Makes sense as people usually get sick seasonally. I would be more inclined to this way of thinking as I adhere more to a ptolemaic view of the cosmos. A ball floating in space strikes me as absurd.
A question I have in regard to seasons though, what effect do you think daylight savings time has on our understanding of the cosmos? In my opinion it disorients us and makes us forget the rhymes and patterns of the seasons.
"Makes sense as people usually get sick seasonally"—indeed.
Though I typically refrain from strongly opinionated language in my writing, I must say that daylight savings time is quite simply an abomination. The Gregorian reform of the calendar in the sixteenth century was intended to make the calendar year *more* consistent with the cosmic year. But to imply that mankind can impose his capricious will on the motions of the heavenly bodies, can reformulate the interrelations of the cosmos for utilitarian ends, can arbitrarily and unnecessarily disrupt the diurnal rhythms of millions of people, can abruptly "redefine" time as though it is the work of our own hands or the product of our own minds—this is what daylight savings time does, and it is lamentable in the extreme.
I once met someone who would not change the time on his watch for daylight savings and would live on winter time all year long. He would just convert the time, if he needed to, for appointments. I thought he was nutty, but I am increasingly thinking he was onto something!
It winds me up when modern folk think they know more thanks to modern science, than medieval folk did. Wrong philosophical presumptions lead to false conclusions.
Terrain theory rivals germ theory. I like some of Dr Sam Bailey's work and for geocentrism I highly recommend Dr Robert Sungenis.
But perhaps looking back to medieval knowledge we can learn far more. I haven't heard of the movement of the cosmos affecting health. Thank you, and I look forward to hearing more about it.
Well, whatever science may say, I do know that the moon especially exerts influence on the body. I once spent a retreat with an elderly woman in the desert. It was exactly full moon and she spent hours under its light that night. She woke up feeling completely dotty, as if she'd been drinking, and that state remained with her for the rest of the day. It was remarkable and I never forgot that. Therefore, I never spend time in full moon light! The cycles of the moon are still considered very important in farming. I'm sure the lore of the stars carried through to the Middle Ages from Biblical times. We don't know very much, even though we think we do. Thank you for another great post for further pondering. Totally agree about the imposed annual time changes. Just awful...
Very interesting story about the lady and the moonlight! I've never experienced that but clearly other people have—the word "lunatic" dates back to the Middle Ages and comes from the Latin word for "moon," since people believed that the moon was associated with intermittent insanity! In fact, concern about the effects of moonlight dates all the way back to the Psalms: "The Lord is thy keeper / the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. / The sun shall not smite thee by day, / nor the moon by night" (Ps. 120/121).
I love the Psalm quote, which I read often, but I never connected the dots! Very good. Yes, I used to be assigned to answer calls at a monastery. We dreaded the full moon time, which always drew more than usual calls from people with mental difficulties. The full moon seemed to accentuate their delusions and/or paranoia. Always a challenge and a reminder to pray for those afflicted.
I also find myself doubting but lack the astronomical expertise to make a strong argument against the "scientific consensus" (though others seem to be willing to make those arguments). What I can say with confidence is that it's awfully hard for human beings to know, with little more than telescopes and spacecraft, what exactly is happening out there in the vast and mysterious universe, and geocentrism makes more sense from a cultural and philosophical perspective.
He says toward the end, "It is worth reflecting that every Father and Doctor of the Church, up to and including St. Therese of Lisieux, believed in the geostatic-geocentric structure of the universe." It is indeed.
How fortunate we are to have you sharing this artwork and the explanations with us! And as I am a Nov. birthday, we are entering the Scorpio phase now!!
It's interesting - one feature on a number of Norman 12th century doorways is a replication of the signs of the zodiac, which does seem odd to us today, as they would never be put on a Christian buying. But there is much we don't understand about the medieval world view, we can only piece it together from clues.
Do you mean resources pertaining to astrological medicine and thought in the Middle Ages, or to some of the more astrological/"cosmic" approaches to health and therapy that we see in modern culture?
I am so grateful I found your site. I am planning a sequel to my Catholic sci fi novel Run. Catholics have escaped from Earth's dystopian space colony to an asteroid in a communication dead zone where they may be safe from pursuit. They have selected a king and at the closing of the novel they are beginning to build a new society. I knew it would be medieval because that's the last point where economics were neither socialist nor capitalist, but Catholic, and I have as a resource Dr. Brian McCall's The Church and the Usurers, an updated distributism. But I had not researched other cultural details about medievalism--they're hard to find, that knowledge has been forbidden us. And you have done that work! This particular feature, their calendar, will take a lot of work on my part, since I don't substitute fantasy for material facts, and I don't yet know what their sky will look like! If you would like to read sample chapters of the book, I'll put the link, and would be so glad to send you a complete copy. The novel's website is https://malapertpress.wordpress.com
Makes sense as people usually get sick seasonally. I would be more inclined to this way of thinking as I adhere more to a ptolemaic view of the cosmos. A ball floating in space strikes me as absurd.
A question I have in regard to seasons though, what effect do you think daylight savings time has on our understanding of the cosmos? In my opinion it disorients us and makes us forget the rhymes and patterns of the seasons.
Thank you for reading and commenting!
"Makes sense as people usually get sick seasonally"—indeed.
Though I typically refrain from strongly opinionated language in my writing, I must say that daylight savings time is quite simply an abomination. The Gregorian reform of the calendar in the sixteenth century was intended to make the calendar year *more* consistent with the cosmic year. But to imply that mankind can impose his capricious will on the motions of the heavenly bodies, can reformulate the interrelations of the cosmos for utilitarian ends, can arbitrarily and unnecessarily disrupt the diurnal rhythms of millions of people, can abruptly "redefine" time as though it is the work of our own hands or the product of our own minds—this is what daylight savings time does, and it is lamentable in the extreme.
I once met someone who would not change the time on his watch for daylight savings and would live on winter time all year long. He would just convert the time, if he needed to, for appointments. I thought he was nutty, but I am increasingly thinking he was onto something!
It winds me up when modern folk think they know more thanks to modern science, than medieval folk did. Wrong philosophical presumptions lead to false conclusions.
Terrain theory rivals germ theory. I like some of Dr Sam Bailey's work and for geocentrism I highly recommend Dr Robert Sungenis.
But perhaps looking back to medieval knowledge we can learn far more. I haven't heard of the movement of the cosmos affecting health. Thank you, and I look forward to hearing more about it.
Thank you for these contributions! I also tried to "ignore" the time change once when I was living on a farm, but it was surprisingly difficult.
"Terrain theory rivals germ theory"—agreed.
Well, whatever science may say, I do know that the moon especially exerts influence on the body. I once spent a retreat with an elderly woman in the desert. It was exactly full moon and she spent hours under its light that night. She woke up feeling completely dotty, as if she'd been drinking, and that state remained with her for the rest of the day. It was remarkable and I never forgot that. Therefore, I never spend time in full moon light! The cycles of the moon are still considered very important in farming. I'm sure the lore of the stars carried through to the Middle Ages from Biblical times. We don't know very much, even though we think we do. Thank you for another great post for further pondering. Totally agree about the imposed annual time changes. Just awful...
Very interesting story about the lady and the moonlight! I've never experienced that but clearly other people have—the word "lunatic" dates back to the Middle Ages and comes from the Latin word for "moon," since people believed that the moon was associated with intermittent insanity! In fact, concern about the effects of moonlight dates all the way back to the Psalms: "The Lord is thy keeper / the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. / The sun shall not smite thee by day, / nor the moon by night" (Ps. 120/121).
I love the Psalm quote, which I read often, but I never connected the dots! Very good. Yes, I used to be assigned to answer calls at a monastery. We dreaded the full moon time, which always drew more than usual calls from people with mental difficulties. The full moon seemed to accentuate their delusions and/or paranoia. Always a challenge and a reminder to pray for those afflicted.
I’m not so sure anymore that the earth orbits the sun.
I also find myself doubting but lack the astronomical expertise to make a strong argument against the "scientific consensus" (though others seem to be willing to make those arguments). What I can say with confidence is that it's awfully hard for human beings to know, with little more than telescopes and spacecraft, what exactly is happening out there in the vast and mysterious universe, and geocentrism makes more sense from a cultural and philosophical perspective.
I’m a big fan of the Kolbe Center. They provide a lot of scholarly information on this topic.
It just so happens this this week's Kolbe Center newsletter is on point:
https://conta.cc/3NEhFLU (They don't have it posted on their website yet.)
Thanks for the link!
He says toward the end, "It is worth reflecting that every Father and Doctor of the Church, up to and including St. Therese of Lisieux, believed in the geostatic-geocentric structure of the universe." It is indeed.
How fortunate we are to have you sharing this artwork and the explanations with us! And as I am a Nov. birthday, we are entering the Scorpio phase now!!
It's interesting - one feature on a number of Norman 12th century doorways is a replication of the signs of the zodiac, which does seem odd to us today, as they would never be put on a Christian buying. But there is much we don't understand about the medieval world view, we can only piece it together from clues.
A great read and I can't help but be amazed at and grateful for the artwork that still exists from so long ago.
I completely agree, a remarkable number of medieval manuscripts have survived to our own day, and many of them are in excellent condition.
This is fascinating; I love this kind of stuff. Do you have any resources that go into this further?
Do you mean resources pertaining to astrological medicine and thought in the Middle Ages, or to some of the more astrological/"cosmic" approaches to health and therapy that we see in modern culture?
The Middle Ages please!
Here are some online resources:
https://www.getty.edu/news/written-in-the-stars-astronomy-and-astrology-in-medieval-manuscripts/
https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/medieval-planetary-alignment-eclipses-middle-ages-renaissance-600022/
https://onlineexhibits.library.yale.edu/s/medicalastrology/page/astrological-anatomy
There are various academic articles and books, but I'm assuming you don't have easy access to those. I'll mention three:
History of Western Astrology, vol. 2: The Medieval and Modern Worlds (by Nicholas Campion)
A Kingdom of Stargazers: Astrology and Authority in the Late Medieval Crown of Aragon (by Michael Ryan)
Early Christianity and Ancient Astrology (by Tim Hegedus; not quite medieval but still relevant)
I am so grateful I found your site. I am planning a sequel to my Catholic sci fi novel Run. Catholics have escaped from Earth's dystopian space colony to an asteroid in a communication dead zone where they may be safe from pursuit. They have selected a king and at the closing of the novel they are beginning to build a new society. I knew it would be medieval because that's the last point where economics were neither socialist nor capitalist, but Catholic, and I have as a resource Dr. Brian McCall's The Church and the Usurers, an updated distributism. But I had not researched other cultural details about medievalism--they're hard to find, that knowledge has been forbidden us. And you have done that work! This particular feature, their calendar, will take a lot of work on my part, since I don't substitute fantasy for material facts, and I don't yet know what their sky will look like! If you would like to read sample chapters of the book, I'll put the link, and would be so glad to send you a complete copy. The novel's website is https://malapertpress.wordpress.com
Thank you for the link, Janet, and I hope that Via Mediaevalis proves to be an informative and inspiring resource for your creative writing!
So fascinating! I’d love to learn more on this topic!
Hi Joellen, thanks for commenting! I agree, it's a fascinating topic, and I'm sure that we'll return to medieval astrology in a future post.
I can’t wait 🥰 thanks for the post! ✨