Astrological Practice of Physick

Contrary to modern beliefs, the medieval world was not one of superstition and ignorance. True, they lacked what we know as science, but on the other hand, they were in possession of a coherent philosophy of life, handed down to them from the Greeks and Romans, which had been further hammered out in a thousand ways over the course of centuries. When luck was with them (the period was, above all, poor), medieval peoples were surprisingly successful in dealing with the problems of everyday life.

Joseph Blagrave used planetary hours to harvest herbs in the hour of the planet which ruled it. So, for example, Angelica, which is ruled by the Sun, is harvested in the first hour after sunrise on Sunday. Nightshade, ruled by Saturn, is harvested in the first hour after sunrise on Saturday. Onions, ruled by Mars, are harvested in the first hour after sunrise on Tuesday. Such plants and herbs are supercharged. They exude the energies of the planet which rules them. Astrological medicine hinges on astrological definitions of the ailment, as in what planet caused the injury, which then determines the plant which has the same - or the opposite - planetary energy. It is therefore essential that plant has the maximum amount of the appropriate planet's energy. Such is the fundamental basis of Blagrave's practice.

The book starts with a list of herbs & plants, sorted by planet. In general this is similar to what you will find in Culpeper's Herbal, though with variations. Blagrave assigns numerical values to the planets (Mars gets the numbers 2, 4, 7 & 9, the Sun gets 1, 3, 4, 10 & 12) & seems to assign specific numbers to specific plants, but the exact passages are missing & were presumably deleted by the author in advance of the original publication, as there is a large gap in pagination. A guess is that he ran out of money and rationalized the omission because he had earlier published an herbal. Blagrave's herbal should be reprinted, but it is extremely rare.

With virtually every cure, Blagrave starts with an amulet of three solar herbs, tied in a bag & put around the neck. By "around the neck" is not meant a choker. The herbs will naturally come to rest on the breast-bone, which is to say, directly on top of the heart itself. Which, in esoteric terms, strengthens the heart chakra. Blagrave knew, from experience, that strengthening the heart accomplished half the healing all by itself. With super-charged herbs, this is still the most sage advice.

Among a vast array of techniques, Blagrave uses amulets, poultices, herbal teas (diet-drinks), alcohol infustions (brandy), various exotic minerals (Roman vitriol), colonics & more. Unknown to modern science, he used living plants to externalize ailments & heal remotely, passages which still astonish.

This is an entirely reset, new edition. The primary source was a microfiche of a badly worn copy which has been circulating for some years. There were two problems with it: One, it was missing a leaf, which has been restored. And there was a three-word lacunae in the first edition, which has been recovered from the second edition. This is, therefore, the first complete edition of Blagrave's book in three centuries. In addition to David Roell's Introductory notes, there are a variety of appendices: a complete list of the plants and herbs mentioned in the text, Culpeper's delineations of temperament, a comprehensive glossary of terms used in the book, a bibliography, and an extract from the Smith's Family Physician on agues, from 1873. Smith's is a most useful book, Amazon will sell you a copy.

This is a titanic book, full of surprises.