The word phlegmatic probably immediately brings to mind phlegm and respiratory illnesses. In traditional medical astrology phlegm was associated with the water element and, when in balance, was believed to to lead to a calm and placid disposition.
By the way, speaking of medical astrology, here is a quick fun fact from Astro.com’s excellent wiki: “Belief in astrological influences over the humours, health, and personality was one reason why the predominant Christian authorities permitted medieval and renaissance medical students to study astrology even in times and places where the church banned astrology for predictive purposes.”
The phlegmatic temperament is associated with the water element (Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces), the cold and wet qualities, and the winter season.
Here is a nice list of phrases about the phlegmatic temperament from Dorian Greenbaum’s book Temperament: Astrology’s Forgotten Key:
- Likes to ponder.
- Would rather study one thing in depth than a lot of things superficially.
- Visits the same places over and over, becoming more comfortable each time.
- Greta Garbo: “I want to be alone.”
- Inertia is wonderful.
- Slow and steady wins the race – does winning even matter?
Linda Berens calls the phlegmatic temperament Rational in her temperament system and associates it with the INTJ, INTP, ENTP, and ENTJ Myers-Briggs personality types. Note, however, that she emphasizes that temperaments don’t directly correlate to MBTI types. John Beebe’s typology system is the one I follow for MBTI, but I like refering to Berens’ temperament system to see how her modern take on temperaments might enhance our understanding of the astrological temperaments.
Berens says that the Rational’s “prevailing mood is one of tranquility.” They “place a high value on competence, coherence, and quality” and are “born with a predisposition for the complex…Rationals tend to focus on patterns and ‘think systems,’ both technical and social, and move with ease from the big picture to the minute details of ideas or situations.”
As indicated in Greenbaum’s book, astrologer Joseph Crane correlates phlegmatic to the introverted feeling and introverted intuition functions of the personality type. This is because introversion is cold and intuition and feeling are wet. Cold plus wet equals phlegmatic.
Most people have a compound temperament, which is a blend of two temperaments, with perhaps a smattering of the other two. Refer to my post on the melancholy temperament for more information on temperament and how to calculate temperament. Knowing your temperament will help you better understand both your personality type and your natal chart.
