There are two completely different components to medical astrology: one that belongs
in nativities, and one that is done through interrogations. Both parts have their genesis
in Hellenistic astrology.
Nativities
The early medical applications in nativities involved the following:
1. The general calculation of the length of life through the Apheta, a calculation
that later become known as the hyleg.
2. The sign position of the Sun could indicate the nature of infirmities, or
even death if sufficiently afflicted.
3. Sickness could also be generally interpreted through the delineation of the
6th house. (This technique did not become typical until the Arabic period.
In the Hellenistic era, the 6th and the 12th houses were named after the
Bad Spirit, so bad things could happen here, but this would not have been
restricted specifically to illness.)
4. Bodily form and temperament could, to a certain extent, indicate particular
tendencies toward certain health conditions, as well as ideas for living a
more successfully healthy life. Because of the development of astrological
methods of computing temperaments, this interfaced to astrology.
5. The calculation of planetary periods of the life, which could have health
considerations as well as more general ones, such as riches, marriage, children,
etc.
In nativities, the signs were assigned to parts of the body, as shown in the
accompanying table.
Thus, for example, the Sun in Sagittarius could mean possible weakness of the
hips or the region of the hips.
PARTS OF THE BODY ASSIGNED TO THE SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC
Zodiac Sign Body Part
Aries Head, face
Taurus Neck
Gemini Shoulders, arms and hands
Cancer Breasts and stomach
Leo Heart and back
Virgo Intestines
Libra Kidneys, small of the back, genitals
Scorpio Bladder, reproductive organs
Sagittarius Hips, thighs
Capricorn Bones, skin, knees, teeth
Aquarius Shins, ankles
Pisces Feet
The planets were also assigned parts of the body, as the accompanying table
shows. They generally overlapped with their traditional sign rulerships.
PARTS OF THE BODY ASSIGNED TO THE TRADITIONAL PLANETS
Planet Body Part
Saturn Bones, knees, spleen, teeth
Jupiter Arteries, blood, lungs, ribs, sides, veins, reproductive seed
Mars Gall bladder, kidneys, reproductive organs, veins
Sun Left eye (women), right eye (men), heart, sinews
Venus Kidneys, small of the back, reproductive organs and seed, throat
Mercury Brain, hands, tongue
Moon Left eye (men), right eye (women), brain, bladder, stomach, bowels, womb
These planetary rulerships would be utilized either to delineate the effects
through house rulership, or to determine if a planet were particularly compromised in
the chart.
In the Arabic and Latin Medieval periods, the sixth house emerged as a focal
point for the delineation of illness. The ruler of the sixth house, and particularly its
debilities, could show something about the frequency and severity of illness, specifically
when that ruler was afflicted by primary direction.
The periods of life were not primarily or exclusively a medical technique. They
were used to examine the predominant planetary influence of any given period, much
like the Vedic system of Dhasas or Bhuktis.
As for death, the sign of the eighth house was understood to have something to
do with the means or manner of death, although this was usually counted as the eighth
from the part of fortune, not the ascendant. In the extant horoscopes from the Hellenistic
period, references to death far outnumber references to accidents or disease.
Interrogations
The other primary system for using medical astrology involves interrogations,
which are better known as horary, event, and electional astrology.
The form of delineation is the same for the following two horary questions:
What is the cause of my illness? What will be the course of the disease (as for the
delineation of any event known as a decumbiture, which is a moment of health crisis)?
The following are examples of such moments:
An acute event, such as a heart attack, stroke, breaking a bone, or
being in a car accident
The time for checking into a hospital
The time that a diagnostic procedure is performed
The time that the patient is given a diagnosis
Waking up in the morning and finding that you are sick and cannot or
should not get out of bed.
Having that feeling that this time, the flu has really got you, even
though you don’t experience full-blown symptoms, but only something
like a tickling in your throat
In all event (decumbiture) charts, the first house is given to the patient. In
horary questions about health conditions, the first house is for the person asking the
question. When a person asks his or her own question, this is no problem. But when a
question is asked about another person (or an animal, for example), the chart may
need to be turned. The exception is that if a person asks on behalf of someone else,
i.e., when the person asking is acting as the agent for the patient, then the patient is
considered the first house, and the technical querent (person asking the question) is
ignored. If this is not the case, then the chart is turned to give the patient to the house
that most closely indicates the patient’s relationship to the querent (e.g., to the fifth
house if the querent is the parent of the patient).
Before proceeding with the delineation, one of the things the astrologer needs
to know is whether the disease is physical, mental, or spiritual. The following table
compares some of the astrological indicators of physical vs. mental or spiritual disease.
