Why Medical-Astrology?


This course is currently in redevelopment so it WILL NOT BE DELIVERED DURING 2024


In our current era of possibly over-engineered medical intervention, in which care is often substituted for cure, many people choose to explore traditional medicine as an adjunct to modern treatment. It is here that medical-astrology holds importance: this is not a form of modern medicine, but a traditional, philosophical add-on to health-care and spiritual well-being. It provides a timing system, and an alternate method for evaluating the dynamics of humoural distribution in the body (in traditional medicine, the humours are the four primary fluids which mediate the health and physiology of the organism).

As a sophisticated system which has developed over millennia, medical-astrology offers wide-ranging contributions to the more conventional astrological subdivisions:

  • Natal astrological applications include characterizing each person in terms of their elemental balance (thereby constructing a healthy lifestyle) and studying their disease susceptibilities by traditional organ type.
  • Horary applications include questions concerning the development of disease, and the study of decumbitures (astrological charts set for the onset of a disease or ailment).
  • Electional applications include selecting times for surgery, the start of a treatment protocol, or the commencement of any other medical procedure.
  • Dynamic applications include studying the chart for future periods of stress that could indicate the development of chronic disease.
  • Psycho-spiritual applications include considering how obstructions to the soul’s functioning and purpose back up into the body as dis-ease.

The challenge, from a student’s standpoint, is that the breadth of disciplines involved in the training of medical-astrology is daunting. Not only does it require competence in natal, horary, and electional astrology, it also demands detailed understanding of traditional medical theory (from the 17th century and earlier) and its many philosophical implications.

The STA Practitioners Level Medical-Astrology Course Stage I: Groundwork, offers a unique opportunity to begin the requisite study of this highly specialized subject. You will learn about how the traditional system of humours was understood through the natal chart; how the system of astrological rulerships was applied to medicinal plants; how electional astrology can be used to time medical procedures; and how the natal and horary chart could be used to examine the timing of illnesses.

The STA Practitioners Level Medical-Astrology Course, Stage II: Case Studies, builds on the foundational knowledge acquired in stage I by using case studies in horary, electional and natal to embed the astrological principles already learned through examples, and to extend the knowledge of plant rulerships into electional and natal practice. By the completion of this stage sufficient knowledge and experience is gained to combine humoral medicine and its astrological components into an ongoing astrological practice.

Completion of stage II also acts as a pre-requisite qualification for anyone wishing to advance to the STA Masters Level Medical-Astrology Course, a top-level study course, which is designed to refine knowledge of this highly specialist subject through the study of historical texts to a level of ultimate expertise.

Full details of our entry level program are provided below.


It is recommended that students complete the STA Practitioners Level Horary Astrology Course before entering this program of specialist study in traditional medical-astrology.





The STA Practitioners Level Medical-Astrology Program

Stage I: Groundwork


This is the entry level course to the most complete and philosophically rich program on decumbiture and medical-astrology techniques available to astrologers. Written by renowned expert J. Lee Lehman, PhD, the program offers a unique tutorial format, in which the principles of medical-astrology are demonstrated through genuine client-charts and informative historical examples. Explanations of philosophical principles and traditional medical techniques are offered throughout the program, but with the intention of serving the needs of modern consulting astrologers, whose clients wish to understand their circumstances from a more holistic viewpoint.

Stage I of the STA medical-astrology program, ‘Groundwork’, introduces the natural philosophy which enlivened the historical development of Hippocratic and Galenic medicine. It explores the logic of traditional therapeutic methodologies, to show how astrological systems were used for the analysis and timing of critical procedures. If you have ever used herbal preparations, you have employed components of this system, perhaps without realising. Knowledge of the framework largely depends on combinations of planetary rulerships and elements, to offer deeper understanding of the use of herbs, extracts, flower essences, and essential oils.

This course also develops a more specialized, perceptive, and confident judgement of medical horaries and decumbiture charts, as introduced in the STA Practitioners Level Horary Course. Students are taught how to focus on identifying potential disease indicators in the nativity, as well as providing a system for designing wellness lifestyle decisions which positively address future patterns and natal imbalances.

Successful completion of the course leads to the STA Practitioners Level Certificate in Medical-Astrology.



Syllabus

This course is offered in an online format. Sixteen tutorial themes and four practicum workshops are delivered weekly over a period of about four months, through a combination of supplied course notes, modern media presentations, and online tutorials.

Lessons are structured as tutorials followed by assignments, with thought-provoking questions, and consolidation of principles through practical application of demonstrated technique. Students study at their own pace and within their own time, but always with supplementary group discussion and access to the tutor.

A typical session includes: a live presentation, a set reading assignment, an individual assignment (e.g., chart examples or workbook activities) and an assignment which encourages group interaction through forum discussion. Each week Lee or one of the lecturers will guide the course content, review assignments, provide feedback and be available for questions.

Students receive their own set of personalized course notes which includes explanations of key principles, workbook-style activities, example medical astrology charts and answer sheets. The student workbook is also cross-referenced with Lee Lehman’s book, Traditional Medical Astrology, which acts as an accompanying text-book for the course.

Course content (subject to amendment):

  • Elements in medicine and natural philosophy
  • Hippocratic principles and dis-ease concepts
  • The soul's relationship to physiology
  • Temperaments and their calculation
  • Traditional medical vocabulary and concepts
  • Primary faculties of wellness and disease
  • Change, balance, and homeostasis
  • Humoral pathology
  • Medical melothesia
  • Medieval innovations related to disease and treatment
  • Indicators of disease in the nativity
  • Decumbiture
  • Medical horaries
  • Medical elections
  • Natal cycles of health and disease
  • Critical days
  • Alternate methods when the time of onset is not known
  • Aging, stagnation, and death
  • Medical astrology and herbalism I: homeopathy and antipathy
  • Medical astrology and herbalism II: the tissue states
  • Differentiating medical practice and medical astrology
  • Awareness of legal issues related to practicing medicine without a license
  • Philosophical ideas relating to the application of the four-element system to the ancient medical practice, updated to modern terminology

Tutors

This course is written and administrated by J. Lee Lehman PhD, who is the main course presenter. For more about Lee's background click the link below.

Lee may be joined by several guest presenters who have expertise in medical astrology, including:

  • William Morris, PhD, DOAM, (Acupuncturist)
  • Anita Kolisch, MD (Medical Doctor)
  • Mercedes Stewart, RN, (Acupuncturist)
  • Nicky Allison, Naturopath, (Hypnotherapist)

In her four decade development as an astrologer, practical application has been a persistent hallmark which has defined Lee Lehman. Lee has a Ph.D. in Botany from Rutgers University. She is author of The Ultimate Asteroid Book (1988), Essential Dignities (1989), The Book of Rulerships (1992), Classical Astrology for Modern Living (1996), The Martial Art of Horary Astrology (2002), Astrology of Sustainability (2011), Traditional Medical Astrology (2011), Classical Solar Returns (2012), The Magic of Electional Astrology (2014), and a translation from the French of Papus’ Astrology for Initiates, available for purchase here. Lee is the former Academic Dean of Kepler College, and has taught regularly at the Midwest School of Astrology and Avalon School of Astrology, as well as serving as a faculty member of the STA and Principal of the STA Medical Program. Lee has trained students in horary, medical and electional astrology all over the world, in both live and online formats.

An early adherent of the current neo-classical movement in astrology, Lee’s focus has been to speak the method of classical astrology in modern language, and to help encourage people to learn how to apply ancient knowledge in modern systems. Her Perennial Herbal takes ancient astrological herbalism onto the web.

Lee was the recipient of the 1995 Marc Edmund Jones Award, and the 2008 UAC Marion March Regulus Award in the category of astrological education.

Book a Course:

Zones Start Language/format Tutor(s) Availability
Americas, Europe 13 August 2023 English/online Lee Lehman (plus guest presenters) View details

This course is currently in redevelopment so IT WILL NOT BE DELIVERED DURING 2024

Click through the links of our available courses for details of cost and booking conditions.

Places on our courses are restricted to ensure that the study groups are friendly and supportive, with everyone able to receive the personal attention they need.

Policies, Requirements and Recommendations


  • Students on this course do not need to have previous experience in medical astrology. However, this course specialises in advanced-level astrological training so it is necessary for participants to have a firm understanding of all basic astrological principles, and to have already studied certain principles that are generally taught as part of the study of horary astrology. For that reason, we recommend students to have previously undertaken the STA Practitioners Level Horary Course.
  • This is an English language delivery of the course, so it essential that students have a fluent understanding of the English language.
  • Chart calculation is not taught as part of this syllabus, except for techniques specific to medical-astrology (such as the calculation of temperaments, critical periods, etc). Participants are expected to be competently able to draw up and interpret astrological charts using basic natal techniques.
  • Students are advised, if possible, to have astrological software which computes a chart, and also the more advanced methods in this course. At this time, only Sirius and Solar Fire perform all the explained calculations. There is a free program, Planetdance, which performs all calculations except the critical days and the monthly charts. Janus and AstroGold (Mac edition) do all the horary methods, but don't do temperaments, critical days, and monthlies. Check with Lee about any software questions.
  • The course materials should be accessible on all modern computers. It is assumed that students have access to a printer, and it is necessary to have stable internet access, as all coursework is done online through the STA Course Portal. Students are required to download a free video conference program, Zoom, to enable interactive online sessions with the tutors and fellow students.
  • Students should regularly commit to the course and expect to spend between 4 to 8 hours per week to comfortably make it through all the course material and the associated exercises. The qualifying certificate is only issued to students who demonstrate their study and understanding of the material by successfully completing the set assignments.
  • Tuition materials are provided in a serialised form as PDF downloads. All materials used in the delivery of this course are strictly copyrighted and provided for personal study only – no element whatsoever may be reproduced or recirculated in any form. Video tutorials are not available for download and can only be accessed by logging in to the secure course portal. Graduates are allowed continued access to these videos and any other resources on the course portal for 12 months subsequent to the formal completion of the course. All in-course discussion and chart examples are to be treated as confidential and never shared with anyone outside the perimeters of the study group.
  • Places held by a deposit must be paid in full before the agreed deadline. If the full payment is not completed by the advertised deadline we reserve the right to offer the placement to someone else. In the unlikely event that the course is cancelled the STA will refund all course fees but will not be liable for any other additional costs personally incurred by participants. We reserve the right to make necessary amendments to our schedule of live tutorials.
  • If a student pays for the course and then changes his or her mind for any reason, a cancellation will be arranged and the refund of any payment is provided within 30 days of that payment. No refunds are allowed after this 30-day period or after the delivery of any formal course material has commenced. This is due to the fact that places on our courses are strictly limited and once a course is full we prevent further enrolments: therefore deposits paid to secure and hold a registration are non-refundable and non-transferable after the 30 day ‘cooling off’ period has expired.