The Prologue
In a series of posts about the correspondences and correlations between astrology and homeopathy, I will be looking at each sign of the zodiac and discussing how homeopathic remedy pictures may map onto sun sign archetypes.
Let’s take a look at how the two disciplines are related and how a homeopath might benefit from having some astrological knowledge of a patient.
Astrology has long been considered an important part of medicine. Greek physician Hippocrates regarded it as an essential piece of a physician’s knowledge; doctors throughout the medieval era and Renaissance were master astrologers, and until 1666, it was required for physicians to pass astrological exams in order to practice medicine.
For millennia, the planets and the four elements have been associated with plants and their medicinal properties. Similarly, each planet is associated with a metal. Animals are portrayed in the star constellations and the characteristics of the signs of the zodiac. Homeopathy sources its pharmacy from plants, minerals, and animals, and other ethereal matter known as imponderables.
I see the melding of astrology together with homeopathy as an alchemical journey, a way to transmute the lead of Saturn (karma, miasm) into the gold of the Sun (fulfilment, actualisation). Our unique existence serves as the alembic in which this alchemical transmutation occurs.
Human beings are the embodiment of the stars, the microcosm of the macrocosm.
“Man is a microcosm, or a little world, because he is an extract from all the stars and planets of the whole firmament.” – Paracelsus
In medical astrology, each sign of the zodiac governs a part of the body, moving down the body from the head (Aries) to the feet (Pisces).
The concept of assigning body-parts to celestial objects, known as Melothesia, was extant in Greco-Roman astral science.
Every sign has areas of the body that are potentially weaker (this concept marries with the homeopathic philosophy of susceptibility). We could use the medical lock and key analogy, suggesting that the body has receptor sites to planetary energies. In the same way that a hormone or mineral binds to the correct receptor cell, Mars energy, for example, binds to ‘receptor cells’ for the Aries constitution.
Both the Sun sign and the Rising sign influence the body the most, and we should consider both for diagnostic purposes.
Today, adherents of astrology might consult the ephemeris when choosing the best time for a medical procedure:
“Touch not with iron that part of the body ruled by the sign the Moon is transiting.” – Hippocrates
In other words, it may not be prudent to have brain surgery when the Moon is in Aries!
Paracelsus, in his doctrine of signatures, recognised that certain plants proved to be medicinal for certain organs because they resembled the organ in their appearance.
This precept is further expanded upon in homeopathy, not just recognising the appearance of the plant but its habitat and other characteristics. For example, pulsatilla grows in dry meadows and gets blown askew by the wind (windflower), but it has strong roots. People needing this remedy experience moods that change with the wind, and their pains move around the body.
Medical astrology works with an individual’s constitution, the four humours as propounded by Hippocrates: choleric, melancholic, sanguine, and phlegmatic; these are observed within homeopathy. The four humours relate to the four elements within the natal chart: fire (choleric), earth (melancholic), air (sanguine), and water (phlegmatic).
There are twelve homeopathic tissue salts that make up the basis of the human body. Tissue salts were discovered by Dr Wilhelm Schüessler, a German physician in the 19th century. He found that if these mineral salts were out of balance, there was abnormal cell functioning leading to disease. Each tissue salt corresponds to one of the twelve signs of the zodiac and relates to the physiology governed by that sign.
It is interesting to note that acute illness may come about due to the seasons, in particular the equinoxes, or the cycles of the Moon, or a planetary transit. We know that the Moon affects the tides and the human body comprises approximately 70% water, so it would follow that the cycles of the Moon influence us, notwithstanding the very obvious correspondence that the Moon has to the menstrual cycle.
Some rubrics consider the phase of the Moon and show remedies that are aggravated/ameliorated by it. Likewise, some remedies have particular aggravation/amelioration times in accordance with hours and seasons.
Homeopath, Colin Griffiths, has compiled a materia medica of remedies for the Aquarian age. Astrological ages change approximately every 2000 years, and we are now in the Age of Aquarius. The generation planet, Pluto, has recently moved into Aquarius. This represents a new paradigm, and it will doubtless see a new miasm and novel pathology.
Griffiths places emphasis on the position of the Moon’s nodes in the natal chart. The south node is karmic and relates to who we were in our last incarnation, and the north node relates to where we are going in this lifetime. The south node is our default mode, and the north node indicates the experiences we encounter to develop new character traits to become our highest selves. This nodal axis serves as an opportunity to transmute the alchemical lead of the south node (Saturn karma, miasm) to the gold of the north node (Sun, self-actualisation).
Badly aspected planets/asteroids in the natal chart indicate certain weaknesses. The house where Chiron is found reveals our primal wound that our soul has been called to heal. Chiron is a half-horse, half-god centaur, as we too are half-human, half-divine. So like Chiron, we must reconcile this paradox by embracing both our human and divine nature.
Saturn also plays an important part in the natal chart; the house and sign in which it is located offer clues as to where someone’s pathology may lie. For example, Saturn in Leo or the fifth house (associated with children) can indicate difficulties bearing children.
I conclude this preamble by quoting homeopath, Luke Norland, who captures the marriage of the two disciplines:
“Astrology shares much of the same language as homeopathy, integrating very well with the Mappa Mundi – another Elemental system. The birth chart reveals where the most tension is generated in a person’s life, and how this could affect their mental and physical state. Each planet has rulership over psychological, physiological, and pathological processes, providing insight into the way the whole system is organised. The zodiac signs, which correlate to human anatomy as well as certain personality traits, can be assigned to the 18 stages of the Periodic Table…..”