Welcome to September, everyone. According to medieval calendars, September is the month of Libra, the scales, usually represented as a pair of scales hanging off of something or carried by someone. Like so:
Medieval astrologers held that the planet Venus rules Libra, so those born in Libra were thought to be lucky in love and particularly attractive to members of the fair sex. But be careful: the proximity to Virgo’s stomach influence means that Libras must watch what they drink while wining and dining their amorous conquests. For Libras, the line between witty drinking companion and toilet-clutching drunk is razor thin.
For medieval doctors, Libra was thought to be in charge of the lower torso, the bowels and the kidneys in particular. As an airy sign assigned to the sanguine temperament guarded over by Jupiter, Libra was a particularly good time for bloodletting. But really, when isn’t a good time for bloodletting?
Finally, according to Old and Middle English thunderbooks,* thunder heard while the moon is in the sign of Libra indicates “there shall be drowth in the valeyes and in the end of the yere shall be moche reyne and cornes shall be full dere in the end.” So stock up on your frozen and canned vegetables if you hear thunder this month, I guess.
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The agricultural task for the month is harvesting your grapes and stomping them into wine, which I noted in this calendar post from two years ago.
Famous medieval saints whose feasts are found in the month of September include St. Gregory the Great (September 3), St. Hildegard of Bingen (September 17), and Ss. Gabriel and Michael, the archangels (September 29). For a few more, drop on by the September feast calendar post from last year.
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*Thunderbooks are exactly what they sound like, books of astrological and numerological prognostication based on the circumstances during which one hears thunder. The quote here is found in Pierpont Morgan Library MS 775.