I?ve been drawn to midpoints for a long time now, but they seem like a secondary technique that could easily get out of hand. Midpoints are like bunnies ? you turn around and find another one. (I realize now that an education in reproduction may have been the plan when Mom & Dad let us get Myrtle & Rufus [They were bunnies, not midpoints].)

Midpoints have also seemed too modern. I know ? I should try to keep an open mind, and I am in fact very carefully and slowly coming back to some modern astrological ideas. But I sure prefer to find an older foundation or beginning when it comes to the myriad of techniques and approaches.

Not too long ago I picked up a used copy of Rob Hand?s 1981 book Horoscope Symbols. It was written before his intensive work with traditional astrology and old texts. On page 152 he writes ?Midpoints are found in the works of several Medieval and Renaissance astrologers, but they did not become widely popular until this century, when their use was codified into a coherent system?. Hey! That means I can study midpoints! My question: Does anyone know who those Medieval and Renaissance astrologers are and in what works midpoints are discussed?

Hi Kirk,

I didn't read that book. But I wonder if R.Hand might actually be implying the arabic parts without naming so?

Sigma

Hi Sigma,

I briefly considered that, but it sounds to me like he?s talking about midpoints themselves. The statement ?they did not become widely popular until this century, when their use was codified into a coherent system? sounds like midpoints rather than parts. The ?coherent system? is the use of midpoints by the Uranians and Cosmobiologists.

Hi Kirk

I?m not sure how relevant this is to the development and employment of the technique we are familiar with, but it has been argued that one of the reasons why antiscia connections are valid is that the midpoint of both planets will fall upon the solstice points (whereas contra-antiscia fall upon equinox points). Antiscia are very ancient but I don?t know of any ancient astrologer who specially referred to this as a justification for their use. I have also heard, or read somewhere, that midpoints are older than we realise but I don?t know of any sources to back this up.

It?s an interesting query.

Deb

Hello,

Thanks to Alain Ponsot, from Denis Labour?'s forum and H.-J. Gouchon's Dictionary, I may have an answer on this topic. Antonio-Francisco Bonatis wrote about birth rectification. Apparently the mean for rectification use mid-point. Put simply, one planet had to be "symetric" to one angle. Although I have the french translation (available on Labour?'s website), I have not read it yet.

Hope this helps!...

French translation from Bonatis' secondary directions:
http://astrocours.free.fr/secrets/direc ... onatis.pdf

A technical problem has made me late in responding.

Deb,
I hadn?t thought of antiscia. Maybe someone ages ago was inspired to use midpoints because of the older antiscia practice? It?s a thought.

I have also heard, or read somewhere, that midpoints are older than we realise but I don?t know of any sources to back this up.

It?s these astrological teasings that make the whole thing so fun.


Fran?ois,
Are you encouraging me to work on my fading French? I do like to find French astrology articles ? I get to work on two areas of interest at the same time. Thanks.

I seem to remember Al-Biruni mentioning "besieged by sign" and it seemed similar to a midpoint. I do not have his book with me at the moment but from memory he says a planet is debilitated if it surrounded by malefics. I will check it when I get home.

Here it is - paragraph 500 Al Biruni - penultimate sentence reads "Again a planet is described as besieged by the rays, when in front of it is another in sextile or quartile and another behind it in like aspect." Not exactly the same as a midpoint but interesting none the less