Morin’s Use of “Secondary” Houses

Jean-Baptiste Morin de Villefranche was a brilliant 17th century French astrologer who sought to ground the celestial art in scientific principles consistent with his Roman Catholic faith and the version of Aristotle’s philosophy propounded by Saint Thomas Aquinas. He is most noted for his theory of determinations, which is the basis for his approach to delineation of a birth chart.

Morin regarded the Regiomontanus method of house division as the most rational and correct system of domification. He called such divisions “primary houses” and noted that they are segments of empty space surrounding the Earth. Because the primary houses consist of empty space, they “are neither the cause nor strictly speaking the significators of the accidental features attributed to them … but are instead the factors which modify or delimit the quality of the signs, planets or fixed stars so as to produce some kind of accidental quality or event in the life of the native, according to the essential attributes of those houses.” (italics mine, Baldwin translation, Book 21, p.38) In other words, the “primary houses” (empty spaces around the Earth, defined in a particular fashion) provide specific determinations regarding various facets of the native’s life.

The parts of the sky that fall within the borders (cusps) of the “primary houses” (segments of empty space) are termed by Morin the “secondary houses.” In other words, the primary houses act as frames outlining parts of sky (signs or parts of signs, fixed stars and planets) which are the contents of the secondary houses. Such contents are then determined toward an “accidental” quality or future event related to the essential meanings of the houses. In this model, Morin regards the planets, stars and parts of signs within a primary house, and the rulers of those signs, as being determined toward the meanings of that house.

Morin uses these principles in his delineation of the chart of Jerome Cardan in Book 23. Here is Morin’s version of Cardan’s chart from Astrologia Gallica.

Birth chart of Cardan from Morin’s Astrologia Gallica.

Here is the same chart, using Morin’s data for Cardan, cast with Solar Fire.

Modern version of Cardan’s birth chart, cast using Morin’s information.

In Morin’s delineation of the Cardan’s birth chart, he comments that Mars is a ruler of the 12th house. This is true because Aries is intercepted in the Regiomontanus12th. Jupiter is also determined toward 12th house matters because Jupiter rules the 12th cusp and is contained in the 12th.

Morin also notes that both Mars and Jupiter are rulers of the 7th house of Cardan’s wife. Mars rules the cusp of the Regiomontanus 7th house, and Jupiter rules Sagittarius, the first 12 degrees of which lie in the 7th.

At age 33 the Solar Return at the birthplace often repeats the natal Angles and house cusps. Morin tells us that at age 33, in the solar return of September 1534, Morin’s wife is indicated as having a difficult year. In fact, Cardan’s wife became pregnant with a daughter who contracted an infirmity in the womb.

Cardan’s Solar Return in 1534 at age 33.

Morin gives several explanations for Cardan’s wife’s difficulties:

In the birth chart, Venus rules the Ascendant and occupies the 6th (illness) where she conjoins the Sun, ruler of the 5th of children.In the solar return, Venus occupies the 5th of children and trines both the Ascendant and the Moon — an indicator of pregnancy.However, the Asc-ruler Venus in the return chart is disposed by Mercury, which lies in the 6th of illness and is mutually applying to Mars in exile (detriment), Mars occupying the 6th of illness and ruling the 7th of his spouse and also ruling Aries in the unfortunate 12th. In this case, Morin would call Mercury, which is the dispositor of the Asc-ruler, the “secondary ruler of the Ascendant” which, he commented, “frequently represents the principal force in shaping the affairs of the Ascendant and is therefore a most significant point to consider in making judgments…” (Baldwin translation, Book 21, p.56) Futhermore, the rulers of the 7th (his spouse) are Mars and Jupiter, which are in square in the solar return, Mars being in exile in the 6th (illness), and Jupiter being in Capricorn in the 10th disposed by Saturn in its detriment in Leo at the cusp of the 5th in the return chart.In the solar return, the Moon conjoins the Ascendant and closely squares Saturn in the 5th. Morin regards the Moon in the return chart as being determined toward the wife because of its opposition to the 7th house. He reasoned that each house participates in the significations of the house opposite through the opposition.

Morin’s approach to houses differs from that of many other astrologers. To summarize, he regarded as the Regiomontanus system of quadrant houses to be the correct method of dividing the empty space around the Earth into meaningful segments, which he called “primary houses.” The boundaries of these primary houses demarcated areas of the heavens whose contents (stars, zodiac signs, portions of signs, planets) he referred to as “secondary houses.” In this system, the rulers of parts of signs contained within a house also served as rulers of that house.

Finally, in Book 18 of Astrologia Gallica, Morin gives examples in which the zodiac signs contained within a primary Regiomontanus house could be “accidentally” determined toward a different house according to their ordinal numerical relationship with the sign ascending, in a manner similar to the ancient use of whole signs as houses. A compelling example is that of King Gustav Adolph of Sweden who has Sagittarius rising and Leo fully intercepted in the 8th Regiomontanus house. Morin writes that in this case the Sun acts as a ruler of both the 8th and the 9th houses — the 8th because Leo is intercepted in the primary 8th, and the 9th because Leo is the 9th sign from the Ascendant.