Culpeper's Complete Astrology

Book excerpt: Delve into the astrological herbalism of Nicholas Culpeper, the 17th-century physician, herbalist, and astrologer whose writing about health and herbs made a mark on medicine that resonates to the present day. His astute eye, keen wit, and encyclopedic knowledge led him to create his definitive English Physitian, more commonly known today as Culpeper's Complete Herbal. Planetary influences were key to his understanding of herbal medicine. In his philosophy, each plant is governed by a planet, and the time at which a person takes to their sickbed is significant to their diagnosis and healing. His Semeiotica uranica, or, An astrological judgment of diseases from the decumbiture of the sick was a seminal early work of medical astrology and is published here as a historical document of great fascination to astrologers as well as to historians of herbalism and medicine. This edition includes modernized English spelling and expert guidance on how to decipher the work and consider Culpeper's influence in modern context.Also included are a foreword by Alice Sparkly Kat, author of Postcolonial Astrology, and an introduction by Judith Hill, author of Medical Astrology.