Collectively the daily, seasonal, lunar andtidal geophysical cycles regulate much of the temporal biology of life on Earth. The increasing isolate of human socities from these geophysical cycles, as aresult ofimproved living conditions, high-quality nutrition and 24/7 working practices, have led many to believe that human biology functions independently of them. Yet recent studies have highlighted the dominant role that our circadian clock plays in the organisation of 24 hour patterns of behaviour and physiology. Preferred wake and sleep times are to a large extent drive by an endogenous temporal programme that uses sunlight as an entraining cue. The alarm clock can drive human activity rhythms but has little direct effect on our endogenous 24 hour pysiology. In many situations, our biology and our society appear to be in serious opposiion, and the damaging consequences to our health under these circumstances are increasinly recognised. The seasons dominate the lives of non-equatorial species, and until recently, they also had a marked influence on much of human biology. Despite human isolation from seasonal changes in temperature, food and photoperiod in the industrialised nations, the seasons still appear to have a small, but significant, impact upon when individuals are born and man asepcts of health. The seasonal changes that modulate our biology, and how these factorsmight interact with the social and metabolic status of the individual to drive seasonaleffects, arestill poorly understood. Lunar cycles had, and continue to have, an influecne upon human culture, though despite a persistent belief that ourmental health and other behaviours are modulated by the phase of the moon, there is no solid evidence that human biology is in any way regulated by the lunar cycle.

With the advent of the personal computer and its tendency to discourage independent thought and manual calculation, the very idea of ‘the prenatal epoch’ might have long-since slipped into oblivion. However, the PNE has been revived by a number of software routines so it is time to remind interested researchers of a few of the pitfalls, the least of which is its assumed failure above latitudes 66½.

In this regard to the latter, the following endnote was appended to Global Horoscopes [Wackford, 2005].

“The semi-arc system provides for circumpolar Pre-natal Epochs because parts of the North/South Meridians can serve as edges of the 1st and 7th houses. Earlier writers (notably Charles Jayne) have suggested ad hoc use of the Meridian (or Prime Vertical) in cases where the Moon tenants a degree that cannot rise or set. Substitution of the Meridian is exactly what would occur under Placidus; but without the arbitrary component. Many astrologers, past and present, have not been convinced that there is any truth in the Pre-natal Epoch, though its complete theory does not appear to have been handed down. But if residents of the temperate zones were to have such a thing as a PNE, so then must Inuit and those born in Murmansk, etc.”

For reasons laid out below, the author has never enquired further into the Placidian solution to this problem.

In or about 1980 however, he calculated very many epoch charts, in order to confirm the worth or otherwise of pre-natal epoch theory and of Bailey’s additional rules. This investigation was occasioned at the time by the availability of accurate, ‘to-the-minute’(?) birth times as recorded by Americans’ birth certificates.

The writer soon tired of having to flip back and forth through Bailey’s instructions and instead devised the tables reproduced here.

This paper is a revision of an appendix to the late Dr. Margaret Millard’s The Moon and Childbirth (privately published) and is republished here, in part, to underscore the author’s opinion that the assertions ascribed to ‘Hermes Trismagistus1 are incomplete as they stand today.

Objectives: to examine the relationship between beliefs in ways of telling the future (astrology, graphology, palmistry, etc) and beliefs in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Design: participants completed a short questionnaire that requested that they rate the efficacy of 8 CAM therapies along with 12 other ways of predicting the future ranging from the well known and established (astrology) to the less well known (tasseography, oneiromancy). Short descriptions of each were provided. They also answered four attitude statements on science as applied to medicine. Subjects: two hundred three (130 female, 73 male) adult Britains obtained from a university subject panel served as unpaid volunteer subjects. Results: CAM therapieswere judged as modestly effective and most of the other “-ologies” ineffective. Further analysis confirmed two clear factors with the different methods loading on two different factors. Regressions showed females who were less concerned with scientific evaluations but more concerned with treatmment believed more in the efficacy of the “future-ologies”.n Also, females who had heard of fewer “future-ologies” but more CAM practices were morelikley to believe in the efficacy of CAM therapies. Conclusion: belief in CAM is unrelated to belief in “future-ologies”. Interest in the scientific evaluation of treatment is the best predictor of beliefs about efficacy.

Almost everything we do depends on our ability to remember the past. This experiment sought to contribute quantitative data exploring two issues concerning memory. Miller (1956) theorised that an average person can hold 7 chunks of information in STM. This experiment confirms that 7 is also the average when a distracter test pushes the learnt words into LTM.

This research also examines the possibility that the relationship between two planetary symbols, Neptune and Mercury, can indicate differences in ability to recall. The experimental hypothesis predicts impaired ability for those with a Mercury Neptune aspect in their horoscopes. However, the results showed the reverse to be the case, with the Mercury Neptune group achieving a mean average score of 8.27 compared to the other group`s score of 6.66 out of 20. The work of Westran (2001) provides an interesting reference, since he too produced results of significance when examining a correlation between Mercury Neptune aspects and police detectives.

It is therefore proposed that use of the astrological model of the universe could provide cognitive psychology with a new worldview from which to develop different perspectives for research.

After 1700, astrology lost the respect it once commanded in medical circles. But the belief that the heavens influenced bodily health persisted – even in learned medicine -until well into the nineteenth century. The continuing vitality of these ideas owed much to the new empirical and mechanical outlook of their proponents. Taking their cue from the work of Robert Boyle and Richard Mead a number of British practioners amassed statistical evidence which purported to prove he influence of the Moon upon fevers and other diseases. Such ideas flourished in the colonies and in the medical services of the armed forces, but their exponents were not marginal men. Some, like James Lind, were widely respected and commanded support for their views from such influential figures as Erasmus Darwin.

This comment is an additional piece relatling to “Some Extreme Character Types” by Graham Douglas, an abstract of which can be found on this database. (See also “Developing the Geophysical Perspective” by the same author.)

Byzantium inherited the rich astrological tradition of Late Antiquity, especially that of Alexandria, where even in the 6th century A.D., astrology was taught in philosophical schools. The great number of Byzantine astrolgical MSS, which preserve works of famous authors and many anonymous treatises, shows the survival and continuity of astrology in Byzantium. Through medical astrology pysicians can better understand the temperament of an individual man and find out about his bodily constitution and psychic faculties, his inclination to chronic and acute diseases, the possibilities of curable or incurable cases, and finally the periods of lmajor danger for his health. They can conjecture about the evolution of a disease, choose a favourable time for an operation, or initiate a cure.

Astrology is no longer regarded as a science by many, because its claims are almost impossible to test empirically in controlled laboratory conditions and it cannot meet the scientific need to be reproducible. However, the majority of those who read their “star signs” can identify aspects of their personality in what they read and it is possible that this may influence their attiudes and actions. The literture has neglected astrological signs as a possible predictor of suicide ideation. To see whether astrological birth signs are associated with suicide and the method used, data was collected from the Public Hdalth Department in North Cheshire representing all the Cheshire Coroner’s verdicts of suicde, and open verdicts, in all deceased aged 60 and above between 1989 and 2000. The observed occurence of deaths due to natural causes and suicide, in relation to birth signs did not differ from what would be expected from chance. However, the distribution of suicide by hanging appeared significantly higher in those with a birth sign of Virgo and lowest in Sagittarius and Scorpio. The distribution of violent and non-violent suicides in relation to star signs showed higher occurence of violent death in persons born in the summer months.

There has been a great deal of recent interest in popular health care in early modern England, resulting in studies on a range of topics from practioners through remedial treatment. Over the past decade, the history of books has also attracted growing interest. This is partiularly true for the seventeenth century, a period marked by a dramatic rise in all types of printed works. The 1640s are especially significant in the evolution of printed vernacular medical publications which continued to flourish during the rest of the century. While recent studies on popular medical books have contributed greatly to our understanding of contemporary medical beliefs and pratices, they have failed to properly recognise the effect that almanacs had on early modern medicine. Although their primary function was not to disseminate medical information, most provided a great deal of medical informaton. Furthermore, these cheap, annual publications targeted and were read by a wide cross-section of the public, making them the first true form of British mass media. This article is based on the content of 1,392 almanacs printed between 1640 and 1700, which may make it the largest comparative study of the medical content of any early modern pritned works. The project has resulted in two major findings. First of all, almanacs played a major part in the dissemination, continuing popularity, and longevity of tradtioinal astrologial and Galenic beliefs and practices. Secondly, at the same time, almanacs played an important early role in the growth of medical materialism in Britain.

Rather than speaking broadly about the determinants of the nurse-patient realtionship, as I did in my book, in this article I have focused more narrowly on psychiatric mental health nurses and their patients. I cited, as the chief influence on the context of the relationship between the two, the psychological changes concomitant with the stellar transition from the Piscean to the Aquarian Age and the burdens these changes impose on the psyche of the individual. I talked a bit about the paradoxical nature of the psyche and how it relates to paradoxical psychotherapeutic approaches. I mentioned win, win negotiations as being skills necessary for coping in the Aquarian Age. I also mentioned that our own value system, although absolute for us, is not necessarily binding on the other unless it is mutually agreed upon beforehand. In addition, I spoke about the possibility of many theories and methods, each equally valid and workable in the solution of a particular problem. I said our approach to the patient will depend on our role conception as psychotherapist, our typology, and concomitant with that, our model of psychological processes and the theoretical framework in which it is couched. I have stated what I consider the four key points for all of us to be aware of in order to negotiate the new psychology. We need to differentiate between needs, wants and entitlement: we are entitled to our needs, but we are ultimately responsible for their fulfillment (whicih does not necessarily mean that we have to fulfill them ourselves). We need to be aware of the two-pronged aspect of every bit of communication; i.e., the simultaneous factual and directional message contained in each, and yet the selectivity of the tuning in by the receiver. We also need to be aware that any communication can imply a message about the object discussed or about one’s subjective relation to it, as well as the confusion and rage that can be caused by ambiguities and the misunderstanding of which of the two has been meant. We have to learn to live with the fact that all of us have one area of our personality that is reasonably well adapted and another that is still young and needs all our (and others’) help that it can get.