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An Explanation of the 90° Dial: Blake Finley, M.A.: Uranian

Astrology: Ninety degree dial: Fourth harmonic: 4th harmonic:

Sixteenth harmonic: 16th harmonic

 An Explanation of the

90-degree Dial

© Blake Finley, M.A.

T

he origins of the 90° dial have been accounted for in various ways by various people. In the 20th century,according to available documents, t he 90° dial was f irst used by practit ioners o f Hamburg Schoolastrology, i.e. by followers o f the teachings o f the innovative ast rologer, Alf red Witte. Ludwig Rudolph,

one of Witt e's most enthusiast ic and dedicated students , used the 90° dial in his astro logical practice, asdid cosmobiologist Reinhold Ebertin. Use of such a too l, or the principles it is based on, prior to the timeof Witte, Rudolph, and Ebertin is not impossible, yet it is primarly Rudolph and Ebertin who popularizedits usage in recent t imes.

Ludwig Rudolph, inventor 

of the 90° dial and publisher 

of Alf red Witte's works.

The underlying principle of the 90° dial is not as complicated as it might seem at f irst glance. The dial isbased f undamentally on the 4th harmonic, i.e. dividing the 360° circle into 4 equal parts . 360 ÷ 4 = 90. Asborne out by the experience of ast rologers over many centuries, 4th harmonic angles, which wouldcorrespond with the traditional aspects o f conjunction (0°), square (both 90° and 270°, or 90° to either 

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side of 0°), and opposition (180°), were major aspects indicating signif icant energetic relationshipsbetween planets. While the most dismally traditional ast rologers ref erred to t hese angular relationshipsas "malef ic" or "evil" due to the dynamic and challenging quality of the interaction between the 2 planetsinvolved, the Hamburg School astro logers and the later Cosmobiologists and Uranian astro logers havecontinually verif ied that these are the most energetic angular relationships and therefore o f greater significance f or personal growth, and f or prognosis o f significant change and developmentalperiods.*Considering these observations, t he 90° dial was developed in order t o: 1) ease and expeditelocating 90° and 180° angular relationships 2) increase × 4 the amount of space between degreemarkings so that planetary pos itions could be located visually with greater precision. 3) ease and

expedite locating 45° and 135° angular relationships (8th harmonic), which also proved themselves to bemore dynamic and productive than the "so f t aspects " of ot her astro logical traditions. To do this, the 360°circle was cut into 4 sections, and then each section was aligned so that each began with either 0° or amultiple of 90°. The f ollowing chart shows the correspondences:

| 0 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80| 90 |

| 90 | 100 | 110 | 120 | 130 | 140 | 150 | 160 | 170| 180 |

| 180 | 190 | 200 | 210 | 220 | 230 | 240 | 250 | 260

| 270 |

| 270 | 280 | 290 | 300 | 310 | 320 | 330 | 340 | 350| 360 |

Note that when arriving at 90° and any of its multiples, the scale starts again at the beginning. Now, notealso, that in dividing the 12 signs o f the zo diac by 4, we end up with sections consisting of 3 signs, and 3× 30° = 90°. Thus the f irst round on the 90° dial consist s o f 0° Aries through 29°59' Gemini (i.e. 0° to89°59') The second round on the 90° dial cons ists of 0° Cancer through 29°59' Virgo (i.e. 90° to 179°59')The third round on the 90° dial consists of 0° Libra through 29°59' Sagittarius (i.e. 180° to 269°59') Andthe f ourth round on the 90° dial consists of 0° Capricorn through 29°59' Pisces (i.e. 270° to 359°59').This can be summarized in other words -- each round of the 90° begins with 0° o f a cardinal sign (Ariesstarting at 0°, Cancer at 90°, Libra at 180°, and Capricorn at 270°). Prior to the t ime when astro logers hadcomputers to draw 90° charts automatically, Hamburg, Cosmobiology, and Uranian ast rologers plot tedthe planets and points around the chart by f ollowing the above considerations. With the computers wehave today, such calculation is no longer necessary; yet we still need to understand the underlyingprinciples. At this po int, we have a basic summary of how the 90° dial works, and if it is no t clear to you at

this po int, you should return to the beginning of this art icle, and study the comments while referring tothe linear graph above, which enumerates the 4 ro unds of the 90° dial, totaling 360° in the t raditionalzodiac.

A MAJOR ADDITIONAL ADVANTAGE OF THE 90° DIAL

Now, as it was mentioned earlier, the 90° dial also makes it easy to locate 45° multiple angles, whichcorrespond to the 8th harmonic (45°, 135°, 225°, and 315°). It is not unlikely that when traditionalastrological conventions were established by Pto lemy, those aspects which were not multiples o f the 30°span of the zodiacal signs were eliminated f or ease of calculation. From the standpoint o f HamburgSchool astro logy and its of f shoo ts , a very important component of astrological delineation was lost inthe process. The 90° dial, however, makes these 45° multiple angles once again easy to locate.... theyshow up as "opposit ions" at 45° on t he 90° dial (whereas all 90° multiple angles show up as

"conjunctions" on the dial).

V

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| 0 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 |90 |

45

| 90 | 100 | 110 | 120 | 130 | 140 | 150 | 160 | 170| 180 |

135

| 180 | 190 | 200 | 210 | 220 | 230 | 240 | 250 | 260| 270 |

225

| 270| 280 | 290 | 300 | 310 | 320 | 330 | 340 | 350| 360 |

315

Thus the 90° dial once again brought the important 8th harmonic angles back into consideration,revealing major personal talents indicated by the natal chart, and major events triggered by solar arc

directions and transits , all in a quickly and easily detectable f ormat.

THE MIDPOINTS

Last, but not least, the 4th harmonic midpoints show up readily on the 90° dial, which is numberedsymmetrically fro m 0° to 45°, to both the lef t and the right, as shown in the diagram to our lef t. Theinside circle, numbered f rom 45° to 90° may str ike your curios ity. This additional row of numbers isprimarily f or calculating so lar arc directions past the age of 45, and fo r drawing 90° horoscopes manually,

and is of no great signif icance in calculating midpoints alone.

FURTHER ADVANCED DEVELOPMENTS IN THE EVOLUTION OF 90°-DIAL MIDPOINT ASTROLOGY

The newer, advanced use o f the 90° dial is slightly more complicated, but not dif f icult once you becomeaccustomed to us ing the 90° dial. Hamburg Schoo l astrologers, including Ludwig Rudolph and Ruth

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Brummund, too k f urther not e that 16th harmonic angles, i.e. half of the 45° (8th harmonic) multiples, the22.5° angles, were also highly significant in both natal charts and in directions and transits, accountingf or talents and events that might not ot herwise show up. Using a traditional 360° horoscope, thesewould be extremely tedious to calculate... but with t he 90° dial, not so : they show up at right angles to themain pointer, and include the 22.5° angle and all its harmonic multiples. You can see on t he chart and dialbelow how they all line up at the ¼ and ¾ markers on the 90° dial (shown on the chart beneath the small "v " in the top row, and on the dial with the "East" and "West" pointers.

V V V

| 0 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80| 90 |

22.5 45 67.5

| 90 | 100 | 110 | 120 | 130 | 140 | 150 | 160 | 170| 180 |

112.5 135 157.5

| 180 | 190 | 200 | 210 | 220 | 230 | 240 | 250 | 260| 270 |

202.5 225 247.5

| 270 | 280 | 290 | 300 | 310 | 320 | 330 | 340 | 350| 360 |

292.5 315 337.5

Those more advanced astro logers who also work with the 22.5° angles f urther f ine-tune and turn the dial¼ turn so that 22.5 is set to the planet whose midpoint axis is being investigated, and a f urther set of highly pertinent midpoints is revealed. With dials such as the one shown in this art icle, the 22.5 midpointscan even be located visually without having to turn the dial. The 22.5° mode is used by more experienced

and innovative Uranian astrologers such as Ruth Brummund. -- San Francisco, 3 September 2001 *Foo tnote: "Evil" or "malef ic aspects" are one of the many lef to vers st ill perpetuated by somecontemporary astro logers. Such concepts were perhaps suitable f or describing dynamic tension aspectsin Ancient and Medieval times, when the average perso n was bound by f eudal social orders and castesystems and less likely to have contro l over their own lives and dest inies. The negative concept o f "malef ic" or "evil aspects" are, however, unsuitable for building and cultivating a society of f ree individualswhere adversities are seen as challenges t o personal growth rather than f ated, insurmountable setbacksand annoyances to merely be suf f ered or passively tolerated. The original Hamburg School ast rologersset the pace in popularizing this realization among post-19th-century astrologers. The most e ff ectiveway to explore Uranian techniques is through use of the 'Special Uranian' program by AureasSoft ware of Paris. (Click here for further information.) To proceed t o examples of t he 90° dial inuse, click here.