Judicial astrology is the art of forecasting events by calculation of the planetary and stellar bodies and their relationship to the Earth. The term "judicial astrology" was mainly used in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

and early

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

to mean the types of

astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...

that were considered to be heretical by the

Catholic church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, distinguished from the "natural astrology" such as

medical astrology Medical astrology or astrological medicine (traditionally known as iatromathematics) is an ancient applied branch of astrology based mostly on ''melothesia'' (Gr. μελοθεσία), the association of various parts of the body, diseases, and ...

and meteorological astrology, which were seen as acceptable because they were a part of the natural sciences of the time.

Categorisation

In the Middle Ages, natural astrology was mainly focused on the diagnosis and the treatment of medical patients. An additional use would have been the application of astrology to determine future weather patterns based on the Aristotelian/ Ptolemaic rationale that the planets cause change in the sublunary world by producing an efflux of elements and qualities. Every other branch was lumped together into the heading of 'judicial astrology'. These included natal astrology, mundane astrology, horary astrology, and electional astrology. Judicial astrology is an obsolete category, because since the Middle Ages other sciences have arisen, astrology has ceased to be a tool in medicine and

meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...

, and scientifically demonstrable parts of natural astrology such as the

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

's effect on tides are considered to be

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

not astrology.Wood, 1970. pp. 5–6

References

Sources

* {{cite book , title=Chaucer and the Country of the Stars: Poetic Uses of Astrological Imagery , publisher=Princeton University Press , author=Wood, Chauncey , date=1970

Categorisation

References

Sources

Further reading