Decumbiture

The astrology of sickness

This is an example of how Decumbiture works in practice. Decumbiture is a branch of Horary Astrology concerned with questions of sickness, what is wrong with me? What can I do to fix it? I will be teaching Decumbiture in the second term of my Astrology and Herbs course. See here for details

A student contacted me saying she had been become ill with tonsillitis and fever with earache after having a Swedish massage.

The patient is shown by the first house, and the planet ruling it. Gemini is rising and Mercury (ruler of Gemini) is in Aries in the eleventh house. The sickness is shown by the sign ruling the sixth house, the planet ruling this sign and any planets in the sixth house. The illness is shown by Mars in Sagittarius in the sixth house (ruler of Scorpio). In the sixth house is Jupiter and the Moon in Sagittarius. I judged that the sickness was blood corrupted (Jupiter in Scorpio, Jupiter rules the Sanguine humour, Scorpio can show corruption/poisoning, the Moon in Sagittarius echoes this theme, Sagittarius also showing over heated fluids (Sagittarius in hot and moist) the ruler of the sickness, and over-heated Mars in Sagittarius again shows heat, fever and corrupted blood.

Jupiter and Mars are in each other’s signs; Jupiter rules Sagittarius, Mars rules Scorpio. Jupiter rules the seventh house of the physician and is placed in the sixth house. It could be argued that I, as physician might be a cause of the illness. But I had not be treating her, so this could not be me. Perhaps the Jupiter shows the masseuse, remember the illness came on after a massage. So, what did happen? Perhaps the massage overtaxed her liver (Jupiter) and released toxins (Scorpio) which overwhelmed her (Jupiter shows excess) and she became ill.

There is a planet in the seventh house, and this may show me, the other practitioner. This is Saturn in Capricorn, which may show an older person (Saturn rules old age), and possibly an authority figure (Capricorn) and she had recently been attending my workshops.

The medicine is shown by Aquarius on the tenth house cusp. Aquarius is co-ruled by Saturn and Uranus. This shows the physician, Saturn will be part of her healing, furthermore Uranus is another part of the medicine, and Uranus rules astrology, which will be another part of the healing process.

The prescription I gave followed some of Culpeper’s guidelines.

So, there is a theme of heat, poisoning, the liver and a Choleric Sanguine condition. Mars also rules the sign Mercury is in (Aries). Something of the nature of the Ascendant, in this case Mercury, I prescribed White horehound. Something of the nature of the illness; I gave Nettle which is a herb of Mars and Dandelion root and Meadowsweet (both herbs of Jupiter), of the nature of planets in the sixth house, Jupiter and the Moon in Sagittarius (ruled by Jupiter) and finally a remedy antipathetical to the sickness, a cooling remedy, Cleavers ruled by the Moon.

The prescription:

Equal parts:  Nettle

                     Dandelion Root

                     Meadowsweet

                     White Horehound

                     Cleavers.  10 drops of tincture every hour until symptoms go.

I also suggested that she stop worrying and thinking, (I knew she was doing a Masters’ degree and was writing up her thesis) and give her mind a rest. Jupiter and Sagittarius rule higher education. She was also shown as the Mercury in Aries, again thinking and maybe speed, and the Moon was just separating from a trine (a good aspect) from the Mercury, which reinforced the theme of education (Moon in Sagittarius). She admitted that ‘communication and writing are great challenges of mine’ which echo the themes of the chart.

I saw her a few days later, she said she had taken the medicine as directed and the same day had an acupuncture treatment (I give Uranus ruler of the tenth to acupuncture) and both treatments had resulted in the symptoms disappearing that same day. It could be argued it was the acupuncture, but I feel it was all three moves; the medicine and astrology, the acupuncture and finally the acknowledgement that she needed silence and rest briefly from her mental exertions.

Her feedback was: ‘I was so impressed by the accuracy of the astrological reading and the speed of recovery. Swollen tonsils, difficulty and painful swallowing, piercing left ear ache, voice lost, exhaustion, joint pain in fingers, wrist knees and ankle.  Last memorable experience of something similar aged 16 on the right ear. 45 mins after taking tincture mix recommended by you, every ten minutes voice was regained, able to swallow and eat without pain. Close to a miracle!’ 

This is an extract from Traditional Western Herbal Medicine available here