As Mercury turns retrograde today, I thought it would be a timely moment to pay tribute to people in the medical profession — those practising nowadays and physicians from earlier centuries. It was thought that periods of retrograde motion were connected somehow with healing, and the Rx prescription symbol we use today, the symbol for a planet in retrograde motion, continues that link with astrology.
Centuries ago, it was thought that any physician who did not practise astrology was considered a quack. People put great faith in how their physical conditions were somehow under the auspices of the heavens, and that timing of the onset of an illness was extremely important. The timing of the moment the physician learned of the illness was also important. When the urine was brought to the doctor, and when the patient had to stop daily routines and go to bed were also important moments to be analyzed astrologically. Skilled medical practitioners, then, were astrologers as well as herbalists, homeopaths, and the like.
