Medical astrology

{{Short description|Astrology of the human physiology}} [[File:Medical Astrology-Man.jpg|thumb|A 1410 illustration of Zodiac Man (''homo signorum'') showing the anciently held link between the 12 signs of the Zodiac and the various parts of the body]] [[File:Astrological remedies.jpg|thumb|This table, from an 18th-century Icelandic manuscript, links astrological dates with the preparation of medicine.]] thumb|The anatomical-astrological human

'''Medical astrology''' or '''astrological medicine''' (traditionally known as '''iatromathematics''') is an ancient applied branch of astrology based mostly on ''melothesia'' (Gr. μελοθεσία), the association of various parts of the body, diseases, and drugs with the nature of the sun, moon, planets, and the twelve astrological signs.<ref name="asotp">{{cite web|title=Activities With Astrology |publisher=Astronomical society of the Pacific |url=http://www.astrosociety.org/education/astro/act3/astrology3.html#defense }}</ref> The underlying basis for medical astrology is considered to be a pseudoscience as there is no scientific basis for its core beliefs.<ref>{{cite web|title=Objections to Astrology: A Statement by 186 Leading Scientists |publisher=The Humanist, September/October 1975 |url=http://www.americanhumanist.org/about/astrology.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318140638/http://www.americanhumanist.org/about/astrology.html |archive-date=2009-03-18 }}</ref><ref>Eysenck, H.J., Nias, D.K.B., Astrology: Science or Superstition? (Penguin Books, 1982)</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=''The Real Romance in the Stars'' |author=Richard Dawkins |publisher=The Independent, December 1995 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/the-real-romance-in-the-stars-1527970.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220512/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/the-real-romance-in-the-stars-1527970.html |archive-date=2022-05-12 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |date=1995-12-31 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=British Physicist Debunks Astrology in Indian Lecture |publisher=Associated Press |url=http://www.beliefnet.com/story/63/story_6346_1.html }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Astronomical Pseudo-Science: A Skeptic's Resource List |publisher=Astronomical Society of the Pacific |url=http://www.astrosociety.org/education/resources/pseudobib.html }}</ref><ref>Paul R. Thagard, '[https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar_url?hl=en&q=http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~pthagard/Articles/astrology.pdf&sa=X&scisig=AAGBfm3oGk0VIbnIvtScYmoKzShIKx5gGw&oi=scholarr&ei=q9z0T9GYEOfZ0QX92OGvBw&ved=0CE8QgAMoADAA Why Astrology is a Pseudoscience]', PSA, vol 1. University of Chicago Press, 1978.</ref>

Hippocratic Greek medical training included a doctrine of ''dies decretorii'' ("critical days").<ref>{{Citation |last=Grove |first=Timothy Paul |title=Medical Astrology |date=2020-10-19 |work=Christ Came Forth from India |pages=314–332 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9783657705160/BP000026.xml |access-date=2024-04-08 |publisher=Brill Schöningh |language=en |isbn=978-3-657-70516-0}}</ref> Galen believed that heavenly bodies influenced human life but he had his misgivings about the predictions made by "horoscope-casters" (genethliakoi).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cooper |first=Glen M. |date=2011 |title=Galen and Astrology: A Mésalliance? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23047154 |journal=Early Science and Medicine |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=120–146 |doi=10.1163/157338211X557084 |jstor=23047154 |pmid=21879603 |issn=1383-7427|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Astrology was however considered as a foundation for medical practice in ancient Greece and Arabia. In Italy astrological studies as part of a training for medicine was routine in Bologna. The training was not that strong in England but in medical practice astrological circumstances were claimed in cases to absolve surgeons of any blame. In England, Robert Fludd in his ''Medicina Catholica'' (Frankfort, 1629) noted that medicine, theology, and astrology formed a single unified discipline. Astrological medicine declined after the 17th century but there were calls for its renewal in 1928 by Rudyard Kipling who considered modern medicine too narrow.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dick |first=Hugh G. |date=1946 |title=Students of Physic and Astrology: A survey of astrological medicine in the age of science |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24619572 |journal=Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=300–315 |doi=10.1093/jhmas/1.2.300 |jstor=24619572 |pmid=21027689 |issn=0022-5045|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Camden |first=Carroll |date=March 1930 |title=Elizabethan Astrological Medicine*This paper is a part of a longer study on Elizabethan astrology, especially its effect on literature. |journal=Annals of Medical History |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=217–226 |issn=0743-3131 |pmc=7945748 |pmid=33944310}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Caffrey |first=Brynna |date=2022-02-24 |title=Trusting the Stars: Using Astrology as Medicine |url=https://journal.lib.uoguelph.ca/index.php/classics/article/view/6741 |journal=Canta Aeide: Journal of Classical Studies |language=en |volume=3 |issue=1}}</ref>

== List of works == *Medical astrology was mentioned by Marcus Manilius (1st century AD) in his epic poem (8000 verses) ''Astronomica''.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} *Ficino, Marsilio, ''Three Books on Life'' (1489) [''De vita libri tre''] translated by Carol V. Kaske and John R. Clark, Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, State University of New York at Binghamton and The Rneaissance Society of America (1989.) {{ISBN|0-86698-041-5}} *Lilly, William, ''Christian Astrology'' (1647) *Culpepper, Nicholas, ''Astrological Judgement of Diseases from the Decumbiture of the Sick'' (1655) {{ISBN|1-5381-0113-0}} *Saunders, Richard, ''The Astrological Judgment and Practice of Physick'' (1677) {{ISBN|1-161-41322-7}} *Cornell, H.L., M.D., ''The Encyclopaedia of Medical Astrology'' (1933), Astrology Classics [Abington, MD, 2010.]

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography=== *{{cite book |doi=10.1007/978-1-4614-6141-8_19|chapter=Astronomy, Astrology, and Medicine |title=Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy |year=2015 |last1=Greenbaum |first1=Dorian Gieseler |pages=117–132 |isbn=978-1-4614-6140-1 |quote=This chapter covers the topic of astronomy, astrology, and medicine from the Old Babylonian period to the Enlightenment.}} * {{cite journal |doi=10.1017/S0007087499003854|title=From medical astrology to medical astronomy: Sol-lunar and planetary theories of disease in British medicine, c. 1700–1850 |year=2000 |last1=Harrison |first1=Mark |journal=The British Journal for the History of Science |volume=33 |issue=116 Pt 1 |pages=25–48 |pmid=11624340 |s2cid=22247498 }} *{{Cite web|last=Resor|first=C. W.|date=June 3, 2020|title=The Zodiac Man: How Astrology Guided Health Care|url=https://teachingwiththemes.com/index.php/2020/06/03/the-zodiac-man-how-astrology-guided-health-care/|website=Primary Source Bazaar}}

Category:Astrology by type Category:Traditional medicine Category:History of ancient medicine Category:History of astrology Category:Pseudoscience