Refuting Deborah Houlding's Claim That Whole Sign Houses Were Not Used by Ancient Astrologers

5 months ago
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Astrologer Deborah Houlding makes the claim that no historical astrologer defined, discussed, recommended or said that he was using whole sign houses.
I refute her whole sign house denialism claim by showing actual screenshots from ancient astrological texts from Ancient Greek, Arabic and Latin that were translated into English by Eduardo Gramaglia and Ben Dykes.
Thanks to Bulgarian astrologer Dimitar Kojuharov, who found it and had it translated, I show the only surviving horoscope of the Sassanian/Persian empire. It is for the coronation of king Khosrow I Anushirvan. It is from 531 AD and only whole sign houses were used.
Fiodor Gruzinev published the book of Andrusar Ibn Zabi Al Farukh, which was found by the 16h century Danish count – astrologer Heinrich Rantzau. In this book, titled “Специалният начин за тълкуване на хороскопа” (The Special Way of Reading the Horoscope), Arabic astrologer Andrusar Ibn Zabi Al Farukh explicitly advocates the use of whole sign houses. I translate from the book from my native Bulgarian. Gruzinev finished the book in December 1964 and it was circulating in secrecy due to the communist regime suppressing Astrology. After the fall of communism, the book was officially published in 1993 in Bulgarian.
I also quote my main teacher Robert Zoller who explicitly taught to use both quadrant and whole sign houses. He knew Latin and translated parts of 13th century Italian astrologer Guido Bonatti.
I also explain that whole sign houses has been the main system in India historically, which remains so to this day, and that astrologers who practice Indian Astrology do not even use the MC. Yet, unlike Deborah Houlding who engages in whole sign house denialism, Jyotishis do not engage in quadrant house denialism.
Additionaly, the branch of Chinese Astrology called Zi Wei Dou Shu/Emperor Astrology also has 12 places/houses, which are known as the 12 Palaces. Nothing but whole sign houses is possible for this type of Astrology that has a tradition of over 1,000 years.
By far the main authority for English astrologer Deborah Houlding is the 17th century English astrologer William Lilly, who was among the first astrologers that wrote in English, not Latin. And he used quadrant houses only (Regiomontanus), just like Deborah Houlding does and as do all her students. They are only taught quadrant houses and whole sign houses or equal houses are not an option.
As valuable as William Lilly is (I too have his book and have studied his charts), we must keep in mind that Ancient Astrology actually ended with Lilly and did not start with him. Dozens of astrological texts and fragments have been translated since 1985 – the year when Olivia Barclay published Lilly’s Christian Astrology. We know much more now compared to what we knew back then. Hence Ancient Astrology is getting rediscovered more and more. Those traditional astrologers who refuse to adapt their views in light of the overwhelming evidence are doing a disservice to the astrological community, for the ancients used to pay in gold to possess the very books that such astrologers ignore.
Sources:
Here is the link to Deborah Houlding’s lecture which she gave in September 2022. She released it last week. I heard of it yesterday, watched it last night and recommend it:
https://vimeo.com/765620082/7d6469fe5b
Here is the link to Chris Brennan’s podcast. He includes Deborah Houlding’s lecture in it and pauses to comment on it, call out her distortions, half-truths and some outright lies by providing evidence. This is why his podcast is 6h and 43m long. He created it 2 days ago and I watched it last night. Let me clarify that save for 2-3 things I do not repeat the evidence that Chris Brennan showed. I am providing additional evidence. Hence I recommend his episode.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01IFZSjAoP0
The HOROI Project by Hungarian classical philologist Levente László. Levente is one of the few scholars who translate ancient astrological texts. Moreover, he is doing it at a very cheap price. Please support the project. I strongly recommend his 10 page article on the matter of the house division. It is titled: “Valens on the third-sections of the quadrants: textual analysis and interpretation.”
https://www.patreon.com/horoiproject/posts
Astrologer Dimitar Kozhuharov’s website
http://www.astro-art.com/index.htm
The topic by Dimitar Kozhuharov in Deborah Houlding’s forum on 29 November 2014, where he showed that whole sign houses were the only system used in the only surviving Persian horoscope. Unfortunately the image he uploaded eight years ago has expired. I am grateful to his permission to share it after he sent it to me. I show both the original Persian text and chart and the translated one:
http://skyscript.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8545&highlight=
My article on astrologer and author Fiodor Gruzinev. He was doing whole sign houses in the 1960s and authored around 30 books. They were predominantly on Ancient Astrology, but some were on Indian Astrology (the Jaimini branch).
https://www.100percentastrology.com/fiodor-gruzinev-and-astrology/

Do you know of other sources for whole sign houses outside of what Chris Brenan has shown? If so, I would appreciate it if you provide them.
I await your comments and questions.

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