The old writers on Astrology and Magic give voluminous directions for
gathering herbs and plants at certain periods during the waxing and
waning of the Moon; but the more modern professors of the art, for the
most part reject these formulas and rely rather upon the nature of the
plants themselves, and upon the predominating stellar influences at the
time their juices are expressed and prepared for use, for the efficacy
of the various vegetable medicines used in Astrological Pharmacy.
An English Astrologer who published a work on Chiromancy in 1671,
insists in his preface thereto, that any plant bearing a resemblance
to a portion of the human frame, is a specific for the diseases of the
member which it is assimilated to. He gives several illustrations of
his opinion, a few of which, modernized from the quaint and somewhat
coarse language of the book, are cited below.
How far facts will bear out the doctrine of affinities laid down by the
author, the reader can ascertain by experiment.
Maiden Hair and the Moss of Quinces resemble the fibres of the head.
Hence a decoction thereof is good for baldness.
Plants resembling the figure of the heart are comforting thereto.
Therefore the Citron-apple, Fuller’s Thistle, Spikenard, Balm, Mint,
White-beet, parsley, and Motherwort, which bear in leaves and roots a
heart-like form are congenial to that organ.
Herbs that simulate the shape of the lungs, as Sage, Lungwort,
Hounds-tongue and Camphrey, are good for pulmonary complaints,
Vegetable productions like in figure to the ears, as the leaves of
Folefoot or wild Spikenard rightly prepared as a conserve and eaten,
improve the hearing and memory. Oil extracted from the shells of
sea-snails, which have the turnings and curvature of the ears, also
tends wonderfully to the cure of deafness.
When plants resemble the nose in their configuration, as the leaves
of the Wild Water Mint; they are beneficial in restoring the sense of
smell.
Certain plants having a semblance of the womb―as Birthwort or
Heartwort, Ladies’ Seal or Briony, etc., conduce much to a safe
accouchement.
Shrubs and Herbs like unto the bladder and gall are excellent for those
parts; as Night-shade, Alkakenge and Nux Visicaria. These relieve the
gravel and stone.
Herbs formed like the milt, as Miltwort, Spleenwort, and Lupins, are
recommended for the strengtheing of that part of the human viscera.
Plants that are liver-shaped, as the herb Trinity, Liverwort, Agarick,
Fermitory and Figs, are efficacious in bilious diseases.
Walnuts, Indian Nuts, Leeks and the root of Ragwort, because of their
form, are said when duly prepared to further generation and prevent
sterility.
Herbs and Seeds, in shape like the teeth, as Toothwort, Pine Kernel,
etc., preserve the dental organization.
Plants of knobbed form, like the knuckles or joints, as Galingale and
the Knotty Odoriferous rush (Calamus,) are good for spinal complaints,
renal diseases, foot gout, knee swellings, and all joint pains
whatsoever.
Oily vegetable products, as the Filbert, Walnut, Almond, etc., tend to
fatness of body. Plants naturally lean emaciate those who take them;
as Sarsaparilla or long-leaved Rosa Solie.
Fleshy plants make flesh for the eaters; for instance the Onion, Leek
and Colewort. Certain plants fortify and brace the nerves; for example,
the Sensitive plant, Nettles, the roots of Mallorus, the herb Neuras,
etc. The same are to be used as outward applications.
Herbs milky in their substance propagate milk; as Lettuce and the fruit
of the Almond and Fig trees.
Plants of a serous nature purge the noxious humors between the flesh
and the skin, as Spurge and Scamony.
Herbs whose acidity turns milk to curd, are said to lead to
procreation. Such are Gallium, and the seeds of Spurge.
Those semples that obstruct the coagulation of milk, as Rue mixed with
Cummin, will relieve a sore breast when the milk is knotted in it, if
applied thereto.
Plants that are hollow, as the stalks of Grain, Reeds, Leeks, Garlick,
etc., are good to purge, open and soothe the hollow parts of the body.
The following from “Hermeppus Redivivus,” a work now out of print,
prescribes the method of preparing the famous ELIXIR OF LIFE. This
supposed specific for the renewal and perpetuation of youth and beauty,
was sought for during the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth
centuries with as much avidity as the philosopher’s stone, which the
alchemists believed would, like the touch of Midas, change all meaner
substances into the regal metal―GOLD.