1. Astrology Soc. 100 Lecture 02a Astrology
Edited 3/31/01
Soc. 100 Lecture 02a Astrology
Astrology
An Early Model of Human Behavior
From:
Walter Clide Curry Chaucer and the Mediaeval Sciences;New York
Barnes & Noble 1960
E. M. W. Tillyard, Lett. D The Elizabethan World Picture;1960 London,
Chatto and Windus
Like religions there are various interpretations of astrology 1

2. Astrology Personality Quiz2

3. Observations 1. Widely believed and practiced in "medieval England"
Many aspects of astrology go back to the early Greeks; Aristotle, Pythagros, etc.
1. Widely believed and practiced in "medieval England"
2. Much referenced by Shakespeare.
3. A folk knowledge that can be seen as a primitive science
with a cause and effect relationship.
4. An integrated perspective that includes psychology,
medicine, chemistry , physics, astronomy (as well as a
predictor of the future).
5. All things were composed of 4 basic elements that took
different forms,based on hot, cold, moist and dry, ideal was a balanced compound*
6. Opinion polls in US typically show a large % having some
degree of belief (60-85%) 3

4. basic elements •Earth, fire, Water, Air
•All planets are dominated by one of the elements
•in humans the elements take the form of "humors"or
"Biles" (Black, Yellow, Red [blood], Green [phlegm])
•all metals are made of these elements (alchemy was
the notion of changing the composition of elements
in lead to make gold 4

5. Astrology chart 5

6. Personality Characteristics
The Theory of Humors
Primary
Humor
Character
Type
Element
Elemental
Symptoms
Blood
Sanguine
Air
Hot & Moist
confidence, wit, courage,
hope,extrovert
Yellow
Bile
Choleric
(Libra)
Fire
Hot & Dry
rashness, violance, discontent,
envy, extravert
Phlegm
Phlegmatic
Water
Cold &
Moist
slow, dull-witted, sweet -
tempered, easy going, introvert
Black Bile
Melancholy
Earth
Cold & Dry
(Leo)
(Virgo)
Sulleness, sadness, depression,
(Scorpio)
frustration, emotional, introvert
cf. Hippocrates
Of The nature of Man
(5th Century B.C.), Galen’s
Of Temprements
(Second Century A.D.), Sir Thomas Elyot’s
Castel of Health
(1593), and Robert Burton’s
Anatomy of Melancholy
(1621) 6

7. Medical/Problems—”Catharsis”
•Illness and personality were the result of tension
between elements
• Too much of an element was the cause of problems
(a compound of balance was the ideal)
• Catharsis was the general model for treatment
e.g. "Spring Tonic to clear black bile build up
Blood letting for a fever
• Modern day meaning of "humors" still exists in language 7

8. • Adolf Hitler (Note: England employed corps of
Believers
• Nancy Reagan
( Note: She had a private phone Installed in the
Whitehouse just for calls to her astrologer
• Adolf Hitler (Note: England employed corps of
Astrologers to guess Hitler's moves in WWII)
• Japanese/Chinese Culture
Chinese Years—snake, rabbit, tiger, mouse….
• Large % of current US population
60-80 have some degree of
belief 8

9. DATA
From 1994 GSS, Only .07 percent did not report their sign