Metaphysical dive into temperament and the four elements
In this article, I am going to go into the metaphysical and scientific symbolism associated with temperament.
Your temperament is the interface of your spirit and the experience of space and time. The symbolism of pattern, material reality, and polarity are associated with temperament and its underlying concepts.
Numbers
Let’s start with the most fundamental aspect of the elements: there are 4 of them.
Arithmetic
Four is the two 2s, or 2 squared (2^2). In temperament, there are two sets of hot elements and two cold. There are two dry and two wet elements. The doubling of the two is symbolic of matter and the generation of material things.
Geometry
The square shape, with 4 sides, has been traditionally associated with physical matter and is symbolic of the earth.
Gematria
The fourth letter of the alphabet is D, or in Greek the Delta ∆. Notice that this triangle symbol is the basis for the alchemical symbols for earth, air, water, and fire.
Alchemical symbols for the four elements.
DNA
I like to talk about temperament as spiritual DNA because temperament gives the underlying architecture to your body / mind / emotions. Just like DNA gives your cells the instructions to form your physically manifested body, your temperament does the same and then some.
The information in DNA is encoded using combinations and sequences of four molecules, as below.
Just like the four elements, the DNA base pairs come together in opposites. Adenine and thymine are a pair and cytosine and guanine are a pair in DNA.
Water and earth are both feminine; air and fire are masculine. Similarly, there are two types of DNA bases, purines and pyrimidines - C and T are pyrimidines and A and G are purines. These molecules always pair off in the same way - A and T pair up and C and G always pair up. This is just like the elements: earth and air are opposites, as are Fire and Water.
Duality
Temperament is, at its root, an expression of duality. Our manifested world is dual. Traditional and ancient cultures knew this and their systems of making sense of the world were based on this observation of duality.
As mentioned above, there are two parts to the duality of temperament
temperature - hot and cold
moisture - wet and dry
Astronomy
The cycles of the sun and moon are both divided into quarters, or four parts.
Sun
As we know from the seasons, the sun goes through four stages in its cycle. Starting from its lowest point in the winter solstice, getting to its halfway point in the spring equinox, at its height in the summer solstice, and halfway to its weakest point at the autumn equinox.
The two equinoxes and solstices form the four-part cycle of the sun.
Moon
Similarly, we are all familiar with the cycle of the moon. It starts as a dark new moon, goes to to a waxing half moon, waxes into the full moon, wanes to the waning half moon, and then restarts the cycle as another new moon. Again, we have 4 signposts along the way.
