Re: VMs: New Member: Comparison to Medical Astrology Text

[Pamela Richards <spirlhelix@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi, Jean!

Thanks for your enthusiasm and interest!  

Your comments are most appreciated.  No, I certainly
do not practice medicine!  Thank you for allowing me
to clarify that point.

The question of whether or how astrology applies to
subjects not clearly referring to the stars or the
cosmos is a pivotal one.  Astrology has no utility as
a self-referencing subject.  As practiced in the
supposed time of the VMs, astrology is the study of
the meaning of the planets and stars in their
positions in the heavens, and their relationships to
objects, entities, or actions on earth.  Understood as
such, it is properly utilized as a mirror of reality,
with components that convey or signify entities,
people, places, things, and actions.  To say it
simply, astrology properly used is much like a
language.  It can reflect or discuss all aspects of
concrete events on earth. 

Today, we often think of natal astrology when we hear
the word.  Formerly, there were many branches or
applications of astrology which had nothing to do with
natal charts.  "Interrogations" was one of the
earliest applications of astrology: a form of
divination which involved asking questions of the
stars.  A chart was drawn for the positions of the
planets in the heavens at the precise time the
question was asked.  Because we are all one with the
universe, at the precise moment the question was
asked, the stars were in the correct position to
answer the question.

Other charts could be drawn for the positions of the
planets in the heavens at the time of specific events;
a battle, for instance, was often begun at a set time
and planned according to the strategy recommended by
an astrologer.  Dr. John Dee performed the service for
Queen Elizabeth I of suggesting a strategy for the
English Navy during their battle with the Spanish
Armada.  In that instance, he may have used the time
of the embarkation of the Spanish fleet to draw a
chart and predict the outcome of the battle.

To further illustrate that astrology was very much an
applied science:

Medicine was practiced hand in hand with astrology
during the period of time the VMs was said to have
originated.  A concerned friend or relative of the
sick person would bring the sick person's urine to the
doctor.  At the moment the doctor received the urine,
the time was noted and a chart of the heavens was
drawn for that event.  This was called a "decumbiture"
(based on the Latin word for someone taking to bed
sick) chart.  Using it, the doctor would diagnose and
prescribe a treatment for the illness of the patient
many times without ever directly examining the
patient.  He also examined the chart to determine if
the patient would live or die, and what the course of
the illness would be.  The doctor would consult, if
needed, botanical texts which would have contained
information about the planetary rulerships of the
medicines (plants) to be used in the cure of the
patient.  Common herbal cures would have been planted
and harvested under appropriate astrological
conditions, and the treatment would have been
deliberately delayed if necessary until the planets
were in the most propitious positions.  Magical
rituals and certain alchemical practices would use
astrology in a similar way.

So, to come to the point, astrological terms would
have been used to describe botanical subjects and most
certainly to recommend their proper use and the
astrological time to best use them for the desired
effect.  There is no reason to think the subject or
influence of astrology was limited to discussing the
Zodiac belt or the positions of the planets
themselves; this is contrary to the traditional
purpose of astrology.  In effect, I disagree with the
hypothesis that certain parts of the manuscript had
more to do with astrology than others.  I base my
statement on my reading of medical texts of that time.

I look forward to responding to your question about
modern rulerships of the signs in another post.

Warmly,

Pam


--- jean-yves artero <jyartero@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Greetings, Pam!
>  
> You and your demonstration are warmly welcome. I
> have to admit I am convinced, although I am not a
> cryptanalyst or a linguist.
>  
> Please note that as already and recently written in
> this list the same fact is also valid for other
> theoretically possible VMS contents, such as
> rituals, songs, rhymes...
>  
> Now what could be the next step? There is a strong
> connection as you stated between medieval astrology
> and simultaneous medical practises.
> Both are possibly present in the VMS.
>  
> I understand that you are more an astrologer than a
> physician. I have a question for you: what is your
> first impression as a "beginner" about astrology in
> the VMS? You already know that some parts of it are
> generally considered as more astrologically oriented
> ( in principle ;-) ).
>  
> For instance, here, Pam and everyone is something
> perhaps that could be considered from an astrolgical
> point of view:
>  
> http://coa.hubcom.net/mhplan.htm
>  
> 
> "There is an unreflective trend in modern astrology
> which seeks to oust the traditional rulers of signs
> by giving exclusive rulership to the trans-Saturnian
> planets. Uranus is said to rule Aquarius, Neptune to
> rule Pisces and Pluto to rule Scorpio. This creates
> an erroneous understanding of the traditional
> symbolism of the planets and their relationship with
> the signs of the zodiac. The relationship is best
> shown visually (see diagram)."
> 
> Seeing the diagram on above web site page, what are
> the similiarities and differencies with such VMS
> drawing, if of course there is ou beloved MS
> something comparable? But perhaps, almost certainly,
> this was already done previously (sigh).
> 
> Warmly anyway,
> 
> Jean
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> 
> Pamela Richards <spirlhelix@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Greetings!
> 
> I am a new member interested in the VMs primarily
> because I am studying medical astrology of a similar
> historical period.
> 
> Someone has raised the interesting suggestion that
> some of the characters in the document may be
> astrological glyphs for the 12 signs or the Zodiac,
> the four elements, etc. I believe this is worth
> pursuing. Please forgive me if this has already been
> discussed, but I wonder if anyone has looked at
> portions of texts of contemporary medical astrology
> to
> see how many times single glyphs appear instead of
> phonemes.
> 
> Here are two paragraphs from Richard Saunders' _The
> Astrological Judgement and Practice of Physick_, in
> a
> section cautioning the practitioner when to begin or
> not to begin a therapeutic treatment according to
> astrology. All the lexical items within parenthesis
> are expressed with a single glyph. This example is
> from is published material; due to the restricted
> number of glyphs in typeset, a manuscript might be
> expected to have an even higher number of single
> glyphs, particularly in a chart or in crowded areas
> accompanying illustrations: 
> 
> The (Moon) in (Aries), it is caused of thin and
> subtil
> yellow Choler and Flegm; if the (Moon) be in
> (conjunction) or application with (Mars), of if
> (Mars)
> be the Lord of the (twelfth) in the New of the Moon,
> of Lord of the (6th) in the wane, it causeth yellow
> jaundices, and over-flowing of Choler in the Liver
> from the Gall.
> 
> . . . .
> 
> And when it happeneth so, that (Mars) or (Sun) be
> the
> lord of the (6th), (10th), or (12th) house, or lord
> of
> the hour, it is so much the worse and harder to be
> cured, or not to be cured at all, because it is in
> the
> extremity of the (4th) degree; and if you go about
> to
> cure it, you must beware you minster not in the
> hours
> of the (Moon), (Mars), or the (Sun), but in the hour
> of (Venus), she being in (Gemini), (Libra), or
> (Aquarius), or in the hour of (Jupiter), being in
> (Cancer), (Scorpio), or (Pisces), or in the hour of
> the (Sun), he being in (Gemini), (Libra), or
> (Aquarius); the (Moon) in (Scorpio) or (Pisces),
> appling to (Venus) or (Jupiter). Neither must you
> put
> (Aries), (Leo), or (Sagittarius) in the Ascendant,
> or
> the (Moon) in (Aries), (Leo), or (Sagittarius), but
> in
> a weak Sign and place of the Heavens, where she doth
> not behold the (sixth) House, not the Ascendant, nor
> the lord of the (sixth) house, but she may behold
> the
> lord of the ascendant. Neither shall you put
> (Aries),
> (Leo), or (Sagittarius) in the (sixth), but in some
> cadent house, of this kind of Flegm is salt, hot and
> dry, clammy and burning, and the Party must be cured
> with cold and moist Medicines in the (4th) degree,
> if
> it be in (Sagittarius), and in the (third) degree or
> in (Aries) or (Leo); for it is of Flegm and Choler
> commixt.
> 
> . . . .
> 
> Of course, there are other possible abbreviations
> for
> words often repeated, such as Lord of the sixth,
> Lord
> of the fifth, etc., which some present-day
> astrologers
> notate as L6, L5, and so forth.
> 
> What I'm hoping to demonstrate is that many
> astrological locations, relationships, and bodies
> are
> referred to using a single character rather than a
> spelled-out word. Since reference to astrological
> matters may be expected throughout the document,
> this
> liberal use of single-character glyphs could apply
> to
> the botanical and pharma sections of the document as
> well as the astrological sections. 
> 
> 
> Any or all comments are welcome!
> 
> Hope this is of some interest.
> 
> Warmly,
> 
> Pam
> 
> 
> =====
> "I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing, than to
> teach ten thousand stars how not to dance."
> 
> 
> 
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