Astrology
Microcosm and Macrocosm
Direct answer
Microcosm and Macrocosm: Microcosm and macrocosm is the doctrine that the human being is a small copy of the whole cosmos, so that the signs, planets and cycles of the sky have counterparts in the body.
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At a glance
- Also called
- man as microcosm, the human body as a small universe, zodiac in the body
- In astrology
- The doctrine assigns the twelve signs to regions of the body, from Aries at the head to Pisces at the feet, and gives each of the seven planets organs, temperaments and a limb in each sign.
- Found in
- Astrology
- Related
- As Above, So Below, Melothesia, Planets and the Body, Hermeticism
Microcosm and macrocosm is the doctrine that the human being is a small copy of the whole cosmos, so that the signs, planets and cycles of the sky have counterparts in the body.
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What is the microcosm?
The macrocosm is the great world, the cosmos, and the microcosm the small one, the human being. The doctrine says the two correspond, and it underlies the astrological body map, in which each sign rules a part of the body, and the planetary lists of organs.
The Hermetic phrase for it is "as above, so below". Thomas Burgoyne put it in 1896 as man being a universe in miniature, a perfect epitome of the heavens, and Tara Mata wrote that each man is a miniature zodiac.
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The Book of the Sky
How people learned to read the sky, from Babylon to the day you were born.
The body as a zodiac
The medieval textbooks translated by Benjamin Dykes lay the zodiac along the body: Aries the head and face, Taurus the neck and throat, and so on to Pisces at the feet. Al-Qabisi adds a limb for each of the seven planets in each sign, eighty-four entries, and Ptolemy gives each planet its organs. The full lists are on Melothesia and Planets and the Body.
Thomas Burgoyne, in 1896, states the idea in general terms, that the twelve signs correspond to twelve divisions of the human organism, and ties it to the Hermetic law of correspondence. The pages of his book that we have do not give the table.
Tara Mata's small cycle
Tara Mata carries the doctrine from space to time. She sets a day of twelve two-hour zodiac periods against the 24,000-year cycle, and an individual life against its four ages: infancy as Kali, youth as Dwapara, maturity as Treta and old age as Satya.
She also argues from the body: a pulse of 72 beats a minute matches 72 years to a degree of precession, and when precession quickens to 60 years a degree in the ascending Golden Age, the pulse will be 60. Breath, she says, is 18 a minute, 72 in four minutes. These are her own arguments and are not accepted by astronomers or physiologists.
The story behind Microcosm and Macrocosm
The body map is found in the medieval textbooks of Abu Ma'shar and al-Qabisi, translated by Benjamin Dykes. Burgoyne's Celestial Dynamics (1896) and Tara Mata's East-West series (1932 and 1933) restate the doctrine in a modern form.
Microcosm and Macrocosm in practice: an example
Tara Mata sets a human life against the four ages of the world: infancy is Kali, youth Dwapara, maturity Treta, and old age Satya.
Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Astrology
- Aliases
- man as microcosm, microcosm macrocosm astrology, the human body as a small universe, zodiac in the body
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
See Microcosm and Macrocosm in your personal almanac
Microcosm and Macrocosm in a book is one thing; Microcosm and Macrocosm in your own birth chart is your life. The Oracle casts your real chart and tells you what it means for your love, your work, and your year ahead, in conversation. Your first ten written questions are answered free.
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Related terms
More in Astrology
- Planetary Placement
- Sidereal Zodiac
- Triplicity
- Arabic Parts
- Chiron Return
- Doryphory
- Fire Signs
- Karmic Astrology
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Common questions
What is the microcosm?
The human being, regarded as a small copy of the whole cosmos, the macrocosm.
What is the macrocosm?
The great world, the cosmos, which the microcosm is said to mirror.
How does astrology use the microcosm?
It assigns the twelve signs to parts of the body and the seven planets to organs and temperaments, treating the body as a small zodiac.
Is the doctrine scientific?
No. It is a historical symbolic system, and the Great Almanac presents it as one.
