212 THE OCCULT SCIENCES. 



and the most famous of them all, Michel de Nostredame, otherwise 

 Nostradamus, physician-iu-ordiniary and astrologer to Charles IX., who was 

 born at Salon, in France, in 1503, and who died there in 1566. He is the 

 only astrologer whose name has remained popular, and this through his 

 " collection of perpetual predictions," compiled in enigmatic verses, and 

 published under the title of " Quatrains Astroiiomiques," and which have 

 been reprinted several times under the title of " Propheties." 



Judicial astrology, so called to distinguish it from alchemical astrology 

 and magical astrology, had no fixed rules until the thirteenth century ; it 

 had long followed in the wake of astronomy properly so called, but from this 

 time it started upon a path of its own, and adopted many imaginary theories, 

 repeatedly borrowing from the occult sciences certain mysterious and fanciful 

 procedures. 



According to the pure theory of the art, the seven planets then discovered, 

 including the sun, formed, with the twelve figures of the zodiac, the totality 

 of the astrological system. Each of these stars or constellations was supposed 

 to govern, by its special influence, either a limb of the human body, or the 

 whole body, or a whole nation, and this bounden relation of the celestial 

 bodies to earthly things extended to all the beings and all the products in 

 creation. " The flowers are to the earth as the stars to the sky," the pseudo- 

 Trismegistus is made to say in the old French translation ; " there is not one 

 flower amongst them which some star has not bidden to grow." Albertus 

 Magnus, or rather the anonymous author of the book of " Wonderful Secrets " 

 published with his name to it, tells us that the planet of Saturn presides over 

 life, sciences, and buildings ; that wishes, honours, riches, and the cleanliness of 

 the garments are dependent upon Jupiter ; that Mars exercises his influence 

 over wars, persons, marriages, and feuds ; that hope, happiness, and gain 

 came from the Sun ; that love and friendship are under the influence of 

 Venus ; that disease, debts, and fear are beneath the influence of Mercury, 

 who is also the planet of commerce ; while the Moon causes wounds, robberies, 

 and dreams. 



As to the intrinsic qualities of the planetary influences, they were 

 denoted by the planets themselves. The Sun was favourable ; Saturn, cold 

 and cheerless ; Jupiter, temperate ; Mars ardent ; Venus, fruitful ; Mercury, 

 inconstant ; the Moon, melancholy. The days, the colours, and the metals 

 were also subject to the influence of the planets and of the constellations. 



