Medical Astrology Books

Contents:

Introductory

1. Basic elements
2. Anatomical sign-rulership
3. Planetary powers and principles
4. Biodynamic action of planets
5. How the planets crystallise in organic and inorganic life
6. Tonicity, atonicity, and perversion
7. Zodiaco-planetary synopsis of typical disease
8. The sixth and eighth houses
9. The triplicities and quadruplicities
10. Planetary sympathy and antipathy
11. Gauging planetary strength in the specific horoscope
12. Application
13. Examples
14. Indicators of short life

Comment:

This is one of the most sophisticated medical astrology books ever written. Many of the finer points are dealt with. You know the head is ruled by Aries, but did you know the nasal bones are co-ruled by Scorpio? There are references to Vedic principles. A helpful diagram explains the subtle division of the urinary tract between Libra and Scorpio. Rulerships are given not only for areas of the body and its organs, but also for bones, muscles, arteries and veins. Terminology in the book is modern. Gemini’s rulership of muscles includes the deltoid, biceps, supinator radii, subclavians, triceps, serratus anticus minor, pectoralis, palmaris, etc.

Many chapters are unique, such as Chapter 5, on crystallization, and Chapter 6, on tonicity, atonicity, and perversion. This chapter also tells how pairs of planets mirror each other: Sun/Moon, Mars/Saturn, Jupiter/Venus, Uranus/Neptune, with Mercury as a receiver. Chapter 11 concerns many different kinds of planetary strengths, among them, aspect strength, mundane strength, natural strength (the planet in its natal sign) and directional strength. Chapter 13 gives astrological indicators for some specific diseases, a foretaste of what Charles Carter would expand upon in his famous Encyclopaedia of Psychological Astrology.

This book was originally published as Alan Leo's Astrological Manual No. 9 in 1908. This is the second edition of 1914. There are references in this book to other books in the Alan Leo series, dealing with chart construction.

This book is highly recommended by H.L. Cornell in his Encyclopaedia of Medical Astrology (above).

Astrology Classics, 118 pages.

In the Foreword, the author writes, This work is a attempt to produce a useful astrological Encyclopaedia of Character, and, as far as data permit, of Disease.... Some reference might perhaps at this point be made to the study of the local zodiacal influences which are frequently mentioned herein. Even from the earliest times certain parts of the Zodiac, usually identified with nebulae or fixed stars, have been considered to possess peculiar powers. Medieval writers also published lists of degrees to which they assigned special names & qualities, such as azimene, pitted, smoky.... Recently Mr. Maurice Wemyss has published, in the pages of Modern Astrology, numerous articles dealing largely with degree-influences, treated in pairs of opposites - 0 degrees Aries-Libra, and so on - and it is now widely held that the study of the individual characters of degrees is one of the most promising fields of astrological research.... My own investigations in this direction, while stimulated by Mr. Wemyss's valuable work, are the results of original study. I am not prepared to say whether the influences in question are inherent in the degree, or for some reason originate in a wider zodiacal area. In some instances the peculiarity seems very local; in others much more extensive. In some cases it seems to derive from one degree only; in others, from a pair of opposite degrees; in others again, from the corresponding degrees in the four signs of the quadruplicity. In any event, the reality & value of these local effects are beyond question, although our knowledge of them is in its infancy. It should be noted that the values of degree-areas are often to be seen in progressions as well as in the natal figure. (pgs 5-6)

Sometimes known as Carter's Little Green Book. Often witty, always surprising, a book you will use forever. Includes six nativities of interest, and a table of local influences mentioned in the book.

Astrology Classics, 199 pages, paper.

Contents:

Editor's preface

Catalogue of the Herbs and Plants appropriate to the several Planets.
General rules whereby to know under what planet every herb or plant is Governed
Rules concerning the gathering of herbs and plants at the right planetary hours.
Concerning numbers attributed to the planets with the reason thereof.
The way to find the Disease by the Sun or Moon afflicted.
To know the time of Death or Recovery by Critical Figure.
Judgment upon a Decumbiture Figure, and also upon acute and perperacute sicknesses.
Judgment upon another Decumbiture of a sick person
The Characters of the seven Planets : Twelve Signs; and the five usual Aspects; and by the houses of the Planets
The sick-mans glass, with the use of an Ephemeris
How to Erect a Scheme or Figure for any time given.
A Decumbiture Figure set for the time of my Friends falling sick : with judgment thereupon.
Observations concerning the Ascendant.
Brief Rules concerning long or short sicknesses and whether the Patient is like to live or die.
The bodily shape and infirmities attributed to the twelve Signs.
The bodily shape with the parts and members of the body together with the diseases which the planets generally rules.
Concerning the Moon of Mars or Sol afflicted in any of the Twelve Signs.
Concerning the Moon of Saturn or Jupiter afflicted in any of the Twelve Signs.
How to make Diet-drinks, or to extract the spirits of plants or Herbs.
How to make Syrups Glisters, Fumes, Fumigations, Cataplasms, Ointments, and Baths.
Of Purgation and the manner of Purging, Vomiting, Bathing, Sweating, Blooding, with some other additions necessary to be known.
A Catalogue of Choice herbs or plants, collected for the curing of all kinds of griefs or infirmities whatsoever, Alphabetically expressed
One cure done at Oxford, Anno Dom. 1658.
Another cure done at Oxford, Anno Dom. 1659.
One cure done at Tylehurst near Reading, Anno 1667.
The way to cure the Evil, commonly called the King's Evil ; with an Example. Another kind of Evil and the Cure thereof.
Another kind of Evil which comes from Strong Sorcery or Witchcraft with the way of cure
A Boy suddenly struck dumb and so continued three years how cured.
How to make the Sympathetical powder with its application.
The Unguent its making and use.
Concerning Witchcraft and Sorcery, with the way of cure.
Some experimental Rules whereby to afflict the Witch.
The way to cure both Witchcraft and Sorcery.
Some notable Philosophical Secrets whereby to cure sundry distempers.
Two pretty secrets in Philosophy.
Some practical and experimental Rules whereby to give judgment Astrologically upon Thefts, Strays, Fugitives, Decumbitures of Sick Persons, Urines, or any other Horary Question
Concerning the calling forth of Devils out of such who are Possessed, and how performed by the Author.
Concerning Agues and Quotidian Infirmities with the way of cure thereof
Concerning all kinds of Madness, its cause and cure.
Postscript to the Reader.
A short Epistle to those who are Students and well willers to the Art of Astrology

Appendices:
List of herbs
The pre-Copernican world
Table of essential dignities
Azimene degrees
An excerpt from Astrological Judgement of Disease from the Decumbiture of the Sick, by Nicholas Culpeper, on Temperament
Glossary
An excerpt from Smith's Family Physician, on agues

Index

Comment:

March, 2010: In print and in stock! A titanic book.

Read my Preface for a general overview.
A pdf extract on Brief Rules concerning long or short sicknesses and whether the Patient is like to live or die.

From the back of the book:

Contrary to modern beliefs, the medieval world was not one of superstition and ignorance. True, they lacked what we know as science, but on the other hand, they were in possession of a coherent philosophy of life, handed down to them from the Greeks and Romans, which had been further hammered out in a thousand ways over the course of centuries. When luck was with them (the period was, above all, poor), medieval peoples were surprisingly successful in dealing with the problems of everyday life.

With minds open, we come to the medieval world as if it was a strange alien planet. Because their philosophy was different, their observations were different, and, therefore, their solutions were different. Some were good. Some were not. The best of them are worthy of our attention, for they can teach us much.

Joseph Blagrave (1610-1682) was a country doctor who lived in Reading, England, in part as he lacked the license that would let him practice openly in London. Fundamentally, he was an astrological herbalist. To this, he brought an eclectic mix of observation, experimentation, folk knowledge, and his own unique genius. Free of modern conceptions, he was able to view and treat the diseases of his day in ways that were revolutionary.

Blagrave uses planetary hours to harvest herbs in the hour of the planet which rules it. So, for example, Angelica, which is ruled by the Sun, is harvested in the first hour after sunrise on Sunday. Nightshade, ruled by Saturn, is harvested in the first hour after sunrise on Saturday. Onions, ruled by Mars, are harvested in the first hour after sunrise on Tuesday. Such plants and herbs are supercharged. They exude the energies of the planet which rules them. Astrological medicine hinges on astrological definitions of the ailment, as in what planet caused the injury, which then determines the plant which has the same - or the opposite - planetary energy. It is therefore essential that plant has the maximum amount of the appropriate planet's energy. Such is the fundamental basis of Blagrave's practice.

The book starts with a list of herbs & plants, sorted by planet. In general this is similar to what you will find in Culpeper's Herbal, though with variations. Blagrave assigns numerical values to the planets (Mars gets the numbers 2, 4, 7 & 9, the Sun gets 1, 3, 4, 10 & 12) & seems to assign specific numbers to specific plants, but the exact passages are missing & were presumably deleted by the author in advance of the original publication, as there is a large gap in pagination, which is present in the very first edition, as I've had direct reports. My guess is that he ran out of money and rationalized the omission because he had earlier published an herbal (which, in fact, he had). Blagrave's complete system is numeric: You have a number for the plant, presumably a number for the disease, you then match these up to the appropriate planetary number. I would very much like to see Blagrave's herbal reprinted, but it is extremely rare.

With virtually every cure, Blagrave starts with an amulet of three solar herbs, tied in a bag & put around the neck. By "around the neck" is not meant a choker. The herbs will naturally come to rest on the breast-bone, which is to say, directly on top of the heart itself. Which, in esoteric terms, strengthens the heart chakra. Blagrave knew, from experience, that strengthening the heart accomplished half the healing all by itself. With super-charged herbs, this is still the most sage advice.

Among a vast array of techniques, Blagrave uses amulets, poultices, herbal teas (diet-drinks), alcohol infustions (brandy), various exotic minerals (Roman vitriol), colonics & more. Unknown to modern science, he used living plants to externalize ailments & heal remotely, passages which still astonish me.

This is an entirely reset, new edition. My primary source was a microfiche (of a badly worn copy) which has been circulating for some years. There are two problems with it: One, it is missing a leaf, ie, the original pages 38 & 39 (poor pagination, for those of you who caught that). Mr. Philip Graves, of Sweden, graciously supplied the missing text from his second edition. There is also a three-word lacunae on the original page 168. Again, Mr. Graves was most helpful. This is, therefore, the first complete edition of Blagrave's book in perhaps three centuries.

In addition to my Introductory notes, where all of this is expanded upon, I also included a variety of appendices. Among them, a complete list of the plants and herbs mentioned in the text, Culpeper's delineations of temperament, taken from his Astrological Judgment of Diseases from the Decumbiture of the Sick, a comprehensive glossary of terms used in the book, a bibliography, and an extract from the Smith's Family Physican on agues, from 1873. Smith's is a most useful book, essential to traditional doctors. It is still in print, you should go to Amazon and get a copy.

Update, April 2011: I have puzzled out two more details from the book: Pg. 112, shrunken sinews is polio. In Blagrave's day there were many harmless strains of the disease, which conferred immunity from the rare serious strain. Modern hygiene wiped out the harmless strains, leaving the serious ones. Which is to say that for about three-quarters of a century, up to the introduction of vaccines in the late 1950's, polio was endemic. (I myself got some of the very first injections, years before they were available as sugar cubes.) Blagrave's treatment was similar to that of Nurse Kenny.

And at last I have the definition of "glister". This is the same word as clyster, which is an enema. Blagrave, however, uses them as high colonics.

Astrology Classics, 268 pages.

Synopsis: Named "Christian" to avoid hassles (some things never change), this is the most famous, the most celebrated astrology book in the English language. It has been prized by students ever since its first publication in 1647. The Horary Astrology in these pages is demanding and precise, combining science and art. Properly used, it will give answer to any well-defined question. William Lilly, famous throughout England for his almanacs & forecasts (he predicted London's Great Fire of 1666), lived during the English Civil War & was a minor historical figure in it. Into his studio came the rich and poor, the noble and ignoble, with problems great and small.

This new edition restores Lilly's original page layouts, with marginalia. Modern spelling throughout, this edition includes Lilly's bibliography, his original index & a new glossary. Also includes his original woodblock charts, and their modern versions. This is Lilly's great work as he himself knew it. Click here for a PDF of Chapter 22 (first chapter of Book 2).

Contents, comment.

Astrology Classics, 552 pages, paper.

Contents:

Introduction
1. Objections answered & refuted

Section 1: The scientific basis & laws of the epoch
2. The astro-physiological basis of the epoch
3. The practical uses of the epoch
4. The laws of the prenatal epoch
5. The paramount law of sex

Section 2: The prenatal epoch as a factor in rectification
6. Preliminary steps
7. First steps in rectification
8. Rectification by epochs of the first order
9. Illustrations of epochs of the first order
10. Rectification by epochs of the second order
11. Illustrations of epochs of the second order
12. Rectification by epochs of the third order
13. Illustrations of epochs of the third order
14. Rectification by epochs of the fourth order
15. Illustrations of epochs of th fourth order
16. The cause of irregularity
17. Final considerations

Section 3: Some astro-physiological problems
18. The period of gestation
19. Marriage & the epoch
20. Illustrations of short & long period births

Section 4: The prenatal epoch & multiple pregnancy
21. Fallacies & facts in relation to twins
22. The astro-physiological laws of multiple births
23. Illustrations of twin births
24. An illustration of multiple birth
25. Divergence of character & fortune in twins

Section 5: The epoch in relation to prenatal affections
26. The chart of descent
27. Illustrations of prenatal abnormalities
28. The date of quickening

Section 6: The prenatal epoch as a factor in directions
29. Directing from the prenatal epoch
30. How to calculate directions from the epoch
31. Epochal directions illustrated
32. Illustrations of epochal directions
33. Primary directions & the epoch

Section 7: The prenatal epoch & infant mortality
34. Infant mortality
35. Illustrations of infant horoscopes
36. The procreation of children
Conclusion

Section 8: Appendix
Some mathematical rules
Tables of ascendants

Comment: Many people ask, why do astrologers study birth charts, why do they not study the moment of conception? This is not a new question.

The reason for birth charts is that birth is a significant, easily determined moment in time. The reason against conception is that it's darn hard, in most cases, to figure out exactly when that was. You need a technique.

The standard technique, which was not new to Bailey - nor Sepharial, his muse - was to go back nine months, interchange ascendant & moon, and call that the Epoch, or moment of conception. This is as far as Ivy Goldstein-Jacobson ever took it. The problem was the simple interchange did not work in all that many cases. The solution, which both Sepharial & Bailey gradually arrived at, was an additional three epochs. Which one applies to you depends on where the moon is by house, and the angular relationship it has to the sun.

As to the various goodies in this book, read the Table of Contents (above) carefully: The prenatal epoch is a factor in rectification, twins & multiple births, and birth defects. It can also be used with directions, primary directions & more. Which amounts to an entire school of astrology, if anyone wants to push it. Towards the end of Bailey's life (1876-1959), Hans Niggemann, of Uranian astrology fame, got him to admit there should be even more rules & epochs, but until someone else is so inspired, E.H. Bailey's work is the standard which all others must meet.

One of many uses for the prenatal epoch is in diagnosing prenatal and congenital ailments.

Click here for an extract (pdf).

Astrology Classics, 239 pages.

Contents:

The table of contents to this book covers four pages of tiny type, two columns per page. As that is impractical, I have made this synopsis of the book's contents:

Preface
To the Student
Lessons and Books on Astrology

Table of Contents

Glossary of Astrological Terms

Elements of Astrology
Introduction
Brief History of Astrology
Astrology in London, by Edgar Lee
Letters
Pharaoh's Dream
Theories of Ancient Astronomers
Perihelion Epoch of Jupiter
Effect on the Earth of the Near Approach of Mars
Meteorology and Planetary Influence
The Planet Neptune in Gemini
Personal Description Determined by Planets
Assassination of President Lincoln
Assassination of President Garfield
Lizzie Borden Murder Case

Elements of Astrology
Signification of the Twelve Houses
Nature, Quality, Description of the Twelve Houses
General Appearance, by the Twelve Signs
Persons Described by the Eight Planets
Planets in Signs
Planets in Conjunction
Planets in Sextile and Trine
Planets in Square and Opposition
Practical Astrology
To Set a Map of the Heavens
How to Calculate the Part of Fortune
Rules for Reading Horoscopes
Synopsis of Medical Astrology
Rules for Marriage and Children
How to Judge Fortunate or Unfortunate
Mental Abilities
Profession and Trade
Lords of the Houses in Other Houses
Changes in Build and Complexion
Planetary Anatomical Rulerships
Rectification
Division of the Twelve Signs, etc.
Table of Essential Dignities
Table of Orbs
Table of Friends and Enemies
Planetary Hours
Planetary Hours: Perpetual Tables
Elections
Horoscope of William McKinley
Horoscope of William Jennings Bryan
Horoscope of Queen Victoria
Horoscope of Lord Byron
Horoscope of Charles Dickens
Horoscope of Ulysses Simpson Grant
Horoscope of George Washington
Modern Medication
Objections to Astrology Answered
The Planet Neptune
Horoscopes of Presidents Cleveland and Harrison
Horoscope of Kaiser Wilhelm II
Horoscope of the Third French Republic

Appendix: Why I am an Astrologer
Preface
Introductory Remarks
The Humbug of Astrology, by Richard Proctor
Reply to Mr. Proctor
Discussion Pro and Con about Astrology
Unparalleled Outrages, by W.H. Chaney
The Tower of Babel

Read and Reflect
Broughton's Monthly Planet Reader

About the Author

Comment:

Luke Dennis Broughton was born in 1828, in Leeds, England. Around 1854 he emigrated to the U.S., where he joined two of his brothers in Philadelphia. The Broughtons were from a long line of English astrologers, having been taught as children by their fathers.

Broughton was a graduate of the Eclectic Medical College, of Pennsylvania, at the time a reputed and well-known school of homeopathy. As he documents in this book, with the aid of astrology he practiced as a homeopathic doctor, with much success.

Broughton's fortunes in life, his struggles to promote astrology, mirrored the North-South struggle over slavery. He famously predicted that Abraham Lincoln would lose to Stephen A. Douglas in 1860. He later said he had thought Lincoln's evil aspects would deny him the election. He then realized the aspects had to do with the nation breaking apart before the new President-Elect could take office.

Broughton fought proposed anti-astrology legislation in Pennsylvania, most notably by starting the Monthly Planet Reader and Astrological Journal in 1860, but his efforts were unsuccessful. Pennsylvania banned astrology in 1861. Broughton stuck it out for two more years, then in 1863 left for New York .

In 1864 Broughton forecast the re-election of President Lincoln, adding, I might here state, that shortly after the election is over, Mr. Lincoln will have a number of evil aspects afflicting his nativity. . . . they will then be in operation in Nov. and Dec. of this year. During these months, let him be especially on his guard against attempts to take his life, by such as fire arms and infernal machines.

In this book are charts for both Lincoln's and Garfield's assassinations, as well as for the murders for which Lizzie Borden was accused, and also the natal charts of Queen Victoria, Presidents George Washington, William McKinley, Grover Cleveland, William Henry Harrison and Ulysses Simpson Grant. Broughton read charts primarily by means of houses and at one point neatly disposes of equal houses, in favor of Placidus, which he knew of as Dalton's Tables (Daltons now out of print). There are extensive delineations of physical appearance, as well as notes on rectification by means of appearance.

The times in which Broughton lived were hard. No respectable person openly admitted he was an astrologer, though many practiced in secret. At the time many astrologers hid behind code names, a practice that continued into the 20th century and included Sepharial, among others. In New York, Broughton, who went under his real name, was libeled, his mail stolen, his lectures disrupted, his family assaulted. The police were called, but the charges were dismissed by a hostile judge. Yet he persevered.

This 500 page book reads a lot like one of my weekly articles: Direct, personable, immediate, with its flaws fully acknowledged and on display. This is the distillation of a working astrologer of a century ago, before there was astropsychology, Sabian Symbols, New Age, and all the rest.

One of the most interesting and unique sections of the book is on planetary hours. Broughton only learned about them as an adult. He found they worked, and quickly adopted them in his daily life. He attributed much of his success as a physican to the use of planetary hours. In the book he writes,

Possibly the reason that I could notice the marked influence of Planetary Hours while treating sick patients, is on account of Saturn and Mars afflicting my horoscope in such a marked manner at birth. Mars being in the 6th , (the house of sickness,) and also being in square to Mercury in the midheaven, and in opposition to the Moon my ruling planet, and also Saturn afflicting my 12th house, (or the house of secret enemies,) in the sign Cancer and the Moon my ruling planet making a conjunction of Saturn. These planetary influences make the evil Planetary Hours of both Saturn and Mars doubly evil in my horoscope. Jupiter in the 5th house, and lord of both the 9th and 10th houses, and also lord of the 6th house, and the Moon rising in close trine to Jupiter; and also Venus in the 11th house, unafflicted and lady of the 11th, and the Sun in the midheaven at my birth, makes the hours of Jupiter, Venus, the Moon and the Sun, doubly fortunate for me; and their influence in any business, etc., which I may undertake in their planetary hours, and especially in commencement of treating the sick. (pg. 253)

Of the many hundreds of authors I have surveyed, Luke Broughton is the first and so far, the only person to have a real sense of the planetary hours. They are so real to him that he devotes 20 pages to a perpetual table of planetary hours, which will work in latitudes of 40-41 degrees north, simply convert your clock time to Local Mean Time. In Philadelphia-New York, St. Louis and Denver, standard clock time (not daylight) will work. (The criteria for clock time are towns that are more or less at 40-41 north latitude, and whose longitudes are evenly divisible by 15.) Planetary hours are so real to Broughton that he wonders if Local Mean Time, or Local Apparent Time, should be used with them. You can learn more about planetary hours in this book than in all the others combined. In my theory of Earth-based astrology, planetary hours, more than the degree on the ascendant, are the final, fine-tuning mechanism. Master them and you master the world. I am hopeful that Broughton's book will touch off a wave of interest in this very neglected area.

Luke Broughton established astrology in America, when no one else could. His book, The Elements of Astrology, was the first serious astrology book published in America. It is both a text-book of the astrology of his day, as well as a history of Broughton's life and times. He died in 1898, shortly after this book was published.

George McCormack called Broughton The American pioneer of modern astrology in the United States.. James Holden and Robert Hughes called him The true Poioneer of Astrology in America and dedicated their book to his memory.

Click here for an excerpt, on the horoscope of George Washington and his shocking death.

Here is an early review:

Students of the so-called occult sciences will be glad to learn that a new and excellent work on astrology has just been published in this city and London, the author and publisher being L.D. Broughton, M.D. The book, which is entitled "Elements of Astrology," is a comprehensive and lucid text-book on this most ancient science. Several books on this subject have been published during the last few years both in this country and in Europe, but it would be difficult to find one which is more instructive or more interesting than the present work. As a rule modern astrological text-books are mere compilations of earlier works, and contain little or nothing that is original. Dr. Broughton's book, however, is not of this sort. True, it contains much that may be found in Lilly's "Christian Astrology," and other old books on the subject, but it also contains much that will be new even to the trained student. This will not surprise those who know that Dr. Broughton's father and grandfather were firm believers in astrology; and that he himself has been studying it all his life. It is doubtful if there is any man living now who has cast more horoscopes than he has, or is more skilled in this fascinating science. In the present work, Dr. Broughton not only lays down clear and simple rules for the guidance of students, but he also gives us some notable horoscopes of prominent persons, and some interesting reminiscences of his career as a teacher and champion of astrology. Altogether this is an admirable book, and one which deserves to be welcomed by all those who are interested in this curious, old, predictive science. - New York Herald, November 13, 1898

Astrology Classics, 528 pages.

Comment: Richard Saunders (1613 - 1692) was an astrologer/physician in 17th century England. This book, first published in 1677, was the result of thirty years practice. It is also one of the earliest astro-medical treatises in the English language. Using the terminology of his day, Saunders speaks of humors and winds, of conditions hot, cold or dry, of the cholerick and melancholy, etc. This is a comprehensive and demanding text on medical astrology. Included are rules for decumbiture charts, illnesses produced by the traditional planets in the various signs of the zodiac, when to administer medicines based on planetary hours, and much more.

Click for a PDF excerpt.

Coment continued, table of contents.

Astrology Classics, 397 pages.

Liber 1: Judgment of diseases much enlarged, Abraham Avenezra of critical days;

Liber 2: Astrological judgment upon diseases, or a methodical way to find out the cause, nature, symptoms & change of a disease, etc.

Chapter 1: Definition of the word crisis; Chapter 2: Way to find out critical days, also decumbiture by ancient & modern writers; Chapter 3: Sympathy & antipathy of signs & planets; Chapter 4: Critical & judicial days by a figure of 8 houses; Chapter 5: Former rules illustrated by an example; Chapter 6: How to set a figure of 16 houses & judgment on it, how to set a figure of 12 houses for the crisis; Chapter 8: To find the exact time of crisis by a table of logistical logarithms; Chapter 9: Certain precepts premised before the Prognosticks; Chapter 10: General Prognostications of the disease;

Chapter 11: The diseases the planets signify, diseases the signs of the zodiac signify, parts of the body the planets rule, parts of the body ruled by signs; Chapter 11 (sic): How to read a decumbiture chart; Chapter 12: How to know if the disease be in the mind or body; Chapter 13: How to know which part of the body may be afflicted; Chapter 14: How to know if the disease will be long or short, or whether it will end in life or death, signs of long or short sickness, signs of life at decumbiture, signs of death; Chapter 15: For the cure of any disease take these few rules; Hermes Trismegistus upon the first decumbiture; Results of Moon in each sign afflicted by Mars & Saturn; Chapter 16: Observations of Cardan, Augerius Pererius, Boderius, John Antonia Maginus, John Baptista Triandula.

There follows the Four Books of the Presages of Hippocrates, finally, Culpeper's own Urinalia, an extensive study of problems in the urine, bladder & kidneys.

Comment: Another excellent medieval astrological medical text. Nicholas Culpeper (1616-1654) is best-known today for his English Physician, a comprehensive guide to the medicinal uses of native plants & herbs, the first such book published in English. Culpeper, a Puritan, was the son of a clergyman. In 1634 he spent a year at Cambridge, where he learned Greek & Latin, which enabled him to study old medical texts. He was apprenticed to an apothecary & started his formal practice in Spitalfields, London, around 1640. Culpeper supported the Parliamentary side in the English Civil War, suffering a severe chest wound in 1643. After recovering he returned to his medical practice in London, where he established a reputation as an outstanding healer. War wounds combined with overwork led to his death from exhaustion in 1654, aged 37. According to his widow, he left behind some 70 unfinished manuscripts.

In his short life, Culpeper was a very busy, very successful astrologer/doctor. This book is his own opinionated guide to astrological medical diagnosis: What astrological factors to look for, what they mean, from someone who KNEW. Appendix: His Urinalia, a short but complete guide to the urine. The text, while newly reset, retains the spelling & punctuation of the original. Two of the great classics. Click here for a PDF extract.

Astrology Classics, 182 pages.