Johannes Kepler, best known to us as mathematician, astronomer and astrologer was also a writer of prodigious output. [Chart details: born December 27 1571 2.01 pm UT, Weil der Stadt. 008E53 and 48N44. Click here for chart]. He wrote books - enormous, rambling tomes - pamphlets, mathematical treatises, almanacs, had a stab at science fiction and wrote copious journals and memoirs.

He was the first to think of cosmological problems in terms of physical forces and invented what was regarded as a new science, Himmelphysik, later known as physical astronomy.
He formulated three laws, later known as Kepler's laws, which are the foundation of modern cosmology.

1) The planets travel round the sun not in circles but in elliptical orbits.

2) A planet moves in its orbit not at uniform speed but in such a manner that a line drawn from the planet to the sun always sweeps over equal areas in equal times.

3) He discovers a correlation between a planet’s period (i.e. the length of its year) and its distance from the sun.

Importantly for astrologers, he recognized the difference between popular superstitious belief in 'fate’ - which astrology was identified with at that time - and the possibility of a true astrology as an exact empirical science. He therefore witnessed - and played a significant part in - the changing worldview that shifted the medieval perception of the cosmos to the modern rationalist thinking with its emphasis on the empirical and measurable. He was the bridge between the medieval and the 'modern' psyche (as the strong Capricorn and Uranian influences in his chart would suggest.) During his lifetime astronomy and astrology began their separation.

His stance on astrology was clear - "The belief in the effect of the constellations derives in the first place from experience, which is so convincing that it can be denied only by people who have not examined it." Which is similar to Newton's alleged reply to someone who refuted astrology, along the lines of - study it first, before you dismiss it.

He also said "In what manner does the countenance of the sky at the moment of a man's birth determine his character? [the sky] does not endow man with his habits, history, happiness, children, riches or a wife, but it moulds his condition."

And -"Truly in all my knowledge of astrology I know not enough with certainty that I should dare to predict with confidence any specific thing" - sounds quite modern!

He went beyond the idea of being 'fated' and ascribing benific or malefic influences to the stars themselves. Arthur Koestler in The Sleepwalkers, pointed this out when referring to Kepler's reactions to calamitous events in 1611. Koestler said '[other]Men ... would have blamed such a series of catastrophes on the evil influence of the stars; oddly enough, Kepler did not. His astrological beliefs had become too refined for that; he still believed that the constellations influenced the formation of character and also had a kind of catalysing effect on events; but the cruder form of direct astrological causation he rejected as superstition'

Throughout his life, Kepler was no stranger to challenge. His journals and memoirs read like a litany of ill-health, setbacks and struggle against adversity, depression and catastrophes. Wars and religious persecution (Kepler was a Lutheran) were never far away. Most of his life was itinerant, moving from one place to another, either because of work or to avoid danger. We get the sense of someone sometimes searching, sometimes driven, from inner compulsions, or the necessities of the unstable times he lived in. Despite his dry and rather melancholic depiction of his own life, the anxieties and depressions incurred by difficult circumstances, in his other writings we can also feel the inspiration and delighted excitement in his ideas and discoveries.

From notes on his own childhood and youth, Kepler wrote "1 was born premature, almost died of smallpox in 1575 (age 4), was in very ill health and my hands were badly crippled. During 1585-6 I suffered continually from skin ailments, often severe sores. In April 1589 (age 19) 1 was attacked by a fever and began to suffer terribly from headaches and a disturbance of my limbs. The mange took hold of me... tben there was a dry disease. 1592 a disturbance of body and mind had set in because of the excitement of the carnival play in which I was playing Marianne. "

Kepler’s father was an adventurer who barely escaped death on the gallows. His mother Katherine was an innkeeper's daughter and was brought up by an aunt who was burnt alive as a witch. Katherine herself was accused in old age of being one and came close to being burnt at the stake as well.

Johannes was a sickly child with thin limbs and a large, pasty face surrounded by dark curly hair. He was born with defective eyesight and his stomach and gall bladder gave constant trouble. He suffered from boils and rashes and could never sit still for any length of time.

When he was 5 years old his family began to move around a lot which meant irregular attendance at school. Because of his erratic schooling it took him twice as long as normal children to complete the 3 classes of the elementary Latin school. But at 13 he was at last able to enter the lower theological seminary at Adelberg, which he attended until his 19th year.

Kepler's precocious brilliance, bad health and interest in religion made the career of clergyman the obvious choice. He was not popular with others at the seminary or later, at university. He talks of having many adversaries, on the grounds that "they were always rivals in worth, honours and success"

He continues -"[Kolinus] started a friendship with me but continually opposed me... .1 willingly incurred the hatred of Seiffer because the rest hated him too and 1 provoked him although he had not harmed me. Ortholphus hated me as I hated Kolinus although I on the contrary liked Ortholphus but the rivalry between us was many-sided .1 have often incensed everyone against me through my own fault. Lendlinus I alienated by foolish writings, Spangenburg, by my temerity in correcting him when he was my teacher; Kleberus hated me as a rival… Husalius opposed my progress... with Dauber there was a secret rivalry and jealousy… my friend Jaeger betrayed my trust; he lied to me and squandered much of my money. I turned to hatred and exercised it in angry letters.."

"In 1591 when Venus went through the 7th house, I was reconciled with Ortholphus; when she returned, I showed her to him; when she came back a third time, still struggled on, wounded by love." Koestler thinks that the 'nameless ‘she’ refers to a woman and an obscure romantic episode. The 'she’ however obviously refers to Venus, and his relationship with his friend Ortholphus.

His own self-description in his journal, while not very flattering, shows psychological insight. -

"Kepler [i.e. himself] has in every way a dog-like nature. He continually sought the goodwill of others, was dependent on others for everything, ministered to their wishes, never got angry when they reproved him and was anxious to get back into their favour. He was constantly... following someone else and imitating his thoughts and actions. He is bored with conversation but greets visitors just like a little dog. He is malicious and bites people with his sarcasms. He hates many people exceedingly and they avoid him, but his masters are fond of him.

His recklessness knows no limits which is surely due to Mars in quadrature with Mercury and in trine with the moon... His teachers praised him for his good dispositions, though morally he was the worst among his contemporaries. There are 2 opposite tendencies in this man - always to regret any wasted time and always to waste it willingly.

For Mercury makes one inclined to amusements, games and other light pleasures. Since his caution with money kept him away from play, he often played by himself. It must be noted that his miserliness did not aim at acquiring riches, but at removing his fear of poverty - although, perhaps avarice results from an excess of this fear..."

In The Sleepwalkers Koestler talks of his bragging, defiant, aggressive pose to hide his vulnerability; the lack of self-assurance, the dependence on others, the desperate need for approval, and his eagerness for play, for an escape from his inner loneliness. But he also notes that what is conspicuously absent from his writing is self-pity. Koestler says ‘he had that mysterious knack of finding original outlets for inner pressure; of transforming his torments into creative achievement...’

Kepler graduated from the faculty of arts at the university of Tubingen at age 20, then went on to the theological faculty where he studied for almost 4 years. At the age of 23 he took up the post of teacher of mathematics and astronomy in Gratz, Austria in April 1594 and, as well as teaching, wrote his first opus, Mysterium Cosmographicum. His duties also included the publication of an annual calendar of astrological forecasts, which shows that astronomy, mathematics and astrology were still very much linked at this time.

From his journals -
"This man [ie Kepler himself] was born destined to spend much time on difficult tasks from which others shrunk... [he] loved mathematics above all other studies. In philosophy he read the texts of Aristotle in the original...he argued with men of every profession for the profit of his mind. He jealously preserved all his writings and kept any book he could lay hands on with the idea that they might be useful at some time in the future"
He also talks about his "inconsistency, thoughtlessness, lack of discipline and rashness; his lack of persistence in his undertakings, caused by the quickness of his sprint; his beginning many new tasks before the previous one is finished; his sudden enthusiasms which do not last, for, however industrious he may be, nevertheless he has a bitter hate of work; and his failure to finish things he has begun."

In his own words - whenever he got excited, which was most of the time, he "burst into speech without having time to weigh whether he was saying the right thing. His enthusiasm and eagerness is harmful and an obstacle to him" [because he thinks of ]"new words and new subjects, new ways of expressing or proving his point, or even of altering the plan of his lecture"

He has the kind of memory which makes him promptly forget everything he is not interested in, but which is quite wonderful in relating one idea to another.

"This is the cause of the many parentheses in his lectures when everything occurs to him at once and because of the turmoil of all these images of thought in his memory, he must pour them out in his speech."

The school directors praised both his intellect and his character. This contradicts Kepler's own statement that the head of the school was his "dangerous enemy [because] I did not respect him sufficiently as my superior and disregarded his orders".
This suggests a certain paranoid quality to his observations of his relations with others. As Koestler puts it 'young Kepler was as hypochondriacal about his relations to others as he was about his health.'

In 1595 Kepler was struck with inspiration so strongly that he felt he was holding the key to the secret of creation in his hand. The idea was that the universe was built around certain geometrical figures - triangle, square etc - the Pythagorean geometrical shapes. This idea became the main inspiration through his life.

In 1597 Kepler married a young widow, Barbara Muehleck , one of whose attractions, he writes in a letter to a friend, was her private income, although the union was not without affection.

Kepler described her as "simple of mind and fat of body;[with] a stupid, sulking, lonely, melancholy complexion". However, as he wrote in a letter "[she] possesses here estates, friends and a prosperous father; it seems that after a few years I would not need my salary any longer.."
However, when Kepler's salary was withheld, she refused to let him touch her dowry or use her private money.

He also said "she was of an angry nature and uttered all her wishes in an angry voice; this incited me to provoke her. I regret it, for my studies sometimes made me thoughtless but I learnt my lesson, I learnt to have patience with her. When I saw that she took my words to heart, I would rather have bitten my own finger than to give her further offence.."

Because of religious troubles, Kepler's school was closed down and all Lutheran teachers had to leave. Although Kepler was permitted to return in October 1599, he knew his days in Gratz were numbered. His second child died in August of that year and rumours of torture of 'heretics' made Kepler even more depressed. (In the summer and autumn of that year, Saturn squared his Sun and Venus, trined his Midheaven and was sesquiqadrate his Moon)

To escape the danger of possible religious persecution, Kepler decided to travel to Prague, to visit Tycho de Brahe, the Danish mathematician and astronomer, with whom he had corresponded for 2 years. The relationship between the two was volatile, with friction and quarrels. Koestler describes them as 'opposites in every respect except one; the irritable, choleric disposition which they shared.'
This year was marked by Jupiter transits, to the IC, to Mercury, Uranus and Sun.

In April and October of 1601 Kepler was ill with intermittent fever.
(In April transiting Uranus trined his Mercury and in October tansitingUranus was semi-square the Ascendant). On Nov 4th 1601 Tyco died and Kepler was appointed his successor, as Imperial Mathematicus. And in November of that year, with precise timing, transiting Saturn conjoined its natal place - an example of a very positive Saturn return.

Kepler stayed in Prague as Imperial Mathematicus from 1601 to 1612, which brought the death of the emperor Rudolph II. It was the most fruitful period of his life. During this time he formulated his planetary laws, discovering by observation and calculation, that planets move in elliptical orbits and do not move at uniform speeds. They were the first 'natural laws' in the modern sense- verifiable statements expressed in mathematical terms. They divorced astronomy from theology and linked it with physics.

Koestler says -'How far ahead of his time Kepler was - not merely by his discoveries, but in his whole manner of thought - one can gather from the negative reactions of his friends and correspondents. He received no help, no encouragement; he had patrons and well-wishers, but no congenial spirit.'

Nevertheless he was by now an internationally famous scholar, and moved in distinguished society in Prague. He impressed others with his dynamic personality and quick mind yet despite his success he still suffered from insecurity, fear of penury and obsessive hypochondria.

Galileo, who had developed the telescope, discovered the moons of Jupiter in 1610. Kepler was very excited when he heard the news (he had corresponded with Galileo before) and defended Galileo's claims despite the fact that many people ridiculed these discoveries. In the summer of 1610 Kepler was lent a telescope and was able to see Jupiter’s moons for himself and so verify by direct observation what he had intuitively believed. It was Kepler who coined the term 'satellite' which he used in a letter to Galileo.
(During this time of support for Galileo, Saturn conjoined his MC, Jupiter trined it, then conjoined his Ascendant, opposing Mercury and Uranus, and Uranus was inconjunct his Sun).

This exciting year was followed by one of the most difficult, when 1611 brought civil war and epidemics to Prague, the abdication of his patron and provider, and the death of his wife and favourite child. We are not surprised to note that during this year, transiting Saturn semi-squared his Sun and Venus and squared his Moon, while Neptune squared his Ascendant. Challenging aspects indeed.

In January 1612 Kepler secured a new appointment, that of Provincial Mathematicus in Linz, Austria. But in 1615 his old mother was accused of witchcraft, with the threat of being burned alive. Witch-hunting mania reached its peak during this time. In Weil der Stadt, with a population of 200 families, 38 witches were burned between 1615 and 1629. The proceedings against Kepler's mother were long and drawn-out. She was imprisoned for 14 months (she was 73) but died 6 months after her release. 1615 saw a rash of transits - Saturn again, this time squaring Venus and semisquaring the Moon. Pluto semi-square the Ascendant, inconjunct Mars, his Uranus opposition, also opposing Mercury and squaring Mars.

It was against this background that his next opus, Harmonice Mundi was written. It was completed in 1618, three days after the defenestration of Prague, which began the 30 Years War. No irony intended by the title. But he wrote in a footnote where he is talking about the sounds emitted by the various planets as they hum in their orbits "The earth sings Mi-Fa-Mi so we can gather even from this that Misery and Famine reign on our habitat." In 1618 transiting Uranus opposed Sun and Venus, Jupiter conjoined the MC, Saturn squared it and conjoined the Moon and Neptune squared Mercury.

For the next few years Kepler worked on the 'Rudolphine Tables', based on Tycho's observations of planetary positions, which mainly consisted of the tables and rules for predicting the positions of the planets. He had put off this laborious task for years; as he wrote to a friend "I am unable to work in an orderly manner, to stick to a time schedule and to rules.. .I beseech thee.. do not sentence me entirely to the treadmill of mathematical computations and leave me time for philosophical speculations which are my only delight."

This magnum opus, completed in 1624, immediately encountered problems. In 1626 there was a peasants revolt. Monasteries were burned down and Linz was beseiged. Part of the town was set on fire and Kepler's work so far printed was destroyed, although the manuscript was not. As soon as the siege was lifted, Kepler went to Ulm in pursuit of a good printer. The work was completed in September 1627.

The last three years of Kepler's life were spent wandering, as he was unable to find a place where he felt at home. He was based in Sagan, though he says "I am a guest and a stranger here, almost completely unknown.. .1 feel confined by loneliness, far away from the great cities of the Empire". In December 1629 he installed a new press in his home and embarked on the publication of Ephemerides for the years 1629-36. He also wrote a science fiction story Somnium about a dream of a journey to the moon.

In Oct 1630 Kepler left Sagan to look for another job and to try to obtain some of the money owed him by the Emperor. He reached Ratisbon, but before he could secure an audience with the Emperor, he fell ill with a fever from which he died, on November 15th.

In his chart, the stellium in Capricorn, with Uranus conjunct Mercury and the Sun, immediately attracts attention. Kepler himself of course would not have known about Uranus, the planet of the unpredictable, the unorthodox, of instability and genius - but in many of the remarks about his character, I feel that mixture of dedication and flights of genius are very clearly described. The fact that the Capricorn planets are square to Mars would intensify the rash, the impulsive, the impatient, the courageous, the headstrong and the irritable in his character.

Neptune conjunct the Ascendant would give him the visionary imagination, his mystical, dreamy side, while Saturn in the 6th house is an indication of health difficulties and Kepler certainly had plenty of those.

The yod with its apex at the IC is also interesting, in that he struggled all his life to feel he ‘belonged’. This was true both in terms of a physical location and a more metaphysical orientation - for more than once he was uprooted because of current ideologies regarding religion. Tubingen, where he first studied, became a mystical kind of homeland to him, and he kept trying to get work there, but was not successful. He had to go where employment was and although he enjoyed his years in Prague, his last move, to Linz, was to a provincial town where he did not feel at all at home. This brings in the Midheaven as well of course - to get employment and further his career, he had to leave his homeland, but always felt something of an exile, nurturing a dream of the place where he felt he truly belonged. The Moon in the 12th, with its stressful aspects, could also point to a certain restlessness, a wanderer always looking for a mystical homeland.

Koestler shows up the contradictory energies of Saturn and Uranus in Kepler's chart when he talks of 'the co-existence [in Kepler] of the mystical and the empirical, of wild flights of thought and dogged, painstaking research,' and 'the incredible mixture in his works of recklessness and pedantic caution, ... his naivety and philosophical depth.[which] emboldened him to ask questions which nobody had dared to ask .'

And he deftly sums up the inventive unpredictability of Sun/Uranus when he describes his 'streak of irresponsibility and restlessness' and 'his unorthodox, often crankish intellectual enterprises, [which] made him into the most reckless and erratic spiritual adventurer of the scientific revolution.’

Morelle Smith
Email: morellesmith@hotmail.com

Bibliography
Arthur Koestler	The Sleepwalkers
Johannes Kepler	Gesammelt Werke
	De Stella Nova
John Anthony West	The Case for Astrology