Introduction to Temperament
In the medieval tradition, the temperament analysis of a native is the first step to be done when interpreting a natal chart.1 This initial procedure provides a base for the astrologer to understand the underlying needs and concerns of the native. Though not as extensive or specific as a full chart delineation, the information provided by the temperament analysis can still be informative and useful.
The purpose of a temperament analysis is to identify excessive qualities in a person’s life and find helpful and constructive ways to bring that person back to center. Much like Taoist preventive medicine or Ayuredic medicine of the East, the goal of the Western temperament theory is to be as balanced as possible in order to avoid the difficult extremes excess can bring.2 By identifying the overabundance of qualities that make up a person’s inner constitution, we can develop strategies to balance them out both in personality and in health concerns. There’s a time and place for every temperament, and being too much like one can put the individual at a disadvantage as they approach the complex workings of day-to-day life that demand flexibility.
Each of the four temperaments is related to a classical Western element, but these elements are composed of simpler materials called qualities. There are four qualities (heat, cold, moisture, and dryness) and they combine in pairs to create the four elements and temperaments. In the diagram to the left, the two qualities closest on either side of the element are the qualities that compose it. For instance Water has the quality Wet closest to its left and the quality Cold closest to its right and so Water is made up of the pairing of the qualities Wet and Cold. The elemental temperament and its two qualities will each have special considerations when it comes to their effects on the native’s personality and body with special attention paid to which one of the two
Development of Temperament Theory: Empedocles and Hippocrates
The Greek philosopher Empedocles taught that the world was composed of four primary elements; fire, earth, water, and air. These elements were indivisible and present in all things. Hippocrates applied this teaching to the human body, insisting that if the universe were made of these four building blocks, so too were people.
Hippocrates equated the four elements with the four fluids of the human body (fire was the yellow bile, earth was the black bile, air represented the blood, and water was the phlegm) and the seasons (fire is summer, earth is autumn, water is winter, and air is spring). Following the logic of these seasonal assignments Hippocrates broke Empedocles's rules by breaking the elements down into lesser components. Noting that winter time was remarkably cold and wet and so too was water, Hippocrates reasoned there must be a coldness and wetness quality that winter, water, and thus phlegm all share. These assignments for the other humors can be seen in the image above.
As the cycle of the seasons progressed, humors of individuals would be affected. In Summer heat would increase which would impose more heat on the populace. The effect this additional heat would have on these individuals would largely depend on their own innate humoral balance. Individuals with more cold are likely to feel more energized and active, though uncomfortable while those with more heat are likely to become more angry and abrupt.
If excessive heat caused individuals to experience negative emotional reactions, it does not seem so absurd to suggest that these excessive or imbalanced humors effected physical, emotional, and mental health. In response to this, Hippocrates advocated that a truly healthy body was one that kept all four bodily humors in balance.
Aristotelian Physics
Aristotle was one of history's most prolific philosophers who wrote on just about every branch of science and philosophy. His works on natural philosophy, Physics and On the Heavenly Spheres, were particularly influential to our subject matter.
Aristotle postulated that each of the four elements had its own natural motion, this is what caused rocks to fall when dropped and fire to flicker towards the sky. With these observations in mind, the philosopher agreed with his teacher's placement of the elements (Plato had described the placement of the elements on Earth in his Timeaus, fire was at the top, air beneath it, water beneath air, and earth supporting the others), but assigned them directions. According to Aristotle, earth naturally moved downwards and sat at the bottom. Water also naturally moved downwards (as rivers move downstream and rain falls from the sky), but since it was of a less solid material it must sit on top of earth. Air is inclined to move upwards (as the wind blows trees that are taller than people) and it is less solid than water, so must be on top of it. Finally, fire naturally moves upwards and is the least solid element, so sits at the top.
Applying Hippocrates's logic more thoroughly, Aristotle also made another important change to the pre-existing theory of the elements; transformation. Hippocrates had assigned the elements their seasonal qualities and he also allowed for the seasons to change into one another, but Aristotle applied this same change to the elements themselves.
This transformational property allowed elements that shared a quality to cyclically morph into one another, mimicking the seasons. Hot and wet air could become hot and dry fire, which became cold and dry earth, and then cold and wet water before becoming hot and wet air again.
Galenic Medicine
Galen was a second century CE physician who embraced and combined Hippocrates's humoral theory and Aristotle's theory of the elements and qualities. Galen's synthesis of these two theories was the final step necessary for temperament theory to become a fully functional system.
Throughout his work Galen suggests such thing as pure mixtures of the temperaments (a pure choler or phlegm) that are not physically possible in people, but are theoretically possible. He goes on to describe the difference between qualities, elements and humors, suggesting that the four elements are the physical manifestations of the bodily fluids. He names the qualities the primary or first causes and the elements are thus secondary qualities as they are the result of the mixing of qualities.
It is also Galen who we find some of the first references to the qualities as having psychological as well as physiological effects.
"This being assumed therefore the sharp and intelligent character in the soul will be due to the bilious humor. The steadfast and firm character due to the melancholic humor. And the simple and stupid character due to blood. The nature of phlegm is most useless in the formation of character, and it appears to have its necessary origin in the breakdown of foods."
Though the Pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus may have beaten Galen to it, with his statement about how wine makes men drunk because it makes them more wet.3
Much of Galen's terminology would be adapted later by other philosophical systems. The magical systems and philosophical worldview of the Arabs would utilize these Galenic "causes" or "principles" with the qualities of heat, coldness, moisture, and dryness serving as the "simple natures". After these simple natures come composite natures or causes. The first composite natures are hot, cold, moisture, and dryness; the combination of a simple nature and an object, such as heat combining with a rock to make a hot rock. The second composite natures are the combinations of the first composite natures; hot and dry, cold and dry, etc. Third composite natures are the elements, fourth is the seasons, the fifth are the bodily humors, and the sixth are plants, rocks, animals, people and other natural things.4
The Qualities
While serving as the first causes in Galen's medical theory and the physics of the Arabians, each of the four qualities have their own effects. Heat and moisture are the most conducive to life and growth while cold and dryness are counter-productive to development. This concept can be observed most easily in the plant world. A seed requires water (moisture) and sunlight (heat) to sprout and grow, but if the seed freezes or lacks the necessary water, it will not flourish. To further emphasize this point, Ptolemy says of the qualities:
"Of the four temperaments or qualities above mentioned, two are nutritive and prolific, viz heat and moisture; by these all matter coalesces and is nourished: the other two are noxious and destructive, viz dryness and cold; by these all mater is decayed and dissipated."
Characterizing the qualities further, heat is active and expansive, coldness is passive and condensing, moisture is connective and flowing, and dryness is separative and resistant. Just by combining these keywords for the qualities we can create an accurate but oversimplified portrait of the four temperaments. With this method, sanguine becomes characterized as active, expansive, connective, and flowing.
Further investigation of the temperaments and the psychological and physiological effects on people is required to gain a more accurate and complete understanding of each temperament's powers.
Sanguine
Sanguine is associated with the springtime season and this time of year is classically thought of as moist becoming hot. This mirrors the seasonal changes as the rains and general moisture from Winter continues, but the Sun’s reemergence and climb in the Southern sky begins to heat the Earth. These qualities of heat and moisture combine with the Aristotelian idea of Natural Place to make sanguine one of the more positive and desirable temperaments in classical astrology. According to the idea of Natural Place, air naturally seeks to rise and so the children of the sanguine temperament are naturally motivated.
The planetary ruler of the sanguine temperament is Jupiter who is himself sanguine. There is a lot of the jovial spirit in the sanguine person as they are very social and jolly with their predominating disposition being “joy” or otherwise contentment. Optimistic, happy-go-lucky, socially fluent, and supportive are all words that accurately describe the sanguine temperament. It's not all sunshine and rainbows, those with the sanguine temperament can also come off as very shallow and superficial as their knowledge of things and people is wide but not very deep. This can often cause them to come at odds with their peers and make them susceptible to feelings of shame, but the sanguine are a forgiving lot and not one to let their optimism be crushed.
The moist quality brings a sense of connection and flexibility to this temperament that choler lacks. This is what differentiates the two as social and non-social as sanguine has a desire to connect while choler has the desire to be left alone. At the same time, heat provides an active quality and a sense of cheerfulness, optimism, and ambition that phlegmatic lacks. This differentiates these two temperaments as sanguine has a desire to seek out new opportunities to experience, new things to learn about, or new people to meet. Phlegmatics on the other hand lacks this and will continue to connect with the same people, places, or things over and over again.
Physically, sanguines will suffer from an overabundance of either heat or moisture, but tend to suffer most from moisture as it is their main quality. This can lead to issues with weight management and obesity due to overeating and drinking. Sanguines have quite the sweet tooth and this needs to be watched and controlled. Sanguine also tends to have difficulties with swelling (particularly around the joints) as well as fatty deposits on the body. Since the sanguine temperaments relates directly to the blood in classical medicine it can also suffer from blood disorders and impurities.
Choler
Choler is classically associated with the Summertime season and this time of the year is considered to be hot becoming dry. The heat of Spring continues and intensifies, and as a result the moisture evaporates and dryness begins to set in. According to the Aristotelian idea of Natural Place, Fire naturally sits at the top of the universe (in the form of stars) and so the combination of this and the qualities of choler makes it one of the most desirable temperaments in classical literature as the children of this temperament are seen as naturally successful and motivated.
There are two planetary rulers for choler; Mars and the Sun. These two planets embody the positive and negative manifestations of this temperament. The Sun is considered to be “temperate” hot and dry because he is classically considered to create these qualities himself and therefore is unharmed by them. In this way, some positive solar terms that the choleric individual displays are ambition, honor, glory, strong will, and leadership qualities. Mars, on the other hand is classically considered to be intemperate and has excessive dryness due to his proximity to the Sun in the Ptolemaic Universe scheme. This is where we get our more negative traits with choler involving recklessness, anger, aggression, and impatience. Cholerics tend to be impatient and detail oriented, and tend to get overwhelmed by too much “big picture” type talk. They also have a strong nonsocial streak that stems from a general dislike of people, this combined with the choleric ability to separate and categorize can create someone with a very black/white worldview that can lead to even more unfortunate social interactions.
The dryness inherent in the choleric temperament keeps it from having the social tendencies and connections that sanguine has, but it also allows choler to be detail oriented and accomplish things in a way that sanguines would find repetitive and boring. At the same time, the heat of choler gives it an active quality that melancholic lacks. This allows the cholerics to achieve, be noticed, and successful in ways that melancholics have difficulty accomplishing. It’s the old active/passive dichotomy where melancholy will think about doing it, but choler has already finished it. There’s also a self-esteem issue as choler’s heat naturally wants to rise and think well of itself, whereas melancholy’s cold likes to second guess its own abilities.
Physically, cholerics will suffer from conditions that arise from an overabundance in heat or dryness, but they typically suffer from heat as it is their primary quality. This can lead to physical overexertion, headaches and migraines, fevers, and burns or other physical injuries due to clumsiness or recklessness. It is very important for a choleric to slow down as self-inflicted injuries are all too common. It’s also important to reduce the amount of hot, fatty, and salty foods, as in classical medical astrology the seat of the choleric temperament is the gallbladder and it’s important to keep foods that overstimulate this organ or reduce the water in the blood out of one’s diet.
Melancholy
Melancholy is associated with autumn and this time of year is classically considered to be dry becoming cold. The dryness and lack of rain of the previous summer season continues on, but the reduction in daylight hours and the apparent weakening of the Sun brings the temperatures down. In the theory of Natural Place, Earth (the element associated with melancholy) is on the bottom of the universe as everything else sits on top of it. With this combination of qualities and Place, we start to move into the classically undesirable temperaments. Melancholy is undesirable for two reasons: firstly because the natives tend to be more sickly than others (coldness and dryness are the two qualities antithetical to life, and here they are combined into a single temperament), and secondly now we start to move into temperaments that are not as naturally motivated as sanguines and cholerics are.
Melancholy has two planetary rulers; Mercury and Saturn. Like choler’s two rulers, these two embody the positive and negative aspects of their temperament. Mercury takes the melancholic down the path of learning and skill building, whereas Saturn tends to be the more moody, somber, loner type. Children of the malencholic temperament are much more detailed and deliberate in their actions and don’t really commit to anything without having weighed it all out first. Success only comes to the melancholic through hard work and persistence, and as a result of this they tend to have the “life isn’t fair” attitude that begins as a healthy realistic attitude but can quickly turn into self-pity and pessimism. This tends to make melancholics notice how “lucky” they perceive other people as being and will shy away from those types of people as comparison makes them feel worse. This causes an odd non-social streak that forces the melancholic to be isolated while simultaneously hating being alone.
The inherit coldness in melancholy keeps it from having the ambition and optimism that choler has, but it also keeps the melancholy on the more precautious and safe side of things. Melancholy asks “is this a good idea?” and choler says “hey guys, watch this!”. Both temperaments are good at planning and doing detail-oriented work, but melancholy is more likely to succeed the first time due to forethought and superior reflection skills that coldness gives. The dryness of melancholy keeps it from having the social interactions that the phlegmatic temperament experiences, this leaves melancholy with the smallest circles of friends as they tend to have “best friends” and “acquaintances” with no inbetween. This also plays out in the structure and rigidity of the dryness quality, it’s much easier for melancholy to make plans and goals and stick to them (such as diets or weight loss goals, exercise goals, long term projects, etc), whereas phelgmatic struggles with sticking to anything due to its moisture
Physically, melancholics will suffer from either an abundance of coldness or dryness, but will typically suffer from dry conditions as it is the dominating quality. This means that melancholics will suffer from dry mouths, troublesome coughs, and sensitive skin issues. They can also suffer from arthritis in the joints (the wrists and knees are particularly susceptible) and jaundice. This increased dryness can also cause some slight mental problems in the form of paranoia and irrational fear. It’s very important for melancholics to limit the amount of dry foods they put into their system and to introduce more healthy sources of fat into their diet.
Phlegm
Phlegm is associated with the winter season, and this time of year is considered to be cold becoming moist. The drop in temperatures that was introduced in the previous autumn season continues and intensifies while the rains, sleets, and snows begin to blanket the earth to introduce moisture. According to Natural Place, Water constantly seeks to fall as most commonly seen in waterfalls or in the natural flow of rivers which naturally take downhill paths. This combination of the falling direction and the cold and wet qualities make phelgm the least desirable classical temperament due to the difficulty in motivating and controlling it.
The phlegmatic temperament also has two planetary rulers: Venus and the Moon. Unlike choler and melancholy, the two rulers don’t represent a clear cut positive/negative duality with the characteristics of the temperament. Phlegm has a strong feeling nature and is very compassionate and concerned about people and will donate generously to causes they support. Children of phlegm are reserved, shy, and contemplative, but they tend to think deeply about rather mundane subjects which gives the impression of someone who likes to contemplate their navel rather than come up with practical solutions to real problems. The phelgmatic temperament has difficulties with addictions, these can range anywhere from something relatively harmless (like sweets), to be a serious problem (like substance abuse) as phlegm is only successfully motivated by its desires or emotions. Phlegm can be best represented by a spilled glass of water; it spreads over its surface in a large area, but only thinly, it lacks direction so it ends up everywhere and it’s difficult to direct.
The cold quality of phlegm keeps the more adventurous moist quality reigned in more than its brother the sanguine temperament does. Phelgm tends to be more of a homebody that doesn’t like to get out and do things very often. If they do go out, it’s usually to the same places over and over again, establishing an emotional connection with it or having it operate as something like a secondary home. Phlegm is a creature of habit, which is something sanguine is very much not. This also plays out in relationships where sanguine will try to make many connections and acquaintances, whereas phlegm does not see the point and will be social with the same people or group over and over again and sees outsiders or new introductions to these groups as invasive and uncomfortable.
Phlegm’s moisture makes it more personable and caring than the other cold temperament melancholy. It’s much easier to win the heart of a phelgmatic and they concern themselves more with others than melancholy who tends to keep to itself. However, the moisture also causes issues with structure and responsibilities. It’s not uncommon for phelgmatic to be the first temperament to drop some kind of plan they make for themselves (such as diets and exercise or study regiments) and phlegm is very good at ignoring problems and hoping they go away rather than dealing with them directly.
Physically people with a predominate phlegmatic temperament will suffer from an excess of either cold or moisture, but more commonly cold since it is dominating. This can manifest in colds, allergies, and other communicable diseases (so be careful around flu season). This is also the cause of people being “cold natured”, or more likely to be cold in temperatures most would consider “comfortable” and can cause a coldness or numbness in extremities and all of these things may be symptoms of anemia or weak pulse which is also common in people with predominate coldness. Phlegm also holds on to body fat more tightly than other temperaments partly due to its qualities and partly due to a lack of energy and slow metabolism and digestive system. It is not recommended that those natives who are predominately phlegmatic take part in a vegetarian lifestyle.
Evolution of Personal Temperament
Temperaments change in response to external stimuli, much like the seasons they are associated with. The seasons shift from one to the next in response to atmospheric phenomenon and the human body and soul can do something similar.
The most profound influences on temperament are age and diet, but worldly experiences and immediate environment are significant forces as well. Furthermore, it is believed that spiritual powers can intercede in these matters by bathing an individuals with spiritual influences.
The four seasons are classically related to the four ages of man; Spring is youth, Summer is young adulthood, Autumn is middle age, and Winter is equated with old age. The temperament associations are also applicable here where youth is associated with sanguine, young adulthood with choler, middle age with melancholy, and old age with phelgmatic.5
This suggests that individuals at roughly the same ages will display certain generalized bodily and personality characteristics as their natural temperament will display itself from under a glaze of the general life stage temperament. Children in the Spring stage grow and explore their surroundings, young adults experience a desire to rebel against their parents while defining their personal identity, middle aged adults seek authority and security, and the elderly consolidate their life experiences.
Diet and regimen are another large influence on personal temperament, especially to the body and the temperament's physical expression. "You are what you eat" is an appropriate saying that captures the essence of this consideration. By eating foods that are categorized as more cold, we introduce coldness into the body that can express itself positively or negatively. The expression of the coldness will depend on if it is correcting an imbalance (cold foods being consumed by someone naturally more hot) or producing one (an individual with more natural coldness consuming cold food).6
Similarly, activities can be classified as being similar to or productive of a humor or quality. If someone has a deficiency in choler, they may take up some sport that increases heart rate to cultivate choler or heat. This allows a multi-faceted approach for combating excessive and destructive temperament influences.7
Furthermore, the daily environment one finds oneself can have more minor influences on the temperament. Working in a library or in retail, for example, necessitate two very different approaches and skill sets while maintaining different atmospheres. Libraries are calm, organized, and quiet while retail is more connective and persuasive. Over time this effects the individuals who spend their work weeks there.8
This also applies to the home in what might be called "Western Feng Shui". Light exposure, color, décor, and inhabitants can influence the temperament of the people residing there. Brightly colored homes are more conducive to heat than their darker counterparts, while certain pet types can introduce their own natural humors or qualities; cats are cold and dry, whereas fish are cold and wet, for example.
A final, and more controversial, method of influencing temperament is something more explicitly related to planetary magic. Many believe it is possible to augment the temperament of an individual by utilizing the spiritual rays of the planets. A person with excessive coldness can be remediated with a Venus, Sun, or Jupiter talisman or with things that are of the nature of those three planets, for example. This is the mechanism for many of the considerations in the previous paragraph; cats are cold and dry because they are ruled by Saturn, fish are cold and wet because they are ruled by the Moon.9
These different methods are all effective at augmenting the temperament and should be used in conjunction with one another for the greatest and most prolonged effects. By opening our minds and exposing ourselves to new and uncomfortable situations, we force ourselves to do or consider things differently than we normally would if we stayed within a comfort zone. It’s these experiences that change us into new and better people and forces the sanguine to be constant, the choleric to be compassionate, the melancholic to be content, and the phlegmatic to be courageous.
Calculating the Temperament
Exact calculation methods differ from astrologer to astrologer, but there are some consistent themes. Placement of the Sun, Moon, and Ascendant are consistently a factor, sometimes their dispositors or rulers or included, and many will consider the aspects the Moon and Ascendant make or receive to the other planets.
For all intents and purposes here, we will be using William Lilly's calculations for the temperament. The list is as follows:
Ascendant Sign and its Lord
Planets in the first house and planets aspecting the Ascendant.
The Moon's sign and phase and planets she aspects.
The season.
The Almuten of the Figure
Our instructions here are to consider each placement in regards to their qualities, and tally up their totals. Continuing, Lilly says:
"You must deal wearily in the collection of the testimonies of the four humours, of Heat, Humidity, Cold, and Dryness, for it may come to pass that the qualities of the planet and sign may obtain the same equal number of testimonies, and the one have as many testimonies of Heat as the other of Cold, these being repugnant qualities, the one takes off the other and they are not numbered or counted."
So after the significators are identified and the qualities properly assigned, we count up the opposing qualities (cold and heat, moisture and dryness) and subtract them from one another.
Below is a list of the qualities for each of the signs, planets, and phases.
Signs
Air signs are hot and wet
Fire signs are hot and dry
Earth signs are cold and dry
Water signs are cold and wet
Planets
Jupiter is hot and wet
Mars and the Sun are hot and dry
Saturn and Mercury are cold and dry
Venus and the Moon are cold and wet
Seasons
If the Sun is in Aries, Taurus, or Gemini, it is Spring which is hot and wet
The Sun in Cancer, Leo, or Virgo means it is Summer and is hot and dry
The Sun in Libra, Scorpio, or Sagittarius shows the season is Autumn and cold and dry
The Sun in Capricorn, Aquarius, or Pisces identifies the season as Winter and cold and wet
Moon Phase
New Moon to First Quarter is hot and wet
First Quarter to Full is hot and dry
Full Moon to Last Quarter is cold and dry
Last Quarter to New Moon is cold and wet.
A Case Study
Marsilio Ficino is in many ways the epitome of the melancholic temperament. Aware of this fact, Ficino penned a three volume set that was essentially a guide to help his fellow melancholic scholars achieve a longer and healthier life. His Three Books on Life remains a classic of the astrological medical and magical tradition.
Ficino's Ascendant is in Aquarius, giving him the qualities of hot and wet, his Ascendant lord is Saturn (cold and dry) who is also placed in Aquarius (hot and wet). The Sun was in Scorpio at his birth, which means he was born during Autumn (cold and dry) and the Moon is in Capricorn (cold and dry) and she is in her first quarter (hot and wet). Saturn is in the Ascendant, giving an extra dose of cold and dry while the Moon receives an aspect from Venus (cold and wet) in Virgo (cold and dry). Finally, Saturn is the Almuten of Ficino's Figure, so imparts additional cold and dry to our native.
Ascendant Sign: Aquarius, Hot and Wet
Ascendant Lord: Saturn, Cold and Dry
Ascendant Lord's Sign: Aquarius, Hot and Wet
Season: Autumn, Cold and Dry
Moon's Sign: Capricorn, Cold and Dry
Moon's Phase: First Quarter, Hot and Wet
Moon's Aspects: Venus, Cold and Wet, Virgo, Cold and Dry
Planets in the First: Saturn, Cold and Dry.
Almuten of the Figure: Saturn, Cold and Dry.
Heat: 3 Cold: 7 Wet: 4 Dry: 6
Heat has three repetitions and Cold has 7, so 3 units are deducted from each and 4 Cold remains. The same is done with Wet and Dry, leaving 2 Dry as the remainder.
As Ficino himself suspected, the temperament calculation does suggest he is excessively cold and dry, with cold being the most abundant quality in his chart. To this we would prescribe a diet with more warm foods, temperance in consuming grains, fruit, and vegetables, some vigorous exercise, plenty of time outdoors, and some solar influences.
Manifestation of Temperament
There is no person on this earth who is a pure temperament type. In his writings, Galen was quick to point this out, saying that we only call people or things "hot" when heat is their most dominate quality not their only quality.
Everyone is a mixture of all four qualities, but it is very rare that they all exist within equal amounts. That is the goal, but is never the initial state. A more accurate representation of temperament and its psychological effects would be to imagine a bag with several marbles in it. Some marbles are black, some are blue, some are yellow, and some are red. Whenever a person encounters some situation in their lives, they will reach into this bag, pull out a random marble, and react to the situation in the manner of that temperament.
A choleric individual will have more yellow marbles than any of the other three colors, so is more likely to react to situations in a direct, confrontational, or angry manner. The blue, red, and black marbles are still in the bag, but there is less of a chance of a natural choleric reacting to a situation in a manner that is characteristic of another temperament.
In this analogy, the point of remediating an excessive temperament or quality would be to even out the number of the different colored marbles, making each reaction equally likely. Furthermore, this process of balancing will have a natural effect of turning the opaque bag transparent, thus allowing the individual to actively select the appropriate response instead of randomly draw it.
Conclusion
Temperament can be a quick and easy method to assess the body and form of an individual as well as gain insight into the medical or emotional conditions they may struggle with throughout their life. By identifying the excessive qualities in a person's life, real remedial measures can be taken to ensure the Hippocratic balance is achieved and maintained. This shift towards the center is not a quick and fast plan for recovery, but a prolonged commitment an individual makes to improve their health and quality of life.
Notes
1. William Lilly, Christian Astrology Book III
2. Hippocrates Book IV pg. 11
3. History of Philosophy: Heraclitus
4. The Picatrix, Book II, Chapter VIII
5. Guido Bonatti, Book of Astronomy, Book II, Chapter II. Bonatti quotes al-Qabisi and Abu Ma'shar in identifying the quarters of the houses. Note that each quarter has a season, humor, and lifestage associated with it.
6. Marsilio Ficino, On a Long Life, Chapter V
7. Marsilio Ficino, On a Long Life, Chapter VIII
8. Marsilio Ficino, On a Long Life, Chapter XII
9. Marsilio Ficino, On Obtaining Life From the Heavens, Chapter II