Temperament: Astrology’s Forgotten Key
By Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum

There are precious few astrology books that give us new tools that we can immediately go out and apply to our astrological practice. Many books on astrology claim to do so, but often their contribution is limited, amounting to little more than a fad quickly forgotten.

Dorian Greenbaum’s book on temperament, the ancient astrologico-medical method of determining the overall quality of the body and personality, helps us rediscover a forgotten Key that we can immediately use. Temperament is divided into three parts:

1. The theory and history of temperament
2. Temperament theory applied: the Waldorf study
3. Using temperament in modern astrological practice

Temperament in Astrology: Theory and History

The first part of Greenbaum’s book examines the definition of the concept of temperament, and refers to ancient authors on the subject to refine our understanding. Perhaps the simplest way to understand the concept of temperament is that it is the fabric of our bodies and minds. It is inmate, and does not change throughout life. Greenbaum points out that temperament is not the same as personality, but rather it is the lens through which the personality radiates. There are four types of temperament (known as the four humors), formed by different combinations of the four cardinal qualities: hot, cold, wet, and dry. These qualities combine to create the four humors or types of temperament:

• choler/yellow bile (hot and dry, associated with the element of fire)
• melancholy/black bile (cold and dry, associated with earth)
• phlegm (cold and moist, associated with water)
• blood (hot and moist, associated with air)

The Pharaoh’s dream of the seven cattle and seven corn (Genesis 41) is a key example of the importance of the number seven. The seven fat cattle represent the planets in their strong states (exaltation or domicile), while the lean cattle symbolize the planets in their weakness (detriment or fall). The lean devouring the fat indicates the upcoming famine, as symbolized by the seven planets in their weakest state.

Certain key factors in our horoscopes determine the ratio of the four cardinal qualities, and their blend indicates our predominant humor or humors. Most people are a combination of two humors, with one predominating. A slightly smaller number of people are strongly disposed to one humor only, and yet other people are a combination of three or more humors.

Greenbaum then goes on to examine the origins of temperamental theory, drawing together strands from medicine, science, and ancient philosophy as well as modern psychology. Many of the ancient writers on temperament left behind relatively simple instructions on how to use the horoscope to determine a person's temperament, and an invaluable synopsis of such methods is found in Appendix A. The appendix alone is worth the price of the book.

Temperament in Practice: The Waldorf Study

In the second part of the book, Greenbaum uses horoscopes of children she had taught as a Waldorf School teacher, to demonstrate the method of determining temperament. Because she is personally acquainted with these children, she can assess the accuracy of the temperamental method as compared to her own observations. It is important to note at this point that the Waldorf schools use a simple method to determine the temperament of children in order to tailor the method of instruction to the different temperaments of the pupils. As a result, Greenbaum had access to other teachers’ behavioral assessments of the students, giving her a somewhat more objective mode of comparison between the results of the horoscope and the observed behavior patterns of the students.

Temperament in Modern Astrology: A Guide for Astrologers

The third part of the book will be the most exciting to practicing astrologers and students of astrology. Here, Greenbaum develops her own method of determining temperament. I am not fully convinced that her method is superior to those used in the last few thousand years, and an examination of the sources for such other traditional methods in Appendix A. shows that there is no one perfect method for determining temperament. Horoscopes of people who are very balanced in the humors are going to come out slightly different with each different method. Those individuals who strongly manifest only one of the humors will usually come out the same, regardless of which method is used. As a result, I am not convinced that Greenbaum's method solves this problem, as it simply adds one more formula that works most of the time, but of course not all of the time.

The third part also has example horoscopes of well-known individuals, including Anne Frank, George Harrison, Tony Blair, and George W. Bush. Their horoscopes are analyzed according to Greenbaum's own method, and she helps the reader understand the general characteristics of each humor and subtype.

In using temperament, modern astrologers can get a quick and profound understanding of the overarching "theme" of an individual’s horoscope. Greenbaum’s book is a long-overdue contribution to the current astrological toolbox. However, it is always important to remember, however, that temperament is but a cloak on the basic skeleton of an individual's deepest motivation. The temperament is the “how,” not the “what.” Discovering a person's true nature involves other astrological methods, and this step must always precede any examination of the temperament.

Purchase Temperament - Astrology's Forgotten Key at Amazon.com.

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