Outlook for friend's surgery - best approach? Plus, decumbiture charts

My best friend has been ill this past year, and in the process of her treatment they discovered yet another issue. Just yesterday she scheduled a surgery for mid-August. Of course my mind goes to astrology in cases like this because I'm worried for her, but I'm not sure of the best way to proceed.

Should I get the exact scheduled time for the procedure so I can examine the event chart, and how it affects her natal? Or just do an horary about the outcome of her surgery?

Also, I'd be interested in hearing anyone's experience with decumbiture charts. These seem so interesting to me, but also tricky when attempted after some time has passed. If I could get a date and time for her first doctor's appointment last year about the symptoms, with the very first doctor (not her current doctors or specialists), would that be best? (Idea based on this article.) Would that chart only cover her primary illness (which is responding to treatment well), or would it also cover secondary problems discovered in the process of diagnosis?

I realize these are huge and complicated subjects. I'm mostly interested in how those with experience would approach a question about success of a surgery that was already scheduled (i.e. not an election). Any favorite or recommended authors or books?

Medical Horaries

I don't do a lot of Medical Horaries, and those I do are like you, for family and friends. So I am rather diffident of giving you any single piece of advice here. As the article suggests, things are very different now than the were 300-400 years ago in terms of the most common types of problem and the way the medical profession works.

Oscar Hofman has a very good book called Classical Medical Astrology. He points out that Decumbiture Charts are no longer used by consulting Medical Astrologers, for the reasons given in the article. Very few people note the time that they took to their beds because the illness was too much to bear, and even fewer people take that sample of urine to their doctor to be tested (and even if they did, very few family doctors have the means to carry out the tests then and there). So you are left with a limited number of things you can do.

You could consider an event chart for the time of her very first consultation on the matter for which she was receiving surgery. She might have an appointment card that gives that time. Even then, you need to check to see whether the appointment was actually held at that time, or she had to wait longer. Doctors have a habit of being late with the appointment, for quite legitimate reasons.

You could also do that for the discovery of the new issue, though again you might have trouble fixing the event time. She wasn't conscious at the time, and I doubt any of the operating theatre staff took note of the time. The best you can do is an approximation.

The same holds with any planned surgery. She might agree a time and place with her consultant but operations can bet postponed or delayed. So the chart you cast, may not be the chart for the actual procedure.

You are left with two possible courses of action. You could consider her natal chart and use a variety of prediction techniques to see what the circumstances of the period that is projected for the next bout of surgery.

At any rate her natal chart will give you an idea of her general health and the vulnerabilities to her health. These might not be directly the factor leading to the operation but it could give you general picture of her recuperative powers.

For a specific issue, you could cast a Medical Horary. Which would take you through the process of diagnosis and treatment but as this is going to be surgery, what you are really interested in is the effects of the surgery on her general health and wellbeing.

Cast a horary. What you are principally concerned with is the tenth house, which rules the Treatment and Mars, who rules surgery (including laser surgery). What you are looking for is plenty of essential dignity, both for the tenth ruler and/or for Mars. The less dignity, the less effective the treatment and/or surgery. Look at the accidental dignity as well but bear in mind the circumstances of the surgery. So if Mars lies in detriment in the twelfth, that might be a sign of ineffective surgery, unless the surgery is on the feet (ruled by the twelfth house).

Lord 1 (Ascendant Ruler) is the third and last factor to consider. Lord 1 signifies the body, so ideally there should be Reception between Lord 10 and Lord 1 or Lord 1 is in the sign or exaltation of Lord 10. This indicates that Treatment has power over the body.

Don't forget that medical horaries and indeed health treatments are based on the four humours, Choler, Melancholy, Phlegm and Sanguine. So if you are not sure of them, then I'd suggest that you either do some research first or buy Hofman's book, which shows how you can assess these from a Medical Horary and indeed how to read a medical horary. I've used the book to do the very few that I have tried and it seems to work.

I just wanted to pop in and say thanks for your reply, and your general tips on the horary approach. I'm checking out the Hofman book and a few others on Amazon, including the two reviewed by Nina Gryphon here. I'll probably try my hand at a medical horary at some point, after I do some reading.

And I agree with you that it's probably best to look at her natal chart and general predictions for the time period instead of trying to figure out a decumbiture. I'd also like to see what was going on with her chart when she fell more acutely ill last year. Using her unfortunate circumstances for this will give me a concrete (and significant to me) example to use as I work through all the material I have. My downfall is that I read around a lot, but don't spend the time and effort to apply the methods very often, so my experience is sorely lacking and things don't ever get solidified in my mind.

I'll try to post about things here as I work through them, most likely looking for a little help and confirmation that I'm on the right track!

kalliope said:

I just wanted to pop in and say thanks for your reply, and your general tips on the horary approach. I'm checking out the Hofman book and a few others on Amazon, including the two reviewed by Nina Gryphon here. I'll probably try my hand at a medical horary at some point, after I do some reading.

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I have Sellar's Introduction to Medical Astrology, though I've really not read it properly. I was put off by her attribution of rulerships to the outer planets. I have no objection to them being used in themselves, it's just that the modern idea of rulership and the traditional one is chalk and cheese. You can't blend them. If Uranus rules Aquarius there's no reason why Ceres can't rule Taurus or Chiron rule Sagittarius - there's no rationale for it, except personal views of affinity or sympathy. Now sympathetic concepts may be relevant to medical issues, but they are not the basis of the traditional system of sign rulerships. So try using the outers but with the traditional rulers.

My other criticism is how do you fit them into the humoural system that Sellar refers to. Is Pluto, hot, cold, dry, moist? What part of the body does it rule? There's no easy solution to that, other than the modern 'it works for me' concept.

Other than that, there's quite a lot of useful information in Sellar, that you can make use of. And of course you can simply ignore the references to the outers and the book becomes much more cohesive.

kalliope said:

I'll try to post about things here as I work through them, most likely looking for a little help and confirmation that I'm on the right track!

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Yes, any queries, post away!