Natural Astrology In Medieval Medicine
Natural Astrology in Medieval Medicine
Medicine in the Middle Ages was not practised as it is today. Bloodletting was a common practise, as was using magic or lunaries in treating diseases. Another way of predicting the course of an illness, or determining what kind of treatment was necessary was through zodiacal lunaries. Medieval practitioners of medicine, called leeches, used astrology to give prognoses and determine when was the best time for bloodletting, and they used the four humours to determine the kind of treatment necessary. Natural astrology deals with the effects of the stars on health and the weather (Tester 180). Its counterpart is judicial astrology, which Christians see as heretics. The kind of astrology used in medicine
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On certain days, bloodletting would surely be lethal. A leechbook by Bald says for instance that the beginning of Lent, and the month April are especially good times to let blood – the first because then all evil humours are gathered and the latter because everything starts growing then (Rubin 142). The evil humours tie in with the Hippocratic theory of the four humours, which will be discussed in the next paragraph. Bad days, according to Bald, are holy days, Egyptian days, and certain Mondays (Rubin 142). The Egyptian days are the last Monday in April, and first Monday in August and January (Rubin 64). There were also rules about when a certain patient with a certain case could be operated, based on the season, phase of the moon, and time of the day (Siraisi 140). For the patient to survive, those rules had to be followed. When the moon is in Taurus, for instance, bloodletting in the neck was not a good idea: “Þat tyme, also, it is not good / In þe necke to drawe blood” (“L15” lines 77-78), but when the moon is in Libra, bleeding is good “In Libra, who þat can remembir, / It is good to blede in euery membir” (“L15” 199-200). So, for bloodletting to take place, one should have a look at the stars, and study astrology to see when it is the best time to do
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