recent observations of them. The figura natalis is not of the square shape generally used by astrologers,[1] but circular, in accordance with the plan already followed by Tycho in the case of the new star.
Before giving a short account of the further contents of Tycho's report on the horoscope of Prince Christian, it may not be useless to say a few words about the general principles followed by astrologers in preparing horoscopes; referring for further particulars to works in which this subject is treated in detail.[2]
The point of the heavens of greatest importance for the fate of man was the point of the ecliptic which was rising at the precise moment of his birth (punctum ascendens). The next step for the astrologer was to see how the planets and the signs of the zodiac, as well as a few of the most important fixed stars, were at the same moment situated in the twelve "houses" into which the heavens were divided.[3] The first house, ascendens or horoscopus, was considered the foundation of fate, and if Mercury or a favourable star was found in this house, it would announce a happy and prosperous life, while, on the other hand, an unfavourable planet (Saturn or Mars) would indicate a short and unhappy life. The second house (north of the first one) gave information about riches and possessions; it was an unlucky house, be-
- ↑ See, e.g., Wallenstein's and Kepler's horoscopes in Kepler's Opera Omnia vol. i. p. 293, and vol. v. p. 476.
- ↑ See, in particular, Origani Novæ Cœlestium Motuum Ephemerides, Frankfurt, 1609, vol. i.; or of modern books, Max Uhlemann, Grundzüge der Astronomie und Astrologie der Alten, besonders der Ægypter, Leipzig, 1857; Kepler's Opera Omnia, ed. Frisch, i. p. 293; Delambre, Hist, de l'Astr. Anc., ii. p. 546; Moyen Age, p. 290 and p. 496 et seq.
- ↑ As already remarked, different astrologers divided the heavens in different ways (Delambre, M. A., p. 496 et seq.), by dividing the zodiac or the equator by circles through their poles, or (as Tycho did) by circles through the north, south, east, and west points of the horizon. About the Babylonian origin of these "houses," see Mr. G. Bertin's lectures on Babylonian Astronomy in Nature, vol. xl. p. 237.
