Why I Studied Astrology
I’m often asked how I became interested in astrology and why I incorporated it into my medical practice. The reasons are manifold!
When I first started practicing Ayurvedic medicine, I encountered a number of patients whose imbalances I could not explain through the lens of dietary and lifestyle patterns. These were individuals who were already familiar with Ayurvedic wisdom and had excellent dietary and lifestyle practices. Yet they were seeking medical care for ongoing imbalances that I could not account for. This became a source of disillusionment for me as I began to perceive a deeper and more invisible level of imbalance affecting my patients.
In school, I had some rudimentary exposure to Vedic astrology, and knew that this was once practiced alongside Ayurvedic medicine. I did not know anything about how they were integrated or in what ways astrology would be clinically valuable. I started learning the basic principles of Vedic astrology through David Frawley’s course and books, and later significantly deepened my study with Ernst Wilhelm. I started casting the birth chart of my patients, and even with my rudimentary skills, was able to see that a new strata of influences in their lives.
As I explored astrology further, I realized the cosmological basis of all medicine, and the great need to re-unite these sister sciences. The birth chart began to provide great insights into my patients’ constitutional nature, psychological patterns, and the effects of transitory planetary influences on their health and well-being.
This was all confirmed to me once again when I began studying Tibetan Medicine. Tibetan Medicine has managed to preserve its classical roots. My teacher, Dr. Wangmo, completed a traditional education in Tibet, studying both medicine and astrology for many years. In Tibetan medical education, astrology is part and parcel of the curriculum, as everything depends upon right alignment with macrocosmic energies. A Tibetan physician must have knowledge of astrology in order to know when to treat and when not to treat a patient. For example, moxibustion and blood-letting are not performed on certain days, based on a complex understanding of lunar cycles and their affect on the circulation of spiritual energy in the body. Astrology is also essential in the growing, harvesting, and processing of herbs so that these plant medicines possess the full vibrancy of nature. Dr. Wangmo told me that herbs are only harvested in accordance with such astrological alignments and that the astrological confluences also needed to be auspicious for the individual who was leading the harvest expedition.
In my practice today, astrology is indispensable. I discovered its use as a modality in itself, a means for helping a person see themselves more clearly, and to move in the natural direction of their potentials. Astrology is experiencing a renaissance in our culture today as a divinatory tool. This seems positive on the one hand, but it also comes with liabilities. I feel that astrology and medicine need to be re-united and practiced alongside each other, as they once were. When this happens, a discovery will be made regarding the cosmological origins of medical theory and praxis. This is not only interesting from an anthropological perspective, but shapes our very understanding of health and disease. Therefore, astrology has tremendous clinical import for medical practice. Health is the natural connection between the microcosm and the macrocosm.
The Vedic seers used the term “graha” to refer to planets, and “graha” means “that which seizes”. That which seizes is also that which provokes, and therefore Tibetan medicine places planetary influences in the etiological category of “provocations”—a classification which includes spirit possession, black magic, epidemic diseases, and psychological imbalances. This category is known in Chinese Medicine as “possession” syndromes (or “shen disturbances”) and in Ayurvedic medicine as “bhutaroga”. The failure to properly account for this level of etiology becomes a disservice to patients and to the multi-dimensional nature of medicine.
To this category of “provocations”, I would add a modern factor: electromagnetic radiation / frequencies (EMR/EMF). The artificial currents of modern technology function as an influence that disturbs the natural course of our life-energy and disrupts our connection to the macrocosm. The majority of patients today are experiencing imbalances that come from the more invisible layers of environmental, mental, and spiritual dimensions of reality. Therefore, it is an opportune moment to rediscover the clinical power of traditional medicine in its classical forms, and see how these ancient understandings are still profoundly relevant to the struggles of today.