Cosmobiology has set itself apart by discarding certain traditional elements of analysis while emphasising precise and mathematically rigorous methodologies. It is due to the rigorous nature of cosmobiology that it can be classified as a science, and this is what sets it apart from astrology.
Unlike conventional astrology, cosmobiology does not rely on the house system or the signs of the zodiac. Instead, it focuses on planetary structures, midpoints, and symmetrical relationships between celestial bodies.
Among its most vital tools is the 90-degree dial which is used for analysing the interactions between the celestial bodies, along with midpoint analysis. The 90 degree dial provides a kind of filter for a cosmobiologist to quickly view complex interactions between the bodies. This enables quickly homing in on the most important aspects of a cosmogram, streamlines interpretation and substantially enhances predictive accuracy.
Following is a discussion on why cosmobiology dismisses houses and zodiac signs, the principles behind the 90-degree dial, and how it is utilised in the practice of cosmobiology.
Why Cosmobiology Discards the House System and Zodiac Signs
Traditional astrology assigns significant importance to the twelve-house system and the twelve zodiac signs. Each house represents different areas of life, and each zodiac sign is believed to impart specific qualities to planets residing within them. However, cosmobiologists, and in particular Reinhold Ebertin, found these elements unreliable due to their dependence on exact birth times and subjective interpretations.
Issues with the House System
- Variability of House Division Methods: There are multiple methods of house division (Placidus, Koch, Equal, etc.), leading to inconsistent chart results depending on the system used. This has come about because astrologers cannot reach a consensus on one valid house system.
- Dependence on Exact Birth Time: House cusps shift significantly with small variations in birth time, making house-based interpretations potentially inaccurate. A birth time that is inaccurate by more than four minutes can potentially result in planets falling in incorrect houses, which then leads to an inaccurate interpretation according to the rules of astrology.
- Empirical Weakness: In predictive astrology, house-based interpretations often yield less precise results than midpoint and planetary configurations.
Because of these issues, cosmobiology eliminates houses from chart interpretation, focusing instead on planetary interactions independent of placement within a specific house. A house system is an unnecessary overhead.
Issues with the Signs of the Zodiac
Similarly, cosmobiology does not rely on the zodiac signs as character determinants for planets. This is due to several reasons:
- Lack of Measurable Influence: While traditional astrology attributes personality traits to planetary placements in signs, no empirical evidence supports this. That astrologers continue to rely on this methodology keeps astrology stuck, being continually relegated to being a pseudoscience.
- Uniform Division Issues: The zodiac divides the ecliptic into 12 equal 30-degree segments, yet planetary influences do not conform strictly to these artificial divisions.
- Focus on Angular Relationships: Cosmobiology emphasises planetary aspects, midpoints, and their interactions rather than sign-based interpretations.
The use of houses and signs as used in astrology have been completely eliminated from the practice of cosmobiology. Instead, cosmobiology relies on analysing only the interactions between the celestial bodies.
The 90-Degree Dial: A Core Tool in Cosmobiology
One of the most distinguishing and practical tools in cosmobiology is the 90-degree dial. This instrument simplifies analysis by organising planetary positions in a way that emphasises major angular relationships.
What is the 90-Degree Dial?
The 90-degree dial is a circular tool that compresses the 360-degree zodiac into a 90-degree format. This is achieved by grouping planets into their respective modulus-90 positions:
- Planets in cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) align within the first quadrant (0°–30°).
- Planets in fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius) align within the second quadrant (30°–60°).
- Planets in mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces) align within the third quadrant (60°–90°).
By placing planetary positions within this framework, all planets that are conjunct, square, or opposite in the standard 360-degree zodiac appear as conjunctions within the 90-degree dial. This allows cosmobiologists to see these powerful connections instantly.
How is the 90-Degree Dial Used?
The primary use of the 90-degree dial is to reveal relationships between planets and midpoints that may not be immediately obvious in a traditional 360-degree chart. Here’s how it functions:
- Identifying Key Aspects
- The dial makes it easy to spot conjunctions, squares, and oppositions since they appear as close planetary groupings within the 90-degree format.
- Instead of manually calculating difficult aspects, the dial highlights them visually.
- Midpoint Analysis
- Midpoints, a cornerstone of cosmobiology, are the mathematical halfway points between two planets.
- The 90-degree dial helps astrologers identify which planets are in close aspect to these midpoints, which is essential for understanding personal themes and predictive patterns.
- Symmetry and Planetary Structures
- The dial allows cosmobiologists to see symmetrical planetary arrangements, such as T-squares and grand crosses, with clarity.
- These formations indicate heightened activity in certain life areas, offering valuable interpretative insights.
- Ease of Transits and Progressions
- Using the 90-degree dial, transiting and progressed planets can be quickly aligned with natal planetary positions.
- This helps cosmobiologists forecast significant life events with greater precision than traditional methods.
Practical Applications of the 90-Degree Dial in Cosmobiology
The 90-degree dial is particularly effective in several key areas:
1. Psychological and Character Analysis
By focusing on planetary midpoints and configurations, cosmobiology creates a clear psychological profile of an individual without relying on zodiacal signs.
Important connections between celestial bodies reveal core personality traits, motivations, and inner conflicts.
2. Medical Analysis
The practice of cosmobiology with the aid of the 90-degree dial is the only way that analysis of potential medical conditions can be conducted.
Many people in various forums talk about “medical astrology”. It is not possible to do an analysis on potential medical conditions using astrology due to the aforementioned unreliability of the system. So if anyone discusses using medical astrology, if they are credible, it should be assumed they are using cosmobiology.
It should come as no surprise that cosmobiology is capable of being used for medical analysis because many of the founders of cosmobiology were in fact medical doctors.
3. Prediction
Since the 90-degree dial highlights powerful interactions between the celestial bodies, it aids in forecasting significant life events.
Cosmobiology’s system of prediction relies heavily on transit and solar arc directions, and the 90-degree dial is used to analyse the unfolding of events.
4. Mundane and Event Analysis
The 90-degree dial is also useful in mundane analysis (the study of world events) by analysing major interactions between celestial bodies that influence global affairs.
Cosmobiologists can use it to predict political upheavals, economic shifts, and social trends.
Although mundane analysis is useful, it is only a smaller part of larger capabilities. Cycle work is also used to time stock-market trends and economic and political stability and upheaval.
How the 90-degree Dial is Used
Orb – The 5, 4, 3 rule
To determine how much influence a planetary combination has, generally the closer the bodies appear together the more influence the combination will have on the life of the entity that it is representing.
The furthest distance (with exceptions that will be explained later) is generally 5 degrees. That will only be when the Sun and/or Moon is involved. 4 degrees will generally be considered the maximum orb when the planets are on the same side of the dial, as in Sun, Moon, Uranus around the 80 degree location on the dial, and 3 degrees when considering the Pluto interaction on the other side at 40 degrees of the dial.
Notating Interactions
The way the interactions in Figure 1. Should be considered and written are as follows:
Sun = Moon (Su = Mo)
Sun = Moon = Uranus (Su = Mo = Ur)
Sun = Moon = Uranus = Pluto (Su = Mo = Ur = Pl)
The = sign indicates that there is a direct interaction between the bodies involved. When such interactions are notated the faster moving bodies are mentioned first, with the slower moving bodies last, with the exception of the Sun and Moon.
Because all four bodies are interacting together an experienced cosmobiologist does not consider any of them in isolation so will always synthesise them into a whole, using the third line of Su = Mo = Ur = Pl. However, without experience a student finds that difficult to do and the better way is to work up through understanding the individual interactions.
Midpoints
This is a significant addition by Ebertin to the practice of cosmobiology, and a fundamental technique that is so core to the practice you cannot practice without them.
On the 90 degree dial the concept is very simple. Point the arrow at a body of interest and it will show you planets either side of it that form a midpoint that the body of interest is sitting at.
The math behind it takes a bit more understanding, but that is more for academic purposes and it is easy to not place emphasis on that. If you were to manually calculate out the midpoint positions you can get a direct or indirect midpoint.
When you calculate the midpoint of two planets, let’s say one at 15° Cancer and one at 16° Leo, you would add the positions together and divide by 2, giving 0.5° Leo. The calculation in whole numbers is (105 + 136) / 2 which gives 241. Divide that result by 2 gives you 120.5 or 0.5° Leo.
Direct midpoint – if there is a body sitting directly at 0.5° Leo, that is a direct midpoint.
Indirect midpoint – if there is a body sitting at 0.5° Aquarius, or 0.5° Scorpio for instance, that is an indirect midpoint because it forms an association by one of our angles of interest. This includes the 45° and 135° angles.
It doesn’t matter if the midpoint formed is direct or indirect, the influence is the same. So beyond understanding the basics above there is no need to dig further into the math behind midpoints.
Notation
Midpoint combinations are always written with a / between the name of the bodies involved.
The glyph with K on top is Chiron. So the combinations of midpoints to Chiron are written as:
Chiron = Venus/Neptune, Chiron = Sun + Moon + Uranus / Pluto
It can also be written as a tree type notation as per below
Jupiter + Chiron
|
Venus + Saturn – Mercury + Neptune
|
Sun + Moon + Uranus – Pluto
|
Mars
This is a full tree notation of all bodies around a particular axis that all need to be considered as a whole.
Orb of Midpoints
Midpoints are allowed an orb of 1.5 degrees, which is significantly smaller than that given for direct angles between celestial bodies. This holds true if the distance between the bodies forming the midpoint is significantly far enough.
There is one exception to this that I have developed which I call the Rule of 6 Degrees. When you have two bodies that form a midpoint which is measured against another body, and those bodies forming the midpoint are inside of 6 degrees of arc, the combination of the two bodies shall be held to be active.
The way to determine this is to place a halo of 1.5 degree radius around each body that is inside of 6 degrees of arc, then place a halo around the midpoint formed by those two bodies. The halo around the midpoint will have a 3 degree diameter. If you add 1.5 degrees to the left of that halo and 1.5 degrees to the right, you get a total of 6 degrees. If the 3 halos intersect, this indicates an active combination.
The Combination of Stellar Influences
A foundational text in cosmobiology is The Combination of Stellar Influences by Reinhold Ebertin. This book, originally published in 1940, has had several revisions since then and has been translated from German into multiple other languages.
The Combination of Stellar Influences serves as an essential reference for interpreting planetary combinations and their midpoints. It provides a systematic breakdown of how different planetary pairs and their midpoints manifest in human experience.
The book is structured in a way that allows cosmobiologists to quickly look up potential interpretations of various planetary configurations, making it an invaluable tool for both psychological and predictive use.
It remains still one of the most widely used resources in cosmobiology, ensuring a level of consistency and empirical validity in assessments.
References
- Ebertin, R. (1940), The Combination of Stellar Influences
- Ebertin, R. (1972), Applied Cosmobiology
