A Celestial Treat
I
was thrilled to learn that a parade of planets would make the night sky fabulous during January 2025. I prepared for the event getting ready my binoculars, telescope and camera. I was particularly keen to see the red planet( my interest in Mars started in childhood after reading H. G. Wells’ s The War of the Worlds and Percival Lowell’ s Mars and Its Canals), which had evaded me at the last alignment of planets. I was also thrilled at the prospect of seeing Uranus and Neptune, which I have never seen on previous occasions.
The anticipation and the excitement of the celestial treat of planetary alignment evoked my usual preoccupation with its relevance to the art and science of medicine. I remembered viewing the wonderful online digital images“ Under the Influence of The Heavens: Astrology in Medicine in the 15 th and 16 th Centuries” available through the Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, after perusing a highly informational paper by Dr. Strach 1 on the profound link between astronomy and medicine. According to him,“ Right up to the eighteenth century the link between astronomy and medicine was astrology.” To be a
by VASUDEVA IYER, MD
good astrologer, one had to know a good deal about the motion of the sun, the moon, the planets, the Zodiac and the constellations. The 12 signs of the Zodiac and of the sun, moon and planets were believed to have control over different parts of the body, as well as different diseases, thereby influencing the effect of treatments as well. Every aspect of a person was thought to be linked to the position of the planets and the sun and moon at the time of birth( the practice of creating a horoscope based on this is still quite prevalent in some parts of the world). Astrological medicine( medical astrology /“ i- atromathematics”) was considered an important part of astrology and astronomy. For centuries, astronomy / astrology was believed to be essential for anyone who wanted to be a good physician. 1 Hippocrates and Galen apparently based medical theories on the relationship between heavenly bodies and human bodies. 2 Initiating treatment was often based on the timing of a favorable planetary position and the phase of the moon. An Italian physician Giovanni Manardi( 1462-1536) was apparently the first one to question the need for medical students to spend time learning astronomy. He is quoted as saying that“ Pulsations of the veins are a surer guide than the configurations of the heavens,” and felt that astronomy smears and corrupts the most distinguished and chaste art of medicine. 3
20 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE