Contact cosmogram

Meaning

A contact cosmogram is a way of comparing two (or more) charts on the 90° dial. Each person's factors are drawn on their own ring, one inside the other, all folded the same way, so that every conjunction, square and opposition between the two people shows up as two marks on the same line. The German name is Kontakt-Kosmogramm, and Ebertin calls the printed form the "KK chart" (p. 83) [2].

Three kinds of contact are read:

• Direct contacts: one person's factor on the other's, by conjunction, square or opposition (and on a 45° dial also the semi-square and sesquiquadrate).
• One person's factor on the other's midpoint: for example, his Saturn on her Mars/Neptune. The pictures are those of a single chart, except that the third factor comes from the other person.
• Transits and directions to both at once: a moving planet set on the dial reaches the factors of both people at the same time, showing which shared points are being set off.

Only close contacts count. Ebertin allows at most 1° for transits, and argues that for a combination to be set off in both charts together the contact between the charts must itself be within that degree; he says he has long held, against other authors, that comparisons need almost exact aspects (p. 69) [2].

Origin and history

Ebertin describes the older way of comparing charts: the two charts were drawn on transparent paper and laid one on the other with the signs lined up, and the astrologer looked for conjunctions and other aspects between them. The 90° dial made this much quicker. In his worked example (Figs. 18–20) he draws two 360° circles and two 90° circles, marks each factor M or W for the man or the woman, and reads the contacts that coincide most exactly (p. 67) [2].

He then describes the contact cosmogram proper as a development of his own in recent years. It dispenses with the 360° circle altogether and uses only several 90° circles, one inside another. The KK chart form can take up to eight cosmograms at once, and one ring should be kept free for current positions, so that transits can be entered against both people (p. 83) [2]. In his example (Fig. 23) the man's positions are on the outer circle and the woman's on the inner, with the transits for the month in which the couple separated (pp. 83–85) [2]. He refers readers to The Contact Cosmogram for a wide selection of forms and many examples (p. 69) [2]; the English edition was published by Ebertin-Verlag in 1974 [1]. Only its catalogue record was available for this article, so its contents are described here from Ebertin's own references to it.

For interpretation Ebertin sends readers to the Combination of Stellar Influences, adapting its readings to the two people (p. 69) [2] [3]. He also mentions his Regeln zur Vergleichsanalyse ("rules for comparative analysis") and Die kosmische Ehe ("the cosmic marriage", 1933 and 1950 in his reference list), which he says gives 166 combinations and about 50 examples (pp. 69, 71, 202) [2]. He lists the factors and pairs to watch when comparing partners, among them Sun/Moon, Venus/Mars, Sun/Venus and Moon/Venus, the Node pairs, and Saturn as the factor of separation, and says these are keywords, not fixed rules (pp. 69–71) [2].

How it is used

• Setting up. Each person's planets, Node and (when the birth time is known) Ascendant and Midheaven are marked on their own ring of the 90° dial. Nothing depends on houses.
• Direct contacts first. Pairs of factors on the same dial degree are listed, closest first. Ebertin's example reads, among others, the man's Mars on the woman's Moon, her Saturn on his Ascendant (a square in the zodiac, which is quicker to see on the dial), and his Neptune on her Midheaven (pp. 71–73) [2].
• Then each person's cosmic state. A contact is read together with what else stands at that degree in each chart: the midpoints that fall there, so that the contact becomes a planetary picture involving both people. Ebertin reports an odd discovery: in very many cases the two partners' Venus/Mars midpoints fall in the same place. In his example the man's Sun stands on the woman's Venus/Mars (p. 71) [2].
• Timing. Transits and solar arc directions set on the dial show when the shared points are touched. Ebertin advises working out the directions first and then the transits, so that each confirms the other (pp. 84–85) [2].

On this site. The Synastry tool's Contact cosmogram tab puts the first person on the inner ring and the second on the outer ring of one dial (Ebertin's own example has the man outside). The dial can be 90° (the default), 45° or the full 360° circle, and the orb can be set from 0.25° to 2°; it starts at 1°. The factors are the ten planets and the True Node, with each person's Ascendant and Midheaven only when that birth time is known; the Node and the angles can be switched off. When a birth time is unknown, 12:00 is used and that person's Moon is marked as approximate. The tab lists the direct contacts and each person's factors on the other's midpoints, closest first, or groups them factor by factor, like a midpoint tree. A pointer can be turned round the dial to show what stands under it in both charts. Below, the combined midpoints table lists the midpoints between one person's factor and the other's.

Examples

Albert Einstein (14 March 1879, 11:30 local mean time, Ulm) on the inner ring and Mileva Marić (19 December 1875, Titel; birth time not recorded, 12:00 local mean time assumed) on the outer. 90° dial, orb 1°, planets and True Node for both, Ascendant and Midheaven for Einstein only (her birth time is entered as unknown, so her angles are left out). This finds 34 contacts: 2 direct, 8 of his factors on her midpoints, 24 of hers on his.

Direct contacts

His factors on her midpoints (the three closest): his Midheaven on her Saturn/Node, 0°25′; his Venus on her Neptune/Node, 0°28′; his Uranus opposite her Mars/Saturn, 0°31′.

Her factors on his midpoints (the four closest): her Venus (18°47′ Capricorn) square his Pluto/Midheaven (18°47′ Aries), 0°00′; her Node square his Uranus/Neptune (4°35′ Cancer), 0°04′; her Uranus opposite his Mars/Midheaven, 0°08′; her Mars square his Neptune/Ascendant, 0°11′. His Uranus/Neptune midpoint is also on his own Saturn (0°23′; see midpoint dial), so her Node, his Saturn and his Uranus/Neptune all stand at one point of the dial.

The approximate Moon. Two of the 24 involve her Moon (opposite his Mars/Pluto, 0°45′; square his Venus/Uranus, 0°56′). Her Moon could be up to about 6½° away from its noon position, so these are not reliable.

If her noon chart is treated as exact. Entering 12:00 as a known time adds her noon Ascendant and Midheaven, and the count rises to 39 (2 direct, 9 and 28). Those extra contacts depend on a time nobody recorded.

Ebertin's Venus/Mars test. Einstein's Venus/Mars midpoint is at 6°57′ Pisces (dial 66°57′) and Marić's at 14°10′ Aquarius (dial 44°10′), 22°47′ apart on the dial: the pattern Ebertin often found is not present here.