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[Barbrey]

Well, at least you don't see women bathing or female biological processes in Quire 13. That's progress.

Your interpretation seems a bit tied to some kind of Hermetic or esoteric philosophy. I don't rule out some of that, but my interpretation is more conventional with medieval knowledge of Aristotelian origin. The stars and planets, and the spheres that contain them, are made of a different substance than the four elements of the Earth. An incorruptible substance, but not exactly something with its own spirit.

In the Christian interpretation of Aristotelian philosophy, it is the angels who move the spheres. The stars are simply the means God uses to influence earthly things, such as plants, but also to influence and send signals to humanity, hence the widespread belief in astrology.

I see you're referring to female figures and saying that they're not just representations of stars because they're pregnant. Here lies a fundamental question of medieval iconography. Understanding the allegorical world of medieval imagery is not easy, but it doesn't require a doctoral degree either. There's always something metaphorical in the way things are represented. How does the medieval mentality represent the influence of stars on plants? It's precisely with figures of pregnant women to imply that they are the ones who make herbs sprout and grow.

You do know that Hermetic philosophy is based on Aristotle, among other Greek philosophers, right? I had a heck of a time disentangling the two before I realized it couldn’t be done. Themes I thought Hermetic were simply Greek natural philosophy, springing from Greek-ruled Alexandria in the early centuries AD. . I assure you, there is nothing esoteric about me or my beliefs. The same can’t be said about almost anyone in the medieval era, who I do my best to understand despite my scepticism. 

I also think your point about angels moving the spheres was one point of view, but there were others, in fact several, as more Greek philosophy became available to the scholars. Many of these ideas were hotly debated by the scholastics. Angels and their properties were one of the most contentious battlegrounds in the universities, especially when it came to Aristotle and his “unmoved” movers.