Astrology

Aligning Us With the Stars: Medical Astrology According to the Vedas

Staff Staff research June 7, 2021May 26, 2021Astrology, Ayurveda, Digital image library, Zodiac man

– by Elijah Emerson Buchanan Doss, Visitor Services/Gallery Associate

Before influencing the West and prior to the beginning of the Scientific Revolution during the 16th century that changed modern medicine as we currently know it, Vedic texts described the relation between the movement of planetary systems and the human body centuries prior. Astrology and science were never separate entities until recently, but rather the two worked alongside of one another to explain illnesses and to treat sick patients.

According to the Vedas (the oldest scripture of Hinduism), Ayurveda, meaning, “the science of life”, is a system of medicine that is based on the highly evolved astrological system known as Vedic astrology.

“One should know how the zodiac signs correspond to the body”

Staff #MedievalMonday January 23, 2017January 4, 2017Astrology, Codicology, Constantinus Africanus, Humors, Illustrations, Medieval manuscripts

Diagram showing the zodiac signs, humors, and elements, f. 81v, Constantinus Africanus, *Viaticum*, ca. 1220-1244, Z10 76

The first ring of the diagram identifies the zodiac signs with the related humors and elements. The four humors played a large part in medieval lives. A person whose humors were in balance was healthy; unbalanced humors caused illnesses. Basically, the human body was believed to be made of four substances: blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. Each substance was linked to a season, an element, an organ, a temperament, and other qualities. For example, black bile was related to autumn, earth, the gallbladder, melancholy, and was considered to have cold and dry properties.

People also believed the zodiac signs presided over parts of the body and were associated with an element. The bull, Taurus, ruled over the throat, neck, thyroid gland, vocal tract; and was affiliated with black bile (melancholy).

These complex astrological charts were used to determine diagnoses and treatments, which were based not only on the actual physical symptoms, but also temperaments and birth signs. This diagram illustrates the medieval worldview in which everything was connected in a tenuous balance, including mankind and his health (microcosm), and the Earth and the universe (macrocosm).