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Astrology of
Scheduling Surgery
by Bruce Scofield
 I
do a lot of electional astrology. I wrote a book on it 16 years ago and have
continued to explore the area as both a personal project and as a service to
clients. Along the way I've tested old rules and tried more than a few
experiments.
I think electional astrology
appeals to people who want to control things. We all know that this kind of
attitude can get us into trouble. If a client wants me to time an event that
only affects them, like a surgery date, well that's fine with me. Maybe such a
chart will really improve the operation of the heavens.
Unfortunately, there are many
out there who want to use my services as a way to manipulate others. This I
hate, because I need to make money, but doing it goes against my principles. My
response to this kind of situation is to more or less do what the client wants
me to do. But I also constantly interject comments that force them to think
about the larger implications of what they desire. When I finally get them to
admit that their intentions are manipulative, slimy, and on the same level as a
rat's, they either give it up or stop working with me.
I believe that electional
astrology is a kind of ritual magic in which the practitioner exercises a kind
of control over the unfolding of events by consciously altering the event stream
at a specific moment. In other words, it's a way of programming your life, and
then living it, consciously. It's a way of catching event-energy waves, a kind
of "life surfing." With electional astrology, you can seize a propitious moment
in time and jump through a window of opportunity as it comes by. I think that
most successful people do this without astrology, just like most people navigate
the roads without maps. In many respects, those who use astrology are map
readers. Some of them even open their maps while driving, blocking their own
view, and creating all sorts of chaos for themselves and others on the road.
So much for my observations
about electional astrology in general. As I said, I have no reservations about
helping clients schedule a surgery date -- it's their body, and most of the time
it's only about healing. I get requests for this work from time to time and have
developed a methodology that gets good results most of the time. I'll share with
you how this method developed and something of how it works.
About 20 years ago a client came
to me requesting that I select a day for cosmetic surgery. She had already had
some work done on her nose, which she found unsatisfying (both the work and the
nose). It didn't look so bad to me, but this woman had Virgo rising and was very
concerned with the details. I looked at her chart and found that on the day her
surgery had been performed, Mercury was retrograde and her natal Mercury was
being squared by Saturn. It was incredibly obvious to me that Mercury, ruler of
Virgo, had not been in good shape at the time of the surgery, and poor results
could have been expected. I gave her some dates when Mercury would be well-aspected
and moving direct, and her next surgical experience was positive.
The word then got out that I
could schedule successful cosmetic surgery, and soon other clients came to me
with similar requests. Most of the time, I found that the success of cosmetic
surgery was very closely linked to the condition of the Ascendant and its ruler,
which makes perfect sense when you consider that these points relate to the
body's appearance. Even other kinds of surgery showed a similar pattern, with a
few adjustments for the different body parts. Only under the worst conditions
did the surgery turn out bad. Easy enough. The hard part is finding an
astrologically propitious moment that matches both the doctor's and the
hospital's schedule.
Anyone who has had surgery will
know that the doctor's schedule is the number one consideration. The
receptionist will tell you that, "Doctor only operates on Tuesdays and Fridays
at 7:00 a.m. He plays golf on the other days." So the astrologer not only has to
find a spot during the work week, but it must be on either Tuesday or Friday at
7:00 a.m. On the one hand, this is good -- it narrows the search for a good day.
On the other hand, it's incredibly frustrating, because there's no room for
adjustment. Then there's the immediacy factor -- everybody wants (or needs) to
have their surgery done as soon as possible. For the electional astrologer, this
is headache city.
It can get complicated from
here, but there's a very good way to minimize the possibility of a bad surgery
experience, a way that I recommend to everyone who wants me to pick the date of
their operation. I tell them to hire a good doctor. That's right. Get a doctor
with a lot of experience and a good reputation, and chances are he or she will
do good surgery on just about any day that doctor operates. In my opinion, this
alone accounts for about 85 percent of the success of any surgery.
Now, assuming you have a handle
on doctor's schedule, and you want to "improve" the chart for the surgery, which
accounts for 15 percent of the outcome, you have to take into account both the
inner and outer realities of the patient. The inner reality is shown by
transits, progressions, and directions to the natal chart of the patient. The
outer reality is shown by the current mundane aspects and combinations. The
inner reality is how the patient experiences the event; the outer reality is how
the world is functioning at the time.
In general, I favor the inner
reality. Or at least I begin my work with it, since the patient's experience is
at the center of the work. On the other hand, the efficient, or not so
efficient, functioning of the various components of an operation -- the team of
doctors, nurses, assistants, hospital administrators, etc. -- will be shown by
the current conditions.
As to what configurations one
should seek or avoid, there is, in my opinion, no perfect standardized set of
rules. Everything is constantly changing, and planetary combinations that look
bad by themselves might be excellent in some situations. But for starters, here
are some suggestions for each category of reality.
Inner reality: Directions (solar
arc, primaries, etc.), secondary progressions, and transits to the natal chart
will reveal stress periods and periods of opportunity. A lack of aspects to the
natal chart suggests stability, which is a good time to have something as
delicate as surgery performed. Look for positive and supportive aspects to the
Sun, Ascendant, Ascendant ruler, and the planet that signifies the part of the
body operated on. For example, don't do stomach surgery right when the natal
Moon is afflicted. Exact aspects are quite powerful. Try to avoid major surgery
on the day that an aspect is exact, particularly a stressful aspect. Aspects to
the 6th house and its ruler will show how healing progresses.
Outer reality: Look at what the
Moon is doing. Generally, a void-of-course Moon suggests that things may not go
exactly as planned. There will be less control over events during these periods.
Note when the Moon makes aspects to other planets and plan the surgery to occur
as the Moon is applying to a favorable aspect. Check the last aspect the Moon
makes in the sign that it is in during the surgery. A nasty last aspect is
something to consider avoiding, since it symbolizes a tough finish to the matter
-- in this case, the surgery.
Check the mutual aspects and
avoid the days when eclipses or other exact alignments occur. Avoid stressful
combinations involving Mercury (and Mercury stations), which is both the planet
of communication and a significator of the use of precision instruments and
devices that are the tools of doctors. Determine what planets will be rising,
culminating, setting, or at lower culmination as the operation begins. Put
Jupiter on one of the angles if possible. Pay attention to any parans that may
exist on the day of the surgery at the latitude of the hospital.
If cosmetic surgery is
requested, make sure to avoid periods of time when the natal chart Ascendant
degree and Ascendant ruler are terribly afflicted. Remember that one bad aspect
won't spoil the bunch, but several will. If it's some other kind of surgery, or
if the client's condition is serious, you have to consider a few more things.
Here are a few more general electional rules you may want to consider in such
cases.
The Sun, Ascendant, and the
Ascendant ruler are potent indicators of the physical body in a birth chart. If
possible, don't do surgery, except in an emergency, when all three points are
severely afflicted by Mars, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto. Generally
speaking though, if somebody needs surgery, at least one of these points will be
afflicted, symbolizing the fact that they have a physical problem. Try to avoid
dates when hard aspects (squares, oppositions, conjunctions) are making exact
aspects to these points. Exact is too tense; you want to keep the pressures as
low as possible. For a good adjustment to the surgery and quick healing, make
sure the ruler of the 6th house, or any planets therein, are not horribly
afflicted. You don't even have to have good aspects, just regular normal
aspects, and things will behave predictably.
I learned a few things when I
had surgery myself. Back in the 1970s I slipped a disk by lifting heavy guitar
amplifiers, moving refrigerators, and changing the transmission on my car. For a
year I tried conservative measures like chiropractic and acupuncture, but the
problem (sciatica) kept getting worse. I then reasoned that since conservative
Capricorn was on the cusp of my 6th house of healing, I should probably go the
traditional route for my problem -- back surgery by an orthopedist and
neurologist. I then tracked down the most famous back surgeon in the region and
had to wait four months to see him. He checked me out and suggested I get a
laminectomy and spinal fusion ASAP.
Next I checked my aspects and
set a hospital date when Saturn was square my Midheaven, which is always a good
time to retire, check out, and keep a low profile. In terms of my career this
worked out fine, since business was slow. But I also found that I lost control
over any scheduling. Sure enough, as Saturn passed the square of my Midheaven,
first the surgery was delayed by four days, and then there I was, horizontal and
tied to the hospital bed with tubes coming out of my body. On the day of the
surgery, the Moon was in Leo (rules the back) conjunct Saturn (last aspect a
square to Jupiter), and there was an exact conjunction of Mars and Neptune
(cutting and drugs) sesquiquadrate my natal Sun. Jupiter was squaring my
Ascendant, and there I was being attended to by the nurses. More positively, the
Sun was approaching my natal Jupiter in Sagittarius. To keep my spirits up, I
read a few books about the Aztecs and human sacrifice.
The operation was a great
success. The doctor knew his stuff, and the only thing I lost was the ability to
run long-distance painlessly. So I took up hiking. Astrologically, I learned to
not fear what seemed at first to be bad aspects. Some of the old rules about
elections for surgery clearly didn't work. I believe that the major factors were
that the transiting Sun, which rules my Ascendant, was applying to a conjunction
of natal Jupiter (positive), while my natal Sun was being afflicted by Mars and
Neptune (stressful). I was successfully drugged and cut open. Here's my rule of
thumb: major surgery is never shown astrologically as stressless and painless,
so don't fear a hard aspect or two. Just make sure that other supportive aspects
are coincident.
By now you should have gotten
the idea that elections for surgery are not easy. If you have the nerve to
dabble in this field, don't get bent out of shape if you can't find a perfect
planetary pattern that fits into doctor's schedule. Hire a good body mechanic
and pick a time around his or her schedule that is not an astrological mess. If
it's a halfway decent time, all should go well -- unless doctor's chart is
horribly afflicted! Ha! Surprise! Yet another potential astrological headache
that I try not to think about.
©1996
Bruce Scofield - all rights reserved
This article was first printed in the July 1996 issue of The Mountain
Astrologer. For subscriptions or back issues, call 800-287-4828 or go to
www.MountainAstrologer.com.
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