Temperament and Bardon's Soul Mirrors

One particularly useful application of the calculation of temperament for the aspiring Hermeticist is as an aid and a guide to the creation of the Soul Mirrors described in Franz Bardon's Initiation into Hermetics.

If you are not familiar with the author, the basic idea is that one spends some time in exacting introspection to identify and describe the largely unconscious characteristics that make up our personality. Bardon has one begin with the Black Soul Mirror which is a description of all of our negative characteristics. Bardon leaves it up to the student to determine what negative means to him, but these are, broadly speaking, qualities that hinder rather than help us. He tells us that “... you have to be pitiless and very strict with yourself when it comes to your shortcomings, failings, habits, passions, urges and many other negative character traits.”

It may seem like a horribly self-destructive and depressing task to label all the ways in which you are an awful human being, but the ability to look at yourself with an objective perspective is a necessary part of spiritual growth and achieving what Bardon calls the “magical equilibrium”, a state of being in which one is able to act intentionally without being influenced by one's subconscious programming. If you are following Bardon's program of study, it's a necessity, without which you risk serious imbalance when you start working with the elements directly.

This done, Bardon has the student assign each of these characteristics to an element; and then the whole process is repeated with one's positive characteristics to create the White Soul Mirror. By the end of this exercise, you have a basic idea of the balance of the four elements as they exist within your personality.

The calculation of your temperament does the same thing in a more general sense. By considering the significators of one's temperament, one can learn the natural elemental balance as determined by the factors of one's birth as described in the nativity. This is one's innate elemental makeup. It may be altered slightly perhaps by one's environment and training, but it's there in the background controlling most of our actions and reactions.

I find the temperament a good guide to what the Soul Mirrors will look like once completed , e.g., if you are predominantly choleric, you should have the largest proportion of characteristics listed under the Fire element. It is also an indication of the exercises and elements you may have most difficulty with and those you and those you will take to (forgive the pun) like a duck to water.

The Temperament or Complexion of the Native

One of the first techniques in the toolbox of the traditional astrologer used when interpreting a nativity was the calculation of the temperament of the native. Based upon then humoral theory of the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, whose school of medicine had an enormous influence on medieval medical theory and practice, the temperament offered a basic psychological description of the person being described in a nativity, their innate disposition through which they experienced the world and interpreted events.

Hippocrates posited the existence of four humours, or fluids, that resided within the human body and which were responsible for its health and, in the case of a severe imbalance, the cause of illness and death. Although the humours were considered to have a physiological basis, they were also regarded as being responsible for the emotional differences between human beings and influenced every aspect of mental functioning, from habits, intelligence, to morality and dreams.

How many temperaments are there?

There are four basic temperaments based on the four qualities of Heat, Coldness, Dryness and Moisture which in turn are qualities of the four basic elements that were thought to comprise matter – Fire, Air, Water and Earth. Although every person will have some of each element present in their makeup, the dominance of one particular element will determine that person's temperament.

The Choleric, an abunbance of Heat and Dryness, the fiery Type personality. William Lilly tells us “Cholerick people are full of anger, quarrelsome, revengefull, ambitious, importunate, imperious, hardy, rash, involving themselves unto necessary troubles, seditous, many times ingenious, and easily changing their opinions.” Due to the predominance of the fire element, people with a choleric temperament tend to be strong willed, focused, extroverted, goal-oriented, passionate and easily aroused to love and hate. They are the archetypal leader and visionary, and like many visionaries they have little patience for the details. As such, they can become irritable when things are not going their way and are prone to burnout.

The Melancholic, overabundance of Cold and Dry, the Earth Type personality. William Lilly again: “Melanchollick persons are slow in resolutions, fraudulent, keeping close their counsels, prudent, severe, covetous, suspicious, sorrowfull, fearfull, forward, seldome forgeting injuries, inexorable, ambitious, loving no mans esteem but their owne.” As the word suggests, melancholics are often prone to melancholic episodes. They tend to be solitary, introspective, generally intelligent (although their need to mull things over may give the impression of dullness), and these characteristics tend to set them apart from their peers often resulting in loneliness and feeling that they are not understood. Although they may sometimes appear to be emotionally cold and callous, they can have very deep feelings and, as Marsilio Ficino notes in his De Vita, the melancholy temperament is often associated with artists, philosophers and genius of diverse kinds.

The Sanguine, predominantly Hot and Moist, the Air type personality. “A Sanguine temperament shewes men or person cheerfull, liberal, faithfull, affable, peace-makers, open hearted, modest, religious.” If the melancholic is the wallflower hiding in the corner, the sanguine is the social butterfly. Optimistic, good-natured, extroverted but, unlike the choleric, interested in other people, the sanguine is usually the life of the party, and appears to his friends to be either exceptionally lucky in his life or somehow able to generate his own luck. The sanguine possesses a cheerful disposition that is unaffected by even the most cruelest vicissitudes of fate.

The Phlegmatic, Cold and Moist, the Water type personality. Not having much good to say about them, Lilly tells us that phlegmatics “are very cowards, uxorious people mutable, not capable of keeping secrets, dull fellowes and sluggards in performing any businesse.” Water being a passive element and by its nature amorphous (water takes the shape of the container in which it is placed), phlegmatics were viewed with some suspicion. Phlegmatics tend to be imaginative, fantasy prone, empathic and can seem slightly otherworldy to others. They tend to have a highly developed intuitive ability which they rely on to make their decisions. Their carefree “go with the flow” attitudes can be infuriating to some and completely mysterious to others.

Note that, although there are four basic temperaments, it is possible to have two in balance. The temperament is also modified by the Lord of the Geniture, the strongest planet in the nativity, and the Manners of the native, the intellectual capacity and tendencies. Each temperament is also associated with a particular planet (the choleric with Mars, the melancholic with Saturn, the sanguine with Jupiter, and the phlegmatic with the moon), and the strength and placement of this planet in his geniture will have a determining factor in how the temperament is expressed.

How is it calculated and why should I bother?

The calculation of the temperament is based upon the ascendant and the planets in the first house or aspecting it, the sun, the moon and the planets beholding her, and the lord of the geniture.

So, now you have your temperament, what do you do with it? While medieval medicine may seem rather odd to us today, it had much in common with other ancient healing modalities such as Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine, Like these increasingly popular forms of alternative medicine, the Hippocratic-Galenic medicine of medieval times was holistic and centred around the ideal of balance and utilised everything from diet, exercise, herbs, surgery as well as astrological magic to effect a cure.

While I would not advocate a visit to your local barber for a bit of bloodletting today, knowledge of one's temperament does offer one some important insight that can be used to increase wellness. For example, if you are aware that you are highly choleric, you can determine that you may be prone to overexertion and burnout. In the event that you are going to be in a high stress situation, this knowledge should allow you to plan ahead to take some time out to engage in some activities to lessen the influence of too much choler such as meditation, or a swim in a cool lake.

What is my temperament?

If you want to know what your temperament is, choose the Temperament Calculation from the drop-down box on the right.  Please include your time, date and place of birth, and I will calculate this for you.  

Wealth and fate – astrology and magic

This was a response to a discussion about the utility of magic to overcome or change the restrictions placed on our financial circumstances by fate, karma and one's nativity.

In traditional astrology there are significators of wealth in your natal chart which describe your future financial status and your ability to accrue wealth, as well as give indications where this money will come from (and, if afflicted, how you will lose money), but the amount of wealth you could accumulate was considered largely determined by the conditions of your birth. Here's William Lilly on the traditional astrology answer regarding the question of fate and wealth:

"..for a beggar's child may have a nativity equal with a king's but then they are not both the sons of kings; therefore at what time an extraordinary direction happens, whereby a king obtains extraordinary or very great honour upon the influence thereof; the young beggar having the very same fortunate direction in his nativity, has no more falls to his share, then either to fall to some course of life, not so sordid to beg. A king has loans or money of his subjects; it happens the beggar has some more than usual bountiful alms from some good people.

A king performs some honourable exploit; a beggar has more than ordinary respect amongst his fellow beggars, for some neat piece of service he has performed for the fellowship; so that herein the one has honour according to his capacity, and the other such fame with his companions, which pleases him as well as honour." (Christian Astrology, p616)

In Lilly's day if you are born a beggar, you are never going to become king, and if your father was a stonemason, well, that's going to be your profession too. Although the level of wealth you may achieve is still largely determined by the family you are born into, if you are lucky enough to live in a wealthy country, you likely have a lot more options than anyone born before you has ever had.

Firstly, you have the ability to relocate relatively easily to a city or country with more options. There's an idea in traditional astrology that the testimony of your nativity takes precedence over any horary chart promising wealth, and likewise, the nativity of the country you are in takes precedence of your nativity. If you cast a horary chart that shows you obtaining piles of cash, the size of the pile is going to be relative to the strength of the significators of wealth in your nativity. Likewise, if your nativity promises you wealth but you live in a relatively poor country with few options for improving your circumstances (and the nativity of your country and its mundane astrology show nothing improving its GDP anytime soon), the likelihood is that you will do well in comparison to your countrymen, but your ability to achieve wealth is restricted.

If you are in a job that doesn't pay well, you are able to retrain for an alternative, better paying career, and you can look for alternative streams of income while you are doing so. You have access to resources and information via the internet that you can make use of.

The problem with doing magic for money isn't that magic is useless at making people wealthy, it's that most money magic is really emergency magic, and people are crap at making choices that improve their financial circumstances. It's not necessarily because people are stupid, it's just that school does not give you the skills to become wealthy. Education is indoctrination - it's about making you into a useful cog that knows its place in the machine and doesn't question its lowly condition.

If you want to use magic to make money, your plan should look something like this;

1. Figure out a way to make money and to become wealthy
2. Divine on how to make your venture a success (for example, if you are an astrologer and you want to invest money somewhere, you might do so when your significators of wealth are in a strong place, you might cast a horary chart for that stock option, or you might elect a time to invest in the market)
3. Do some magic

Magic is the last step, not the first. If everything preceding your magic is not in place, you're going to win a small amount on a scratch card or you're going to find £20 on the street. If that's all you are getting for the days of fasting, the thousands you spent on your lionskin belt and the fancy sword, the eyestrain from reading the charge to the spirit by candlelight, go back to step 1 and start again.

Saturn - The Greater Infortune

If you were to consult any of the works of the medieval or traditional astrologers on the planet Saturn, you would likely find expressions like “(the greater) malefic”, “melancholy”, “decay”, “malevolence”, “restriction”, “death”, the “author of solitariness”, and, my personal favourite, “offensively acid, stinking".

As the planet most remote from the earth and closest to the fixed stars, Saturn is far removed from our normal human concerns and daily routine. In fact, we try to avoid him as much as possible and the things he rules. We want the riches and honours promised by Jupiter but without the disciplined study and hard, often thankless, work that is often required; we want the effortless and exhilarating romantic relationships that Hollywood tells us we deserve (regardless of how awful a person we might be), but Hollywood neglects to mention the personal sacrifice and commitment that a long-term relationship with another requires. Unfortunately, like ageing, gravity, death and taxes (which, not coincidentally, are ruled by the Greater Malefic), we cannot escape the influence of Saturn.

In medieval astrology, due to its extreme cold and slowness of motion, Saturn is thought to bring delays and obstacles, and its influence on a person will often colour the personality with a tinge of melancholy. Saturn afflicting the moon brings melancholy, Saturn afflicting Venus or the Lord of the 7^th house can bring delays in marriage, Lord 5 a delay in having children. When Saturn is a significator of the native, and he is ill dignified, it makes that person – according to William Lilly, at least - “envious, covetous, jealous and mistrustful, timorous, sordid, outwardly dissembling, sluggish, suspicious, stubborn, a contemner of women, a close liar, malicious, murmuring, never contented, ever repining”. Not exactly the kind of person you would invite to a dinner party.

The gifts of Saturn

As feared and as hated as he was, Saturn is not all bad. William Lilly tells us that a person with a well-dignified Saturn as his significator “... is profound in imagination, in his acts severe, in words reserved, in speaking and giving very spare, in labour patient, in arguing or disputing grave, in obtaining the goods of this life studious and solicitous, in all manner of actions austere.” He may not be the most fun person at your dinner party, but he will likely be the most interesting.

The author of the Ghayat al-Hakim, one of the oldest source books of medieval astrology, tells us that Saturn “is the planet whose source holds great strength and has the knowledge of mysterious orbit and the power to obtain the reason behind things and the ability to find their intentions, the spell of wonders and knowledge of secret and mysterious issues.” The great renaissance philosopher, Marsilio Ficino, considered melancholy - a condition he attributed to the influence of Saturn – to be the seed of genius, a philosophical position which had a great influence on the writings of the Romantics in the 18^th century.

Remedies for an afflicted Saturn- medieval avoidance and Vedic appeasement

Not everyone wants to suffer the fate of a Chatterton or Shelley, and even Ficino occasionally found Saturnine melancholy a little hard to live with sometimes. The influence of Saturn, whether in one's nativity or by transit, can be undeniably difficult to bear.

The strategy of medieval astrology for dealing with an afflicting Saturn was based on the notion of the four humors (and their corresponding temperaments), a theory with roots in the philosophy and medical practice of ancient Greece. As Saturn was Cold and Dry in nature (corresponding to the melancholic temperament), its cure was sought in Jupiter, whose nature is Hot and Moist. The author of Ghayat al-Hakim tells us “...Jupiter fixes everything Saturn damages” (Book III, Chapter 7) and Marsilio Ficino in his De Vita says “when you fear Mars, set Venus opposite; when you fear Saturn, use Jupiter.” 

 

The most common practices in medieval astrological magic involved the creation of talismans and images corresponding to the planet in question. In this case, we would make a Jupiter talisman at a time elected when Jupiter is strong and unafflicted. However, this was often part of a holistic approach which involved immersion in things of a Jovial nature over an extended period of time; "...take physical exercise in Jupiter's day and hour when he is reigning; and in the meantime use Jovial things such as silver, jacinth, topaz, coral, crystal, beryl, spodium, sapphire, green and aery colours, wine, sugar, white honey; and entertain thoughts and feelings which are especially Jovial, that is, steadfast, composed, religious, and law-abiding; and you will keep company with men of the same kind - men who are sanguine, handsome, and venerable." (Marsilio Ficino. De Vita, Book 3, Chapter 2.) Ficino also found music to be a useful palliative measure against the melancholy induced by the influence of Saturn.

The Vedic astrologers considered Saturn (Shani) a malefic planetary deity, but a deity nonetheless. Indeed, according to the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, the foundational text of Vedic astrology, the Navgraha, the 9 planetary gods, are manifestations of Vishnu, the universal god. 

 

In Vedic astrology, specific Shani transits are considered to bring delays and difficulties, but he is considered an important teacher with regards one's spirituality as he rules asceticism, meditation and detachment from the world. In one story, the other gods cannot abide the presence of Shani in a King's shrine and depart. Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, is the first to go - Saturn aflictions in the nativity often bring poverty, and letting go of one's hardearned wealth is the first step on the path to becoming a sanyasin, a renunciate. One by one the other gods depart, until only Satya (Truth) remains, and they return only because of the Kings dedication to Truth. 

 

Although it is considered best to work with Shani's influence through spiritual practice such as yoga, fasting or meditation, Vedic astrology does give various remedial measures to lessen some of the more unpleasant manifestations of Saturnine energy. These include; asceticism (fasting for 9 Saturdays in a row), charity (offering black clothes or iron/steel objects to beggars), and propitiation (a shani nivarna sadhana involving the recitation of Shani's mantra). Since all planetary deities are aspects of the universal deity, the supreme method is considered to be yoga, union with the universal deity.

What is horary astrology?

Most people are familiar with natal astrology, the branch of astrology that deals with the chart of a person born at a particular time. The central idea of natal astrology is that it is possible to draw up an astrological chart (the nativity) for the moment a person is born. This chart is a visual representation of the position of planets (which include the sun and the moon), certain stars and other celestial objects with respect to the location of the person (the native). These celestial objects have been determined by the astrologers of antiquity to have potent and particular effects, and through the analysis of these celestial objects in the chart it is possible to delineate the character, personality traits, and the probable future of the person concerned.

Modern astrology has been heavily influenced by psychology and often the entire nativity is dedicated to a psychoanalytic deconstruction of the personality of the native. While this can have its uses, modern astrology is pretty poor at making predictions about the future. Traditional medieval astrology can certainly provide an accurate description of the native (primarily through an analysis of the 1^st house and a calculation of the native's temperament), but its concerns are much wider, and the nativity is believed to describe the native's future wealth, his potential career, his family (mother, father, siblings), his religion and deeply held beliefs, romantic relationships, friends, children and so on. There is also a long history and a vast repertoire of techniques to forecast future events through traditional techniques such as profections, directions, firdaria and transits (the latter of which is the only one currently used in modern astrology - although even them, these are interpreted as affecting only the native's mind).

Horary Astrology – the astrology of a Question

A corollary of the core principle of natal astrology - that the position of the planets in the moment a person is born can be used to predict his likely future – leads us to another branch of medieval astrology: horary astrology. In horary astrology, an astrological chart of the heavens is created for the moment a question is conceived (by the person asking the question, the querent) or as is more usually the case, understood by the Astrologer of whom the question is asked. This chart shows the celestial influences acting on the moment the question is conceived, and the chart of this unique moment in time is interpreted to determine the likely outcome. As well as being predictive in scope, horary astrology is also prescriptive, and it can be used to identify the source of potential obstacles and problems that stand in the way of success.