My results:
- choler, or yellow bile: 20.00%
- melancholy, or black bile: 26.80%
- blood: 31.50%
- phlegm: 21.70%
What does that mean?
choler, or yellow bile: 20.00%
predominant in those endowed with a choleric temperament
- element: fire
- qualities: hot and dry
- color: yellow
- taste: bitter
- season: summer
- time of day: midday
- body organ: spleen
- period of life: youth
- signs: Aries, Leo, Sagittarius
- planet: Mars
In a balanced person, the predominance of choler ensures a reactive and quick-tempered character. A choleric is typically able to make decisions well and fast, and prefers action over contemplation. But a surplus (over 30%) of choler can become “burned” and eventually turn into melancholy (melan=black, choler=bile, in Greek). Meanwhile, the choleric will become acrid and negative; reactivity might be directed at the wrong objects. This sort of choleric will get angry easily, and maybe have episodes of uncontrolled and potentially dangerous rage.
A high dose of choler can be counterbalanced if the body also harbours a good proportion of phlegm or blood. If that isn’t the case, then you should try to practice meditation, avoid caffeine and alcohol for a while, and privilege white over red meats. It also helps to avoid acoustic or visual overstimulation, to listen to soothing music, to take hot baths with lavender oil, and to read novels that will help you practice the sort of reflection you need to counter your reactivity. Control your behaviour, and make an effort to be kind.
melancholy, or black bile: 26.80%
predominant in those endowed with a melancholic temperament
- element: earth
- qualities: cold and dry
- color: black
- taste: sour
- season: autumn
- time of day: afternoon
- body organ: liver
- period of life: maturity
- signs: Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn
- planet: Saturn
Most of us have some black bile brewing in our organism. But that doesn’t mean that we are all melancholics. Those who are generally balanced may have episodes of mild melancholy, akin to the blues. Those who are less balanced might be more affected by it and develop a syndrome akin to depression. Melancholics used to be identified by their pale, sallow looks, their lack of appetite and tendency to withdraw from society. Generally, though, it is healthy to harbour a dose of it: it helps us temper our enthusiasms, keep our feet on the ground, practice introspection and contemplation, appreciate art, and empathize with the distress of others.
If you have a high proportion (over 30%) of black bile, however, you may be too withdrawn and indulge too much in self-doubt. You may be prone to obsession and anxiety, to fretting over small matters, to seeing the glass half-empty and using your sense of the vanity of all things to justify your inability to engage in life, work or love. To counter the effects of black bile, drink plenty of water and exercise; go for an hour-long walk every day. Try to break a couple of old habits, and once a week, make a point of discovering a new place, either in your home town or elsewhere. It also helps to frequent sanguine friends, to shun troubled lovers, to avoid sad music, to eat plenty of cooked vegetables and also two or three squares a day of bitter (over 70% cocoa) chocolate.
blood: 31.50%
predominant in those endowed with a sanguine temperament
- element: air
- qualities: hot and moist
- color: red
- taste: sweet
- season: spring
- time of day: morning
- body organ: heart
- period of life: childhood
- signs: Gemini, Aquarius, Libra
- planet: Jupiter
Blood is the “best” of all the humours. The sanguine person is typically balanced, equanimous, patient, thoughtful, active in a measured way, able to judge people and situations well, and to contain his or her own shifts of moods, as well as those of others. The presence of blood will diminish the power exerted by other humours that may be present in high doses. An excess of blood, however, may go along with a general insensitivity and indifference to the fate of others. A little melancholy might be just what is needed in such cases.
If the presence of blood is defective (under 25%), then you might suffer from ailments caused by the excess of one or more of the three other humours. On the other hand, if neither of those is particularly predominant, you might be perfectly balanced. To increase the proportion of blood in your system, eat red meat and vegetables but fewer dairy products, drink red wine, exercise, try to sleep less than you usually do, try to keep a more regular schedule than usual – and increase your sexual activity, too. A well regulated life and the avoidance of excess of any sort usually ensures a humourally balanced organism – and vice-versa.
phlegm: 21.70%
predominant in those endowed with a phlegmatic temperament
- element: water
- qualities: cold and moist
- color: white
- taste: salty
- season: winter
- time of day: evening
- body organ: liver
- period of life: old age
- signs: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces
- planet: Moon
No one wants to be diagnosed as phlegmatic – it is not a very sexy humour, since it is associated with slowness, sleepiness, runny noses and lack of drive of any sort. At its best, though, and especially when it is present with a relatively high proportion (over 25%) of choler, phlegm ensures a sense of calm, stability and serenity, as well as a capacity for prolonged concentration and for appropriate judgements and upraisals of situations and people.
A particularly high dose of it (over 30%) might signify that you are a little slow, lacking in nerve and reactivity, and prone to exhaustion or even narcolepsy. You might tend to catch colds easily, and to have a low libido. To counter its effects, you need to augment the proportions of blood and choler in your system. You can do this by cutting down on dairy products and generally eating less, by exercising, and by revisiting traumatic memories. It is usually more appropriate to respond to heartbreak melancholically than phlegmatically, so if you are lovelorn, allow yourself to indulge in some sadness. It is also more appropriate to react to insults cholerically than phlegmatically, so if you have been nastily provoked, get angry and challenge your opponent – reasonably. There is nothing like a good bout of anger to get the blood flowing.
jQuery WYSIWYG site editor, no more code, just stick it! Watch the demo. It’s pretty cool!
Leaders in House Block Earmarks to Corporations – NYTimes.com. It’s one tiny step forward—but could quickly be scuttled by SCOTUS’ declaration that corporations can freely (openly) spend as much as they want to buy politicians combined with the 2010 elections and the ability of conservatives to delude Americans into voting against their interests. Only time will tell.
Observations: Shift happens: Will artificial photosynthesis power the world?. There’s some interesting potential in this technology. It’s relatively cheap, seems accessible, and could serve as an adjunct to other renewable energy sources. The fact that the water need not be potable is huge, too—we’re running out of drinking water, but not water itself—so we could theoretically even use this as a form of pollution amelioration!
