The Influence of Wilhelm Fliess’ Cosmobiology on Sigmund Freud

Author: Dr. Frank McGilliion
Abstract: Sigmund Freud’s psychology was influenced both by traditional Jewish mysticism and the cosmobiological theories developed by Wilhelm Fliess (1858-1928). Fliess argued that biological processes were partially regulated by 23-day and 28-day cycles, time of conception and birth, the solar year and the eccentricity of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. We can term these theories cosmobiological. Freud adopted these ideas although he was apparently hostile to the ‘occult’. He investigated traditional astrology, represented by the casting of horoscopes, but concluded that its efficacy was due to telepathy
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Publication: Cosmos and Culture
Issue: Vol 2 No 1
Dated: Spring/Summer 1998
Pages: 33 – 48