Dandelion, Jupiter, and the Quest for the Skin

As of the time of this writing, Spring is springing in the northern hemisphere, bringing with it a quick return of green where there had once been brown. One of the earliest signals of spring is the quick proliferation of the dandelion. While many consider this a noisome weed, dandelion is far from it with a myriad of uses both as medicine and a foodstuff. For the past several years I’ve been deepening my familiarity with herbalism and using it as a means to further explore the relationship between the celestial and earthly world as well as assist clients through spiritually or physically demanding times.

One of my earlier experiments with herbalism was in harvesting the dandelion roots and greens of those plants that had found their way into my flower beds. Of course I had read how large the dandelion root structure can be, but words did not prepare me for the surprise of digging up that first plant and the two foot taproot that came with it.

The dandelion is considered a quintessentially Jupiter plant. In part because of its quick proliferation and also for its uses in traditional medicine as a liver tonic and blood purifier, Jupiter being significator of these parts of the body himself. In late winter and early spring it is common to see dandelion root teas and other preparations pulled out of the cupboards and taken to assist with purifying the blood by encouraging urination and increasing the kidney’s ability to filter waste from the blood. This can be useful anytime of the year especially if you are in the process of making a dietary transition. Spring is the traditional time to undergo this process as it aligns with the dandelion blooming cycle and marks the time of the year when fresh foods would be available again after a period of heavily salted, cured, smoked, and preserved foods in the diet due to lack of refrigeration.

Dandelion has several other uses; it’s a potassium-rich diuretic which can allay some of the concerns many have in utilizing diuretics. They remove all minerals from the blood indiscriminately, not just salt, and can lead to mineral deficiencies and a host of problems associated with that. Not so with dandelion as it is rich enough if those minerals to make it a non-issue. Dandelion is also a bitter, which is a class of herbs with specific actions to assist with digestion. As dandelion is more focused on the liver, the plant specifically encourages the liver to release its enzymatic bile to assist with digestion, ensuring there is enough of the good stuff to go around and get the job done.

Let’s talk about the liver. This organ is a very important organ for digestion and in classical medicine the liver was seen as the seat of the blood and the organ that produced the four humours of the body. Issues with the liver could result in systemic failures of the body as a liver that was impeded would be unable to produce humours in the necessary quality or amount to provide nutrition for the rest of the body. The liver is an important organ for cleansing and detoxifying the body and houses 13% of the body’s blood.

The Liver/Skin Connection
One often repeated aphorism in medical astrology that I run across is the idea that the planet Saturn rules the skin. From a certain standpoint it does sound like it makes sense. The skin is the outermost layer of the body in a way very similar to how Saturn is the outermost visible planet. The skin is a barrier, separating the body’s internal structures from the outside world and Saturn signifies barriers. However, I’ve always been uneasy with this connection.

As someone who has read a good amount of the astro-medical tradition, I could not recall a source that explicitly made this Saturn/skin connection or any sort of reference to skin’s significator at all. This led me to wonder where exactly this idea came from. Was it a more modern connection? Had I simply overlooked or failed to recall a reference? I reached out to friend and colleague Wade Caves who was able to provide me with a quote from Al-Biruni, of all places.

Finally! An historical reference to Saturn and the skin! At first I was a little shocked, but the more it set with me the more the discomfort with the association began to spring up and the inclusion of the skin in a list of otherwise traditional Saturn associations felt like a game of One of These Things Doesn’t Belong.

The list got me thinking about how we do actually have a traditional link between Saturn and the skin, but not in the way that we usually think of it. Specifically we see connections between Saturn and skin when we’re talking about leatherwork and crafting. As someone who has a practice in leathercraft as a hobby, I can see how Saturn would be involved here. It involves a processing associated with death. The curing, treating, and tanning of the skin of a deceased animal who, traditionally having been slaughtered for food, is venerated both for the nutrition it provides in its meat, but also the tools in its bones, and the leather in its hide.

This Saturn-skin is a dead skin and fits in more nicely with the other Saturn body parts mentioned by Al-Biruni; hair, nails, feathers, teeth, bones, horns. These are parts of the body that are cold, dry, dead, mostly insensitive. The skin of the living could not be more different and is not the skin of Saturn. The skin of the living is the skin of Jupiter.

Returning to the liver as the seat of the blood humour in the body and the main organ associated with Jupiter, there is a strong connection between the liver, blood, and the skin which helps to cement this triad as under the sway of Jupiter. Many liver disorders have tell-tale signs as manifestations in the skin. Some examples include jaundice and its characteristically yellow-colored skin, the spider-looking visible blood vessel clusters that many with cirrhosis experience, the various rashes and itches that people living with Hepatitis C endure, even patients with psoriasis have been shown to have a higher likelihood of fatty liver disease. A wide variety of metabolic diseases manifest in the skin, some of which are listed above.

The blood produced in the liver expresses its nature in the skin and serves as a window into the humours of the body. Whether it’s the flushed red face of a sanguine or someone getting too hot, the yellowing of an individual with bile buildup, the moist paleness of someone with excess phlegm, or the dry brittleness of a melancholic, the skin often screams to us about the condition of our inner body. Skin color changes are not the best indicator of humoural changes, especially in those with black and brown skin. It can be useful for self-assessment (as you and those close to you will have a sense of what your skin tone normally looks like and will be more perceptive to shifts in it), but usually examining mucous membranes will provide better clues for paleness and other indicators regardless of skin color. Texture, moisture, and temperature, however, are an all-inclusive method of analysis. Taking care of the blood and liver are well-known ways to help with dermatological issues and are why herbs with lymphatic, diuretic, and alterative properties are recommended for skin issues; they work to clean out the blood so those impurities leave the system instead of getting stuck in the skin.

While there may be a connection with Saturn and the skin in the tradition of astrology, I’m not convinced it was meant to be used in medical astrology to the extent the aphorism has caught on today. Saturn skin is dead skin, waiting to be worked after being separated from its body. Skin lives, it breathes, it feels, it’s supple, soft, moist, expressive, all things Saturn does not do. It interacts with our environment and bridges the gaps between our internal world and our external world. It has an inherent connection with the liver and blood and many botanicals taken to address skin issues do so by helping the liver to keep the blood clean by enhancing its ability to process out waste or by encouraging the body to pass waste already held in the blood for far too long. Living skin is Jupiter skin.