Decumbiture: Allergic Reaction

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http://imageshack.com/a/img924/6875/WiADHf.png

This is a recent decumbiture I think is interesting because it touches on a subject that is very modern. As far as we can tell, allergies were not accounted for in traditional medicine. Even modern medicine can't seem to explain the origin of allergies yet.

Here's an article that describes the modern conundrum of understanding the etiology of allergy:

https://qz.com/689806/a-controversial-t ... allergies/

An old technique may perhaps give us fresh eyes into a new condition, if we follow where the chart leads us. Let's see what we can find out!

The patient came down with a virulent case of hives. At the time of this decumbiture, she had to take Benadryl and go to bed. She had changed nothing in her diet or routine use of personal soaps, laundry soaps, or other products--except for the use of a handmade body lotion containing clove.

Don't let the Void of Course Moon fool you--it means no change in the immediate future. . . in a decumbiture chart, for VOC we look at the separating aspects and don't concern ourselves with applying ones. Simply, the VOC means nothing will change the patient's condition until the Moon enters Aquarius.

Decumbiture: Allergic Reaction

Date: Thursday October 26, 2017
Time: 10:48 am
Cincinnati, Ohio
Hour of Mercury

05 Sagittarius 39 ascends

Planet Degrees Aspect to Moon

Mars 2 Libra 25 Square
Sun 3 Scorpio 22 Sextile
Jupiter 3 Scorpio 29 Sextile
Mercury 14 Scorpio 43 Sextile
Venus 15 Libra 10 Square
Moon 16 Capricorn (Waxing)
Saturn 24 Sagittarius None

Waxing Moon=description of Illness on Twelfth House Cusp,
Ruled by Mars in Libra square Saturn in Sagittarius

Moon is Void of Course

Aspects affecting health:

Moon square Venus
Saturn square Mars: (This is one is out of sign, and for other reasons as well, I don't think it's pertinent to Saunders' techniques, so I'm not using it).
Sun conjunct Jupiter Lord of the Ascendant, Cazimi

Planets on cusps: Venus on cusp of eleventh house

I'm posting this data as a test chart, and will be filling in an interpretation using traditional techniques from Saunder's AJP a little later. I hope to determine the Semen Morbificum and the humoral nature of the illness.
Last edited by spirlhelix on Mon Nov 06, 2017 11:24 am, edited 2 times in total.
"Id rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance"

Semen Morbificum: the Seed of The Disease

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The Semen Morbificum is a traditional term describing the "seed of the illness."
In disease, we have causes of illness (usually one cause, although more than one cause can be considered at times) and effects of illness. The cause of the illness is often found at a distance in the body from the symptoms, or effect.

Here is Richard Saunder's introduction to the subject, from AJP, Vol.1, p13:

* * * * * * * * * *

"How to Find in what part of the body the Semen Morbificum is, together with the diseases in the members.

Those things are very hard to find without the help of the Parties Urine, or relations in some sort from the Party, for although the starrs (sic) do insinuate
these things more precisely than either Urine, Pulse, or Excrements, yet the significators in this behalf are many, and thereof Ambiguity often arisieth except some help assisteth that may direct our Judgement herein; for sometimes the Semen Morbificum is in those parts of the body that are governed by the Lord of the Ascendant, sometimes in those parts which are attributed to the Dodecematory Ascendant, sometimes to the Sign the Lord of the Ascendant or the Moon is in, or sometimes to the domestical Situation of the Lord of the Ascendant, or the Moon. And in one of these places, it never faileth the imbecillatated members or parts of the Body where the Grief is felt: sometimes it is in those places aforesaid, and sometimes in those parts
attributed to the morbificant Planets, their Situation in Longitude, or Domestical Location, and in one or more of these it never faileth, as may appear in divers Examples, at the end of the book following. . . "

* * * * * * * * * *

This is my understanding based on my work with Saunders' techniques:

That the cause(s) of the illness will be found in one of those places listed above, and the effect(s) will be found in another.

The patient can tell you how he feels in his body and show you where he feels it, which is the effect of the illness, but we assume he is unaware of the cause. That is what we need the chart to tell us.

We will be looking for indications on the following chart corresponding to the patient's condition. It is found on page AJP Vol. 1, p 97. I think of it as a "scan" showing the unseen (inward) parts of the patient's body, and indicating their humoral states:

http://imageshack.com/a/img923/3901/K8uYDp.png


Either the symptoms the patient is experiencing, or the Semen Morbificum are found when a planet conjuncts the cusp of one of the houses. In our allergy example, Venus in Libra is within five degrees of the cusp of the eleventh house.

This area of the chart is labelled "Heart." We will get back to what that means.

The cause of the symptoms (Semen Morbificum) may be seen in any of the significators listed above:

Lord of the Ascendant
Dodecamatory Ascendant (Cusp of the Twelfth House)
The Sign the Lord of the Ascendant or the Moon is in
The Domestical Situation of the Lord of the Ascendant, or the Moon
or
The Morbificant Planets (planets conjunct, squaring, opposing the Sun, Moon, or Lords of above houses)

This is quite a bit to chew on for now, so I will let that sink in and move on a little later.
"Id rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance"

Morbificant Planets

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Morbificant Planets:

How to Find the Significators of the Sick Person, and the Morbificant Planet:

". . . for the significators of the sick person, take the Ascendant,
his Lord and the Moon, and that planet or Planets which by conjunction,
Square or Opposition, afflicteth those places, shall be the true Morbificant
Planets, or Significators of the Disease. Yet here it is to be noted
that the principal effect herein is to be referred to the planets that affect
the Lord of the Ascendant, next the Moon, and lastly the Ascendant: for a
Planet afflicting the Ascendant brings no notable Detriment, except it be
by Conjunction, as I have by long experiment proved . . ."

So, this decumbiture shows the following morbificant planets: Venus (square
Moon) and Sun (Conjunct the Lord of the Ascendant). We know Saunders would look at them primarily for the cause/or effect of the illness.

Two planets, so this next step is pretty simple. One of these two planets
ought to signify the cause of the illness; the other, the effect.

It's going to be too much to hope for a precise match with a description of
an allergic reation in familiar terms. As we noted, this was not a
condition recognized a few hundred years ago. But we can look for some
insights or clues as to how this patient is responding to planetary
conditions at the time of decumbiture.

Let's see what Saunders says about the longitude of these two planets:

AJP, Vol. 1, p. 176:

Venus at 15 Libra: ". . . In the next eighteen degrees of Libra is hot in
the second, and moist in the third degree, ingendering Diseases of thin Water
and thick Blood, Blood predominating, causing many Diseases; as Chilblains,
Colick, Strangeury, pain and griping in the Belly and about the Navel, and
worms in the Maw, Ilica Passio, suffocation of the Matrix, and continual
issuing of the Terms, and much Blood in the Liver, and much bleeding at the
Nose, or vomiting of Blood, most commonly in a Woman, and bleeding in a man at the Nose, much pain in the left side by Wind, and it is apt to breed a
Pleurisie, or Imposumations in the Liver, or the Fever Synochus.

Causing many diseases, for sure! We also note there is no specific
match here (cusp of the eleventh house, indicating the heart) with the
location of the patient's immediate symptoms, (all over the skin of the
body) so let's hold on to this as the likely suspect for the Semen
Morbificum and look at the latitude of the Sun next to see if the
description suggests the patient's illness.

From AJP, Vol. 1, p. 168:

"Of Sol in Scorpio

Sun in the first six degrees of Scorpio is could and moist in the first degree,
causing diseases of tough Flegm, stinking, and of thin yellow Choler, Flegm
having the Dominion; as Dropsies, benumming of the Members, Palsies and
griping and pricking of the Stomach, oppilations of the Liver, stuffing of
the Lights, coughs."

Nothing is jumping out at us from this description, so let's consider the nature
of this unusual conjunction: a Cazimi between Sun and Jupiter. Jupiter tends to inflate (swelling would be an appropriate reaction) whatever planet he conjuncts. But in this case, it is Jupiter, Lord of the Ascendant, indicating the body of the patient, that is strengthened by the cazimi with Sun. The exponential power of this conjunction is coming not from the Sun, but from Jupiter sitting in the heart of the Sun. This is a flip-flop of the dynamics of the usual conjunction with the Lord of the Ascendant, which might be said to weaken the body of the patient.

It is interesting because this is a fair description of the state of allergy:
the body (Jupiter) is having a powerful reaction to a foreign stimulus (Sun).
One modern theory says the body's allergic reaction is meant to be a good thing (Jupiter is a benefic), gone haywire.

So let's look at the latitude of Jupiter, too, for a description of the illness:


"Of Jupiter in Scorpio

Jupiter in the first six degrees of Scorpio is cold in the first degree, and moist
in the second, ingendering Diseases of thick and stinking Flegm, corrupting the Blood, and Flegm predominates in the commixtion, ingendering Cholera Vitellina, with Gouts in the Feet, Swellings and Pains in the feet, and in the privy members, Fistulas, Pox and running Sores."

Jupiter is traditonally the ruler of the largest organ of the body, Liver. It
would also be appropriate to look to Jupiter for conditions of the blood causing
eruptions on the skin, the other largest organ of the body, which seems to fit
the description of pox and running sores. So instead of being limited to the
parts of the body indicated by Scorpio, (the privy members) this Jupiter
reaction-gone-haywire is erupting in hives all over the skin.

Jupiter causes swellings of the skin. Scorpio is a sign of fertility, indicating
a multiplication of a toxic condition. Jupiter in Cazimi with Sun increases the intensity of the attack.
"Id rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance"

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Really impressive, spirlhelix.

As a rank beginner in medical astrology, and a modern one, at that (who has never studied decumbitures,) this would be my far more amateurish take on the chart.

I first thought of the symptoms of allergies. Hives seem to me to be a skin condition, with Saturn ruling the skin as an organ of the body, Venus ruling the skin as a sensuous organ (which might relate to a new skin lotion) and Mars dealing with redness and inflammation. Modernly, Pluto would also relate to skin eruptions. According to Rex E. Bills, The Rulership Book, cloves are ruled by Jupiter and Venus.

In Diane Cramer's Dictionary of Medical Astrology, there are several indicators of hives, including several shown in this chart: 1. afflicted moon (in detriment,) 2. Capricorn (moon's sign,) and sun-Mars (the sun in the sign Mars rules.)

She's also got a list of planets and signs associated with skin problems, including skin allergies, which I could sort-of make out from this chart, but Venus does apply to a square with Pluto.

Venus rules the 6th house, and is domiciled (strong) with the moon just past its conjunction with Pluto and Venus square, so I would guess the patient had a big problem that is now easing off somewhat.

With Venus showing up prominently, I would also guess that the problem might be some sort of feminine beauty product

Saturn in the first house of the body, as a slow-moving malefic would suggest that the problem isn't cured, however.

Jupiter, as a ruler of swelling (expansion) if this is what the hives are going, is combust, which made me wonder if the hives had a burning sensation. But if I'm reading the numbers correctly, Jupiter is cazimi. So I'm thinking more Venus as the ruler of the 6th, the skin, and a product used to enhance the skin's aesthetics.

However I just learned that there can be a link between hives and kidney problems, like infections. This might pick up Venus and Mars in Libra. So some kind of kidney infection might be explored further if the patient doesn't improve.

Incidentally, did the patient's condition improve when she stopped using the lotion?