Holden, James H., and Robert A. Hughes. Astrological Pioneers of America.Tempe, AZ: Ameri-
can Federation of Astrologers, 1988.
CULMINATION
Culmination usually refers to the arrival of a celestial body at the midheaven, the
highest point in a chart. It may also refer to the arrival of a celestial body at a point
where an aspect becomes exact.
CULPEPPER, NICOLAS
Nicolas Culpepper, astrologer and herbalist, was born in Ockley, England, on October
18, 1616, to a wealthy family that owned property throughout Kent and Surrey. His
father died before he was born, and he was raised by his mother in Isfield, where her
father was a Church of England minister with Puritan leanings. As a child, he learned
Latin and Greek from his grandfather. He was sent to Cambridge, where he majored
in classical studies.
Culpepper became engaged and persuaded his fiancée to run away with him
and get married. However, while on her way to the rendezvous, she was struck and
killed by lightning. Culpepper had a nervous breakdown; after he recovered, he
refused to return to his schooling or to enter the ministry. This refusal caused him to
lose his inheritance from his mother’s family, and he had exhausted the inheritance
from his father. He was thus apprenticed to an apothecary.
His apprenticeship was at St. Helens, Highgate, and he inherited and contin-
ued the practice of his employer. Culpepper also developed skill in astrology, a field
that had intrigued him from a young age. At some point he began correlating astrolo-
gy and the medicines he was studying as an apothecary. This association may have
been suggested by some contemporary German books that linked the two.
Culpepper married Alice Fields in 1640 and through her wealth was able to set
up practice in the east end of London, on Red Lion Street, Spitalfields. He joined the
forces opposed to King Charles I in 1642 and fought in the Battle of Edgehill. He was
wounded during the battle, and this wound may have triggered the tuberculosis that
bothered him for the balance of his life. He evoked the hostility of the medical profes-
sion when he published an English translation of the Pharmacopeain 1649. Detailed
information about herbs and other medical substances had been a professional secret
before Culpepper’s translation, and other doctors were angry. His incorporation of
astrology in this publication was held up for ridicule. He continued in medical prac-
tice for the five final years of his life. His wife’s money allowed him to devote his time
to caring for the poor. He died at the youthful age of 38 on January 10, 1654.
Culpepper’s translation of the Pharmacopeabecame known as Culpepper’s
Herbal,and gave him a certain amount of fame. It became a standard reference book
and was reprinted often. When herbal medicine was making a comeback in the twen-
tieth century, Culpepper’s Herbalagain became important for its summary of the herbal
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Culpepper, Nicolas