Astrology

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Abstract

This chapter discusses the role of astrology in Jewish medicine, which was another field of great significance for therapeutics. The Bible exhorted Israel not to fear 'portents in the sky' that caused the pagans to tremble. While they rejected the speculations of astrologers of other nations and doubted the accuracy of their predictions, the actual idea of astral influences recurred frequently in their own writings. Knowledge of basic astrological concepts was crucial to an understanding of many aspects of Jewish culture, above all the calendar and the rabbinic discussions surrounding it. The conviction that the seven planets influenced human life and health, in particular at the hour of one's birth, had put down deep roots in the popular consciousness. The Jews perceived a link between the movements of the heavenly bodies and the comparable phenomena of dying and returning to life that they observed in nature. In the folk imagination, the image of the sky was enriched by the conviction that everybody had a light, or lamp, up there which was extinguished with their death. It is pertinent to add that the sun, moon, and stars (and sometimes also the seven planets) featured extremely frequently in the texts of Jewish conjurations. They were mentioned above all in incantations, alongside the attributes of God and religious paraphernalia endowed with an aura of sanctity. Astrology was an intrinsic aspect of views on the rules governing the world that dominated thought in Jewish society until the early twentieth century.