During the time of Julius Caesar, powerful Romans routinely had their horoscope calculated. The Emperor Tiberius took astrology so seriously, that if it a prediction pointed to a threatening rival who was trying to gain power, he was put to death before any damage could be done.
Like Rome, when Christianity rose, astrology fell.
Astrology rose again around 1200 AD. Pope Leo X was one of many Popes during the Renaissance that employed the ancient science, with many astrologers in his court during his reign. Once the Renaissance Era faded and the Age of Reason began, astrology declined because it became associated with the superstitions of the masses (rather than the privilege of the elite), but not before it made an indelible mark on medicine.
Astrology and Medicine
Throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, every university medical school offered regular courses in medical astrology, as the science that explained how every part of the body, prescribed medicine, and time of treatment was controlled or influenced by the stars.
Today the astrological imprint survives on all prescriptions -- which are headed by the glyph, or sign of Jupiter, originally placed there by astrologer/physicians to invoke the blessings of the benefic deity.
Contemporary Mystics Uphold Astrology
In his book, The Divine Doctor, Joseph Michael Levry, or Gurunam, teacher and founder of Universal Kabbalah, (which is free of the religious aspects of Judaism, Christianity, and Sikhism), tells that beyond the precise calculations once effectively used by astrologer/physicians to heal, ”learning about the nature of the soul, and working with the seven planets, expands the mind and fights disease.” Further, he explains that knowledge of the dependable laws which govern the universe are intrinsically healing; helping to ease our fears, and expanding the mind with spiritual wisdom and higher truths, which ultimately helps to brings order and health into our lives.
Another contemporary mystic, Osho, (Kuchwadarv Madhya Pradesh), reminds us that “Cosmic Chemistry says that the entire cosmos is a body. Nothing in it stands alone, all things are joined together. So no matter how distant a star may be from us, when it changes, our heartbeats also change.”
G. Jung said that university doors have been closed to astrology for 300 years, but that in the coming 30 years, these doors will again open and astrology will enter the university. "It will happen because claims that astrology has made, which have now been unproved, can now be proved."
