A Biography on Jean-Baptiste Morin

By James H. Holden

    
The most famous French astrologer and theoretician of his time [the 17th century] was the physician and mathematician Jean Baptiste Morin, who was born in Villefranche (Beaujolais) in the year 1583. He studied at Aix and Avignon, where he received the degree of M.D. in 1615. Then he made several trips to Germany, Bohemia, and Hungary under commission of the Bishop of Boulogne to study the local mining methods. While engaged in this activity, he made the acquaintance of the Scots alchemist and astrologer Davison, who introduced him to astrology. In the year 1630, Morin was called to the College de France as a Professor of Mathematics, and he wrote a prize paper “On the Best Method of Longitude Determination for Navigators,” which, however, was not officially adopted.

     His reputation as an astrologer became known quite early in court circles. After the imprisonment of the Bishop of Boulogne, he was personal physician to the Duke of Luxembourg, then to the Duke of Effiat, and was also summoned to be present as an astrologer at the birth of Louis XIV. Morin stood in special favor with Queen Marie of France, with Queen Christine of Sweden, and with the Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin, the latter of whom also granted him a yearly pension of 2,000 Francs. Princess Marie Louise of Gonzaga, afterwards Queen of Poland, took a lively interest in his work and contributed 2,000 Thalers toward the printing of his lifework. Despite which, Morin often complained of the ingratitude of princes, to whom he had made himself displeasing probably by his quarrelsome nature and his boastful manner. Morin died on 6 November 1656, in the same year as his favorite enemy Gassendi.

     His lifework, on which he had labored more than 30 years, is the Astrologia Gallica (“French Astrology”), which, in emulation of Junctinus was intended to be the encyclopedia for learned astrologers. It is a massive folio volume of xxxvi + 784 pages, with 39 tables and 80 example horoscopes, and was printed at the Hague in 1661, five years after his death.  In order to reassure the learned astrologers against all the objections of the theological or philosophical factions, Morin has handled the answer to every pertinent question in the first eight books--proof of the existence of God, the opinions of the Fathers of the Church, the problem of Fate and Free Will and its bases in natural philosophy, as well as the primary principles to which the sidereal powers are related. With Aristotle, Morin sees the Primum Mobile [1] (or the starless crystalline sphere), which lies outside the spheres of the planets, as the primary physical source of all events; from it stream down the sidereal forces which influence terrestrial bodies.  These [forces] are combined and shaped by the 4 fundamental qualities; [2] also, the planets contain them in allotted mixtures. With the Primum Mobile is united fixed and for all time the Zodiac with its 12 signs, which by no means, as many suppose, depend upon the yearly course of the Sun, but rather their individual characteristics operate in conformity with the nature of the planets that rule them. Therefore, against the opinion of Campanella, these signs also retain their specific individuality in the southern hemisphere because they are anchored fast to the Primum Mobile. The planets and signs stand in undivided reciprocal action, and there is no isolated action by the planets and no universal planetary significators for particular subjects as Ptolemy taught.  The planets are inseparably bound up with the rulerships allotted to them in the Thema Mundi [3] (see the 3rd Chapter), and the sign itself in the absence of its lord retains its specific action, e.g. the sign Leo the solar, the sign Cancer the lunar action, etc.

     On the contrary, Morin rejects the interpretation of the signs and the individual constellations according to the celestial fables, the interpretation of the individual degrees (monomoirai), the constellations rising in the decans, and a mass of other Nugamente [“silly notions”] of the Arabs and the Chaldeans.

     A planet in a sign exerts its influence in a threefold manner:  (1) through its rulership or domination; (2) through its exaltation; and (3) through the  triplicity rulership, which follows strictly the 4 fundamental qualities.  All these zodiacal dignities and forces are anchored to the Primum Mobile, which is seen as an enormous space abounding in power, that is divided into 12 sections.  Accordingly, Morin also advocates the division of the heavens taught by Regiomontanus and the geometrical division of the celestial houses by means of fixed circles of position.  In the 16th Book, he also works out in detail in this connection that the directional motions are not physically real, but only a geometrically designated motion, which is conveyed by means of a projection of the point in the sky brought onto the Primum Mobile, on account of which the individual motion of the stars remains here quite outside of consideration.  Hence,  Morin also rejects the Secondary Directions taught by Kepler and the Italian school.

     The essence of his teaching forms the Art of Determination set forth in the 21st Book,  to which he was perhaps led by the coordinate system discovered by his friend Descartes.  Instead of the many, often contradictory rules of interpretation, there ought to be a single method of interpretation from a fixed system for each department of life.  These are the axes or leading principles of his system:  a) the status of the pertinent planets in the zodiac (status coelestis), and b) the status of the planets with regard to the local horizon or in the celestial houses (status localis).  The celestial houses according to Morin are in themselves “empty geometrical spaces.”  First, through the planets standing therein, or through those ruling the signs on the cusps; then, through position or domination the houses are “determined” with regard to a definite department of life.

     H. Selva translated this 21st Book of the Astrologia Gallica into French (La théorie des determinations astrologiques de Morin de Villefranche, 1897), and after him the German astrologers Sindbad and Weiss in their work Die astrologiashe Synthese have treated in detail Morin’s teaching on determinations. Consequently, it has also found many friends in modern astrology.  However, this teaching stands or falls on the investigation of whether the allocation of the planets to the sign’s and the rulership of the houses derived there from is “right” or not. It is known that Kepler completely discarded  this teaching  on the determinations [“rulerships of the houses”], likewise Trew and many later astrologers. To which the inclusion of the new planets has brought much confusion and a considerable number of new allocation systems. And because Morin in strict deduction has made all astrological effects proceed from the powerful last sphere,  the Primum Mobile, so with the downfall of this glass house of spheres also his work collapses. [4]  Here also enter his adversaries,  especially Gassendi and Mersenne, who both violently opposed the new scholastic astrology.

NOTES

Astrologers mentioned in the article:

Davison, William (fi. 1635-1660)

He was of Scots descent but spent most of his life on the Continent. He settled first in Paris and in 1636 was appointed physician to King Louis XIII.  In 1648 he was made Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden in Paris, an office that he held for two years before moving to Poland. He was most famous for his skill  in chemistry. His best known work was Philosophia Pyroteccnica...[“Science of Pyrotechnics”] (publ. in 4 parts 1633-40). He lived to at least 69, but the years of his birth and death are not known. He does not seem to have published anything on astrology.

 

Junctinus (Francesco Giuntini, 1522-1590, of Firenze)

A Th.D. and Provincial of the Carmelite Order, he was the author of an enormous work Speculuw Astrologiae [“Mirror of Astrology”] (Lyon, 1573; 2nd ed.  1583) which contained the Greek text of Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos with a Latin translation and commentary accompanied by an elaborate exposition of astrology based on Ptolemy and the Arabic astrologers. It contains over 400 example horoscopes. Many of the charts are given by Alan Leo in his Notable Nativities, but no translations are available in modern languages except for a few short excerpts in French.

 

Regiomontanus (Johann Mueller, 1436-H76, of Kb’nigsberg)

A famous astronomer, mathematician, and astro~oger who unfortunately died young. His tables of houses (publ. 1490, and reprinted several times over the next century) became standard in Europe and were in common use for over three centuries until they were displaced by tables calculated according to the method of Placidus.

 

Kepler, Johannes (1571-1630)

Best known as the astronomer who formulated “Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion,” which are the foundation of modern astronomy, he also practised astrology in his younger days. He issued a few almanacs, wrote some small tracts on astrology, and interpreted charts for several clients, the best known of whom was the famous Prince Wallenstein (1583-1634). Interestingly, he is here identified as one of the authors of Secondary Progressions (usually ascribed to Placidus).

 

Selva, Henri (b. 1861)

The pseudonym of a French astrologer of the turn of the century who translated Book 21 of Morin’s Astrologia Qallica and published original works of his own. He is credited with reviving interest in Morin’s astrological techniques.

 

Sindbad (Friedrich Schwickert, 1857-1930)

A well-known German astrologer who embraced Morin’s theory of Determinations and was co-author of an elaborate astrological treatise (Bausteine der Astrologie [“Foundations of Astrology”]; 5 vols., 1926-7). Part of this work is available in English translation.

 

Weiss, Adolf, M.D. (fl. 1920-30)

A German medical doctor and astrologer who collaborated with “Sindbad” on the astrological work mentioned above.

Trew (or Treu), Abdias (1597-1669)
He was a professor of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Altdorf and also wrote on astrology.

Astrologers mentioned in the Notes:

Ptolemy, Claudius (2nd century A.D.)

The famous Alexandrian scientist who wrote on astronomy, optics, geography, astrology, and other subjects. His Tetrabiblos [“Four Books”] is a sketchy summary of Classical Western Astrology that became extremely popular because of the author’s great prestige and his famous name (he was often supposed to have been a king of Egypt, or at least a member of the royal family, although the last native ruler was Cleopatra, who lived two centuries earlier). He uses what is now called the “Equal House” system of house division in his chapter on determining the length of life, but elsewhere he largely ignores the houses.

 

Firmicus Maternus, Julius (4th century A.D.)

A Roman of senatorial class, a lawyer by profession, who wrote a lengthy astrological treatise in Latin, the ~thesis [“Mathematics”--but understood as “Astrology” because of the mathematical calculations involved in calculating a chart], about 335 A.D. This book has survived nearly intact (some chapters are missing) and is now available in English translation. A chapter is devoted to the Thema Mundi.

Paul of Alexandria (late 4th century A.D.)

 An Alexandrian writer who composed a short textbook called Introduction to Astrology, based on early sources. The last chapter contains a version of the Thema Mundi, which differs in some particulars from the one given by Firmicus.

Bibliographical Note:

The article on Morin de Villefranche is my translation of the German text on pp. 272-5 of Wilhelm Knappich’s Qeschichte der Astrologie [“History of Astrolgy”] (Frankfurt am Main, 1967). The portrait of Morin is from the same book. I have added the words in square brackets, the footnotes, and the end notes.

James H. Holden
Dallas, Texas
April 22, 1986

 

[1]              Latin for “Prime Mover.” Under the old geocentric view, which Morin steadfastly adhered to, the universe consisted of a set of concentric crystalline spheres.  Each of the planets was attached to one, and the outer one was conceived to move through the action of some force and to impart its motion to the inner spheres. Hence, it was called the “prime mover” because it moved the others. These astronomical theories antedated the laws of gravitation and motion proposed by Newton.

[2]              That is, the four elements: Fire, Earth, Air, and Water.

[3]               Latin for “Horoscope of the World.” This is a chart devised by the founders of Classical Western Astrology to represent the nativity of the earth itself. Firmicus Maternus devotes a chapter of his ~thesis to it, and it is also given in a variant form by Paul of Alexandria in his Introduction to Astrology. In this chart,  Cancer rises,  the Sun is in Leo, the Moon in Cancer, and each of the planets in one of the signs it is co~only said to rule. Morin,  then,  chose to derive the sign rulerships from this chart rather than from the meteorological reasons given by Ptolemy.

[4]               This is a reference to the  triumph of  the Copernican or heliocentric theory, which ultimately did away with the concept of nested crystalline spheres. The assertion of the historian that Morin’s system is untenable because he derived it from a false astronomical theory is illogical. Morin’s system of astrology is independent of the theoretical foundation he postulated for it,  just as the action of a magnet is independent of any particular field theory of Physics.  The system stands or falls on its ability to provide an accurate interpretation of a horoscope, not on the astronomical beliefs of its inventor.