The Astrology Podcast
The Astrology Podcast
Chris Brennan
Deborah Houlding and Whole Sign House Denialism
6 hour 42 minutes Posted Feb 10, 2023 at 5:39 pm.
Introduction
Deborah Houlding’s lecture
The central false claim Houlding makes
Whole sign house denialism
Separating history from current practice
An extreme view
The need to address this
Not eager for this debate
Responses to her lecture
Different scholars saying DH is wrong
Fair use in this commentary video
My main treatment of house division in ancient astrology
Sneak diss
Commentary on DH’s lecture begins
Quoting Co-Star instead of the source she’s debating
Ignoring the Indian tradition
Claiming whole sign houses “didn’t exist” prior to 1990s
Downplaying the equal house system as well as WSH
Intermission
Intermission ends
Rhetorical tactic: make false claim then say responses are “emotional”
She “doesn’t like to talk about personalities” then proceeds to do so
Blaming Project Hindsight
Houlding claims not “a single historical astrologer” mentions WSH
Downplaying the work of historian James Holden
Holden’s 1982 paper on WSH
Sextus Empiricus defines WSH in 2nd century
Isaac Argyrus defines WSH
Ancient charts that use WSH
Prevalence of WSH in ancient horoscopes
Vettius Valens WSH example
Dorotheus of Sidon WSH charts
Rob Hand coining the phrase “whole sign houses”
Claims WSH only used abstractly
Earlier discoveries of WSH before Project Hindsight
French book on WSH from 1961
Intermission
HD trying to suppress WSH
Ali A Olomi on Arabic texts using WSH
Masha’allah using WSH in horary
Possible Morinus example of WSH?
DH falsely claims “most” of Valens translated before Hindsight
Revival of 17th century Lilly tradition in 1980s
DH only studied traditional for few years before Hindsight
Tensions between the Hellenistic and Renaissance traditions
DH displaced from center of traditional movement
Robert Hand and attempt to undermine his credibility
Robert Schmidt’s background
0:00
6:42:08
Download MP3
Show notes
In episode 386 Chris Brennan addresses a controversial lecture that was recently given by Deborah Holding where she denied the historical existence of the whole sign house system in ancient astrology.
Holding claims that whole sign houses did not exist in ancient astrology, and that the concept was only invented in the 1990s by Robert Hand and Robert Schmidt of Project Hindsight.
Chris sets out to present evidence that contradicts Holding's claims, demonstrating that there is ample evidence for the existence of whole sign houses in ancient astrology, and to provide a commentary on the distortions and misrepresentations made in her lecture.
During the course of the commentary Chris emphasizes the importance of separating the historical debate from the current practice of astrology, and criticizes Holding for denying the historical existence of whole sign houses based on personal preferences rather than objective evidence.
Chris also discusses the concept of whole sign house denialism, which is the attempt to deny the existence of whole sign houses in ancient astrology and dismiss or suppress any historical evidence that it existed, as well why it is important to address false claims in order to set the historical record straight.
This is a recording of a livestream that was broadcast on February 9, 2023.
It is best to watch the video version on YouTube, because there are lots of visual elements, although most of the information is contained in the audio.
This episode is available in both audio and video versions below.
Timestamps