A Magickal Herball Compleat.pdf - Magicka School

and highly divided. Many of the plants associated with Mercury were seen to
elevate mood and could best be described as pick-me-ups.
Luna
Because of the Moon’s relationship with the sea it was supposed that all bodily
fluids and secretions were under her influence. Further, it was believed that the
Moon was a factor in growth cycles, affected fertility and menstruation, and
governed the breasts, stomach and womb. It was also seen as having power over
brain function and memory. The Moon was associated with plants that were
round in shape, exhibited a similar colour or echoed the appearance of one of her
phases, such as a banana. They often had juicy leaves or were large, watery and
possessed of a subtle flavour. Many of the plants attributed to the Moon lived in
or near water.
Culpeper’s Method
With knowledge of Culpeper’s ideas on astrology and medicinal herbs in place, his
exposition of how to use astrological information and herbs in the curing of
disease should now be intelligible. In his Epistle to the Reader of the English
Physician [19] he wrote:
First Consider what planet causeth the disease; that thou mayest find it in my aforesaid
Judgement of Diseases.
Secondly Consider what part of the body is affected by the disease and whether it lies in the
flesh or blood or bones or ventricles.
Thirdly Consider by what planet the afflicted part of the body is governed; that my Judgement of
Diseases will inform you also.
Fourthly You may oppose diseases by herbs of the planet opposite to the planet that causes
them; as diseases of the luminaries by the herbs of Saturn and the contrary; diseases of Mars by
the herbs of Venus and the contrary.
Fifthly There is a way to cure diseases sometimes by sympathy and so every planet cures its own
diseases; as the Sun and Moon by their herbs cure the eyes, Saturn the spleen, Jupiter the liver,
Mars the gall and diseases of the choler, and by Venus diseases in the instruments of generation."
Culpeper’s theories were the very apex of pre-scientific theories about the
medicinal properties of herbs and how they should be employed. These were
rooted in over two thousand years of observation of the effects of herbs and the
development of the medical theories of the Ancient Greeks. As history shows
though, time honoured traditions are all eventually surpassed, and Culpeper’s
Complete Herbal marked the zenith before the fall. Science was to increasingly show
that the Greek ideas and medical practice based on the Four Humours was false.
Further, astronomy was gaining precedence over astrology and the belief that the
planets influenced our health was more and more open to challenge. Perhaps most
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