[PAGE 527]                                          THE MESSAGE OF THE STARS
                                   PART II
                              MEDICAL ASTROLOGY
               AFTER AN EXTENSIVE PRACTICE OF MANY YEARS, THE
                FOLLOWING TREATISE IS SUBMITTED AS EMBODYING
                   THE AUTHORS' EXPERIENCE, GAINED BY SUC-
                     CESSFUL DIAGNOSIS OF MANY THOUSANDS
                                OF HOROSCOPES
  [But we want to make it clearly understood that we do not cast horoscopes
for money,  or tell fortunes.  Our work is a strictly humanitarian undertak-
ing.  To us, Astrology is a phase of religion.]
[PAGE 528]                                          THE MESSAGE OF THE STARS
                               CHAPTER XXVIII.
                         ASTRO-DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASE
   Parents  have an exceptional opportunity and may lay up much treasure  in
heaven by judicious care of growing children based upon knowledge of tenden-
cies to disease revealed by the horoscope.  The writers rely implicitly upon
the  horoscope's  testimony and though in a few cases doubts have  been  ex-
pressed as to the correctness of our diagnosis,  because it varied from that
of practitioners in personal touch with the patient, subsequent developments
have invariable vindicated our judgment and proved the far-reaching penetra-
tion of Astrology which is as much in advance of the X-Ray as that is  supe-
rior to a candle, for even though the X-Ray were capable of illuminating the
entire body to such an extent that we could see each individual cell in  ac-
tivity,  it  could only show the conditions of the body at a  given  moment.
But the horoscope shows incipient disease from the cradle to the grave, thus
it gives us ample time to apply the ounce of prevention, and maybe escape an
illness, or at least, ameliorate its severity when disease has overtaken us.
It indicates to the day when crises are due.   Thus forewarned,  we may take
extra precautionary measures to tide over the  critical point.  It indicates
[PAGE 529]                                        ASTRO-DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASE
when the inimical influences will wane and fortifies us to bear present suf-
fering with strength born of the knowledge that recovery at a specific  time
is certain.   Thus Astrology offers help and hope in a manner obtainable  by
no other method; for its scope is wider than all other systems,  and it pen-
etrates to the very soul of Being.
                            AN IMPORTANT WARNING
   If  letters of fire that would burn themselves into the consciousness  of
the reader were obtainable, we would spare no effort to procure them for the
purpose of warning students on some particular points in connection with the
practice of medical Astrology; these are:
   Never tell a patient a discouraging fact.
   Never tell him when impending crises are due.
   Never predict sickness at a certain time.
   Never, NEVER predict death.
   It is a grave mistake, almost a crime, to tell sick persons anything dis-
couraging,  for it robs them of strength that should be husbanded  with  the
utmost care to facilitate recovery.  It is also wrong to suggest sickness to
a  well person,  for it focuses the mind on a specific disease at a  certain
time, and such a suggestion is liable to cause sickness.  it is a well known
fact that many students in medical colleges feel the symptoms of every  dis-
ease they study, and suffer greatly in consequence  of  auto-suggestion, but
[PAGE 530]                                          THE MESSAGE OF THE STARS
the idea of impending disease implanted by one in whom the victim has  faith
is much more dangerous;  therefore it behooves the medical astrologer to  be
very cautious.  If you cannot say anything encouraging, be silent.
   This warning applies with particular force when treating patients  having
Taurus or Virgo rising or the Sun or Moon in those signs.   These  positions
predispose the mind to center on disease,  often in a  most unwarranted man-
ner.   The Taurean fears sickness to an almost insane degree, and prediction
of disease is fatal to this nature.  The Virgos court disease,  in order  to
gain sympathy, and though professing to long for recovery, they actually de-
light in nursing disease.  They beg to know their symptoms, the crises,  and
delight  in  probing the matter to the depths;  they will plead  ability  to
stand full knowledge and profess that it will help them;  but if the practi-
tioner  allows himself to be enticed by their protestations,  and does  tell
them,  they wilt like a flower.   They are the most difficult people to help
in any case,  and extra care should be taken not to aggravate their  chances
by admissions of the nature indicated.
   Besides,  thought the writers have used medical Astrology for many  years
and with astonishing success,  and though Astrology, as a science,  is abso-
lutely  exact and infallible,  it must not be forgotten that  there  remains
nevertheless the chance of mistaken judgment on the part of the practitioner
and the chance that the person whose horoscope he is judging  may assert his
[PAGE 531]                                                          TRANSITS
will  to such an extent that it overrules the indication in  the  horoscope.
He  may change his mode of life without knowing what would have happened  if
he had gone on as before,  and thus he may be in no danger at the time  when
the tendency to sickness shown by the horoscope arrives;  it is cruel to un-
settle his mind in any case.  Naturally, the young student would be most li-
able  to make a mistake in judgment,  but no one is immune.   We remember  a
case that came to our notice recently.   One of the most prominent  European
astrologers predicted for a client in South Africa that on a certain date he
would have a severe haemorrhage of the lungs.   The poor man wrote to us for
help,  but though liability to colds in the lungs was shown, we saw no seri-
ous  trouble at the time predicted, nor has haemorrhage been experienced  in
the year elapsed between that time and the present writing.
   Some  students have a morbid desire to know the time of their own  death,
and probe into this matter in a most unwarranted manner;  but not matter how
they  may seek to deceive themselves there are very few who have the  mental
and moral stamina to live life in the same manner,  if they knew with  abso-
lute certainty that on a certain date their earthly existence would be  ter-
minated.   That is one of the points most wisely hidden until we are to  see
on both sides of the veil,  and we do wrong,  no matter what our ground,  to
seek to wrest that knowledge from the horoscope.
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   Moreover,  it has been well said that "the doctor who prescribes for him-
self has a fool for a patient,"  and this applies to diagnosis of one's  own
horoscope with tenfold force,  for there we are all biased;  either we  make
too light of conditions,  or we take them too seriously,  particularly if we
investigate the time and mode of death.  We remember a case where an  intel-
lectual women,  principal of a private school in New York,  wrote asking for
admission to our correspondence class, "if we thought it worth while, as she
was going to die the first week in March."  She gave us all the aspects upon
which  she based her judgment,  and as one of the writers had  just  emerged
hale and hearty from similar configurations, she gave the lade in question a
good  talking  to  that straightened her out;  she told the  lady  she  (the
writer) expected to live to a ripe age.  Now that lady is thinking of a use-
ful life,  she has learned to forget death.   Astrology is too sacred to  be
thus misused.  Let the student forget about his own horoscope and devote his
knowledge to helping others;  then it will aid him in accumulating  treasure
in heaven as no other line of spiritual endeavor will.
                            PLANETARY POLARITIES
   When we study magnetism we are dealing with an invisible force; and ordi-
narily  we can at best state the way it manifests in the physical world,  as
is  the  case whenever we deal with any FORCE.   The physical world  is  the
world  of  effects;  the  causes  are hidden from our sight, though they are
[PAGE 533]                                              PLANETARY POLARITIES
nearer than hands or feet.   Force is all about us,  invisible and only seen
by the effects it produces.
   If we take a dish of water, for illustration, and allow it to freeze,  we
shall  see a myriad of ice crystals,  beautiful geometrical figures.   These
show the lines along which the water congealed and these lines are lines  of
force which were present before the water congealed; but they were invisible
until  the proper conditions were furnished them and they  became  manifest.
In  the same way there are lines of force going between the two poles  of  a
magnet;  they are neither seen nor felt until we bring iron or iron  filings
into the place where they are, when they will manifest by arranging the fil-
ings  in an orderly pattern.   By making the proper conditions we may  cause
any of the nature forces to show their effects--moving our street cars, car-
rying messages with lightning speed over thousands of miles, etc., etc.; but
the  FORCE itself is ever invisible.  We know that magnetism travels  always
at right angles to the electric current with which it manifests; we know the
difference  between  the  manifestations of the electric  and  the  magnetic
current,  so  dependent  upon one another, but we have  never  seen  either;
though they are about the most valuable servants we have today.
   Magnetism may be divided into "mineral" and "animal" magnetism, though in
reality they are one, but the former  has  very little influence upon animal
[PAGE 534]                                          THE MESSAGE OF THE STARS
tissue, while the latter is generally impotent in working with minerals.
   The mineral magnetism is derived directly from lodestones which are  used
to  magnetize  iron,  and this process gives to the metal thus  treated  the
property of attracting iron.  This kind of magnet is very little used,  how-
ever,  as its magnetism becomes depleted,  is too weak in proportion to  its
bulk,  and  principally because the magnetic force cannot be  controlled  in
such a so-called "permanent" magnet.
   The "electro-magnet" is also a "mineral" magnet.  It is simply a piece of
iron wound around with many turns of electric wire; the strength of the mag-
net varies as the number of turns of wire,  and the strength of the electric
current that is passed through it.
   Electricity is all about us in a diffused state, of no use for industrial
purposes until it is COMPRESSED and forced through the electric wires by the
powerful ELECTRO-MAGNETS.   We must have MAGNETISM in the FIRST place before
we can get any electricity.   Before a new electric generator is started the
"fields,"  which are nothing but electro-magnets,  must be  magnetized.   If
that  is not done they may turn it till the crack of doom,  at any  rate  of
speed they please, and it will never light a single lamp nor move a grain of
weight; all depends upon the magnetism being there FIRST.  After this magne-
tism  is  once started it will leave a little behind when the  generator  is
shut down, and this so-called "residual magnetism"  will  be  the nucleus of
[PAGE 535]                                              PLANETARY POLARITIES
force to be built up each time the generator is started afresh.
   All bodies of plants, animals and men are but transformed mineral.   They
have  all  come from the mineral kingdom in the first  place,  and  chemical
analysis  of the plant,  animal and human bodies brings out the fact  beyond
cavil.  Moreover, we know that the plants get their sustenance from the min-
eral soil,  and both animal and man are eating mineral when they consume the
plants  as food;  even when man eats the animals he is  nevertheless  eating
mineral compounds, and therefore he gets with his food both the mineral sub-
stances and the magnetic force which they contain.
   This force we see manifesting in "Haemoglobin,"  or the red coloring mat-
ter in the blood,  which attracts the life-giving oxygen when it comes  into
contact with it in the millions of minute capillaries of the lungs,  parting
with it as readily when it passes through the capillaries which all over the
body connect the arteries with the veins.  Why is this?
   To understand this,  we must acquaint ourselves a little closer with  the
way magnetism manifests as seen in industrial uses.
   There are always two fields or a multiple of two fields in a generator or
motor,  every alternate "field" or magnet being "north-pole" and every other
one,  "south-pole."   If we wish to run two or more generators "in multiple"
and force their electricity into the same wire, the first  requisite is that
[PAGE 536]                                          THE MESSAGE OF THE STARS
the magnetic current in the field-magnets should run IN THE SAME DIRECTION.
   If that were not the case, they would not run together; they would gener-
ate currents going in OPPOSITE directions, blowing their fuses.   That would
be  because  the poles in one generator,  which should have  attracted,  re-
pelled,  and vice-versa.  The remedy is to change the ends of the wire which
magnetizes the fields;  then the magnetic current in one generator will  be-
come like the current of the other, and both will run smoothly together.
   Similar conditions prevail in magnetic healing; a certain vibratory pitch
and  magnetic polarity were infused into each of us when the stellar  forces
surged  through our bodies and gave us our planetary baptism at  the  moment
when we drew our first complete breath.   These are modified during our pil-
grimage of life,  but in the main their initial impulse remains  undisturbed
and therefore the horoscope at birth retains the most vital power in life to
determine our sympathies and antipathies as well as all other matters.   Nay
more, its pronouncements are more reliable than our conscious likes and dis-
likes.
   Sometimes  we  may meet and learn to like a person,  although we  have  a
feeling that he has an inimical influence on us for which we cannot account,
and  therefore strive to put aside;  but a comparison of his horoscope  with
our own will reveal the reason and if we are wise we heed its warning, or as
surely  as  the  circling  stars move in their orbits around the Sun we will
[PAGE 537]                                              PLANETARY POLARITIES
live to regret our disregard of this handwriting on the wall.
   But there are also many cases when we do not sense the antipathy  between
ourselves and a certain person,  though the horoscope reveals it,  and if we
see  the  signs when comparing the two horoscopes we may  feel  inclined  to
trust  our feelings rather than the stellar script of the horoscopes.   That
also will in time lead to trouble, for the planetary polarity is certain  to
manifest in time unless both parties are sufficiently evolved to rule  their
stars  in  a  large measure.   Such people are few and far  between  at  our
present stage of evolution.  Therefore we shall do well if we use our knowl-
edge of the stellar script to compare our horoscopes with those at least who
come intimately into our lives.   This may save both them and us much misery
and  heartache.   We would advise this course particularly with regard to  a
healer and his patients,  and with reference to a prospective marriage part-
ner.
   When anyone is ill, resistance is at the lowest ebb,  and on that account
he is then least able to withstand outside influences.  So the vibrations of
the  healer have practically unrestrained effect, and even though he may  be
ensouled by the noblest of altruistic motives, desiring to pour out his very
life  for the benefit of the patient, if their stars were adverse at  birth,
his vibratory pitch and magnetism are bound to have an inimical effect  upon
the patient.  Therefore it  is  of  prime  necessity  that any healer should
[PAGE 538]                                          THE MESSAGE OF THE STARS
have a knowledge of Astrology and the law of compatibility,  whether he  be-
longs  to those who admittedly heal by magnetism and the laying on of  hands
or  to the regular schools of physicians,  for the latter also infuse  their
vibrations  into  the  patient's aura and help or hinder  according  to  the
agreement of their planetary polarity with that of the patient.
   What  has been said with regard to the healer applies with tenfold  force
to the nurse, for he or she is with the patient practically all the time and
the contact is so much more intimate.
   For healer,  nurse and patient, compatibility is determined by the rising
sign, Saturn, and the Sixth House.  If their rising signs agree in nature so
that all have fiery signs rising, or all have earthy, airy,  or watery signs
rising,  they are harmonious, but if the patient has a water sign rising,  a
nurse or a doctor with fiery signs will have a very detrimental effect.
   It is also necessary to see that Saturn in the horoscope of the nurse  of
healer  is  not  placed  in any of the degrees  of  the  zodiac  within  the
patient's Sixth House.
   With respect to marriage the planetary polarity is shown principally by a
consideration of the feminine Moon and Venus in a man's horoscope,  for they
describe  his attractions towards the opposite sex,  and in a woman's  horo-
scope  the  masculine Sun and Mars have a similar  significance.   If  these
planets  are  harmoniously  configurated  and  the signs on the cusps of the
[PAGE 539]                                              PLANETARY POLARITIES
Seventh Houses of the prospective partners agree, harmony will prevail,  es-
pecially if the Sun, Venus or Jupiter of one person is placed in the Seventh
House  of the other.   But if the planets mentioned afflict one another,  or
the  Seventh Houses of the parties are out of harmony,  or if Saturn,  Mars,
Uranus or Neptune of one is in a degree included in the Seventh House of the
other,  it is the handwriting on the wall which indicates that the planetary
polarities are inharmonious and that sorrow is in store for them if they al-
low  their evanescent emotions to draw them together in a bond  of  unhappi-
ness; for it is easy to change the field wires on two electric generators so
that their polarities will agree,  but it is extremely difficult to  reverse
the planetary polarity of one person to make it agree with that received  by
another at his planetary baptism.