MARTINI LUTHERI

HIERONYMI CARDANI - DE EXEMPLIS CENTUM GENITURARUM

XI

  MARTINI LUTHERI (1483-1546)

1)- introduction

Martin Luther ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546), O.S.A., was a German professor of theology, composer, priest, monk and a seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation.
Luther came to reject several teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. He strongly disputed the Catholic view on indulgences as he understood it to be, that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. Luther proposed an academic discussion of the practice and efficacy of indulgences in his Ninety-five Theses of 1517. His refusal to renounce all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the Pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the Emperor.
Astrodients : Heinz specht writes, "He was born October 22 Julian, that is November 10 Gregorian." (This does not compute as the conversion of OS to NS in 1483 is plus ten days.) Ebertin in Meridian 1983/4 gives October 22, as does Huber in Astrolog No.28 with a time from Tycho Brahe. Cardanus gave 10:00 PM, Garcaeus 11:20 PM, Junctinus 11:36 PM, Reinhold Ebertin 10:59 PM, Huber 11:00 PM. Melanchton, the friend of Luther, said in his book that Luther had been born before midnight. Gauricus, a Catholic Monk falsified Luther's birthday to the year 1484 to further declare him a heretic. Cardanus did not accept that date.

Philip Schwarzerd (1497-1560). who translated his surname into the Greek Melanchthon, was the leading religious scholar of the Reformation and a close friend of Martin Luther (1483-1546). He was the first to edit and translate Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos directly from Greek into Latin (Basel, 1553); with it was included Giovanni Pontano's Latin version of pseudo-Ptolemy's Centiloquy. Unlike many other theologians, Melanchthon saw no conflict between astrology and religion.

One of his principal interests was Luther's horoscope. Many had thought that Luther was bom in 1484, one reason being that there was a Jupiter-Satum conjunction in November of that year. Melanchthon seems to have believed that in the beginning, for Peuckert cites a passage from a letter he wrote to Andreas Osiander (1498-1552) in 1539, “We are in doubt as to Luther’s birthdate. The day is entirely certain, also very nearly the hour, midnight, as I myself have heard from the mouth of his mother. 1484, I say, was the year. . . Gauricus approved the chart for 1484.”" But Melanchthon later changed his mind and stated that the year was 1483. (It is now generally agreed that Luther was born between 11 PM and midnight on 10 November 1483.)

See also : Jürgen G.H.Hoppman The Lichtenberger Prophecy and Melanchthon’s Horoscope for Luther, Culture and Cosmos, Vol. 1 no 2, Autumn/Winter1997, pp. 49-59

Luther’s Horoscope : The central question for any contemporary astrologer keen to know whether Luther was the Messiah or the anti-Christ, was his date, place and time of birth. Melanchthon studied astrology at Thubingen under Johannes Stoeffler from 1512-1518 and from then on he considered knowledge of astrology to be a standard part of humanism. Melanchthon’s correspondence indicates that in 1530 his interest was increasingly focused on astrology. Until now he had been occupied defending the Reformation in texts such as the Augsburg Confession. Now he was able to devote himself to the interests he had brought from Swabia to Saxony. It was also in 1530 that Lucus Gauricus, the well known Italian astrologer, is said to have come to Berlin. Gauricus, an enthusiastic supporter of the Roman Catholic Church, was now under the jurisdiction of Joachim I, the Elector of Brandenburg, who had himself resisted pressure for a reformation of the Church in his territory, and also employed his own astrologer, Johann Carion. During Gauricus’ visit to Joachim I he began a correspondence with Melanchthon, who was based in Wittenberg, the capital of Lutheran Saxony.Their particular interest was the time and date of Luther’s birth. Melanchthon was Luther’s closest friend and companion, and at the same time a passionate astrologer, and even though Gauricus was a Catholic, it was therefore natural for him to consult Gauricus in his rectification of Luther’s ‘Constallatio’. The matter was of great political importance: was the founder of the Reformation born in the year 1484, under a powerful concentration of planets in the bad sign of Scorpio, and therefore the Antichrist? Or perhaps in 1483 with more favourable planetary alignments, perhaps indicating that he was destined for the
vacant post as ‘the New Pope in the New Rome, Wittenberg’.However, not only could Luther’s mother not remember the time of her son’s birth, even though in one account she reported that he was born at midnight, but Luther himself had made different statements about his chart, and even his year of birth was open to dispute. Luther of course, as an authority in the field Melanchthon had a free hand to rectify Luther’s horoscope as he saw fit, using the known events of his life to determine a likely birth time. However, he offered to consult with his colleagues. In 1532 he wrote to another astrologer, Schonerum, almost certainly Johannes Schoener, who was based in Nuremberg that the birth time of 9 pm (on October 22, 1484) was rectified by Carion. In this chart the stellium of Sun, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn in Scorpio fell in the 5th house. Did the astrologer see this as a beneficial indication, and was this chart rectified for political reasons rather than astrological?
Melanchthon’s doubts continued and in 1539 he wrote to his friend Osiander, ‘We are in doubt about Luther's birth time. The day is certain, almost the hour, midnight, as I myself have heard his mother saying. I think the year was 1484. But we drew several charts. Gauricus accepted the horoscope of 1484’. [...]

Gauricus’ preferred birth time for Luther was 1:10 am, while Philo Pfeil argued for 3:22 am, both for October 22nd 1484. In Gauricus’version Mars falls in the 1st house - a more aggressive component and the concentration of planets in Scorpio falls in the 9th, the house of religion [...] The Italian astrologer Jerome Cardan used the same data as Gauricus, but criticised his interpretation, which in his view lacked the appropriate Counter-Reformational fervour. He also changed the year of birth to 1483, which was increasingly used as an alternative to 1484, a precedent followed by Melanchthon himself. Cardan, meanwhile, was even more disapproving of Luther than Gauricus, perhaps because, like Gauricus, he wished to safeguard his position by demonstrating his loyalty to Rome. Melanchthon subsequently repeated his belief that Luther was born in 1483 in the deanship-book of Wittenberg University as well as in his eulogy for Luther. Thirty years after Luther’s death, Johann Garcaeus published a collection of natal horoscopes in which Luther’s birth data were given as 11.20 pm on November 10th 1483, the date which is now accepted as Luther’s official birthday. Like Gauricus, Garcaeus placed Luther’s natal Moon in the ninth house, representing religious and ecclesiastical affairs. Aby Warburg reckons that ‘the empathic natural vitality’ of Gauricus’ original Italian chart continued to have an effect on Garcaeus.He also mentioned that in 1617 the whole subject of Luther’s disputed birth time was ‘scientifically solved by the Protestants...

But we must know that the theme of Luther given by Garcaeus, p. 184 of his Astrologiae methodus, all indicating the correct date and time, give false positions for MA  (25° GEMINI) and MO (13° SAGIT) !

2)- natal chart

(november 19 1483, gregorian, 23h30 PM)

•  ASC VIRGO, ruler ME (IV)
• MC TAURUS, ruler VE (SCORPIO)
• MO (VIII)
• conj VE, SA - conj MA, JU -
• // ME - {VE, SA}  

 Morinus makes MA as ALMUTEN. VE (SCOR) and ME (SAGIT) are detrimental.

- HYLEG : ASC
- ANAERETA :  SA (MO ?)
- ALCHOCODEN : MA


As professor of biblical exegesis at Wittenberg (1512 - 46), he began to preach the doctrine of salvation by faith rather than works; and on 10/31/1517 drew up a list of 95 theses on indulgences, denying the pope any right to forgive sins, and nailed them on the church door at Wittenberg. Copies of the theses spread rapidly over Europe and in response, Tetzel published a set of counter-theses and burnt Luther's. He labeled Luther as a heretic and threatened to have him sent to the stake. The Wittenberg students retaliated by burning Tetzel's theses. 

The 1st date to investigate seems 1512. I coincides with the beginning of career as professor. We find two directions which can relate at the same time to the conflicts that Luther then lived and to the determination in which he was in the inscriptions of the 95 theses. So we have :
- SU conj MA (1512)
- ME conj VE (1512)

3)- primary directions

Note that SU applies the direction and not MA; this has an importance, according to tradition, as to the nature of the undercurrent event.
Hence we have :

a)- ME conj VE

 

direction	promissor	significator
C ME conj. VE	ME	conj. VE
long	249,21 S W	222,47 S E
lat	-1,868	1,153
AR	247,197	220,371
dec	-23,741	-14,525
ha	-3,424	-2,956
OA	213,606	201,350
dom Campa	106,501	77,243
dom Regio	100,445	81,981
Dom Placidus	101,798	81,229
pôle Regio	12,847	9,953
pôle Campa	12,847	9,953
Pôle Placidus	9,902	7,117
DM D|N	D |163,799 - N |16,201	D |169,375 - N |10,63
DA pôle D|N	D |97,539 - N |4,403	D |45,387 - N |1,854
DA	33,591	19,02
SA D|N	D |56,41 N |123,59	D |70,98 N |109,02
D Horiz	139,79	98,39
Htd*	20,598	18,17
DH**	0,787	-0,585
TS	50,996	3:23:59
lat geo,	51,517
eclip	23,508
birth year	1483
event year	1512
*  temporal hour (= 1/6e Sad)	** horary distance, (= mundane positions, see Giuseppe Bezza)

- results

Two primary directions and two fictitious directions are counted; we note, however, that the density of the primary directions is twice that of the fictitious. (7 vs 2).

b)- SU conj MA

direction	promissor	significator
C ME conj. VE	ME	conj. VE
long	237,36 S W	211,29 S E
lat	0,000	0,611
AR	235,062	209,345
dec	-19,626	-11,382
ha	-3,213	-2,764
OA	208,411	194,675
dom Campa	94,506	63,375
dom Regio	92,808	72,674
Dom Placidus	93,137	71,383
pôle Regio	3,526	20,537
pôle Campa	3,526	20,537
Pôle Placidus	2,604	14,732
DM D|N	D |175,934 - N |4,066	D |158,349 - N |21,65
DA pôle D|N	D |74,018 - N |0,929	D |30,836 - N |3,034
DA	26,652	14,669
SA D|N	D |63,35 N |116,65	D |75,33 N |104,67
D Horiz	120,72	83,02
Htd*	19,442	17,445
DH**	0,209	-1,241
TS	50,996	3:23:59
lat geo,	51,517
eclip	23,508
birth year	1483
event year	1512
*  temporal hour (= 1/6e Sad)	** horary distance, (= mundane positions, see Giuseppe Bezza)

  - results

Our system of counting and cancellation of duplicates leads to: 2 primary directions and no fictitious. However, we count 1 fictitious.

 In January 1521, the Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther. He was then summoned to appear at the Diet of Worms, an assembly of the Holy Roman Empire. He refused to recant and Emperor Charles V declared him an outlaw and a heretic. Luther went into hiding at Wartburg Castle. In 1522, he returned to Wittenberg and in 1525 married Katharina von Bora, a former nun, with whom he had six children. The date to retain is 1521.

c)- VE, SA opp MO

 At this time, SA and MA are in opposition with MO. In January 1521, Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther. Three months later, Luther was called to defend his beliefs before Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms, where he was famously defiant. For his refusal to recant his writings, the emperor declared him an outlaw and a heretic.

direction	promissor	significator
C SA opp. MO	SA	opp. MO
long	221,99 S E	192,92 S E
lat	2,133	1,551
AR	220,214	192,486
dec	-13,448	-3,689
ha	-2,953	-2,469
OA	202,709	187,834
dom Campa	76,814	40,797
dom Regio	81,705	54,208
Dom Placidus	80,973	53,383
pôle Regio	10,286	36,341
pôle Campa	10,286	36,341
Pôle Placidus	7,301	27,125
DM D|N	D |169,218 - N |10,782	D |141,49 - N |38,51
DA pôle D|N	D |40,86 - N |1,756	D |7,712 - N |1,893
DA	17,505	4,652
SA D|N	D |72,49 N |107,51	D |85,35 N |94,65
D Horiz	96,72	56,14
Htd*	17,918	15,775
DH**	-0,602	-2,441
TS	50,996	3:23:59
lat geo,	51,517
eclip	23,508
birth year	1483
event year	1521
*  temporal hour (= 1/6e Sad)	** horary distance, (= mundane positions, see Giuseppe Bezza)

- results

 two rays of primary direction.

Luther came to understand justification as entirely the work of God. This teaching by Luther was clearly expressed in his 1525 publication On the Bondage of the Will, which was written in response to On Free Will by Desiderius Erasmus (1524). The date of reformation is clearly 1525.

d)- ME conj MA

This date is marked by ME conj MA.

direction	promissor	significator
C ME conj. MA	ME	conj. MA
long	249,21 S W	211,29 S E
lat	-1,868	0,611
AR	247,197	209,345
dec	-23,741	-11,382
ha	-3,424	-2,764
OA	213,606	194,675
dom Campa	106,501	63,375
dom Regio	100,445	72,674
Dom Placidus	101,798	71,383
pôle Regio	12,847	20,537
pôle Campa	12,847	20,537
Pôle Placidus	9,902	14,732
DM D|N	D |163,799 - N |16,201	D |158,349 - N |21,65
DA pôle D|N	D |97,539 - N |4,403	D |30,836 - N |3,034
DA	33,591	14,669
SA D|N	D |56,41 N |123,59	D |75,33 N |104,67
D Horiz	139,79	83,02
Htd*	20,598	17,445
DH**	0,787	-1,241
TS	50,996	3:23:59
lat geo,	51,517
eclip	23,508
birth year	1483
event year	1525
*  temporal hour (= 1/6e Sad)	** horary distance, (= mundane positions, see Giuseppe Bezza)

- results

We have also two rays of primary direction.

Note that 1525 coincides also with a very important direction in zodiaco : C MO conj MC.

e)- SU opp MO

Magdalena Luther (4 May [O.S. 25 March] 1529[1] – 20 September [O.S. 11 September] 1542) was the third child and second daughter of German priest and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther and his wife, Katharina von Bora. She died at the age of thirteen, unmarried. Luther was crushed by the loss of his daughter and lastingly touched.

 We have in orb, in 1542 : SU opp MO.

direction	promissor	significator
C SU opp. MO	SU	opp. MO
long	59,6 N E	11,48 N W
lat	0,000	-1,551
AR	57,384	11,156
dec	20,122	3,126
ha	-0,111	0,695
OA	29,939	7,217
dom Campa	277,007	219,096
dom Regio	274,374	232,554
Dom Placidus	274,895	231,831
pôle Regio	5,480	37,410
pôle Campa	5,480	37,410
Pôle Placidus	4,067	28,095
DM D|N	D |6,388 - N |173,612	D |39,839 - N |140,16
DA pôle D|N	D |1,493 - N |76,167	D |1,671 - N |6,415
DA	27,444	3,939
SA D|N	D |117,44 N |62,56	D |93,94 N |86,06
D Horiz	111,06	133,78
Htd*	19,574	15,657
DH**	0,326	2,545
TS	50,996	3:23:59
lat geo,	51,517
eclip	23,508
birth year	1483
event year	1542
*  temporal hour (= 1/6e Sad)	** horary distance, (= mundane positions, see Giuseppe Bezza)

- results

We have two directions.

Then, we take the natal chart in zodiacal function : we have a ray between SA and MO : //SA conj MO in 1542.

- parameters

direction	promissor	significator
C MO || SA	MO	|| SA
long	11,48 N W	324,34 S W
lat	-1,551	2,133
AR	11,156	325,928
dec	3,126	-11,436
ha	0,695	-4,798
OA	7,217	311,187
dom Campa	219,096	173,993
dom Regio	232,554	170,402
Dom Placidus	231,831	171,571
pôle Regio	37,410	51,123
pôle Campa	37,410	51,123
Pôle Placidus	28,095	48,802
DM D|N	D |39,839 - N |140,161	D |85,068 - N |94,93
DA pôle D|N	D |1,671 - N |6,415	D |16,663 - N |13,361
DA	3,939	14,742
SA D|N	D |93,94 N |86,06	D |75,26 N |104,74
D Horiz	54,10	9,81
Htd*	15,657	17,457
DH**	2,545	5,438
TS	50,996	3:23:59
lat geo,	51,517
eclip	23,508
birth year	1483
event year	1542
*  temporal hour (= 1/6e Sad)	** horary distance, (= mundane positions, see Giuseppe Bezza)

 - results

 We find 3 primary directions and two fictitious.

f)- MA conj ASC

At the beginning of his forties Luther had vertigo, tinnitis and headaches, which were the signs of chronic purlent otitis media and ended in left otorrhea and pyorrhea of the left mastoiditis. Nearly at the same time, he started to suffer from anginal pain, colic and dysuria due to urinary uric acid stones, gout and left leg ulcer, which were all caused by metabolic syndromes. The last 1/3 of his life was affected by the shadow of diseases, and his religious activities were frequently disturbed. He died from myocardial infarction at the age 63, in February 1546. [Nihon Ishigaku Zasshi. 2011 Dec;57(4):433-49.]
As reported by Philipp Melanchton, Professor of Greek and versatile theologian at the University Wittenberg and Luther's close friend, Luther had suffered a severe attack of angina pain already about a year before his death on 18 February, 1546 and thus roughly a year before writing the letter to Melanchton on 1 February, 1546 [Angina pectoris revisited; exertional angina preceded Martin Luther's last stretch of a final journey; European Heart Journal (2016) 37, 206–216]

Death occurs while the alchocoden joins the hyleg: C MA conj ASC. In addition, we find a Regio rapt-parallel : Rp SA || MO.