Sun Sign, Moon Sign: Discover the personality secrets of the 144 sun-moon combinations. Charles Harvey
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Название: Sun Sign, Moon Sign: Discover the personality secrets of the 144 sun-moon combinations
Автор: Charles Harvey
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Эзотерика
isbn: 9780007483327
isbn:
No, William Hazlitt may not have known much about astrology, but as a good Sun-Aries he must have sown a few wild oats and learned a thing or two. It is said of Hazlitt that he ‘was possessed of a peculiar temper, which led to his quarrelling with most of his friends’. Maybe if they had known that he was a fiery Sun in Aries, for whom being assertive and argumentative is as natural as birds taking to flight, they would have chuckled and taken no offence. Indeed, understanding what makes others tick can help us get beyond stereotyping, which tends to make us dismiss people before we have a clue about where they are coming from – and what they might have to offer.
THE FOUR ELEMENTS
The four element types are of special interest to astrologers and psychologists. Ever since the Greek philosopher Empedocles offered his thoughts on the subject in the 5th century BC, there has been the idea that all things in the Universe are composed of a mixture of these four elements: Fire, Earth, Air, and Water. An ancient Eastern myth describes the Great Mother Kali as apportioning the elements to create life, with water giving blood, earth forming the physical body, air providing breath, and fire producing vital heat.
The elements can be seen to represent four different types of energy, four distinct states of consciousness or approaches to the world. They have their counterpart in the four states of matter identified by modern physics: plasma (Fire), solids (Earth), gas (Air) and liquid (Water). Equally, the elements can be seen to correlate with the Great Swiss psychologist Carl Jung’s four main psychological types: Intuition (Fire), Sensation (Earth), Thinking (Air) and Feeling (Water). These correspond to the medieval personality classifications of choleric, melancholic, sanguine, and phlegmatic. Early on, the Greeks allocated these elements in an orderly sequence around the zodiac, starting with Fire for Aries and repeating the sequence Fire, Earth, Air, Water, three times, as shown overleaf.
As you can see, three signs are allocated to each of the elements. The fire signs are Aries, Leo and Sagittarius; to Earth belong Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn; Air governs Gemini, Libra and Aquarius; and the Water signs are Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. You can begin to understand the dominant characteristics of each element type by thinking of the imagery each element evokes.
The signs of the zodiac and their elements.
Fire
The most obvious characteristic of this positive, ‘yang’ element is its power to transform (whether we like it or not!). When we speak of a fiery temperament, we are referring to a quality of behaviour that pushes ahead into life. It is unpredictable, even unstable, active and forceful, and usually extremely noticeable! Fire types need to make things happen, and to be in the absolute centre of their lives. They can sense the potential of a situation and make that crucial leap into the unknown either to fall on their face or to create a ‘roaring success’.
Likewise, we can imagine how people living with a Fire type can be inspired and encouraged by their partner’s enthusiasm, but also how easily they might get ‘burned’ by the flames of fire’s passionate ego and outrageous escapades. Fire evokes descriptive phrases such as ‘burning with zeal’, ‘hot-blooded’, ‘can’t stand still’, ‘hot stuff’, ‘energizing’, ‘stimulating’, ‘inspiring’, ‘ego-centric’ and ‘visionary’.
Earth
The Earth is usually referred to as a feminine, ‘yin’ element – Mother Earth, the ever-dependable source of all life. In the realm of Earth all material forms stand out and are distinct: we receive our ultimate material definition as well as our material limitation from Earth. No matter how fiery and wonderful our visions of what could be, the final test of their reality resides in the world of matter. How does it act, taste, feel, measure up in the ‘real’ world?
The predominantly earthy individual tends, therefore, to be matter-of-fact, solid, reliable, sensual, productive, grounded in the practical everyday world, and preoccupied with the here and now. The virtues of this type are obvious: they know how to get things done, run a household and a business, balance the books and make flowers grow. But Earth types go for security, not risk; order rather than chaos; and, as a result, often have a problem expanding beyond their known, quantifiable and controllable universe.
Air
Like Fire, Air is a positive ‘yang’ element, but has a more impersonal quality. Just like the wind, it is all-pervasive and constantly moving, and connects and relates everything it touches in the outer world. Hence the need for airy individuals to socialize and share ideas with many different people. Unlike the intensity of Fire, Air is more detached, abstract and non-intimate in its mode of operation. To find the rational principle at work behind the operations of nature and human behaviour is what the airy individual seeks. And so we usually find that the airy temperament is breezy, intellectual, communicative, curious, co-operative, sometimes ‘airy-fairy’ but always interested in cause-and-effect, in the past-present-future relationship of things, and in understanding people and situations with their minds.
Air types handle ideas well, they are logical, cool, civilized, witty and usually the life of the party where they can indulge themselves in the sheer variety of people. In the realm of feelings, however, the airy individual is often insecure and naive, as feelings do not lend themselves easily to the logical measurement of the rational mind.
Water
When we think about the ‘yin’ element of Water, we immediately enter the realm of the mysterious Feminine. Images arise such as the refreshing, nurturing, cleansing, cooling qualities of spring rain and also the power, enchantment and mystery of the deep, blue sea. Water flows, dissolves and unifies, and indeed the watery temperament desires to be intimate, to merge and to experience the bliss of emotional security and containment. Containment is an important clue to understanding this type, as water will be contained by its boundaries, or else, as with the terror of a flood, it overwhelms, engulfs, saturates and drowns.
The watery individual is moved by feelings, by the irrational realm of romance and imagination, and seeks meaning through relating at a deeply personal and unexplainable level. Unconcerned with whether or not someone or something makes ‘logical sense’, they ask instead ‘does it feel right?’ The emotional, watery individual is concerned with feelings, values, rapport, belonging and memories.
THE ELEMENTS AND TIME
The subjective experience of time is one of those perennial mysteries of the human condition. Our state of mind – our temperament – seems largely to determine whether we constantly look at the clock or sail through the day as if it consisted of a few interesting moments. Some people are constantly harping back to the ‘good old days’, whilst some are focused on the immense possibilities of the future. Others are ploddingly СКАЧАТЬ