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A Horoscope & The Law of Similars - Sue Tompkins

In this article, I want to illustrate the holistic nature of astrology and to concentrate on just one strand of homeopathic philosophy; that of 'like cures like' and to do so by presenting some case notes and simple natal astrology.

Hippocrates (c.460 - c.370BC) who was of course an astrologer and routinely set up decumbiture charts for his patients, is usually credited with having laid the foundations of modern medicine in the West. It was Hippocrates also, who is credited with the phrase: 'Similia similibus curenture' - like must be treated with like. Although others - in Greece and India - said as much before him.

Physical examples of the laws of similars abound. For example Paracelsus would have said that walnuts have an affinity for the brain because they look like the brain. Many yellow plants are good for the liver and we talk about people as being 'lily livered' or 'yellow' when they suffer from cowardice. The humble onion (allium cepa) which makes our eyes run when we slice it, is used homoeopathically for those with hay fever largely characterised by runny eyes.

As astrologers we tend to say that what is going on in the sky is 'similar' or, if you like. mirrors what is going on, on earth. The celestial and terrestrial reflecting the other. We might say that the horoscope is a map, a mirror of the psyche or indeed of a given situation. It is part of the astrologers' role to hold up that mirror, so that the situation can be seen more clearly and thus hopefully appropriate choices can be made or at least a greater understanding of the matter in hand, can be reached. In that sense, the consultant astrologer too is ' treating like with like'.

Homeopathic remedies can be made out of may things: plants, minerals, animals. Even disease substances being common source materials. Because such minute amounts of the given material (too small to be detectable by scientific analysis) is used, plants or other substances considered poisonous in their crude state can be safely employed. Where animals are used, one bee that has died naturally could probably supply the whole world with the remedy Apis for generations. Making the remedy is a complex business, but simplistically speaking, the given substance is diluted to nothing and successed (shaken) to harness its curative properties. It is thought that whilst nothing of the original source material remains (in measurably terms anyway) in the remedy, a pattern of the original energy is retained and it is this pattern which is curative.

This is a small part of the original article in Astrology Quarterly.

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