This talk traces the development of weighing essential dignities—by 5,4,3,2,1, -4, -5—from a tradition that employed an equal point method. Textual sources before 900 CE reveal equal considerations that appear to morph into a hierarchy, and ultimately a compound system of planetary “winners,” or almutens. As the classical tradition developed into the European Renaissance, the split of essential dignities into major and minor camps led to the “minor” varieties withering on the vine of astrological transmission. The recent revival of astrological image magics alongside the larger restoration of traditional threads of astrology through translation projects has revitalized the use of minor dignities in assessing planetary condition, yet the point system remains. By returning to earlier understandings of these “minor” conditions, we will deepen our relationship with what they signify and what they make possible in astrological interpretation. At the heart of the inquiry is an examination of power, power preferences, authority, and a critique of positivist scientism and islamophobia.
High-octane Germanistin par excellence, Dr Zahrt delivered a veritable Blitzkrieg upon the academic world with her resounding 2012 doctoral debut, The Astrological Imaginary in Early Twentieth Century Germany (University of California, Berkeley). She honed her razor-sharp editorial skills on the relentless interdisciplinary journal, Representations (2007–2010), the cutthroat literary arts quarterly, Threepenny Review (2011–2013), and an onslaught of seminal releases from the Sophia Centre Press, Rubedo Press, and Revelore Press. Audacious translator of Elsbeth Ebertin, intrepid Director of the Celestial Arts Education Library (CAELi), and newly minted President of the International Society for Astrological Research (ISAR)—Zahrt wields her arsenal of professional superpowers with consummate sophistication. Dr Zahrt resides in Olympia, WA.