An Astrological Guide to Heal Your Self (Herbs, Health Foods and Your Zodiac)

Ada Muir a Canadian astrologer, pioneered natural healing methods and the relationship between health and the Sun Signs.

Jude C. Williams is in demand for lectures and frequently is a guest on radio shows, discussing the topic of herbal medicine.

Healing Herbs and Health Foods of the Zodiac unites two of Earth’s oldest traditions, herb lore and astrology, in their modern incarnation.

The Plant Kingdom is the foundation for all life, from it we derive our sustenance and find—as herbalist of old maintained—a cure for every ill. Herbal preparations are the oldest medicines in any culture, and remain the source for most modern drugs. From the rain forests of Brazil to the mossy rocks of the Arctic, Nature provides a wealth of diverse botanicals.

Astrology is our oldest system for understanding and organizing our personal and social world. So a rich heritage of astrological factors in human health has been developed. Physicians of old looked to their patient’s horoscopes for guidance to diagnosis and cure disease and directions for health maintenance.

Only recently in human history did we blindly turn away from traditional knowledge, losing our awareness of the astrological factors in disease and the healing powers of herbs. People thought of herbs only as condiments, neglecting not only their medicinal value, but ignoring entirely their ability to act as catalysts to enhance the nutritional value of the foods with which they are blended.

Fortunately, the last twenty years or so have brought about a renaissance. "Alternative" medicine natural and holistic approaches to healing and (Health maintenance) and the organic approach to Food with a broadened understanding of nutrition have worked together to restore herbs to a place of honor in the kitchen and the medicine cabinet.

As Jude Williams indicates in the first section, herbs are not only readily available in the market place, but you can easily grow a wide variety in your garden or even indoors. Herb lore is rich and fascinating —here you find the gourmet side of living, and discover sources of romance and magical enhancement for every day or special day living. The crafts of growing and compounding herbs are personally enjoyable, and encourage a shift in consciousness that brings the herbalist an inner awareness of the more subtle properties of these magical plants—an awareness that helps bring the herbalist into an active and more spiritual role in diagnosing and healing.

Some readers will note that the astrology in this book is "traditional" rather than "modern." Medicinal astrology relies on traditional planetary relationships and herb correspondences. because these ancient relationships are well established and understood.

Ada Muir's contribution to our healing renaissance was to remind us of the important relationship between astrology and herbalism and to give this relationship a contemporary expression. Over 100,000 copies of her Healing Herbs of the Zodiac have been sold, making it a minor publishing classic. Combining it with her Health and the Sun Signs, and augmenting both with additional information by Master Herbalist Jude Williams, we feel that the Alternative Health spectrum is vastly enhanced.

Health is a personal responsibility, and the fulfillment of that responsibility includes regular consultation with health professionals. However, many healing decisions are made in the kitchen and the herb garden, and it is to that awareness that this book is dedicated.

Dating from Hippocrates, who wrote in 460 Bc and who is recognized as the founder of the art of healing, the properties and values of every wayside herb, tree, and shrub have been known.

It was formerly the duty of every person studying the art of medicine to be able to recognize every plant, understand its virtues, its Zodiacal sign and Planetary ruler, and see that it was gathered under the most favorable planetary conditions.

- Nowadays the herbalist knows nothing of this, except in a few cases, but must study the properties.of herbs from textbooks and apply them according to the symptoms of disease seen in the patient; and in this way is in danger of making as many mistakes in diagnosis and treatment as the medical doctor.

To give one instance, a friend was made very sick after taking a herbal compound containing barberry, an Aries herb. This had been very successful in the treatment of others suffering similarly, but the cause of the failure in her case was that Jupiter was her afflicting planet and she needed only those herbs in harmony with jupiter. Consequently, giving her a Martial herb only intensified the complaint, just as adverse aspects between Mars and Jupiter in a birth chart indicate intensity.

Then herbalists, in their compounding of herbs, often combine them irrespective of planetary laws and the active principal of one will counteract the active principal of another, which, if not injurious, is to say the least, wasteful.

The underlying cause of every disease is indicated in the birth chart as well as the weakness and strength of every organ of the body; for each of the twelve houses of the birth chart governs a definite part of the body.

The study of the Zodiacal rulership of plant life is an introduction to the study of medical astrology and as such should be of great assistance to students of that branch of the science.

Time was when every doctor was also an astrologer, for a knowledge of astrology was considered the only means of diagnosis and the means whereby a cure could be found. But as the medical profession degenerated from a "calling" to a "profession," and people entered its ranks less from the Divine urge to serve humanity than from the desire to enter a respectable profession, astrology was dropped from the curriculum.

If astrology is to advance as a science, astrologers must demonstrate its utility, and there is no better or more useful field for this than in stressing it as an exact means of diagnosis. ~ We may study astrology from the standpoint of personal success and centralize our efforts on second, sixth, and tenth house affairs, but back we must come to the vitality—how will the body respond to the struggle for material success and recognition.

The triangle which rules those departments represented by second, sixth, and tenth houses will give us the physical reaction. It will give us the means which must be taken for constant recuperation, if material failure is not to result.

We may feel the urge for self-expression along mental lines and seek our field of work through first, fifth, and ninth houses. But we can only give of our best in creative idealism by recognizing the needs of the body. Unless the body is healthy, that which is created is tainted with disease even at its dawn.

This book cannot tell all that is known of the relationship between health and astrology. It is introductory and suggestive rather than conclusive, and is published to meet the desires of those who are seeking health through a knowledge of planetary vibrations.