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The German Hamburg School of Astrology (root school of the international Uranian Astrology offshoot) is a school of astrology based on the teachings of surveyor, astrologer and amateur astronomer Alfred Witte. It is characterized by use of astrological midpoints and eight astronomically-deduced hypothetical points, expanding the framework beyond traditional astrology.
The Hamburg School was established as an Association as "Astrologenverein Hamburger Schule" on October 31, 1925 in Hamburg.[1] In 1932 the first partner group was established in Düsseldorf by Theodor Keysers.[2]
Early collaborators of Alfred Witte were Friedrich Sieggrün and Ludwig Rudolph, and the Hamburg School's first points beyond Neptune were posited during the astronomical searches leading to the 'discovery' of Pluto (and so classified as 'Transneptunians'). They concluded that the additional points, initially classified as planets but now seen as possible barycenters of planetoid belts, were useful in verifying events not clearly identified by the astronomically-certified planets and asteods of that period. Witte postulated four trans-Neptunian "planets", and in 1927 Sieggrün postulated another four.[3][4] Witte named his proposals Cupido, Hades, Zeus and Kronos. Sieggrün expanded the list with Apollon, Admetos, Vulkanus and Poseidon.
Ludwig Rudolph printed and published Witte's claims, the core of which were published in the Rules for Planetary Pictures (Regelwerk für Planetenbilder) in 1928. An increasing amount of the research of the Hamburg School revolved around astrological midpoints and use of the hypothetical planets.
In the 1930s, the American Richard Svehla gave lectures on the Hamburg School in the United States, translated the Rules for Planetary Pictures into English, and coined the term "Uranian Astrology" as the English name of the American branch of the school.[5][6]
Witte and Rudolph were pursued by the Gestapo as enemies of the Third Reich. Witte is supposed to have committed suicide before he could be sent to a concentration camp, and Ludwig Rudolph was interned. The Rules was banned and burned by the Nazis, but copies were preserved by Rudolph.
Reinhold Ebertin, a student of Hamburg School methods, eliminated the use of the hypothetical planets while maintaining the core teachings of the Hamburg School, renamed it "Cosmobiology" (German: Kosmobiologie), and published some of the observations in The Combination of Stellar Influences in 1940, last updated in English in 1972.
After the fall of the Third Reich, the Hamburg School reconvened,[7] and Ludwig Rudolph played the key role in perpetuating the teachings of the Hamburg School. The Hamburg School astrologer Hermann Lefeldt emphasized Witte's hypotheses with astrological traditions such as the use of astrological houses. However, other Hamburg practitioners maintained their focus on working only with astrological midpoints [1], abandoning traditional practices, including the 12 houses and rulerships, and these practitioners eventually gathered under Ruth Brummund and the title of "Uranische Astrologie".
Some astrological meanings of the astrological-observation hypothetical planets are: