by Dr.
Carlos Raitzin[1]
Translated
from the Spanish[2] by Anthony
Louis LaBruzza, copyright 2001.
Section
2. The Life of Morin[3]
Today more
than ever, on the eve of the Age of Aquarius, it is indispensable that
authentic astrologers turn their gaze toward Jean Baptiste Morin de
Villefranche and immerse themselves in his teachings. Without a doubt the seeds of future progress of our science can
be found in any part of his major work Astrologia Gallica. Indeed, we are absolutely justified in
stating that Morin was not only the greatest of all Western astrologers but
also that he should be credited with the most extensive and profound conceptual
reworking that astrology has ever experienced.
With the passing of the centuries, the life of Morin has taken on a
legendary quality. It is Morin whom
Cardinal Richelieu sneaks into the queen’s bedroom secretly to be present at
the birth of the future Sun King, Luis XIV.
Such a man, such an astrologer!
Of course this artifice by the Cardinal had no other purpose than to
obtain the greatest possible accuracy for the natal chart of the heir to the
French crown. But let us turn first to
the astrological facts before recounting any additional biographical incidents.
Jean
Baptiste Morin was born in Villefranche (in Beaujolais) on 23 February 1583 at
8:28:40 a.m. GMT (according to our rectification).
NATAL CHART OF MORIN
As Morin himself pointed out, the stellium in his Regiomontanus 12th
house necessarily had to bring him sorrows and painful tribulations, as indeed
occurred in abundance during his lifetime.
In Astrologia Gallica, Morin erects his natal chart first
utilizing the Regiomontanus house system and then using the equal house system
to demonstrate the absolute falsehood of the latter procedure. Under the equal house system, the stellium
in question falls in his 11th [equal] house and thus the
discontents, griefs, and artful manipulations that he was destined to suffer
would have been transformed into personal satisfactions arising from his
profession, friendships, powerful protectors, happiness and well-being for his
parents, and riches for the native; but all of this was resoundingly
disproved by the facts of his life.
It is fitting to note here that it
seems strange that Morin erected his own chart using the Regiomontanus house
system and that he did not later modify it using the method of Placidus, since
the Placidus system enjoyed its preference during the greater part of his
practice of astrology. Otherwise in Astrologia
Gallica, Morin interpreted his chart and its revolutions [returns] as one
would expect of him, that is, masterfully.
Jean Hiéroz (Jean Rozieres), the
noted French astrologer and naval engineer, now deceased, published a
translation into French of the original Latin astrological autobiography of
Morin under the title Ma Vie Devant Les Astres (Ed. Cahiers
Astrologiques, Nice, 1943). In reality,
it deals with an extract of Astrologia Gallica and is worthwhile to
read. A Spanish translation was
published by the Spanish-language journal Mercurio-3.
A study of the work of Hiéroz
(from which we have taken valuable data for the present publication) will be
worthwhile for all astrologers. The now
defunct journal Astrologia (in issue No. 28) published a brief biography
of Morin, and the same journal dedicated issues No. 43 (edited by Francisco
Aguilar) and No. 68 (a work of the present author) to the Theory of
Astrological Determinations. Today we
want to offer something more complete and profound, including, in addition to
the best of that material, further biographical material, an introductory
summary of the Theory of Determinations, and also a revised translation of the
aphorisms of Morin regarding the interpretation of natal charts, revolutions
[returns], directions, transits, and other topics -- all of which is of inestimable value to astrologers.
Also included will be Morin’s
invaluable Rules of Elective Astrology with some examples that I believe will
be of great interest to readers. These
aphorisms have been translated from the stupendous work of J. Hiéroz, La Astrologie selon Morin de Villefranche,
quelques autres et moi-même (Omnium Litteraire, Paris, 1962), another
very valuable resource that we have used as a source of information. Hiéroz
supplemented his previously mentioned work in a second volume entitled L’Astrologie Mondiale et Météorologique de Morin de
Villefranche (Ed. Leymarie, Paris, 1946).
There are other sources of
enormous importance. The first of these
is of course the autobiography of Morin, Les Remarques Astrologiques ou le
Fanal de l’Astrologie (Retz, Paris, 1975; and a Spanish edition by
Ediciones Obelisco). There are two
English-language versions of Morin’s celebrated Book 21 of Astrologia
Gallica: the carefully done Astrosynthesis of Zoltan Mason and Lucy
Little (Emerald Books, 1974) and the somewhat less recommended text by
Baldwyn.
We should also mention the great
German works of Erich Carl Kühr, Psychologische
Horoskopdeutung (Segunda edición, R.Cerny, Wien, 1948-51) and of Sindbad
(Friedrich Schwickert)-Weiss, Die Bausteine der Astrologie (Tercera
edición, O.W. Barth, München, 1950), which drew
their inspiration directly and explicitly from Morin. There is a very well known Spanish edition of the book by
Sindbad-Weiss entitled Astrología
Racional (Kier, Buenos Aires, 1965).
Returning to the life of Morin,
let us say that at 12 years of age he already began to suffer severe
tribulations, for then his father became gravely ill with fevers and his mother
died in childbirth without giving him her final blessing, and she also
disinherited him over a trivial matter.
From the ages of 16 to 46, the
life of Morin was, in his own words, was veritable “permanent slavery”. During this period he served sixteen masters
in succession, and he had to abandon each one in turn, but not without
suffering harm because of that. Some of
them he left because he could not endure the arrogance of their wives (he has
Venus and the Moon in his 12th House, indicating misfortune at the
hands of women). Others he left, in his
own words, because of unforeseen circumstances (he has Uranus occupying
and ruling the 11th House so that he was not able to avoid abrupt
changes in his professional activities or in the attitudes of his
friends). This slavery of thirty years
is a consequence of none other than the clustering of planets in that “valley
of sorrows” which is the 12th House, to quote the exact and bitter
words of the Master himself.
As Morin himself observed, on
account of the Moon and Saturn, it was not unusual that some of his patrons
were plebians (notaries, agents, and scribes). Thanks to Jupiter, others were of an intermediate status
(functionaries, priests, and bishops).
Yet others, because of the Sun, were from the ruling class, including
the Duke of Effiat, the Duke of Luxemburg, and also the Duke of Desdiguieres,
whose life Morin saved as a physician (the great astrologer had received
his doctorate from the University of Aviñón in the
year 1613). The “enormous
ingratitude” of this last duke caused Morin to abandon him, but not without
first predicting that duke’s death two years hence, a fact that came to pass
with great accuracy.
From 1614 to 1621 Morin was
employed by Claude Dormy, the Bishop of Bologne. He resided in Paris as the bishop’s physician and attendant and
he was later sent to Germany, Hungary, and Transylvania. Apparently his work there consisted of
visiting mines and studying metals.
However, his primary service to the Bishop was the use of his
astrological talent. It was precisely
Claude Dormy who in 1614 introduced Morin to our astrological science.
Morin’s next employer was the Duke
of Luxemburg with whom he remained until 1629.
During that period Morin published a defense of Aristotle (1624) and
took up the study of optics. Without
setting astrology aside, he collaborated with Gassendi on astronomical
observations.
A good part of Morin’s
misfortunes, as he himself admits, had their origin in his vengeful and
quarrelsome [rowdy, troublemaking] character and in his lustful
temperament. These comments do not
detract from the greatness of the noted Doctor and Teacher, Professor of
Astrology, Mathematics, and Medicine at the College of France, famed author on
different subjects and eminent philosopher.
On the contrary, they help us even more to appreciate his scientific
objectivity that did not waver even in declaring his own shortcomings.
Even a cursory analysis of his
natal chart reveals the reason for these characteristics. Morin himself clearly explained it by
pointing to the presence in his 12th House of the Moon and Venus,
the ruler and co-ruler of this 1st House. The dangers that this brought to him continuously during almost
every year starting with his adolescence were dispersed thanks to various
factors, the most important of which were Venus and Jupiter present in and
ruling the 12th House, thereby guaranteeing his triumph over his
cunning enemies.
In spite of the above-mentioned
facts, Morin pointed out that he had always been a man of ardent faith and he
said, “only the Goodness of Providence could have saved me from so many ambushes.” The presence of such grave risks is
confirmed for us by the presence of Pluto, ruler of Scorpio (intercepted in the
7th), being posited in the 12th and in square to its
dispositor Mars (in his Fall). There
were threats of imprisonment and secret attacks by patrons who hated him,
including a Cardinal and a Duke Mariscal of France. In addition, he suffered from poverty, illnesses, various hurts,
misfortunes, and several mortal dangers.
All of this was especially notable from 21 to 37 years of age.
It is precisely in relation to
these facts that Morin states categorically that only an astrologer of weak
intellect could pretend, using the system of “equal houses,” that the
benefics and the luminaries in the 11th House could have produced so
many grave misfortunes in his case.
Thus with an iron club he demolishes the absurd equal house system,
utilizing his implacable logic and his ingeniously creative talent (Mercury
conjunct Uranus in Aquarius in the 11th sextile the Ascendant). In this way he also destroys the absurdities
of the Campanus house system, whose pretences he fulminates against in the most
lucid manner.
Indeed, according the Campanus
system, Morin’s 9th House would fall in Capricorn and he would be
subject to the cold skepticism of Saturn, ruler of Capricorn, rather than to
the proper fervent religious attitude of Jupiter already mentioned, which
accompanied him his entire life. Even
Scorpio, according to Campanus, would have ceased to be intercepted in the 7th
House and that would have distanced this illustrious native from the mortal
risks that befell him in his days.[4] Morin even added to the other reasons an
argument that will give many astrologers pause for reflection. With reference to the Regiomontanus house
system and Morin’s religious fervor, he stated: “Finally, the cusps of the 1st
and the 9th Houses are in a partile trine.” The surprise here resides in Morin’s notion
that the house cusps are active factors in the chart. Let us leave this idea for polemics and,
above all, for judicious and methodical observation of the facts.
Yet while it is not his major
credit, one of Morin’s most significant achievements was his treatment of the
unsightly remains of a venerable Astrological Tradition that he received
exactly in the form that corresponded, separating with both genius and
thoroughness the wheat from the chaff.
In medieval Europe the fanciful excesses of the Arab astrologers had
lead to a grotesquely “enriched” astrology full of every conceivable imaginary
element. This is a problem that we
must confront anew in our own era. At
the dawn of the Age of Aquarius we must purify astrology of the immense
foolishness that has been added by some whose desire was to become famous
overnight.
The great Morin did not lose his
composure because of this and, in accord with realizing the encyclopedic task
of restoring the original tradition as much as possible in all its purity, he
enriched it with his conceptions in such a wonderful way that before his labor
of prodigious gold mining the statement of authorities of the stature of
Sindbad and Weiss, for whom at its side the work of other astrologers is no
more than the work of paving, has full validity.
It is understandable, though not
justifiable, that in our time the immense labor of more than one contemporary
astrologer remains unknown, for the lazy inertia of the human mind as well
as human arrogance and envy are well known. But considering that four centuries have passed since the birth
of Morin, it is a shame (for all of us astrologers) that silence and
unfamiliarity weigh upon his work.
Morin’s opus has been rescued from almost total oblivion by the few
talented individuals already mentioned.
If the proliferation of astrological recipes and other foolishness is
added to this, it is not surprising that astrology still knocks at the doors of
the universities that had to abandon it after the unfortunate decree of Luis
XIV, instigated by Colbert in 1666. Let
no one doubt that soon those doors will be reopened, following the example of
Oxford (Ingrid Lind) and of Clermont-Ferrand (Gauquelin) and in the future that
awaits us and for which we must prepare there is no room for foolishness,
superstition, and other undesirable things.
Here MORIN outlines some questions
of fundamental importance to astrological interpretation. Speaking of the combustion, he does not
hesitate to fully take issue with those who assert that a planet combust the
Sun lacks effective action in the sublunar world. On the contrary, Morin affirms:
I have Venus and Mercury combust [the Sun] and their rulers, Saturn and
Jupiter, are also combust, and certainly each one of them has worked with
full effectiveness.
Next Morin enumerates the
multitude of weighty reasons that substantiate his statement in the characteristic
discursive style of Astrologia Gallica.
Clearly patterned after the canons of scholastic philosophy, his
masterwork follows a rational-deductive model starting with a system of axioms
and postulates that we will briefly review later. (Perhaps soon some publisher with a vision of the future will
want to make this immense opus from the past available to everyone.) The conclusion is rendered irrefutable in
light of the facts of his own life: the combust planets are not private in
their own strength, at least in an influential sense, that is, that which
results from the determination by the Houses of the radical chart. Who better than Morin, with his brilliant
talent and the four planets that are combust in his nativity, to pass judgment
in this regard? Indeed, Mercury gives
him the clear intelligence that is reflected in his works (made ever clearer by
its conjunction with Uranus in the Domicile of the latter). Venus being combust entangles him in a
hundred amorous flings that carry in their wake many other misfortunes,
including two nearly fatal stabbings in 1605.
At last his glory arrives. Not without efforts on his behalf, the honor
of Professor Real of Mathematics is granted to him, thanks to the support of
the Queen Mother María of Médicis. He
served in this position until his death.
He also received the sum of 4.000 pounds coming from two Mecenas to
publish their works.
After many fights against his
enemies, Morin succeeded in achieving one of his grand discoveries, the
measurement of geographic longitude using astronomical techniques. This won him a prize and a pension, but he
had to wait until after the death of Cardinal Richilieu to receive them. The sinister prelate, distanced from Morin,
did as much as he could during his lifetime to deprive Morin of the honor he so
deserved.
And so the fame and renown of
Morin finally spreads to all of Europe.
Nevertheless, he continues suffering his misfortunes, deriving from the
radical 12th House, and because of that Morin asserts that the
relative weight in life of a House occupied by several planets is much greater
than that of the remaining Houses.
Morin points out that it is essential to keep in mind the planets of a
stellium that are in their dignities or that have a natural analogy with the
house that they occupy. These will have
a greater weight than the other occupants of the House, and they will sound the
keynote for the evolution of the matters signified by that house.
Here between the lines one can
find Bailey’s doctrine of accidental dignities. One must also go back to Morin to find the
true discoverer of derived houses (already known in a seminal form to the
Arabs), of the meaning of the superimposition of the Houses of a return chart
upon the Houses of the nativity, of the power of realization of the parallels
of declination when the bodies in aspect have the same declination with
the same sign. Morin insisted on
measuring aspects on the great circle that joined both planets and not solely
on the ecliptic, a useful teaching that was set aside because of the labor
involved. Thus, the opportunity to
control in the effective directions the character of the radical linking of the
intervening stars was lost. Let us
point out that the astrological program PRIMA by Vladimir Bogdanov affords
the opportunity to control these aspects and to analyze multiple other data of
interest (in particular the antiscions) with great simplicity.
The precise observations that
Morin made about the action of planets in matters signified by the House opposite
to the one the planet physically occupies (determination by polarity or
opposition) is worthy of attention. If
a planet is found in one of its dignities (Domicile or Exaltation) in one
House, it will always act unfavorably in relation to the opposite House. Here we must refer to our writings about the
Kybalion.
Thus, Morin himself, with Jupiter
on his throne and Venus in her exaltation, and both in the 12th
House protecting him against illnesses and numerous secret enemies, at the same
time suffered a symphony of problems with his servants [ruled by the opposite 6th
House], which he had to change almost monthly.
I would refer those interested in
more details about the life of Morin to the already cited book by Hiéroz: Ma vie devant les astres. Nonetheless, I want to mention here two
anecdotes about this famous astrologer.
First is the event that brought him renown in the eyes of the powerful
Cardinal Richelieu, who later called Morin into his service as his personal
astrologer. The Duke Henry d’Effiat, a
favorite of King Luis XIII, consulted Morin about his destiny. Unfavorably impressed by the arrogance of
the Duke, Morin does not hesitate to tell the duke about the violent and
dishonorable nature of his demise.
This carries weight, as
Sindbad-Weiss note well, because the nobleman has Jupiter, the Sun, and Mars in
his 8th House – factors that could tempt the novice to predict a
heroic death in battle. When d’Effiat
mentions this prediction with monumental disdain at a banquette, everyone
laughs uproariously, except for Richelieu who remains stoic and calm as always.
Three years later events transpire
exactly as Morin had predicted.
Richelieu remembers Morin’s prophecy and contracts for his
services. In reality, however, the
story is more complicated. Behind the
back of the King, the Cardinal himself orders the decapitation of both d’Effiat
and de Thou for conspiring against him (1643).
But as Morin knew nothing of the machinations of the cunning Cardinal,
the credit for such a surprising prediction belongs entirely to him.
Around 1638 Morin engaged in a
polemic with Descartes and vehemently criticized his philosophy. This certainly earned him a new quota of
enmities and an estrangement from certain academic circles.
In the end, on the 6th
of November, 1656, at 2 in the morning Morin dies like an authentic grand
astrologer. Fifteen days earlier while
Morin is still healthy, a chiromancer announces his impending death and Morin,
without alarm and as his only comment, responds that he is already well aware
of it and that the following month will be fatal for him without fail. Nine days later he is overcome with
fever. The doctors despair in their
attempts to save him, while Morin, smiling, requests that they not toil, for he
has already seen his death in the stars.
It was impossible to stop the blow and Morin knew it! We have included for their analysis the
solar and lunar revolutions [returns] corresponding to his death in Paris.
Finally, we mention here that a plaza in Paris currently
carries the name of the illustrious Morin in the 12e. Arrondissement.
Solar Revolution of the
Death of Morin
Lunar Revolution of the Death of Morin
Converse Solar Revolution of the Death of Morin
