The choleric tempermanet is traditionally associated with the fire element and therefore correlates to quick action, courage, ambition. On the less beneficial end of the spectrum, when imbalanced, there can be anger and insensitivity.

The choleric temperament relates to the summer season and is comprised of hot and dry qualities.

Here is a nice list of phrases about the choleric temperament from Dorian Greenbaum’s book Temperament: Astrology’s Forgotten Key:

• Demands much and gives much
• Easy to see the world as black and white, as absolutes
• Activity, more activity – hard to sit still
• Believes in hierarchy, with them at the top
• Quick on the uptake
• High expectations
• Life is a series of challenges to be overcome – triumphantly!

Linda Berens call the choleric temperament Idealist in her temperament system and associates it with the INFJ, INFP, ENFJ, and ENFP MBTI types. Please note that she makes it clear that her system and the Kiersey system don’t directly correlate to the MBTI types. And the more I study the temperaments from an astrological perspective, the more I would NOT correlate choleric with any of the above four MBTI temperaments (but more on that in future posts). I like her modern terms for the temperaments, and feel that the word Idealist is easier for people to understand than Choleric. Idealist does seem to describe well the choleric temperament.

Berens says that Idealists want to be authentic and are generally enthusiastic. They “think in terms of integration and similarities and look for universals.”

In this post I’m going to compare and contrast tennis legends Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert.I recently watched the ESPN documentary Unmatched: 30 For 30 about the two of them and of course pulled up their natal charts to calculate their temperaments and also considered their possible MBTI types.

Chris Evert is a strong phlegmatic type. She came across as an easygoing, All-American type, and was self-contained and in control of her emotions, but she says deep down she was very intense and competitive. Her rising sign is Scorpio. By contrast, Martina is a strong choleric type. According to Chris, Martina came across as arrogant on the court at times. Martina would have emotional breakdowns on the court at times, which Chris marveled at. Martina said that deep down she was a softie and not as intense as she appeared on the court.

With Martina as a choleric type, she has high hot and dry qualities, which I associate with thinking and intuition (she has Aries rising). She has almost no phlegmatic in her tempermanet, which means almost no water and very little cold qualities. Jung said that thinking types more likely show their emotions and lose their temper, because feeling (water) is inferior in them. By contrast, Chris is very high in phlegmatic and water and cold. Feeling types generally have good control over their emotions. From an MBTI perspective I see Martina as perhaps ENTJ and Chris as perhaps ISFP.

Chris and Martina are very close friends. Their tempermanets are opposite of each other so they balance each other out. Both women are excellent examples of the choleric and phlegmatic temperament because they don’t really have a secondary tempermanet balancing it out, so it is easy to see the choleric and phlegmatic. Most people have a blend of two temperaments.

Knowing your temperament will help you better understand both your personality type and your natal chart. Most importantly, it will help you improve your interactions and relationships with other people.

The “Big 3” in an astrology chart are the Sun, Moon, and Rising signs. In an ideal world everyone would know what their Big 3 are.

Temperament also has a Big 3: Rising sign element, Moon sign element, and Season of Birth. If two or more of these are the same temperament, then you have a very good idea what the overall temperament is before diving into a more formal calculation of temperament.

Choleric correlates to the fire signs of Leo, Sagittarius, and Leo. Sanguine consists of the air signs of Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius. Melancholic has the earth signs of Capricorn, Taurus, and Virgo. Phlegmatic is found in the water signs of Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces.

The seasons of birth are as follows: Spring is Sanguine, Summer is Choleric, Fall is Melancholic, and Winter is Phlegmatic. With temperament, the season of birth is more important than the Sun sign, which Jung also believed. Modern astrology places a lot of emphasis on the Sun sign, but the Sun sign isn’t about your personality, despite what the memes say. The Sun sign shows the plot line of your life and what your soul is up to and feels compelled to do. It is a lifelong process that we grow into.

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.

Most everyone knows about melancholy and, unfortunately, often confuse it with depression. For this reason, the melancholic temperament is probably the most well-known of the four ancient temperaments (which include sanguine, choleric, and phlegmatic).

What is Temperament?

Before I describe the melancholic temperament, I will first describe a bit about temperament in general. Temperament is innate to the individual and means “mixture.” Temperament originated in the medical world with Hippocrates and Galen .It dates back to the fifth century B.C.E.

Astrologers began working with temperament early on, beginning with the Greeks and continuing through the Renaissance with Marsilio Ficino, Paracelsus, William Lilly, and others. Then astrology went into a recession in the west for the next 200+ years. In the 1800’s Rudolf Steiner and Marc Edmund Jones revived the temperaments and, along with Jung and several others, brought astrology back to life in the west. In the 20th century Linda Berens, David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates brought temperament into the personality typology world.

In astrology, temperaments are more than just descriptive – they are prescriptive. I calculate the temperament of my clients’ charts and charts of famous people that I study. If you know that someone has, for example, a melancholic/phlegmatic temperament (most people have a compound temperament of at least two predominant temperaments), then an upcoming transit from Mars potentially provides and opportunity for some much-needed energy and initiative. If the person instead has a choleric temperament, then they will likely need to guard against angry outbursts and find outlets for the excess of energy during that time period.

The Melancholic Temperament

Melancholic is associated with the earth element, cold and dry qualities, and the autumn season.

Here is a nice list of phrases about the melancholic temperament from Dorian Greenbaum’s book Temperament: Astrology’s Forgotten Key:

• Succeeds through hard work and persistence.
• Don’t get your hopes up.
• Nothing is ever good enough.
• Really good at analyzing and organizing.
• The light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train.
• Idea of a fun time is reading the dictionary.
• Likes to play the blame game.
• Can’t bear the idea of superficial knowledge.

Linda Berens calls the melancholic temperament the Guardian in her temperament system and associates it with the ESTJ, ESFJ, ISTJ, and ISFJ Myers-Briggs personality types. Astrologer Joseph Crane correlates it to the introverted thinking and introverted sensation functions of the personality type.

Melancholy vs. Melancholic

Although someone with a melancholic temperament may experience melancholy more often than other types, anyone can have melancholy. My favorite book about melancholy, and about Abraham Lincoln, is Lincoln’s Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness. This book makes the case that Lincoln’s melancholy was the fuel for his achievements.

Unfortunately there isn’t an exact birth time available for Lincoln. In looking at the Aquarius rising chart that is typically used for him, he had a compound melancholic-phlegmatic temperament with a smidgen of choleric and sanguine. The phlegmatic adds some emotion to the melancholic temperament and one can see that in this description from the book: ‘Lincoln was reserved in personal details but quite open in showing his true emotional self, including the suffering that sometimes overtook him. Reporters, allies, and ordinary citizens who watched Lincoln rarely came away thinking they knew his secrets, but they often came away thinking they’d seen the man.”

How to Calculate Temperament

There are different formulas for calculating temperament from an astrology chart, but all of them involve the Moon, Sun, and Ascendant. I introduced one of the formulas in this post. I am now also testing a more intricate formula described in the book On The Heavenly Spheres by Helena Avelar & Luis Ribeiro. This formula closely adheres to the work of 17th century astrologer William Lilly.

Again, these formulas aren’t meant to reduce someone to a label. Temperament is a starting point in looking at a person’s whole potential and one must look at the entire chart for a complete picture. For those who are interested in Jungian personality typology, combining temperament with it is a winsome combination in my opinion because, unlike typology, temperament provides an objective starting point.

I will soon write posts on the other three temperaments. In the meantime, feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

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