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Astronomical Images : Legend for calendrical symbols

Andreas Nolthius

Astronomical Images

<p style='text-align: justify;'>One of the primary purposes of an annual almanac was to deliver medical advice. This was done concisely via a series of conventional symbols that could be deciphered using a legend such as this. Combinations of symbols were used to indicate the days on which it was safe to perform potentially risky procedures such as blood-letting, or to take potentially dangerous medicines, according to astrological parameters. These methods were based on the concept of balance in the bodily humours. The humours in turn were believed to be influenced by the Moon and planetary aspects. For example, the Moon's position in the zodiac and its phases seemingly caused variation in its power to draw out blood from various parts of the body. Planetary aspects also purportedly had an impact on the weather, which in turn affected agriculture as well as when to pick herbs. Hence the phases of the Moon and its position in the zodiac were medically relevant information. The first printed almanac, produced by Gutenberg in 1457, indicated on a monthly basis the dates on which it was safe to let blood or take laxatives. Early in the sixteenth century, single-sheet almanacs with daily, rather than monthly, medical advice began to be printed. Annual almanacs also came to include other kinds of medical advice, such as good times for cupping, taking baths (to promote therapeutic perspiration), cutting hair and weaning children. These were medical procedures that people who could not afford a private consultation with a university-educated physician could obtain cheaply or by themselves from a barber, barber-surgeon or pharmacy. We can thus gain a clear indication of who might have used annual calendars ' they became an affordable and readily understandable reference point for ordinary people to maintain their health, and suggested medical activities that were themselves affordable to the majority of people, whilst also assisting health professionals. Indeed, the key to the usefulness and popularity of the annual almanac lay in the fact that the user did not have to derive or calculate astronomical parameters, nor deduce from them medically or astrologically relevant information for the day. Compilers had to convince their readers of their competence as more and more almanacs were issued by more printers, and discrepancies between predictions began to become apparent. Printing the name and qualification (<i>meister, magister, doctor, leibarzt, medicus</i>) of the compiler was therefore an important way of advertising the reliability and credibility of the almanac. Nolthius always called himself <i>mathematicus</i> in his publications, which, in addition to this almanac, included prognostications between the years 1579 and 1582, a <i>Schreibkalender</i> for 1579 (in which people recorded personal events on the blank page facing the calendar), and observations on the 'comets' (<i>novae</i>) of 1572 and 1577. Almanacs almost always carried legends for the symbols used, though these symbols were fairly well known and common across Europe. This page shows symbols pertaining to medical astrology, followed by the zodiac signs and the signs for planets. The black circle and crescent indicate the New Moon and the First-Quarter Moon respectively, and the red circle and crescent the Full Moon and the Last-Quarter. A double cross is a sign for a good day for blood-letting, a single cross for a medium day. A red cup signfies a good day for cupping (another form of blood-letting), the red clover sign for sowing and planting, and an asterisk for taking medicines.</p>


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