“Gather all Leaves in the hour of that Planet that governs them.” – Nicolas Culpepper M.D (Old world English Physician).
“There is in each person, in every animal, bird and plant a star which mirrors, matches or is in some sense the same as a star in the heavens.” Paracelsus (16th Century Alchemist and Physician).
 

 

Pythagoras, followed by Kepler, followed by Douglas Kahn – and probably supported by many others along the way- developed a theory called the ‘Music of the Spheres’, which states that the planets move in patterns and with resonances that create a galactic soundscape. Kepler said: “The heavenly motions are nothing but a continuous song for several voices (perceived by the intellect, not by the ear); a music which… progresses towards certain pre-designed, quasi six-voiced clausuras, and thereby sets landmarks in the immeasurable flow of time.” Nasa has since measured and amplified both the literally audible frequencies of planets as well the different types and strengths of radiation that each planet emits, which somewhat confirms that the planets do project their subtle energies in to space – which then reach Earth to be taken up by the flora and fauna. Particle physics offers the string theory which suggests that realities smallest constituents exist as sub-microscopic strings, much like that of an instrument. The rate of vibration determining the physical form… The plants have evolved over the aeons, each of them diverging down their specific path of planetary resonance. Whilst plants can be worked with purely on a level of symptom versus cure, this approach fails to respect the deeper interplay between the humans natal astrology, the astrology of the moment, and the astrology of the plant. In crafting spagyrics one determines the planetary domicile of a certain plant, e.g Pine is clearly a Saturn plant in that it is tall, rigid, leaved with hard needles, and grows in dry sandy soils as well as in extreme cold all year round. These qualities are resonant with Saturn’s governance over issues of structure, vertical hierarchy, generating resource from limitation, and steady determination. In the body Pine mitigates bone loss, can increase muscle mass, ameliorates listlessness due to exhaustion (think of listlessness as reflective of the way the pines sway with melancholy ‘wooshes’) and it reduces ache and stiffness, due to cold diseases (one’s aches evoking sounds akin to the creak of the pines). Thus one can see that utilising the planets to describe the plants is accurate, and one can effectively work with them like so; treating sticking points in one’s natal chart, or treating manifest imbalances (e.g a deficiency of Venus causing a dulling lack of appreciation for lifes pleasures).
Here at Soul Garden Medicines we utilise 'True Sidereal Astrology' (via Capricorn Prometheus software) to time all of our alchemical works down to the minute.