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Subheadings:  Stellar Aerials are Mapped by Aspects    The Solar-Lunar Electromagnetic Body of Man    Gauging Health    Influence of the Moon on Health    Influence of the Sun on Health    Influence of Mercury on Health    Influence of First House on Health    Influence of Sixth House on Health    When a Planet is Prominent    Determining the Diseases to Which a Person is Predisposed    Predisposition by Planets

Illustrations and Birth Charts:  Man's Twofold Needs    Jane Addams    George Bernard Shaw

Chapter 4

Vitality, Health and Disease

ANY clear conception of how to judge, from a birth chart, the length of life, the state of health, and the nature of the diseases to which an individual is predisposed, most rest upon an equally clear understanding of the relation which exists between the astral body and the physical body.

The physical body in its structure and relations, and in the events which at a given time are attracted to it, is a replica, in so far as physical materials and environment permit, of the stellar cells and their activities, as they exist in the astral body. Through the LAW OF AFFINITY the structures and activities of the finer form attract corresponding structures and events in the external life.

These stellar cells, and the stellar structures they form, which comprise the astral body are thought built. The inner-plane substance of which the astral body is composed is a thought-responsive substance. It is organized and built into temporary or more permanent form through sensations, emotions, mental impressions and other states of consciousness. Either in the lower or the higher forms of life the event which transpires is of far less importance to an organism in its effect upon the astral form than the mental reaction to the event. Chiefly it is the state of consciousness which accompanies the event which is significant.

Every organism on earth, from bacteria and amoebae up to man, has an astral form in which is retained the total of previous states of consciousness. These mental reactions to its experiences in the past have given it the present organization of its astral form, which in turn determines the kind of physical organism it occupies. That is, the astral form of every living thing is thought built.

Each cell of the human body is such an organism, having its own experiences, its own limited consciousness, and its own astral form built by such consciousness. But the astral body of a man is not the sum total of the astral forms of these physical cells. Instead the astral body of a man is a completely distinct thought-built organism which has temporarily annexed, for the purposes of its physical life, the various cells and other intelligences which are embraced within its physical body. The astral body of man can, and does, function on the astral plane when entirely separated from the astral replicas of the cells of its physical body. It is only dependent upon these cells in its relation to material expression.

The type and vigor of the physical cells, with their astral counterparts, which are attracted to the individual, are determined by the thought-built stellar cells and the manner of their organization, in his astral body. And it is because the birth chart—through mapping the thought compounds which enter into these stellar cells and mapping the relations between stellar structures built by these thought cells—gives a fairly accurate picture of the mental organization of the astral body that it affords a very accurate method of determining the length of life, and of diagnosing disease.

There are twelve quite distinct zones in the anatomy of the astral body, each zone closely limited by one of the zodiacal signs. Thus Aries always maps the head zone, Taurus the neck zone, and Pisces the feet zone.

But in addition to these zones, which occupy the same relation to the body in all persons, there are also twelve compartments in the astral body. These compartments, to which the stellar cells built by thoughts concerning a certain department of life move, are mapped by the mundane houses of a birth chart.

Thus it is that thoughts about health and the physical body add their astral substance to the stellar cells in the compartment mapped by the first house and thoughts about money and personal property add themselves to the compartment of the astral body mapped by the second house.

But the zone embraced within a compartment varies with the person. The first house compartment may embrace the head, as shown by the sign Aries there, or it may embrace the feet, as shown by the sign Pisces. In one instance, therefore, the thoughts in reference to health and physical appearance which are built into the astral body are in the region of the head, and in the other instances they are built into the astral body in the region of the feet.

Not always it is easy to picture in low velocity terms all the relations within the astral body; for it is a high velocity form. And, of course, it is still more difficult to ascertain from a birth chart, which is a two-dimensional representation, the interaction of the various forces of this inner-plane body. There are, therefore, due to the restrictions of expression on a two-dimensional surface, limits as to what a birth chart reveals. It does not, for instance, reveal the evolutionary level; does not reveal if the chart is that of a man or a dog.

But whether the chart is that of a man, a dog, or some other living thing, due allowance being made for the limits of a two-dimensional surface in portrayal of high velocity existence, it maps the more important mental factors within the astral body, and their relation to each other, of which the physical form is a replica. The physical form, its vitality, health and disease, as well as all other attributes, are as they are because the thought-built stellar cells and stellar structures are of a type and relation which attract the physical cells and relations which the body express.

Health is the physical expression of stellar cells and stellar structures within the astral body which are vigorous and in harmony one with another. Disease, on the other hand, is always the expression either of weak stellar cells, or of stellar structures which are discordant one with another. That is, either health or disease is the result of thoughts or less complex mental reactions which in the past, perhaps before birth into human form, built the astral body in a particular way.

The chart is not the cause of a disease. Neither are the planets in the sky its cause. They merely show its presence and nature. The disease, or whatever the condition in life is under consideration, is attracted through the thought organization of the finer form. And this finer form is being modified by every thought and every experience of life. As it is thus modified the fortune changes accordingly.

The birth chart maps on a two-dimensional surface the thought organization at birth. Progressed aspects indicate when temporary stellar aerials are formed which permit planetary energies of a specific nature to flow into the astral body and stimulate corresponding types of thought cells into unusual activity.

But as the astral body is a thought-built organism, it may also be altered and changed by building into it other thoughts. In fact, throughout life it is being so changed by every experience; but because no intelligent effort is devoted to changing the inner trends, which are entirely unrecognized by most, the ordinary individual does very little to change the type of events which his birth chart indicates will be attracted to him.

Stellar Aerials are Mapped by Aspects

Having mentioned stellar aerials, some brief explanation should be made.

Wherever a planet is located in the birth chart maps an organization of stellar cells in the astral body which is unusually active. It is because these cells express the activity and quality of the planet which maps them most strongly that they are thus mapped by the particular planet. Because they thus form a structure within the astral body which has a high degree of activity they are known as dynamic stellar structures.

Each dynamic stellar structure has the property of acting as a receiving set for the planetary energy of its corresponding type. And every aspect from one planet to another maps an astral line extending through the astral body, of a length corresponding to the aspect, which connects the two planets. This line functions as an aerial which picks up, radio fashion, the astral planetary vibrations of both planets.

If a planet in a birth chart has no aspect, it never-the-less maps a receiving set for picking up its energies, but the dynamic thought center thus indicated has an antenna which acts merely as a short loop aerial. Energy of greater volume is, of course, picked up by the aerials mapped by heavy aspects. And every aerial, according to its length, that is, the nature of the aspect, has the property of transmitting the energy it picks up in a harmonious manner or as complicated by discordant static.

These lines through the astral body which are mapped by aspects in the birth chart are called permanent aerials. But there are others which form when a planet by progression gets within one degree of the perfect aspect to another birth-chart, or progressed planet. These which pick up the energy of the two planets only during the time the planets are within one degree or less of their perfect aspect, are called temporary aerials.

Both the permanent aerials and the temporary aerials are important not merely in matters of health and disease, but in every department of life. The amount of activity of any group of thought cells within the astral body at a particular time is determined by the amount of planetary energy which at that time it receives. This, in turn, depends upon the aerials, mapped by aspects, which at that time are picking up and transmitting planetary energy to this group of thought cells.

Furthermore, upon the amount and nature of the activity of the various groups of thought cells within the astral body depends the intensity and the kind of events which are attracted to the individual. This, again, is determined by whether or not the planetary energy reaching the group of thought cells is received not merely in volume, but over aerials which are free from discord or over those which are loaded with nerve-racking static.

Everything which a life experiences is attracted to it by corresponding activities within the thought organization of the astral body. Delineating character, the general trend of events, or predicting their precise time and nature, by natal astrology is wholly dependent upon the ability to determine from planetary positions what group of thought cells is stimulated, in what way it is stimulated, and the resistance of environment to its efforts.

And it follows from this as a corollary, one which has been demonstrated in the lives of innumerable earnest aspirants, that the control of life and destiny depends upon, not merely drifting in the direction indicated by the birth chart and progressed aspects, but in giving the thought groups within the astral body which are mapped by the planets the type of energies which will activate them to attract such qualities and events into the life as most are desired.

Now as the physical body is a replica of the astral body in so far as physical materials are at hand for that purpose, it follows that every group of thought cells within the astral body has some influence over the health. Each represents the inner condition of which the corresponding physical tissues and functions are the more external manifestation. Therefore, in considering the health, and the type of disease toward which an individual is predisposed, no planet in the chart should be neglected.

Health, however, is not the same thing as vitality. An individual may be quite healthy all his life, but die young because he has not sufficient vitality to recuperate from the first attack of some disease. On the other hand, we have in our files the charts of people who have lived to beyond ninety years who have been in poor health most of their lives, seldom knowing a day free from some ache or pain.

The Solar-Lunar Electromagnetic Body of Man

In order to understand this, and to be able to judge the length of life, it is necessary to know the composition of the electromagnetic body.

Astral substance, including stellar cells, stellar structures, and the thoughts which build them, does not communicate its energies directly to physical substance. There is too wide a gap between the velocities of inner-plane existence and outer plane existence for these two worlds to affect each other directly. They only exchange energies through that boundary substance which commonly is called electromagnetism.

All forms of physical organisms—bacterium, plant or animal—in the processes of the chemical changes which represent their metabolism, generate electromagnetic energy. This electromagnetic energy constitutes the physical life force of the organism and in its totality is called the electromagnetic body. The nerve currents of man, and the magnetic reactions of plants to stimuli, are merely specialized forms of this electromagnetic energy.

The electromagnetic body is not, however, of a single polarity, but like a magnet contains within itself energy of two different kinds; positive and negative. Experiment indicates that the positive electromagnetic energy of any life form is ruled by the Sun; while the negative electromagnetic energy of any life form is ruled by the Moon. It is the interaction of this solar electromagnetic energy with the lunar electromagnetic energy, of the masculine with the feminine, of Osiris with Isis, that gives that which we call life to any physical organism.

Furthermore—as conclusively indicated by studies carried out in the preparation of C. of L. Astrological Report No. 17, in which the birth charts of one-hundred-fifty people whose time of birth is accurately known, and who each lived beyond seventy years—the vital force of both man and woman is ruled by the Sun. Of the birth charts analyzed in the Report, seventy were those of women and eighty were those of men. And the same rules apply in this respect for one sex as for the other. The positive, electric energy is that which gives vitality and recuperative power; and its abundance, vigor and persistence is indicated by the Sun in a birth chart.

Vitality, therefore, but not health nor length of life, may be judged from the house position, sign location and aspects of the Sun in any birth chart.

Length of life is dependent upon still other factors than the power and strength of the positive, electric energy of the body. It is also dependent upon those factors which contribute to the strength of the constitution.

At the present time physical science has not advanced far enough that the difference between the electromagnetic energies which radiate the frequencies that afford vitality and those that nourish and sustain the constitution can be indicated by terminology as precise as is to be desired. Instead, as yet we must refer to Sun frequency electromagnetic radiations as affording the vitality of living things, and Moon frequency electromagnetic radiations as in some manner the polar opposite, or at least less intense electromagnetic phenomenon which is essential to health.

For sake of convenience we call this feminine, soothing electromagnetic energy ruled by the Moon the constitutional magnetism. And next to the Sun, the house position, sign location and aspects of the Moon are most important in judging length of life, health and disease.

The Moon, however, is only one factor in gauging the strength of the constitution. Every planet in the chart maps the state of activity of the most energetic thought cells in its particular region of the astral body. It indicates the kind of thought cells there located, how vigorous they are, and whether they are in a state of harmonious cooperation or are stirred to rebellion. And these dynamic stellar structures thus mapped by, and receiving energy from, the planets, indicate similar strength or weakness in the physical organs and tissues corresponding to their location.

Even the Sun, in addition to mapping the specialized stellar structure where the astral body receives the vital solar energy which determines the vitality, also by its position and aspects maps the condition of the physical tissue in that region of the physical body.

Thus in determining the strength of the constitution, every sign, planet, and relation has a bearing as indicating how strong the physical organs are and how much stress they will endure.

We have, always, therefore, in determining length of life, to weigh the vitality and recuperative power shown by the Sun against whatever weaknesses the constitution indicates. If the constitution is weak enough, or if there are powerful enough afflictions by progression to impair it, such vital strength as the Sun may show will not suffice to prolong the life. That is, if the chart is otherwise sufficiently discordant, no position of the Sun in a birth chart can prevent physical dissolution.

On the other hand if the constitution, as indicated by the chart as a whole, is sufficiently strong and harmonious, even a rather weak and discordant Sun may afford vitality enough that the individual lives to a good age.

Length of life is thus a balance between the weaknesses of the body and the strength of the vital electric energy which sustains it; a balance between the weaknesses of the chart as a whole and the power of the Sun. And on this basis, weighing the one against the other, must it be judged.

Some zodiacal signs, as analysis in C. of L. Report No. 17 shows, more commonly map greater vitality than others, and aspects from certain planets promote longevity in a marked degree.

In the birth charts of women, Scorpio as a Sun sign is least conducive to long life, but as a rising sign it gives more who live beyond seventy years than any other sign. Cancer as a Sun sign gives the highest number of women who live to beyond seventy, and is also favorable to them as a rising sign. Next as Sun sign of women beyond seventy comes the sign Pisces; but none is poorer for them as a rising sun. Following this, Aries as a Sun sign gives more women of advanced age; but it also for them is a poor rising sign.

In the birth charts of men, Capricorn comes first, Cancer second, with Taurus and Leo tying for a poor third place, as Sun sign in those who live beyond seventy. Only one sign, Sagittarius, is poorer than Scorpio as a Sun sign for giving length of life to men; but next to Cancer, which has the highest score, Scorpio and Virgo as rising signs give more men who reach an advanced age.

While an affliction of Mars to the Sun indicates discord where the constitution is concerned, which is sure thus to be a source of trouble and perhaps disease, yet any aspect of Mars to the Sun, in either a man’s chart or a woman’s, adds vital power. Mars is the planet of energy, and this energy added to the solar vitality tends to prolong the life. Of women beyond seventy years, 77% have some aspect of Mars to the Sun in their birth charts. Of men beyond seventy, 74% have some aspect of Mars to the Sun in their birth charts.

Next in importance to an aspect of Mars to the Sun, as conducing to length of life, is a good aspect from Jupiter to the Sun at birth. Of the seventy women past seventy years, 39% had a good aspect of Jupiter to the Sun at birth. And of eighty men past seventy years, 51% had a good aspect from Jupiter to the Sun in their charts of birth.

Of the women 44%, and of the men 48%, had the Sun in an angle at birth.

Not as giving vitality, but as endowing with a more abundant constitutional magnetism, 40% of the women and 34% of the men, had the Moon in an angle.

For the detailed statistics, the book, Body Disease and Its Stellar Treatment should be consulted, yet even it must omit the most important consideration of all, which is the comparative strength and harmony of the Sun as balanced against the weaknesses and discords of the constitution as revealed by the various planets and their aspects.

Gauging Health

The health, which may be good so long as it lasts in one who dies young, depends not merely upon the Sun, but upon the soundness of the tissues, as mapped by the planets, and the magnetic strength of the constitution. No noticeable position in the chart should be neglected in determining this; but chiefly should be considered in this order of importance: the Moon, the Sun, Mercury, the Ascendant and the Sixth House.

Influence of the Moon on Health

The electromagnetic body, as already indicated, is a solar-lunar combination of energy, of which the Sun is exclusive ruler of the vital force. But in its effect upon the magnetic constitution, and therefore upon the health, the Moon is equally important.

The Moon maps the most receptive planetary terminal in the astral body, the place where impressions both from the external world and from the inner plane reach the unconscious mind. It maps where energy of great volume, regardless of its character, is picked up and transmitted to the finer form. This is a negative region, and any stellar aerial reaching it, as mapped by an aspect to the Moon, or even by the swiftly recurring progressed aspects of the Moon, carries the energy of the planet thus indicated freely into the astral body.

It is because the Moon is thus so openly receptive to the energies of the environment that the person develops the habit of acquiring information from the outside world in a given way. It is easier to receive impressions through the avenue indicated by the sign and aspects of the Moon. And because of this, the mental capacity develops readily along allied lines. Thus, even as we say the Sun, mapping the most deep-seated and permanent characteristics, rules the Individuality, so it is common to say that the Moon rules the Mentality.

Mercury, through the conscious processes of formulating thoughts, rules the method of mental expression. But the Moon rules all those innumerable impressions which reach the unconscious mind, so many of which come from the contacts of domestic life and associations with the common people.

And because these impressions are so numerous, reach the finer body in such volume, and directly affect the constitutional magnetism, they are always potent factors in determining the health.

The unconscious thoughts, as the psychoanalysts have so convincingly proved, often are far more significant where the health is concerned than those which, under the rulership of Mercury, escape censor, and find conscious, even though not verbal, expression. Therefore, in determining the strength or weakness of the constitution, especial attention should be paid to the position and aspects of the Moon.

Influence of the Sun on Health

In diagnosing diseases the Sun, because it rules the vitality, should be given precedence. But in merely determining the strength of the constitution, and where in the body the natural weaknesses are located, it is no more important, perhaps not so much so, than the Moon. Yet the Sun also maps a group of intensely active thought cells in the astral body, and if these are strong the physical body in that region will tend to be free from disease.

The Sun and Moon rule, not merely the stellar cells and stellar structures within the astral body, but also the positive electric energy and the negative magnetic energy which, permeating the physical body and traversing the nerves as currents, alone permit the astral energies of the finer body to reach and alter the cells and tissues of the physical body. Thus due to their more direct influence over the medium by which thought energies or planetary energies alone can contact the physical, they are more important in natal astrology than the other planets.

Influence of Mercury on Health

The electric currents furnished through the activities of the Sun and Moon, however, are susceptible of having their direction of flow changed, and their vibratory rate raised or lowered, through conscious thought. Thus Mercury, ruling such thoughts, becomes also a powerful influence in any birth chart; for the thinking he promotes tunes in the electric energies flowing over the nerves on the rates of vibration corresponding to these thoughts.

Furthermore, these thoughts which come under Mercury’s rule are fed by the individual’s mental activities into his astral body. They represent his habitual trend in thinking, and therefore, whether he is adding elements and compounds to his astral form which conduce to, or detract from, a condition of health.

The significance of both Mercury and the thoughts which it governs is made apparent when we consider that the sign Virgo, ruled by Mercury, is the ruler both of foods and of the house of illness in the natural chart. The thoughts which we think are the foods we feed our astral bodies, and upon the quality of mental food thus furnished depends in great measure the state of health. If we nourish the stellar cells only with discordant thought compounds, illness will surely follow. Thus is Mercury, in matters of health, only less important than Sun and Moon.

Influence of the First House on Health

All those thoughts, feelings and impulses of the past which have had the body as their primary object of consideration have entered into the thought compounds of the stellar cells which fill the compartment of the astral body mapped by the first house. This is the most powerful compartment in the astral body, although approximately equaled by the one mapped by the tenth house. That is, a greater volume of energy flows through it normally than through other compartments.

Any planet in the house, and to a lesser extent the planet ruling the cusp of the house, because it connects up so directly with the physical body, has an influence over the health. A malefic planet here, or one afflicted, indicates a corresponding impairment of the physical body. But, because the house is so strong, such an affliction is less inimical to the health than the same planet located in the sixth house.

The degree upon the ascendant maps a heavy line running across the astral body, which can be seen clairvoyantly. This is not merely an astral line, but a line of electromagnetic energy also through which the whole astral body is grounded. Aspects to this ground wire, or ascending degree, act, where health and personality are concerned as do aspects to the planets. They are almost as important as the aspects to the Sun, Moon and Mercury.

Statistical study of thousands of charts, made in the preparation of our Astrological Reports on the various diseases indicates that, except when a disease is present from birth, the individual becomes ill only when there is a major-progressed aspect, other than from the Moon, to the ruler or co-ruler of the first house. Minor complaints which afterwards are considered inconsequential, of course, are not thus included.

The aspect may be either discordant or harmonious, but the energy from the aspect responsible for stimulating the stellar cells of the astral body discordantly, can only reach and influence the physical body markedly when there is a stellar aerial, mapped by a progressed aspect which is within one degree of perfect, carrying energy to the first house.

Influence of the Sixth House on Health

All those thoughts, feelings and impulses of the past which have been associated with illness and labor have entered into the thought compounds and form the stellar cells of, that compartment of the stellar body mapped by the sixth house. Less planetary energy reaches this compartment, normally, than flows through any of the other twelve compartments of the astral body. As a consequence, the sixth is the weakest house of them all, and marks the bodily zone of the least resistance.

It would be an error to conclude from this that the sixth house usually, or even commonly, denotes the kind of illness to which the person is predisposed. Indicating, as it does, a region of the body of little vigor and energy, unless the ruler of the sixth is afflicted, it merely denotes the various conditions, such as the services rendered by others and the general environment, during illness.

If a malefic is in the sixth, however, or if the ruler of the sixth is severely afflicted, such affliction, because directly associated with the compartment of the astral body which governs illness, has greater power to attract illness, and to predispose toward the kind of illness thus indicated, than if the afflicted planet were in, or ruled, any other house. That is, a planet ruling the sixth house is more significant of the kind of illness, and as indicating tendencies to illness, than the same planet would be similarly aspected in any other house of the birth chart.

Furthermore, our statistical studies of thousands of charts at the time their owners became ill, as set forth in the B. of L. Astrological Reports, indicate that, except when a disease is present from birth, or is an inconsequential minor ailment, an individual becomes ill only at those times when there is a major-progressed aspect, other than from the Moon, to the ruler or co-ruler of the sixth house.

As the highest function of a healer is to keep people well, it is a valuable asset for him to know that illness only develops when there are temporary stellar aerials leading both into the first house and into the sixth house of the birth chart. Whatever discords are present through temporary stellar aerials formed by aspects, they only affect the health conspicuously when at the same time there are aerials leading into the astral compartment ruling the health, and into the astral compartment ruling the illness, of the body.

And these major-progressed aspects, to be effective, must be within one degree of perfect.

Very much the same situation exists in regard to other events which enter the life. They only take place when temporary stellar aerials form leading into the compartment of the astral body where the thought cells are retained having to do with such events. Not that the aspect to the ruler of the house is necessarily the energy which stimulates these cells to the activity which attracts the event; but it provides an avenue by which the more powerful planetary energies, which may be picked up by aerials shown by other and apparently unrelated aspects, gain access to the compartment and stir up its stellar cells. These heavier energies coming in over powerful aspects, which take advantage of the aerials mapped by less-pronounced aspects to reach compartments other than those which their planets rule, are called RALLYING FORCES.

Such information gives the individual or the healer a means of determining the periods in life when the health, rather than finances, honor, or affections, will be apt to be affected. But to prevent the occurrence of illness at the times when there are heavy discordant planetary energies, as shown by the progressed aspects, which through progressed aspects to the rulers of the first and sixth find access to the stellar cells of the compartment ruling health and the compartment ruling illness, the kind of disease which is apt to develop at the given time should also be known.

When a Planet is Prominent

As one of the factors which constantly must be considered in such diagnosing, and in all delineating from a birth chart, is that of the prominence of a planet, it should be made clear in this place when and why a planet is thus considered.

Any planet in an angle indicates that its energies in reaching the astral body and its thought cells meet little resistance, and that, therefore, more of its energy reaches and influences the individual than were it not so located. Thus a planet in any Angular House is Prominent.

As already explained, the astral energies of the Sun and those of the Moon have direct access to the electromagnetic body. And the planet Mercury, through its rulership of the nerves and the electromagnetic currents which move over them in response to the thoughts, is a third planet having direct access to the electromagnetic body.

When a planet receives very powerful aspects, especially if a heavy aspect is not more than one degree from perfect, it must be considered prominent irrespective of not being in an angle and aspecting Sun, Moon or Mercury. But such prominence constitutes an exception to the general rule that only such planets in a birth chart as are in an angle, or which aspect Sun, Moon or Mercury with a reasonable degree of closeness are to be considered Prominent.

Determining the Diseases to Which a Person is Predisposed

It is impossible, in a single lesson, to present more than a few of the considerations which bear upon the diagnosis of diseases from the birth chart.

It is found, however, that for each disease there are a few well-defined factors which are constantly present in the charts of all who have it. These are called the Birth-Chart Constants.

Likewise it is found that at the time the disease manifests there are equally well defined and constant major-progressed aspects. These are called the Progressed Constants.

These constants are ascertained by analyzing the birth charts of those who have had certain diseases, and by analyzing the major-progressed aspects at the time the disease became noticeable. When possible we base such analyses on the charts of one-hundred persons who have had a given disease.

In Course XVI, Stellar Healing, I have given both the Birth-Chart Constants and the Progressed Constants for one-hundred-sixty of the most familiar diseases, with example birth chart for each and the progressions at the time of illness. In the same manner we propose eventually, in the C. of L. Astrological Reports, to cover every important disease and all other afflictions to which man is subject. Both the details of diagnosis and the method of using planetary energies to heal are set forth in the twelve chapters/lessons of Course XVI, Stellar Healing.

The Birth-Chart Constants of any particular disease are usually restricted to the prominence and aspects of two, although sometimes one and sometimes three or more, planets. This means that any person not having the specified, and usually narrowly restricted, influences present in his chart which are the constants of the disease is practically immune from it. Those whose charts exhibit the Birth-Chart Constants may not have the disease; but they have a predisposition toward it, which, if suitable conditions arise will permit it to develop.

The Progressed Constants for any particular disease may be restricted to a progressed aspect to some one planet, although in certain diseases it may include any one of two or more planets. This means that those in whose charts the Birth-Chart Constants are present, do not develop the disease, except at such times as the major-progressed aspects, which must usually be perfect within one degree of orb, are of the type, and between such planets, as are designated by the Progressed Constants. At other times the individual may have such troubles, including diseases, as the progressed aspects signify, but he is practically immune to this disease.

This does not signify that a person who has the Birth-Chart Constants of a certain disease, and arrives at a time of life when the Progressed Constants of the disease form in his chart, always then has the disease, or ever has it. The stellar cells and dynamic stellar structures within the astral body tend to attract, as active thought forces possessing a certain subjective intelligence of their own, conditions into the life which correspond to their activity. This activity, however, may be influenced not merely by planetary energies coming in over stellar aerials mapped by aspects, but by planetary energies diverted to such purposes in the processes of STELLAR HEALING, and by the conscious application of appropriate thoughts in the processes of MENTAL ALCHEMY.

Furthermore, thought groups in the astral body can only bring about such physical conditions as are permitted by the physical environment. Where the human body is concerned, planetary activities make use of the ductless glands, which are unusually sensitive to the thoughts, feelings and emotions aroused by them. Each planet, when its energies are discordantly received, as explained in Course XVI, Stellar Healing, calls forth a definite response from certain of the ductless glands, and this modifies the chemistry of the body accordingly. But when the proper elements are present in the food, these glands, and other physiological functions, tend to retain their normal activity in spite of planetary discord.

It follows, therefore, because the unconscious thought activities of the astral body which are stimulated by planetary energies must bring about physical changes through physical methods, that proper selection of foods and other physical conditions may make it impossible for a disease to develop. Just what the most essential food requirements are under the affliction of each planet is set forth in detail in Chapter 3 (Serial Lesson 153), Course XIV, Occultism Applied, and Chapters 7 to 10 (Serial Lessons 222, 223, 224 and 225), Course XXI, Personal Alchemy, which also constitute the book STELLAR DIETETICS.

In regard to these constants, it should be understood that they apply not merely to diseases of the physical body, but to all conditions and events of life.

The loss of money and the gain of money are always coincident with progressed aspects indicating loss or gain, and always coincident with a major-progressed aspect to the ruler of the second house. The constants for twenty different events, including one or more typical of each of the twelve houses of the chart, are set forth with the statistical analysis of 2,000 charts progressed to the time of events in the book ASTROLOGY: 30 YEARS RESEARCH.

In determining the diseases which an individual will probably have, it is safe to scan the birth chart and select the heaviest afflictions in the chart, all things considered, as indicating the diseases to which he is predisposed.

Predispositions by Planets

The SUN afflicted is a Birth-Chart Constant of high blood pressure, infantile paralysis, pneumonia, and diseases of the spine. In heart disease, the most common of all fatal afflictions, the Birth-Chart Constant is an affliction in Leo, or the Sun severely afflicted. The Progressed Constant is a progressed aspect made by the Sun, or a progressed aspect to a planet in Leo; with discordant rallying forces.

The MOON is always involved in dropsy, is often a factor in mental complaints, is involved with Mars in the various types of eye trouble, and with Saturn in afflictions to the ears. It may also affect the stomach.

MERCURY is involved in nervousness, certain mental troubles, neuralgia, neuritis, sciatica, hay fever, asthma and some bowel complaints.

VENUS tends to affect the kidneys, the venous blood stream, the thyroids and the internal sex organs. Either Venus or Mars may be involved in the so-called social diseases and in female trouble.

MARS when prominent and afflicted invites infection, inflammation and the contagious diseases such as smallpox, measles, scarlet fever and chickenpox. It is a factor in burns, typhoid, malaria, blood poison and rheumatism, as well as in some kidney troubles and in urinary complaints.

JUPITER afflicts through over abundance of something. Some acidosis, one type of diabetes, and biliousness, catarrh, auto-intoxication, carbuncles and fatty tumors are under his influence.

SATURN always afflicts through a deficiency. His typical diseases are cancer, fibrous tumor, tuberculosis, pellagra, atrophy and constipation.

URANUS has for typical diseases, appendicitis and paralysis; but is also a factor in arthritis, infantile paralysis and nervous complaints.

NEPTUNE tends to a negativeness which permits invasion by bacteria, and to the formation of moist pockets of infection, which may be quite hidden or may develop into ulcers.

PLUTO also tends to negativeness and a high degree of sensitiveness which encourages invasion by other organisms and invites hives, hay fever and asthma when Mercury also is involved.

Neither Birth-Chart Constants nor Progressed Constants, however, should be considered as inevitable and unalterable conditions. The Birth-Chart Constants merely map the organized thought activities of the astral body as they exist at birth. The Progressed Constants merely indicate that at a predetermined time during the life stellar aerials will form across the astral body which will pick up the energies of certain planets in volume and with or without static.

The planetary energies thus picked up and delivered to the astral body in those compartments mapped by the birth-chart and progressed positions of the planets, and affecting through sympathetic response the compartments ruled by the planets, that is, mapped by the signs which the planets rule, give new energy and activity to the thought cells there located. It is due to this new energy that events corresponding to them are attracted. It is due to the discordant activities of these thought cells that disease is attracted, and due to their harmonious activities that good fortune comes into the life. Whatever event comes is attracted through the LAW OF AFFINITY by corresponding thought-cell activities at that time within the astral body.

But such additional activities as the thought cells in the astral body display are not dependent upon planetary energies, but can be induced by the conscious feeling of the individual. Anything that can be added to the astral body by planetary energies can also be added through volitionally directed thought.

Thoughts and feelings can be cultivated which build a very different astral body, and therefore a very different life, than that mapped by the birth chart. Thoughts and feelings can be cultivated which are powerful enough to cancel and annul the energies received from any planet due to the formation of a temporary aerial as indicated by a progressed aspect. Thoughts and feelings can be cultivated which will add the same type and quantity of energy to any compartment of the astral body as would be added by the stellar aerial mapped by a sextile or a trine of the selected planet.

Man has thus within his own power the ability to prevent a disease which Birth-Chart and Progressed Constants indicate, or to alter any other undesirable phase of his life. The technique by which thoughts and feelings are applied for healing and other specific purposes is set forth in full detail in the seven chapters/lessons of Course IX, Mental Alchemy.

Birth Charts

Jane Addams Chart Sept. 6, 1860, 3:39 A.M. 89W40. 42N30. Famous (Moon in 10th) humanitarian and settlement worker (both benefics in 12th) and founder of Hull House (Pluto, planet of universal welfare thought cells, co-ruler of the 4th, conjunction the M. C., in close trine to Sun) in Chicago. Sun, while square Uranus, is semisextile Jupiter, and the Moon moves to connect the Sun into a grand trine with Mars. Died May 2, 1935.

George Bernard Shaw Chart July 26, 1856, 0:25 A.M. 6W15; 53N30 Playwright (Neptune elevated and trine Mercury), radical (Uranus conjunction Moon), wit and critic (Mercury square Mars), and writer (two planets in 3rd, and Mercury making powerful aspects). Sun conjunction Venus, trine Jupiter, and square Mars. Died in 1950.

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