Tag: signs

A Personal Story with Medical Astrology

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Medical astrology is a branch of the tradition which ancient physicians used routinely.  From the transits to your natal chart, physical history, and horary questions, the physicians would determine what kind of disease you had and would recommend treatments.  

Even today, medical astrologers can give you windows into the world of your body’s constitution and how it might respond to interventions.  While the interventions have changed (blood letting for example vs. antibiotics), even today you can see how the stars will play into the situation and outcome.

Houses in Medical Astrology

Key placements to look are the rising sign and its ruler’s condition, the 6th house of health, the 8th house of death, the 10th house of intervention/treatment, and the 12th house of closed spaces (think hospitals).  

Planets in Medical Astrology

Each planet rules different conditions.  If you are thinking specifically about surgery or inflammation, you look at Mars.  Problems with Venus can indicate issues with blood sugars.  Jupiter can indicate issues with excess such as obesity, liver, or cancer.  Leo or the Sun can suggest problems with the heart.  Neptune can indicate problems with the immune system, addictions, or misdiagnosis.  Uranus afflictions can show problems with sudden accidents or the nervous system.  Mercury shows up with speech issues, mental disorders or respiratory problems.  Saturn can show chronic issues or hardening diseases.  And Pluto can indicate massive infection, congenital issues, or even death.

Signs in Medical Astrology

And the signs rule different parts of the body.  For example, Libra governs your endocrine system and kidneys, while Scorpio rules your sexual health. Aries rules your head and brain.  Gemini will rule your arms, lungs, hands and nervous system. Virgo is your digestion. The feet are ruled by Pisces while the ankles are ruled by Aquarius. Taurus rules your throat. Leo rules your heart. Cancer rules your stomach and breasts. Sagittarius rules your legs and liver. This is not an exhaustive list, by any means.

My Personal Experience

My chart is no exception.

As a Capricorn rising, I am prone to issues with bones, joints, and teeth.  Capricorn risings can indicate younger people with older people problems.  Mars is in my 6th house of health in Gemini.  Knowing that Gemini is a mutable sign, this would suggest that my problems show up and then go away for awhile.  Saturn, the ruler of Capricorn, is in its detriment in Cancer, but is dignified by its term.  It’s not a surprise that I have had a lot of surgeries on my knees and spine.

I am going in for bi-lateral knee replacements tomorrow so my medical astrology has been at the forefront of my mind. It’s rare for a 44 year old to be getting this surgery so young, but I’ve literally exhausted all treatment options from intensive PT to various injections.  I’ve had this booked since October 2019.

It’s important that you seek experts in the field when getting information.  I am not a medical astrologer, so I booked a consult with Jane Ridder-Patrick out of the UK for more insight.  Every practitioner is different and I first learned of her when I attended the United Astrological Conference in 2018.  

I gave her a detailed medical history with all of my surgical dates and wondered if there were common threads to the interventions.  Indeed there were:  Saturn or another outer planet was usually making an aspect to my cardinal cross planets every time I had an issue.  

Tomorrow is no different.  My Saturn opposition is almost exact, Mercury will be moving into Pisces minutes before my surgery will take place opposing my Sun/Moon by sign, and the Moon moves into Capricorn simultaneously.  

It’s not ideal.  One of the first rules of surgery election dates is to not undergo an operation when the moon is VOC or in the same or opposite sign of the body part that will be cut.  This goes back to Hippocrates, the founder of modern medicine.  

“Touch not with iron that part of the body rule by the sign the moon is transiting” – Hippocrates (460 BC)

Like I said, this isn’t ideal.  But in modern medicine you also need to be practical.  I didn’t really get much say in my surgery date which is typical of medicine in the USA.  Also, with the COVID-19 influx, I am actually surprised it hasn’t been canceled yet.  However, I check in daily and they assure me it is still on. 

One of my friends is an Infectious Disease doctor who actually recommended I get this procedure done as the first wave of COVID-19 hasn’t fully hit and my husband (a palliative care doctor) will be at home on FMLA and not on service with all of the sick patients.  With my kids now out of school as well, we are essentially on quarantine which is the best thing for my recovery.  

Am I worried?  Yes.  I’d be a fool not to be regardless of where the Moon was.

Have you had any experiences with medical astrology? I’d love to know more about it in the comment section!

Medical Astrologers I trust: Jane Patrick-Ridder, J.Lee Lehman, Kira Sutherland

***Update: It has been postponed and unknown when it will be rescheduled. As a bonus, maybe I’ll get a better moon for the procedure.***

Houses: Everything In Its Place

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Since I went over the birth chart last week, I thought I would take a bit of a deeper dive into the astrological houses.  The houses help us take the wheel and make sense of the map by dividing it into sections.  By figuring out which areas of the chart have the most energy we can see how one’s life will develop and which themes will stand out.

1). There are 12 houses and there are 12 signs.  Depending on their different combinations, everyone gets a unique flavor. A Libra first house person will be a lot more flirtatious on first impression than a Capricorn first house person for example.

2). Each house is responsible for a different area of your life.  

  • First House:  Self image, Health, Life, Stature, Physical Appearance
  • Second House:  Self-Value, Money Earned, Possessions
  • Third House:  Communication, Early Education, Writing, Siblings, Neighbors, Short Distance Travel
  • Fourth House:  Your Roots, Family, Matriarchy/Most Nurturing Parent, Home, History 
  • Fifth House:  Hobbies, Children, Sex, Creativity, Gaming, Recreation, Performance
  • Sixth House:  Work Place, Daily Habits, Health, Pets, People Who Work For You
  • Seventh House:  Marriage, Legal Commitments, Business Partners, Open Enemies
  • Eighth House:  Shared Resources, Taxes, Death, Inheritance, Merger, Investments
  • Ninth House:  Higher Education, Religion/Faith, International Travel, Beliefs About People Different from You, Philosophy, Astrology, the Law (lawyers)
  • Tenth House:  The Way You Present Yourself in the World, Your Vocation, Your Employer, Honor, Prestige, Advancement, Responsibility, Reputation, Those Who Enforce the Law (judges), Your Father/More Authoritative Parent
  • Eleventh House:  “The House of Good Fortune”, Friends, Groups, Benefactors, Those Who Help Us Behind the Scenes, Hopes
  • Twelfth House:  Hidden Issues, Secrets, Prisons, Enemies Not Seen, Sorrow, Hospitals, Monasteries, Self-Care, Retreat 

3). Everyone has different signs ruling their houses.  The first house doesn’t always have to start with Aries.  Your first house could be occupied by any of the zodiac signs depending on what time you were born.  From there it will flow in traditional zodiacal order.  For example, A person with Gemini rising, and his second house will be Cancer, third house will be Leo, and so forth. 

4). Astrologers are extremely interested in the ruling planet of that particular house.  How happy that planet is and what aspects it’s making with other planets tells us a lot about that area of your life.  Its kind of like the difference of being at home with your shoes off vs. being the guest of honor at a party vs. just hanging out in a relatives house or being at a party you don’t want to attend.  Each of those scenarios have totally different comfort levels.  

5). There are 10 planets and 12 houses.   Everyone will have empty houses, and it’s ok!  The planets in the houses tell us your motivations, expressions, and lessons to be learned, but the houses tell us where you are likely to play out and learn those lessons.  When the planets get activated, you will have at least two areas of your life light up.

6). There are different house systems, and every astrologer has their favorite one to use. It’s just a way of diving up the sky into parts.  Whole Sign is the oldest system and it is a favorite of Hellenistic and Medieval Astrologers.  It’s also the one I prefer.   Placidus is a very common house system in modern astrology and it is usually the one defaulted to on most websites. It emphasizes the quadrants visually and so you can end up with some very large or very tiny sized houses.  Some house systems preserve each house having 30 degrees per house, others will take latitude into consideration and thus the sections will have varying sizes. Regardless, what matters the most is the sign on the cusp of each house.

7). A cusp is a line that divides the 12 houses.  It is the sign on the cusp (aka beginning that house) that rules that section and what matters the most in interpretation. Houses 1-6 are on the bottom of the chart; Houses 7-12 are on the top of the chart.  You follow the houses counterclockwise. Let’s start at the first house.The first house is where your Ascendant is located (As) on the Eastern horizon, right around where 9:00 is on the clock.  

See the example below:  We can see that the first house starts at Sagittarius at 9:00 (the symbol with the red arrow with the line through it).  The Black Arrow is pointing to the exact degree of the Ascendant angle of 12 degrees in Sagittarius.  From there we know that Capricorn (strange VS glyph) is on the 2nd Cusp (occupies the 2nd house); Aquarius (water squiggles) is on the 3rd cusp (occupies the 3rd house); etc.

8). What if there is a topic that is not listed on that list that I have a question about?  Oh, my dear, there are derived houses.  For example, what if you want to know about step-children?  I would direct you to look at your House of Partnership (7th) and count 5 counterclockwise.  Why 5?  Because the 5th house is what rules children – thus you will see your step-children in the 11th house.   What about your Mom’s money?  Mom is in the 4th house, but it is her resources (8th house domain).   So you would start in the 4th house and count 8 houses away thus it would be found in the 11th.  What about your grandchildren?  Go 5 houses from the 5th house = 9th house.  

9. I would argue that the most sensitive point of your whole chart is your Ascendant. It is determined from the time of your birth and it sets up the whole order of the rest of your chart. Since the Ascendant sign shifts roughly every two hours it can make a difference of having someone with a 4th house Sun who likes to be at home vs. a 5th house Sun who places high value on self-expression and being creative.

10. There are houses that are naturally more helpful and those that are more difficult in nature. By their nature, the 12th and the 6th house are houses that bring difficulty. Health and secrets are not topics you really want to mess with generally. That being said, the Sun finds great joy being in the 9th house, Venus loves being in the 5th house, and Jupiter is friends with the 11th house. Even the harder planets, like Mars and Saturn, have their places of joy. Mars actually does well in the 6th house with his nose to the grindstone and Saturn’s likes the isolation of the 12th.

The art of astrology comes in the form of blending the geometry of the aspects between the planets, the common themes of the houses, the timing of the transits, and the natural expressions of the signs. From there, you get a 360 degree view of a whole person.

For more information:

Houlding, Deborah. (2006). The houses: temples of the sky. Bournesmouth, England. Ascella Publications.

Kent, April Elliott (2011). The essential guide to practical astrology. [Kindle Version]

Hand, Robert (2000). Whole sign houses the oldest house system: an ancient method in modern application. Las Vegas, Nevada. ARHAT Publications.

Brennan, Chris (2018). Hellenistic astrology: the study of fate and fortune. Denver, Colorado. Amor Fati Publications.