By Monica
Ann Wallach
Hippocrates (460-337 BC), the Greek physician who is regarded as the father of medicine, insisted his students study astrology, saying, “He who does not understand astrology is not a doctor but a fool.” The birth chart gives us an amazing amount of information about a person’s physical strengths and weakness. Each sign of the zodiac, and each planet, corresponds to certain areas of the body.
Head
and Face -- Aries/Mars
Throat
and Neck -- Taurus/Venus
Lungs, Arms, Hands, Shoulders -- Gemini/Mercury
Mouth, Stomach, Breasts, Womb -- Cancer/Moon
Heart, Spine -- Leo/Sun
Intestines -- Virgo/Mercury
Kidneys, Lower Back -- Libra/Venus
Sexual Organs, Colon -- Scorpio/Pluto
Hips, Thighs, Sciatic nerve, Liver -- Sagittarius/Jupiter
Knees, joints, skeleton -- Capricorn/Saturn
Ankles, circulatory system -- Aquarius/Uranus
Feet, lymph system -- Pisces/Neptune
Many people with strong Leo energy have ailments of the heart
and spine. (Please note, a person can
have the Sun in Leo, meaning he was born between July 23 and Aug 22, and not
have strong Leo energy -- a birth
chart has far too many components to rely solely on the Sun sign.) Many a person with Capricorn energy has knee difficulties.
One client of mine has four planets in the sign of Aquarius, which rules the
ankles -- she wears braces on both her ankles.
A
good friend has Sagittarius Rising, and she walks with a limp due to a slight
imbalance in her hips.
The fact that our planetary make-up mirrors our physical strengths and
weaknesses is a wonderful tool. Knowing
in advance where health difficulties may arise allows us to take the appropriate
preventative measures. For example,
all Virgos (meaning people with strong Virgo energy, which may not necessarily
be those who have the Sun in Virgo) should follow a pure, simple diet. Since Virgo is associated with the intestines, a good diet is the best
way to avoid ailments like colitis, intestinal pain, and irritable bowel, which plague this
sign.
Also, astrology can help us understand the deeper significance in our
ailments. People with strong Gemini energy, for example,
tend to be cigarette smokers. Gemini
can be restless and jittery in nature, and those who are strongly influenced by this
sign often chain smoke -- mainly in a effort to calm themselves. Understanding the underlying pull shows us why one person might become
addicted to nicotine rather than some other substance. Affective healing will not only break the addiction to nicotine, but
substitute healthy methods to calm the nerves and mind.
Similarly, we can look at the area of the body affected by an illness and
correlate it to the issues represented by its associated sign. For example, Pisces is the sign that deals with spirituality, and in the
physical body it is represented by the feet. A good friend was having a very difficult time with her feet --
they would get ice cold, so much so that they ached unbearably. What is interesting is that she was a former nun, who continued to make
unrealistic sacrifices of her time and energy in an effort to be a more “spiritual” person. Her feet were trying to tell her to look at the imbalance her spirituality was
causing in her life.
Medical astrology is an area that yields great insight into our bodies. We can use it to help maintain health for ourselves and our loved ones.
