Placidus, Regiomontanus, Campanus. Space and Time, or Spacetime?

Placidus, Regiomontanus, Campanus. Space and Time, or Spacetime?
enero 24, 2025
Autor: David Bustamante S.
Know the difference between these three measurements. Remember that favourable or unfavourable statements regarding a system does not make the system right or wrong, but another factor.

Justification

● Any competent or incompetent astrologer can make a favourable or unfavourable claim with regard to any house system. That does not make the house system correct or incorrect. ● What makes a house system correct or incorrect? Its ability to reflect the horizon exactly as it is at the time and place of the event. The rest is skill, not measurement. ● It is possible for one to employ the wrong measurement and still get some things right. It is also possible for one to employ the correct measurement and get some things wrong. ● Much more relevant than the simplicity or complexity of a method of measuring the houses is whether such a division remains true to the physics of the sky (i.e. whether it is in accord with both geography and the observational truth). ● Because astrology has no central institution to decide what is valid and what is not, the least astrologers can or should do is to respect the truths confirmed by science. Physics teaches that we cannot separate time from space or space from time. ● Morin once wrote: “[…] there can only be a unique natural system of dividing the Caelum into houses, upon which alone the true principles of this science depend […]” (Book 17, pp. 69-72, trans. Holden, AFA, 2008)

Purpose

This brief or simple article answers the question made by a student: Why is Placidus more faithful to the sky than Regiomontanus and this one more than Campanus?

Reason

All attempts to measure by pretending to separate space from time or time from space are futile, and this truth should have been corrected since 1920. When astronomical dimensions are involved (as they are in astrology), precision cannot be achieved any other way. Now, even if Regiomontanus makes an inaccurate measurement of the local horizon, it is much less so than that made by Campanus. That is to say, when Regiomontanus measures the local horizon, it is much more similar to the natural horizon (Placidus) than it would appear when Campanus measures it. Why? These are the consequences of ignoring or not ignoring the equator. That is, if we do not respect the angular velocity of the ecliptic (signs or their degrees) relative to our local horizon (i.e. do not respect the hour lines), but wish to separate time and space, let us at least measure space properly or “rationally”, as Regiomontanus does.

Demonstration

As an example, take a chart calculated under the three methods mentioned above for Kodiak, Alaska at 04:30:05 on 12 August 2024. You will observe that, concerning «the distance between Jupiter (16º Gemini) and the cusp of H12» (whose cusp marks 25º Gemini), the difference between Placidus and Regiomontanus is of 7º of longitude or of 30 minutes of time (i.e. Regiomontanus indicates, incorrectly, that 25º Gemini 48’ completed the first sixth 1/6 of its diurnal arc, cusp twelve, at 3:59:51 am). The difference between Placidus and Campanus, in turn, is of 11º of longitude or of 1 hr 13 min (i.e. Campanus indicates, incorrectly, that 25º Gemini 48’ completed the first sixth 1/6 of its diurnal arc, cusp twelve, at 5:43:34 am). While Regiomontanus left Jupiter exactly upon the point above the horizon where it actually is (as reflected by Placidus), by incorrectly calculating the cusp of H12, it establishes an incorrect distance between that celestial object (Jupiter) and that cusp (twelve). That is, by drawing the line incorrectly (i.e. incorrectly measuring the size of the house), the object may appear to be lodged in a different house or region of the birth map. Campanus, in turn, not only fails to measure this cusp correctly: it also reflects a much more incorrect house position of the celestial object upon our horizon. Terribly!

Placidus (izquierda), Regiomontanus (centro), Campanus (derecha)

Summary or Conclusion

Regiomontanus measures space correctly, as opposed to how Campanus measures it, but both measure houses incorrectly (i.e. provided spacetime is considered). Regiomontanus, then, would seem to resemble primary displacement more than Campanus without either constituting a measure of such a characteristic.

Appendix. Fundamental differences

Cusps

  • 02º Can 49’ Regiomontanus
  • 05º Gem 59’ Campanus
  • 25º Gem 48’ Placidus

Time

  • According to Regiomontanus, the 25º Gem 48’ arrived or would arrive at the twelfth house cusp (1/6 of the diurnal arc) at 3:59:51 am on August 12, 2024. That is, 30 min 14 s before the correct time.
  • According to Campanus, 25° Gem 48’ arrived or would arrive at the twelfth house cusp (1/6 of the diurnal arc) at 5:43:34 am on August 12, 2024. That is 73 min 29 s later than the correct time.
  • Placidus (i.e. natural measurement, primary motion or displacement) reveals that 25º Gem 48’ arrives at the cusp of that house (1/6 of the diurnal arc) at 4:30:05 am on August 12, 2024. That is, 177 min 16 s after having touched the local horizon.

Angular (or temporal) distance of Jupiter from the cusp of H12

  • Regiomontanus: Jupiter is 16º 29’ above the twelfth house cusp. That is, 66 min 5 s after having reached it (for it did not measure the angular speed of the ecliptic).
  • Campanus: Jupiter is 10º 11’ below the twelfth house cusp. That is, 36 min 9 s from reaching it (for it did not measure the angular speed of the ecliptic).
  • Placidus: Jupiter is 9º 28’ above the twelfth house cusp. That is, 36 min 40 s from it after reaching it (for it did measure the angular speed of each point of the ecliptic).

Angular speed

The primary displacement or natural motion of the celestial vault (Placidus) reveals that the angular speed of 25° Gem 48’ is actually 5.9 minutes per degree of altitude. That is, it completes the 180° that constitutes any diurnal arc of a horizon in 1,066 minutes or 17 h 46 min, for at that speed (5.9 minutes) the sun would have moved should it had occupied that degree of the ecliptic (i.e. on approximately the 15th of June of any year at that latitude, 57° 47’ N). Regiomontanus and Campanus, however, ‘calculate’ a different speed from our ecliptic, necessarily, because of the differences referred above.
__________________________

NOTE I. Measurements were made with Solar Fire Gold v9.0.25.

NOTE II. The reader might object to the fact that the author has sought to judge the integrity or validity of two spatial methods under the light of a notion of time (i.e. primary displacement). Let us not forget, however, that it is precisely the notion or concept of spacetime on the basis of which any house measurement calculation must be conducted for the reasons originally stated (see subheading Justification).

__________________________

Related articles:

  1. Polar Time Lengths
  2. Should we rename the Placidian method?
  3. Placidus, Alcabitius, and Koch in a Nutshell
  4. Have Holden, Rootjes, and Others Gotten it Right? 5 Depictions

Foreword by Juan Estadella in ASTROGENESIS

Juan Estadella Ferrater

Read here the foreword to a forthcoming work by Sagittarius: the relationship between astrology and genetics, two parallel disciplines.

Prólogo de Juan Estadella en ASTROGÉNESIS

Juan Estadella F.

Lea aquí el prólogo de un futuro trabajo de Sagittarius: la relación entre astrología y genética, dos disciplinas paralelas.

Placidus, Regiomontanus, Campanus. Space and Time, or Spacetime?

David Bustamante S.

Know the difference between these three measurements. Remember that favourable or unfavourable statements regarding a system does not make the system right or wrong, but another factor.

Placidus, Regiomontanus, Campanus. ¿Espacio y tiempo, o espaciotiempo?

David Bustamante S.

Conoce la diferencia entre estas tres mediciones. Recuerda que las declaraciones favorables o desfavorables con relación a un sistema no hace al sistema correcto o incorrecto, sino otro factor.

Polar Time Lengths

David Bustamante S.

Learn why there is no such thing as a ‘failure’ or ‘anomaly’ in the polar regions, regardless of the house system. If a method ‘fails’, it does so by its own design, not by the region.

Longitudes de tiempo polares

David Bustamante S.

Conozca por qué no existe tal cosa como “falla” o “anomalía” en las regiones polares, independientemente del sistema de casas. Si un método “falla”, falla por cuenta de su propio diseño, no la región.

The natural progression of the chart according to Cristoff

David Bustamante S.

Learn the natural progression of the birthchart on the basis of a seven-year rhythm per house. It is how a Bulgarian-Uruguayan astrologer managed to make dozens of warnings and predictions.

La progresión natural del mapa natal según Cristoff

David Bustamante S.

Conoce la progresión natural de la carta natal con base en un ritmo de siete años de vida por casa. Fue así como un astrólogo búlgaro-urguayo pudo hacer varios avisos y predicciones.

Taurus versus Scorpio, and vice versa

David Bustamante S.

Each sign has fundamental characteristics that oftentimes are taken for granted, and sometimes it is better to learn them from a comparative standpoint, according to Bustamante (2019).

¿Deberíamos cambiar el nombre del método Placidus?

David Bustamante S.

Cambiar el nombre de este método o sistema de división de casas podría ponerle fin a más de uno de los prejuicios en su contra. ¿Cuáles son esos prejuicios? ¿Y qué nombre podemos dar al método?

Should we rename the Placidean method?

David Bustamante S.

Renaming this method or system of house division could put an end to more than one of the common prejudices against it. What are these prejudices? And what name can we give the method?

Placidus, Alcabitius y Koch en la nuez

David Bustamante S.

La mayoría confunde a Placidus con Alcabitius o con Koch en sus descripciones del método Placidus, pues los tres aplican el mismo principio de tres maneras diferentes. Obtenga más información aquí.