 | ||||||||
| Start | Welcome | Star Guide | Horoscopes | Orders | Site Map | FAQ | Contact Us | Guest Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
  |
||
 Soul Connection Relationship Analysis About Astrology Welcome |
 |
Order your Chart The Zodiac Daily Horoscopes Other Good Stuff |
| ||
 | ||
Astrology and Health | |
| The Humours: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | The Vital Force | |
The Choleric HumourThe choleric humour is perceived by the Fire Element. The Fire Element in general symbolises energy, dynamism and expression, and is associated with the colour red, which correlates to the choleric humour, dynamic and expressive component of the blood. Culpeper defines the choleric humour as the spume and froth of the blood3 and with this image it is possible to visualize the turbulence and activity of the blood as it circulates around the body.Normally when taking a blood pressure listening with a stethoscope at the brachial artery at the elbow, the spurting sound of the blood is clearly heard. In moments of panic it is possible to hear the beating of one's own heart. These sounds are caused by the blood cells brushing against the side of the blood vessels as they are propelled by the beating heart. As the red blood cells are the most abundant cells in the blood, they principally generate this sound. Their red colour in particular links them to the Fire Element. Physiologically their function is to carry the respiratory gases between the lungs and all the other cells in the body. This role enables the tissues to respire and generate energy. Psychologically, Fire symbolises a person's drive, motivation, creativity, strength and ambition, while physiologically, tissue respiration is how the body generates energy. Tissue respiration predominantly occurs in the liver and muscles where the main heat of the body is produced. During physical exercise, when muscular contractions burn up a lot of glucose, the increased heat that is generated causes water loss through perspiration, leading to a powerful thirst, this being a direct reflection of the hot and dry nature of the choleric humour. With the connection of the Fire Element to the muscles, the pumping action of the heart - a muscular organ - contributes to the force behind the spume and froth of the blood. As a further correspondence with the Fire Element, circulation of the blood increases during exercise.
The choleric humour is ruled
principally by the hot and dry Planet Mars. Iron is the metal traditionally
connected to Mars, since it is used to make weapons such as knives, swords and spears. Physiologically, iron is included within haemoglobin,
the carrier molecule inside the red blood cells that transports the oxygen
to the tissues. When oxygen combines with haemoglobin forming oxyhaemoglobin, the blood changes colour from a dull to a bright red. All these ideas are particularly highlighted when iron deficiency occurs in the body, leading to a shortage of red blood cells. This is a condition called anaemia where inadequate amounts of oxygen reach the cells and consequently very little energy is generated in the body. The patient is tired and
lethargic and becomes easily breathless after only mild exertion.
Without energy, the body's resistance falls, leading to increased risks of
infection since it is unable to fight back. Often they will complain
of feeling cold through inadequate generation of body heat. The shortage
of red blood cells leads to a characteristic, pallid complexion. The
pulse in anaemia is notably rapid, which is a compensatory symptom, for
as the blood less efficiently transports oxygen to the cells, the heart
beats faster to pump the blood more rapidly around the body. The
Sun traditionally rules the heart and is the hot and dry co-ruler of the
choleric humour The Sun symbolises the source of vitality in a person.
When the anaemia becomes life threatening, the patient's heart compensates
to keep them alive.
| |
The Phlegmatic HumourThe phlegmatic humour corresponds to the Water Element. As Culpeper explains:it makes the body slippery, fit for ejection; it fortifies the brain by its consimilitude with it; yet it spoils apprehension by its antipathy to it: it qualifies choler, cools and moistens the heart, thereby sustaining it, and the whole body from the fiery effects, which the continual motion would produce.5Since Water is the Element that joins things together, the phlegmatic humour can be identified with the blood plasma, the fluid medium of the blood, largely consisting of water in which the blood cells circulate. The phlegmatic humour also encompasses lymph, sweat, mucus, cerebro-spinal fluid, synovial fluid and the vitreous and aqueous humours of the eye. All of these secretions are generally formed from the plasma, as the blood perfuses the tissues of the body.
The cold and moist phlegmatic humour is co-ruled by
the Moon and Venus. The Moon particularly rules the ventricles of
the brain, hence the idea of the phlegmatic humour fortifying the brain
by its consimilitude with it.6 The
Watery nature of the phlegmatic humour counteracts the Fiery nature of
the choleric humour, as demonstrated by an increase of perspiration cooling
down the body in a fever, hence Culpeper's description of the phlegmatic
humour qualifying choler.Apprehension is an association
of the choleric humour.
|
|
| The Humours: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | The Vital Force |
|
|
Astrology and Health:
A Beginner's Guide by Dylan Warren-Davis. Published by Headway: Hodder & Stoughton ISBN 034070518 3 84 pages To order your copy - click here! |
Mars Rules the Choleric Humour
The Moon and 
Venus Rule the Phlegmatic Humour
Saturn Rules the Melancholic Humour|
| ||
| MORE INFORMATION |
ORDER YOUR HOROSCOPE |
THE STARGUIDE |
|---|---|---|
Please send email to Astrologersastrologers@astrologycom.com
Contents Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001
ASTROLOGY ON THE WEB
PO Box 1910 Bowral NSW 2576 Australia
Phone: +61 2 4861 3600 - Fax: +61 2 4861 2208
Updated: Thursday, 3 January 2002