistry in the same decades.
That gold is an element and therefore cannot be synthesized: irrefutable proof of this was first provided in the 19th century. To portray all of the alchemists, who are guided by the four-element theory and Aristotle's doctrine of permutability, as deceitful fools corresponds, in terms of the history of science, to a cramped prophetic attitude that has been handed in later. The same can be said of the astrology of Luther's time, of Faust's time, of Melanchthon's time: whoever is quick to hand here with the grades from today's music books, says goodbye to a history of the spirit, and it does not care about its current certainties either is ordered for the best.
Luther's often-quoted dictum that astrology (including that of his friend Melanchthon) is "a hopeless shebicht art" - one should take it less as the judgment of an intellectually established person, and more as a bulbous aversion of someone otherwise imprisoned by many a dark person throughout his life. The line of demarcation between the astrology supporters and the astrology opponents in no way marked a separation between the retarded here and the clever or advanced there. The fact that the proponent Philipp Melanchthon made efforts to reconcile and maintain the belief in the stars with his Protestant religiosity makes his position on astrological interpretation all the more exciting, even for readers of the late 20th century. The much-vaunted praeceptor Germaniae, who was also respected on the Catholic side, the tolerant church diplomat who aroused tolerance, the experienced classical philologist and sought-after academic teacher - he can hardly be regarded as someone who is easily seduced by any dubiousness. His lived plea for a sidereal guidance system that has far-reaching consequences on earth and in humans produces a piece of transpersonal orientation history that goes beyond the individual case.
Jürgen GH Hoppmann's book offers on this and beyond that for the entire development of astrological interpretation from the Reformation to the Enlightenment in words and pictures (astonishingly well sorted here) documents of a thoroughly researched kind that allow one's own involvement.
Von Planeten vnd Zeichen dess himlischen Cirkeln vnd der 12. Zeychen Qualitäten.
Die alten weisen der himlischen ding / von stäten brauchs wegen der 12. Zeichen Zodiaci / das ist / Himlischen vmbcirckels / haben sie ihnen eigen Charakter vnd Zeichen solcher erdacht / damit sie die ohn verdruß einbildeten. 7. Planeten. 4. Aspect, Trachenkopff vnd schwantz.
Dann so sie den Widder bezeichnen gewöllt / habens allein die Hörner desselben also x fürgebildet. Für den Ochsen / haben sie den Kopff mit den Hörnern fürgemakt. Die Zwilling haben zween solche strich bedeut. Den Krebs seind zwey hörner.
Den Löwen zeiget an ein solcher Löwenschwantz. Für die Jungfraw haben sie solche Kleyder gefalten gemacht m. Die Wag bezeigt ein Wagbalcken. Scorpion ein knöpffechter Scorpion schwantz. den Schützen ein Pfeil. den Steinbock ein Steinbock schwantz / also. Für den Wasserman machen sie zwey solche Bächlin. Die Fisch / zween Fisch / also dieweil im Himlischen Bild die Fisch als mit einem faden in der mitte zusamen gethan / habens etliche also fis. Außgetruckt.
Ferner Trachenkopff vnd schwantz zu bezeichnen / haben sie zween halbe Cirkkel gemacht / beyder seit mit jren knöpfflin geendet / damit diß das haupt / das den schwantz des Trachen bedeute.
Darnach an statt Saturni / haben sie ein Alten gemalet / an ein stecken gesteuret . Fürn Jupiter einen König mit einem Scepter. Fürn Mars ein kriegischen Pfeil. Die Sonn ein runde Figur der Sonn / also Den Mon deß Mons zwey Hörner. Venus ein Frawenbildt. Mercurius / ein Junger der ein breyten Hut auff einem runden Baret tregt.
Wider / Löw / Schütz / seyn feurige Zeychen / warm / trucken / männlich / tägig / Cholerisch / bitter / von Augang.
Zwilling / Wag / Wasserman / seind lüfftig / warm / feucht / männlich / tägig / Sanguinischer Complex / süß / vnd von Nidergang / etlich sagen von Mittag. Krebs / Scorpion / Fisch / wässerig / kalt vnnd feucht / weibisch / nächtlich / Phlegmatisch / herb / von Mitternacht / etlich sagen von Nidergang.
Ochs / Junkfraw / Steinbock / seind jrdisch / trucken / weibisch / nächtlich / Melancholisch / lüfftig / von Mittag / etlich sagen von Mitternacht.
Time has two faces
But that the movement of the stars is a clock, with the help of which Measuring changes on Earth cannot be dismissed out of hand. Things play out in intricate patterns of obvious coincidences, which the artist's keen eye catches...
[Camille Paglia – The Masks of Sexuality]
The planet god Saturn is assigned to the signs Capricorn and Aquarius in the classic manner of the Middle Ages. The discovery of the planet Uranus at the time of the French Revolution by the cranky military musician Herschel from Hanover, who emigrated to England and set up a huge home-made telescope in his front yard, which technically beat that of the Royal Astronomical Society by far, to their displeasure [Zinner 1951, Filbey and Filbey 1986], so this discovery by no means led to the collapse of the astrological edifice - even if today's astronomers claim this again and again.
Rather, the art of interpretation was expanded and refined [Paris 1977, Arroyo 1980]. Uranus was in the second row, later then only assigned to the unconventional and experimental Aquarius, where it was elevated to the ruler of the sign. This should not be understood objectively. Today's astrologers do not believe in any gods who sit up there on the stars and make the poor little people on earth happy or maltreated according to their mood. That wasn't the case in the Middle Ages either, not even more than 2,000 years ago with the Greeks and Romans. And what is the meaning of the stars actually about?
Well, the underlying idea is that time and space belong together. The amount, the quantity of time, can be measured in days, hours, minutes, liters and meters: astronomy. And what about the way, the quality? A body can be large or small, light or heavy, thick or thin. Does this also apply to time, and if so, can this be read from the daily and annual rhythms, i.e. from the sun, moon and planets?
Astrology, that would be the quality of time - a fascinating thought. And maybe that's why people in all countries and in all cultures of the world have developed spiritual systems to put celestial movements and earthly events in context.
Election Chart of Leucorea
In the Middle Ages, astrology was part of the liber artes, the liberal arts, and was regularly taught at universities.
Martin Pollich von Mellerstadt was one of the professors at Leipzig University. He had made a name for himself as the author of numerous annual horoscopes. In an effort to work wisely and moderately, he wrote his annual predictions from "obligation of obedience." He calls it almost an "inhuman thing" to be able to foresee "all bodily coincidences and abuses of future illnesses and the predetermined natural end" from the hour of birth of a prince. In his astrological works he referred to Arabic and Greek classics of astrology such as Abumasar, Alfonso of Castile, Ptolemy and Alcabitius [Eis 1954:103, Koch 1982:69]. As personal physician, he accompanied the Saxon Elector Frederick the Wise on a pilgrimage to Palestine.
The legend goes that Pollich was able to save the life of his seriously ill prince on this journey. That is why he was granted the wish to found a university in Wittenberg – but it shouldn't cost anything [so the astrologer Ernst-Jürgen Thieme-Garmann, whose ancestors studied in Wittenberg]. He is said to have been seriously ill himself, felt the end and wanted to spread iatromathematics, ie all his astromedical knowledge, as far as possible.
This conclusion is wrong. The historian, rector at the Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg, simply hadn't recalculated the horoscope and probably couldn't have imagined the importance it once had [6] Hahne 1919].
He probably didn't think much of astrology himself either, describing it as "a thing that, after thousands of years of experience, poor, sweating human heads with and without hieroglyphic hats will never leave behind". Faith in the stars yes or no - A look at the statute book of the university clearly shows that the historian confused the signs Cancer and Leo and all conclusions drawn from it are accordingly wrong. In the founding horoscope, Cancer-Saturn is actually in the trine to the Sun and Mars in Scorpio. Astrologically, this is a very positive constellation. It indicates courage, strength and a good relationship with the authorities. In fact, the great reforms of the Leucorea were always backed by the authorities. It would be a good Election Chart. Everything indicates that Martin Pollich deliberately chose the point in time according to the positions of the stars. [Hoppmann 1997:91]
Martin Pollich set up the university very modestly at first. The main focus of academic education was medical training, with a special focus on astrology. A few years later, a theological faculty was established in the Augustinian monastery. From 1509, a young monk named Martinus, who was initially quite serious and well-behaved, studied there. He received his doctorate in theology in 1512 and took over the Bible professorship, had increasing doubts about the Pope and the Church in Rome, published rebellious theses and...
The number of students grew, the town of Wittenberg almost suffocated from the influx of sons of wealthy citizens and nobles. In 1517, 232 students had enrolled; in 1520 there were more than twice as many [Diwald 1982:155]. Luther soon said: "They surround my catheter like ants, which are busy collecting things". From August 1518, one of the most renowned humanists in Germany, Magister Philippus, known as a young genius, held lectures in Greek and Latin. He was even more popular and formed with Dr. Martinus a powerful team in the fight for a renewal of the church. And he also taught - and this is what this book is about - for decades in Wittenberg on the Elbe in front of hundreds of students how to read the stars.
But wait dear readers! How does one come to choose the point in time, for example, when founding a university according to the stars, what motives drove people back then, and why, why, why tell these old stories again now?
Basic ideas of star interpretation
It is said that animals have no abstract concept of time, that this is a key way in which we differ from them. Certainly - there is day and night, spring, summer, autumn and winter. But even completely independently of the seasons and the weather, we feel that we are doing better or worse in certain phases, and that our fellow human beings are subject to similar moods at the same time. It doesn't matter whether it's a matter of political, economic or personal reasons: These moods can last for many months, and our emotional world moves in spaces of the same size.
In the most beautiful sunshine we can feel dark clouds inside us, short winter days can last quite a long time from our subjective point of view. Sometimes time flies by at breakneck speed, sometimes it just doesn't seem to go by. Some days everything just works, other days you stand up on your left foot and know that you just won't succeed.
Much of this can be explained in terms of psychology and biology, but not all. We describe our own biography in other categories. Sometimes we have the feeling of being just in time, sometimes time seems to be passing us by.
Then again there are those sudden moments where we see the crystallization point of a long-standing, previous development. Sometimes it seems as if the events themselves triggered a pull from the future, influencing the present and the past. They say great events cast their shadows ahead – is there backward causality? [Elwell 1988]
That all sounds a little crazy, but: Whoever rejects such mystical ideas for rational reasons is often not at all aware of how much his own rational attitude of belief motives is determined by the belief in chance. That no phenomenon between heaven and earth can be explained on anything other than purely logical-rational grounds, on the basis of demonstrable processes of cause and effect, is one of the dogmas of scientific belief.
But this way of thinking offers no explanation for many important events in our own lives. Sudden illness, death, loss of money or job, but also the birth of a child, unexpected lottery win, divorce, a flirt - who believes in coincidences in such a situation! Understanding and mastering one's own life often only begins beyond any belief in chance. In crisis situations in particular, people look for explanatory patterns that relate the different points in time in their own lives to one another. In this way everyone hopes to see the meaning behind the smooth surface of events.
Our personal chronology also runs completely independently of the always uniform, quantitative time measurement of natural science. At 17 you can feel very, very old, an old soul in a young body. And there are also people who say in old age that their tired body doesn't go with their alert mind at all. Yes, who hasn't experienced on their birthday that they don't feel as young or as old as their years seem to indicate? Proverbs like "Everything takes its time" show that life for us humans does not run in a straight line, divided into fixed quantities such as minutes, hours, months and years. The smell, the color, the taste of the time - these are much more suitable descriptive criteria.
Scientific approach
The feeling of a property that cannot be measured with clocks, a quality of time, this is a phenomenon that is part of our humanity. What can it be pinned to in the outside world? There is the annual repeating course of the sun across the sky and the resulting seasons. But many developments in our lives, in the family, in business and in politics, seem to follow different rhythms - if not according to the course of the sun, then perhaps according to that of the moon? And if not all temporal phenomena can be explained by its phases, then perhaps by the course of the planets, which move so infinitely slowly in the night sky? Apart from very slight fluctuations, their orbits have always remained the same since the formation of the earth. All life here grew into these rhythms. It is well known how strong small but always uniform forces act. Just think of the power of a drop of water in a stalactite cave or that of the wind in desert areas. As tiny as the mass forces of the distant planets affect us - their almost eternal continuity could have a great influence on us humans.
The movement of the solar system appears three-dimensional in the graphic shown here. In the middle, the sun moves on its orbit through the universe, the planets revolve around it, including our home planet Earth with its moon. Furthermore, as the sun itself moves through space, the orbiting planets spiral through infinite space. The course and experience of the passage of time can also be understood as a spiral, metaphor and symbol at the same time in its inward and outward turning dynamics. [Seifert 1996:33]
The horoscope as a momentary constellation z. B. at the birth of a person, the laying of the foundation stone of a house or an accident can be imagined as a cross section through this space-time spiral. From a purely technical point of view, this model corresponds to modern astronomy and is consistent with the ideas of modern astrology. To be a child of his time, nothing static, but a living process that is constantly evolving over time: this is how modern astrology's image of man shows itself in its connection to astrophysics. [Robert Hand at the first all-German Astrology Congress 1993 in Berlin]
We see that the idea of a quality of time is still based on the currently valid scientific models. There is a very plausible explanation for the fact that such an idea is not discussed at modern universities and research institutions: Of course there are mainly intellectuals who, fearing for their scientific living, keep their hands off astrology - and such technically oriented people often understand Humans just don't understand the psychic component of the star myth either.
The modern scientist is a specialist and rarely practiced in holistic thinking. The astrophysicists, on the other hand, want to discover universal laws when observing processes in space. They explore organized matter such as interstellar gas and dust, distant suns, supernovae, and galaxies. With their telescopes and radio wave receivers, they can see further and further into infinity. They always need fixed reference values in order to be able to measure, weight and classify. From the enormous amount of information and data that accumulates in their computers, they have to filter out exactly the subject of their research.
Ceteris paribus, all other things being equal: Since the astrophysicist cannot intervene in the experiment of the cosmos, even this standard comment on scientific formulas is of no help to him. So in order to be able to set up mathematically verifiable formulas, he has to concentrate on very, very few factors.
Psychological tests have been developed in order to establish a connection to humans and thus to check the theses of astrology. But which person can be described with all the complex shades of his psyche as the result of a questionnaire? Fairy tales, songs, poems and pictures remain more appropriate tools. Nobody burns in a physical sense. But we immediately understand what is meant by a fiery character, bilious, that is, choleric. The ancient teaching of the elements has many roots in common with astrology, psychology and medicine. There one does not think causally, but analogously, in correspondences.
Kairos, the right moment
Fairy tales are another ancient method of describing the soul in people and feeding it in crisis situations. Modern astronomers often find the myths of the constellations ridiculous, naïve, and downright outdated. Depth psychology, on the other hand, has long recognized the healing power for the soul inherent in these archetypes of humanity. Examples include Fritz Riemann and CG Jung. And many modern astrologers such as Hermann Meyer, Liz Greene and CF Frey created modern therapeutic approaches. Since this way of thinking is based on chains of analogy, no connection to established physics can be established. [Schäfer 1993]
Whenever Ouranos is reported in the following, then this also means the ancient Greek god of the sky, the quality of time, the planet Uranus, which was discovered by astronomers and accidentally named by them, as well as the properties assigned to this planet from an astrological point of view [Greene 1985]. And Kronos (Greek) or Saturn (Roman) is at the same time the son of this god, the quantity of time, and until the beginning of modern times for the astronomers-astrologers (at that time not yet separate professions) the outermost planet. The earth goddess Gaea or Gaia, as sister and lover of Ouranos, represents the earth at the same time. The following ancient story is found in Greek mythology:
At the beginning of all times there was only heaven and earth. Every evening, when the sun had set and the clouds were lowering, the sky god Ouranos embraced his sister, the earth goddess Gaea. At night they fathered children together, and in the morning, when daylight began, heaven and earth tore apart again, distanced themselves, parted. The same game repeated itself day after day. The universe came into being and many children were born. But from Heavenly Father's perspective, they all looked too clumsy, too crude and awkward. None met his requirements and he stuffed them back into the Earth Mother's womb.
Gaea grew more and more angry, unable to bear this rejection. Hadn't she always been fertile, hadn't she always done her bit to create the universe? Secretly she made a sickle and made a pact with the youngest and best-off of her sons. After the fall of his father, Kronos was to take over the rulership of the whole world. "Only" two things Gaia wanted to keep for herself: power over birth and death. Kronos waited for the night in his mother's womb. When Ouranos lay down with his sister-lover as usual, he was emasculated by his son with a cut. Castrated and bleeding, he fled to heaven while his severed member fell into the sea.
From this came Venus-Aphrodite, the foam-born. Saturn freed all his siblings. Kronos married one of his sisters. Afraid of being overthrown by his own child, he devoured his offspring as soon as they were born.
In the end it was Zeus' son Jupiter who, with the help of his siblings, overpowered his father and took over the rulership. However, his mother Gaia continued to have power over two things: birth and death.
We are all born through time and pass away with it. On old prints, Kronos/Saturn holds the sickle of the castrator or the scythe of the great reaper, who mows the ears of corn of life. In the horoscope he marked the point of greatest misfortune, of poverty, illness and prison. This also means the quantitative aspect of time, the minutes, hours, days and years with which one's own lifetime is relentlessly ebbing away. Anyone who understands his transience consciously divides the available forces and practices self-discipline can achieve great things.
The dark sides of Kronos, the always uniform concept of time, include the stupid dogmas of convention, eternally the same courses of action and duties that have to be performed over and over again, which have to be mastered completely independently of the individual rhythm of life. His old association with the sign Aquarius indicates great mental powers of concentration, but also his conservative, narrow-minded side.
Uranus stands for the quality of time, its subjectively felt peculiarity, and is assigned to this sign today. It is said that Aquarius-born people experience extreme differences between their inner rhythms and the outer continuous timings. Times of deep lethargy alternate with moments of concentrated experience, in which many plot threads converge in a flash. Such characters only feel free when they can live according to their inner clock - and this is subject to really strong fluctuations.
Saturn/Kronos as quantity and Uranus as quality of time - they are bundled in Kairos, the right moment. This ancient Greek term was mainly used for alchemy in the Middle Ages. He designated the astrologically correct time at which a chemical experiment can succeed. Did you work e.g. B. with mercury (mercurius), then the analogous planet Mercury had to be in a favorable position? So Kairos is the right moment, focal point of Saturnian quantity and Uranian quality of time.
Freedom or constraint
In 1478 the Florentine government, headed by Lorenzo de Medici, assembled the most important astrologers. They should find out which of the practicing schools at that time is the most promising. The Neoplatonic group around Marsilio Ficino and his opponent Pico della Mirandola were also invited. The meeting of scholars must have been worthwhile for the Medici. It was prophesied that Giovanni de Medici, who was just three years old at the time, would one day become pope.
And indeed: As Leo X, he then made church history - in constant coordination with his court astrologers. For another 100 years, this Florentine merchant family will pursue politics with the help of the stars. As the wife of the French king Henry II, Catherine de Medici listened to the advice of the astrologers Nostradamus and Gauricus. The latter came into contact with Melanchthon, interpreted (corrected, falsified?) Luther's horoscope and, thanks to his successes, was even appointed Catholic bishop. Italian Renaissance philosopher Marsilio Ficino was born with Mars and Saturn in intellectually disciplined Aquarius, quadrature to the Sun in impassioned Scorpio. He is said to have blamed this constellation on friends for his constant depression. Others say that Ficino suffered from a strong fear of Saturn all his life because Saturn was on his ascendant. [Braunsperger 1928]
One could interpret this as an inner tension between body and mind, between destiny and freedom. Ficino is usually cited in historiography as an outspoken opponent of astrology. In fact, however, he only fought staunchly against deterministic prophecy. He developed a concept of astrological prognosis that is modern and emancipator even from today's perspective. He was of the opinion that so-called stress transits (unfavorable angles of the current celestial bodies in relation to the constellation at the time of birth) were kairos, i.e. right moments for personal development.
With his clever ideas, Ficino could neither raise the level of the street astrologers nor inspire his educated princely friend Pico della Mirandola for astrologers. Pico wrote: “How well astrology inspires hope! With what audacity it joins the circle of science! She is the corrupter of philosophy, defiles medicine and lays the ax on the trunk of religion.” [Sementowski-Kurilo 1970]
According to legend, Pico died at the age of 31 on exactly the day and at the hour that had been prophesied to him by several astrologers [on the prophecy see Eugen Garin's foreword to Pico's books against astrology]. The comparison of birth and death constellations shows a degree exact square between Saturn's square to the natal Scorpio. However, at that time there was also a lot of work with primary directorates. Does this story actually happen or is it just the legend of enterprising horoscope fortune tellers who wanted to gain respect from their royal clientele through this creepy story?
The large astronomical-astrological church clocks
In his Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking, a renowned late 20th-century physicist and mathematician, hopes:
"However, if we discover a complete theory, after a certain time it should be understandable to everyone, not just a handful of specialists. Then we will all - philosophers, scientists and lay people - be able to deal with the question of why we and the universe exist. If we could find the answer to that question, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason - for then we would see God's plan."
How similar these thoughts are to the medieval notion that God was the creator of the universe and consequently also the lord of time. Already in antiquity one spoke of the primum mobile, the motionless mover, in whose hands lies the entire clockwork of time and space!
Over 600 years ago, huge astronomical and astrological clocks began to be erected in the churches of the rich Hanseatic cities, especially around the Baltic Sea. Cities such as Strasbourg, Münster, Lübeck, Stralsund, Wismar, Prague, Danzig and Lund had become very wealthy thanks to the success in the trade in salt, furs, fish and spices. Such a watch cost a fortune and undoubtedly represented a prestige object. But this was probably only one of the reasons for building it.
When looking at history, we must always remember that people were not so materialistic in the past. The spiritual and philosophical moment was of much greater importance. Such clocks demonstrated the position of man in the cosmos, established contact with the nameless. What could better illustrate the unity of science and religion of that time than these huge, highly complicated machines in the immediate vicinity of the altar? The oldest well-preserved work can be found in the Marienkirche in Rostock [Schukowski 1992, 1997]. It has been completely restored and shows many astrological and astronomical details such as the ascendant, Mid Coeli, sun and moon in the signs of the zodiac, planetary regent of the current hour, etc. In Lübeck, in 1405, certain theological boundaries of Christianity were even ignored when it was constructed. The clock there (destroyed in World War II, only visible on photographs) was the only one that also showed the position of the planets, so that the complete horoscope could be calculated at a glance. A similar model, but now without mechanics, is in Stralsund's Nikolaikirche.
The Farnese clock in the Vatican is now completely preserved and overhauled down to the last cog. Their restorer Ludwig Oechslin, born in 1952 in the sign of Aquarius, calls the original builders priest mechanics , since almost all of them were theologians who constructed these complicated planetary machines and the inscriptions world models [Meier 1995]. There were only a few magistri orlogii (clock masters) who had the necessary knowledge for this.
The builder of the Gdańsk clock, which was recently restored and set in motion again, is said to have been blinded after the wheelwork was completed so that a similar masterpiece could not be made anywhere else. However, such fables are also entwined around the Strasbourg cathedral clock. It was created at a time when Protestant theologians made the city a stronghold of the Reformation. Even Copernicus, which we will also come back to, and Tycho Brahe's planetary model were reproduced there [Oestmann 1993 (1)]. The iconoclasm of the Reformation era banned all jewelry and holy images from the churches. Was this how the citizens of Strasbourg wanted to demonstrate their new religious self-image?
In this context, the many astrological sundials with their magnificent grid lines should not be forgotten. The Arachne on the old Görlitzer Ratsapotheke on the Untermarkt corner of Peterstraße bears the inscriptions Solarium and Arachne. The latter consists of a large number of straight and curved lines with numerous symbols of the lights sun and moon as well as the planets, from which the polar height of the sun, its position in the respective sign of the zodiac and even the current hour regent can be read.
It was created by the Görlitz mathematician and astronomer Zacharias Scultetus in 1550. A baroque sundial with astrological date lines can also be found in the Dresden Zwinger, created at a time when the Saxon court held astrology in the highest esteem.
All these clocks show not only the quantity of time, but also its quality. A sensitive person trained in the art of astrology may still be able to recognize the current constellation from the representation of the dial and thus feel the mood of the moment, i.e. feel Uranus, the quality of time, and maybe even determine Kairos, that right moment.
It is an expression of our current zeitgeist to see these watches only as chronometers, as measuring tools for Kronos/Saturn, for the quantity of time. However, one does not have to personally agree with this attitude. God is (also) time - this medieval notion can be followed very easily: Just stand in front of the old town hall in Prague or close to the clock in the Rostock Marienkirche, the cathedral in Münster, the Nikolaikirche in Stralsund, the cathedral in Lund or the Strasbourg cathedral clock, don't hear the ticking and rattling so quietly, look at the dial and feel the mood of the moment.
Time has two faces, one that can be measured and the other that can be felt. People used to appreciate this - and even chose the founding date of a university afterwards.
Von dem Wassermann
Der Wassermann ist zimlich gut
Zulassen / wers begeren thut.
Doch hüt der schinbein / folg du mir /
Die däwend krafft sterck / rat ich dir
Artzney gemeyn / das haar beschneid /
Solt sähwen / pflantzen auch bey zeit.
Wassermann das eylfft Zeychen / Warm vnd feucht / Saturnus tegliches hauß. Hat am Menschen die schinbein vnnd waden. Wann die Sonn darinn ist, gibts schnee vnnd regen. So der Mon darinn / ist bös schinbein vnd waden Artzneyen / weit reysen / newe kleyder anlegen / mit Herren handlen / fundamant legen / äcker bawen / sähwen /Ehelich werden / vber wasser faren / mit vögel beyssen / haar abschneiden / schuld fordern / vnd was ein schnellend begert. Das zeychen ist warm vnd feucht / vnd macht guten wind / vnd das alles / so das Zeychen von Orient auffgeht. Wer vnder disem Zeychen geboren oder empfangen / hat zugleich glück vnd vnglück / leidet offt armut.
Ein Knab geborn zwischen dem 20. tag Jenners / biß auff den 18. Hornungs / ist der natur vnnd eygenschafft deß Zeychens Wassermann / langen haupts vnd angesichts / bald zornig / sanffter reden / stiller geschefft / hertzlich bey den leuten / leichten muts / Er leidet armut / vnd nimpt sich doch sein nicht an / wovon er trawret. Nach 30. jaren kompt er zu guter ruhe.
Sein lust ist wanderung. Im werden angezeygt zwey Eheliche Weiber / wirt von Weibern lieb ge-halten / hat ehr von jhnen / ist etwan karg / träg / fantasiert vnd redt mit jm selbs. Durch seinen bruder kompt er in widerwertigkeyt / wirt bald graw / eins guten alters / Hat lust zu schwartzen farben. Sein kranckheit deß leibs eräuget sich an den knien vnd schenckeln / vmb das haupt / brust / miltz / vnd bauch.
Sein glück seind die Land der Sonnen Nidergang / vnnd gegen Mitternacht / der Auffgang ist mittel / nicht vollkommen. Aber die Land deß Mittags seind jhm vnglücksam / bös / tödtlich / vnnd widerwertig. Sein glückhafftige farben sind / braun / grün / Aber schwartz / weiß / blaw / gemenget / Seyn vnglückhafftig / die andern mittel.
Sein höchste nutzung / seind alle lufftige wässerechte ding / Weiher / Wisen / Mülen / vnd dergleichen. Die übung deß feurs seind mittel / nicht böß. Aber alle übungen deß felds seind jhm vnglücksam.
Ein Meydlin geboren zwischen obbestimmter zeit / ist auch der selbigen natur. Wirt weise / vnn kompt zu grossen ehren / samlet viel guts / Ist eins bösen gehörs / Zeychen oder massen im angesicht. Ihr glück vnd vnfall / farben vnd anders / schicken sich wie oben gemeldet.
Saturno
Ein Alt / Kalt / Fauler / Wendt den schimpff / Unflätig / hässig / han keinn glimpff. Mein kind feindselig / neidig / herb / Metall / Bley / Eisen / mein gewerb.
Saturnus ist der erst vnd oberst Planet / Ein verderber vnnd feind der natur / gifftig von natur / katl vnnd trucken / bezeychner der arbeyt / auß den farben schwartz / sawr an dem geschmack. Auß den tagen den Sambstag / vnnd nächten Dinstags nacht.
Er lauffet so hoch am Himmel / daß er in 30. Jaren / 5. tagen vnnd 6. stunden durch die 12. zeychen laufft / ist inn jedem Zeychen dritthalb Jar.
Von wegen seiner höhe sihet man jhn selten. Die Wag ist sein erhöhung / darinn er grossen gewalt hat / Der Steinbock vnd Wassermann seine heuser. Im Krebs vnnd Widder hat er kein glück. Der Widder ist sein fall.
Saturnus ist einer verderbten natur / wie die Sonn einer lebend machenden.
Wann Saturnus so nahe bey der Erden wer als der Mon / so were es allezit Winter. Die grösse Saturni ist ein achttheyl der Sonnen.
In den stunden Saturni ist gut schwere ding kauffen vnnd verkauffen / als Eisen / Bley / vnnd allerley Metall vnnd schwer Ertz / schwere stein / schwartzgewandt / gut Gärten bawen / Weiher grab en / Ertz graben / vnd was in der Erden zuhandlen ist / gut seine feind mit list bekriegen / graw thier reiten / als Esel / Rossz vnnd Maulesel / gut allerley speiß einkauffen / gut sähwen vnd äcker bawen.
In der stund Saturni ist nit gut Artznei nemme / newe kleyder schneiden noch anlegen / haar beschneiden / gehe in kein Schiff / reyse nicht vber feld / such kein feind / mach kein Ehe / wirff oder scheuß niemandt / nit aderlasse / nit schrepffe / Ist nit gut gley fordern noch nemmen / er geneußt sein nicht. Wer in der stund kranck wirt / ligt lang / stirbt zuletzst. Es ist bös mit grossen / besonders Geystlichen Herrn handlen / mit Fischern / Jägern / vnnd freunden / böß anfahen zu bawen maurwerck / nit gut gesellschaft machen / Weiber nemmen / sie leben sonst inn vnliebe.
Ein Kind geborn in Saturnus stund / Wirt ein träger / schwermütiger Mensch / mit eim dünnen bart / bleycher gelben farb / dick / hart / schwartz haupthaar / Ist hochmütig / fahet viel an / richt nichts recht auß / wil vber andere leut seyn / wirt selten reich / wonet gern bey wassern / Ist von natur diebisch / räubisch / neidisch vnd hässig / er sticht gern / vnglückhafft inn allen seine sachen / hat viel vnreiner hitz / wirdt schnell kranck / zürnet nicht leichtlich / helt lang zorn / seines guts vnmildt / lügenhafft / hat tieffe mörderische augen / ist vngern bey vilen leuten / tregt gern schwartz / grawet bald / ist kein frawen mann / redet gern mit jm selbst / ist wol beredt / sihet gern vndersich.
So die Sonnen im Christmon inn Steinbock / oder im Jenner inn Wasserman laufft / ist Saturnus viel kräftiger inn seinen stunden dann zu anderer zeit. Item / so der Mon new wirt in Saturnus stund / derselbige Monat wirt fast kalt / vnd das mehrer theyl feucht. Saturnus hat am Menschen innen das miltz / darumb so artzney das miltz nit / so es in Saturnus stundt ist. Das recht ohr / vnd blasen / frawen vnnd manns besitzt er auch / vnnd zum theyl Phlegma.
Belief, hunches, certainty
The prophecy of the end of the world is therefore often only the prognosticator's subjective desire for destruction projected into the future.
[Hermann Meyer, Liberation from the Force of Destiny]
Until the middle of the 19th century, Pisces was ruled by the planet Jupiter, which also ruled the sign of Sagittarius. The distant planet Neptune, discovered by astronomers, was soon assigned to Pisces by astrologers as co-ruler or sole ruler. Today, the astrologer Wolfgang Döbereiner ties in with the philosophy of medieval interpretations when, in his Munich Rhythm Theory , he describes the sign of Sagittarius using a priest loudly preaching from the pulpit, and in contrast Pisces using the example of a withdrawn saint who lives his truth through himself. [Döbereiner 1978]
While modern Western astrology has little connection to religion and is used more for stock market speculation, this is quite different in Asia. The rebuilding of a Hindu temple in northern India was at stake in 1997, when bloody street battles broke out between Hindu fundamentalists and Muslims, resulting in a number of deaths. The Muslims did not want to be rebuilt on the consecrated ground of their mosque. But Indian astrologers had calculated that the best time to rededicate the old shrine had come and should not be missed. The Hindus were literally pressed for time!
If one assumes that time actually has a quality, if astronomical calculations can be used to calculate Cairo's right moment, then of course one shouldn't miss it. And since everything has two sides, there must also be an unfavorable point in time, perhaps even a horribly terrible one, ie one when the world comes to an end. And so we are right in the middle of the century of the Reformation.
Legendary Flood Prophecy
In his time, ie 500 years ago, Melanchthon's teacher Johannes Stoeffler was considered the undisputed gray eminence of astronomy. His horoscope shows a strong emphasis on the zodiacal sign Pisces by Jupiter as well as the analogous constellation Neptune in the middle of Coeli and Venus in the 12th house. This can be interpreted as great sensitivity and foreboding. Withdrawing into monkish seclusion is necessary for such a character in order to be able to live one's own inner truth beyond the social norms. At the same time, the sun, moon, dragon head, Mercury and ascendant in Sagittarius indicate a strong prophetic element that can only be lived out in public, for example in the role of preacher or teacher.
Its exact origin is uncertain. Probably the illegitimate son of Swabian nobles, he lived a large part of his life in complete seclusion as the pastor of a small rural community. His office gave him enough time to devote himself to the calculation and interpretation of celestial movements [Oestmann 1993 (2)]. High-ranking personalities from the nobility and clergy commissioned him with astrological reports. At the same time he was technically and mathematically gifted.
His celestial globe commissioned by Emperor Maximilian is famous: a unique showpiece that contains all the astronomical knowledge of the time [Oestmann 1993 (1)]. Such globes also had a deep symbolic meaning. They were intended to underscore and consolidate the emperor's intellectual claim to power as mediator between heavenly powers and earthly people.
It was only at an advanced age that he received a call to the University of Tübingen - without ever having properly embarked on a professorial career. In addition to the young linguistic genius Philipp Schwarzerdt (Greek: Melanchthon), his students included Sebastian Münster and Johann Nagelin (Latin: Carion). This group of astrologers/astronomers kept in touch with each other later, at the time of the Reformation, and brought astronomy to its peak. The connection between astrology and Christianity, which was newly conceived at the time, as taught at the Wittenberg University in Leucorea, has its intellectual origin in him.
As a result of his astronomical studies, Stoeffler had ephemeris printed for the next 50 years at the end of the 15th century. The invention of the printing press made it possible for such tables, once reserved for only a few scholars, to be circulated on a massive scale. The constellations no longer had to be calculated by hand and then painstakingly copied. When the buyers leafed through the pages over time in order to look astronomically and consequently also astrologically into the future, they got stuck on a short but concise remark by Stoeffler [Ludendorff 1942] about the year 1524: "Levate igitur, viri christianissimi, capita ad astra!” (Let us, most Christian men, raise our heads to the stars!) That spring the Sun, Moon and all the then visible planets were in Pisces.
Stoeffler was considered an extremely respected personality in the intellectual circles of the time. Equally successful as an astronomer and an astrologer, his discreet advice did not go unheeded. This enormous concentration of planets impressed many calendar writers who adopted the forecast, e.g. B. Lichtenberger [Kurze 1960] and Hassfurt. Calendar pages with astrological prophecies were as popular back then as the tabloids are today – and just as sensationalized. A total of mentare published on this constellation. Some (Reymann) concluded that under certain circumstances it could herald a catastrophe, perhaps even the end of the world, which, according to the sign of the fish, took the form of a deluge. Others (Lichtenberger, Luther) thought it possible that the worst could be averted once again through humility and a return to true Christianity. Only a few voices spoke out against the belief in the stars, considering such forecasts to be nonsense.
After a few years as a professor at the university, Stoeffler withdrew to his pastorate in the solitude of the Swabian Jura. As a deeply religious person, one could not accuse him of any dishonest intentions. Out of sheer vanity he would never have had this subtle reference to the stars printed in the ephemeris. The form also fully corresponded to the rules of judicial astrology, ie it dispensed with any clairvoyant abilities and was based solely on astronomical calculations.
This abstract form of prediction was permissible even for a believing Christian. It was in accordance with the guidelines of the great Father of the Church, Thomas Aquinas. And as the year 1524 drew nearer and people asked Stoeffler in his rural retreat, who was now over 70, he stuck to his interpretation.
Pioneers of celestial forecasting
