A Lutheran astrologer: Johannes Kepler (Q801045)

In the latter half of this paper the author presents an annotated translation of Kepler's astrological treatise with meteorological and political predictions fo the year 1602, ''De Fundamentis Astrologiae Certioribus'' (Prague, 1602). In a 1598 letter to Maestlin Kepler himself asserted: 'I am a Lutheran astrologer, throwing away the nonsense and keeping the kernel'. The author, in the first half of the paper, traces the various meanings of 'nonsense' and 'kernel' at different stages in Kepler's career. E.g. the division of the Zodiac into signs depends entirely on human convention and cannot therefore have any natural significance. Planetary aspects, on the other hand, being objective angles measureable to high precision played a 'kernel' role in Kepler's astrology and became intimately connected with his entire cosmology just like his ideas on the regular polyhedra and musical harmonies.