Chapter 1: Introduction to Ascetic Astrology

To conclude this analysis of astrological currents in the 20th century, we have decided to dedicate a meeting to Ascetic Astrology, which is an extremely interesting topic that concerns us closely. Let us try to clarify the terms of the question for a moment. The term Ascetic Astrology was born in the 20th century and used for the first time by Tommaso Palamidessi in 1975, who, besides being the founder of our association, was a noted astrologer of the 20th century. Under this name, Tommaso Palamidessi takes up and reconstitutes a series of known practices from the past - which we have also partially seen in previous meetings - and reworks them into an original and above all operational synthesis. The very term Ascetic Astrology allows us to clarify the question. Indeed, there are numerous treatises on Esoteric Astrology or Spiritual Astrology which generally, however, have a purely informative and notional validity on some ancient symbols or calculation systems related to traditions now lost. Conversely, Ascetic Astrology, as we shall see, refers to operational techniques practicable by the individual. Therefore, the idea of this conference is to see how this idea of Ascetic Astrology emerges by also following Palamidessi's formative path inserted in the historical context of the epoch, so as to understand how this Ascetic Astrology is born and why, with what purposes. So, first of all, let us try to contextualize the situation by outlining what the situation of Astrology in Italy was. The situation of Astrology in Italy in the early 1900s is quickly told: there was no situation of astrology in early 1900s Italy. If you remember some time ago we had seen how in 1500 with the birth of printing, Astrology had become a means of instrumentalization of the masses. If you remember, we saw how in 1524 a Universal Flood was predicted that threw people into panic. You remember we had reported Cardano's perplexity when he had seen how the hill peasants had begun to build boats in imitation of Noah. Cardano was indeed the last great Italian astrologer before the crackdown operated by the Church. You remember we had seen how astrology had become a means of propaganda to spread Martin Luther's Protestantism and we saw the use of Astrology in confessional struggles in which there was on one side Philipp Melanchthon who showed how Martin Luther's horoscope was that of a prophet, while on the other Luca Gaurico illustrated its perversity and weakness. In short, we finally arrived at a control operation on Astrology operated by the Catholic Church that took place in 1564 with the Council of Trent. Despite all Cardano's attempts to save Astrology and who even risks his life personally by publishing a horoscope of Christ that should have authorized natal astrology, the Council of Trent establishes that every form of Judiciary Astrology must be banned and the only form permitted by the Church is a kind of Medical Astrology. The situation of Astrology in Italy remained so until the first half of the 20th century. So we have that in Anglo-Saxon countries and Protestant countries, such as for example in England, the astrological tradition continued, indeed even increased. In Germany we have that a certain interest awakens in the early twenties and thirties with the scientific and statistical Astrology of Baron von Klocker, of Krafft and with the Hamburg school. In France, Belgium and Holland there was that movement that referred more or less to Eudes Picard. In Italy there was nothing. So the contextualization is quickly done. We speak, from a historical point of view, of "Italian astrological desert". In Italy there is absolutely nothing. We are therefore in the 1930s in Italy, particularly in Catania, and there is this 9-year-old boy who, let's say, has a certain reputation as a troublemaker in the neighborhood. "At eight years old they advised my mother to put me in a correctional college, because I caused all kinds of trouble. Once I set fire to the house by setting the curtains ablaze. On another occasion I stole some hunting cartridges from my father, a passionate hunter, emptied them and made a rocket with a fuse that I launched from the balcony in the evening, causing panic among the neighbors. At nine years old I fell from the third floor during an acrobatic maneuver and stayed in a cast for a year. Later I committed other troubles, and people said I should be treated, taken to college. Then I calmed down and gave my life a scholarly direction." This little boy begins to study his father's books and begins to gain culture in various branches of science. Despite his father simply wanting to make him a "good soldier," Tommaso Palamidessi immediately shows a marked tendency toward scientific study and the mysteries of nature. "So a scientific popularization treatise came under my eyes that narrated the experiences of the ancient Alchemists, who used, in certain experiments for the preparation of the 'Philosophical Stone,' also medicinal plants, and among these Celandine, Purslane and Mercurial. It is superfluous to say how many difficulties there were, in a nine-year-old child, to find those three mysterious plants. Nobody knew anything about them, but my Aquarian tenacity [...] was rewarded. I found someone who led me to places where it was possible to collect the specimens." He has a passion for mechanics and optics so much that he builds himself a telescope to observe the sky and stars, as well as sunspots, and gradually acquires more and more passion for Astrology, especially in the relationship that at the time is a matter of great interest in Germany between sidereal influences, sunspots and biology. He skips school to go to the library and read treatises on astronomy and astrology, botany and pharmaceutical chemistry, obviously to the detriment of school performance. When he is about twenty years old he begins to dedicate himself systematically to these studies.