3. Circle — 12 types of characters placed on the Ancient Typology.

In the above diagram, inside I placed a circle on which I distinguished 12 points. These points symbolize 12 main human types of characters.

I also placed this circle with 12 types on the Ancient Typology.

We can see now that the Ancient Typology has divided the whole diagram into four parts. These four parts, among others, correspond to four basic Elements or four classical Elements. These are:

• Air,
• Earth,
• Fire, and
• Water.

The Elements are not the same throughout their entire area, that is, they are not uniform. Elements that are next to each other impact (or influence) each other. They change each other’s character, feature or quality.

Then, we have qualities are the result of influencing the Elements on each other. In the above diagram, I placed these qualities on the boundaries between the individual Elements. These are:

• dry,
• hot,
• moist (or wet), and
• cool, (or cold).

In the above diagram, I also placed the corresponding temperaments on individual elements. We owe temperaments mainly to Hippocrates and Galen. These are:

• Sanguine, (Blood, Spring),
• Choleric, (Yellow Bile, Summer),
• Melancholic, (Black Bile, Autumn), and
• Phlegmatic, (Phlegm, Winter).

In addition to temperaments, I put the corresponding:
— Four body fluids, so-called, humors. (An imbalance among humors had an impact on human health and behavior. It means, an excess or deficit of one of the humors could cause problems in human physical and mental health).
— Four seasons. (Among others, Galen referred to the symbolism of seasons).

The division into four parts, four Elements, and their qualities are very symbolic. Also, they are deeply rooted in tradition and culture. We can read a lot about it in many sources. For example, in the references under this chapter, we can find links to Wikipedia web-pages to some topics about classical elements and ancient medicine. Also, I quote below, a short fragment from the book “The Encyclopedia of Dreams, Symbols & Interpretations”—Rosemary Ellen Guiley

So, it turns out that the fascination with Elemental symbolism is timeless.

We may perversely ask what exactly is so fascinating about it?

Probably one of the reasons for this is that the Elements symbolically reflect what is happening in the human psyche. We can compare various mental processes to some Elements. Or by the way how some Elements “behave” we can figuratively explain human behavior.

References: