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.
Choleric 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 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 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.