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Alan speaks in a very symbolic and esoteric manner in some parts of his books. Although they can be read anthroposophically, passages speaking of Atlantis, archangels, gods, etc. do not need to be taken literarily to be meaningful. The more you read, the more you will realize he uses many different religions to express ideas in a symbolic manner and not in a religious manner. His writings are not religious. In some places his writings are meant to refer to religious events in a historical way. In some places he is using religious figures (from Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Paganism, Ancient Roman and Greek Religions, etc.) in a symbolic manner. However, at no point is he promoting a specific religion or speaking from a religious point of view.
I have kept the writing as close to one-hundred percent original so you will also find that he speaks of Australia often and some spelling or manners of speaking may be cultural. Any words I have changed are presented like this: <word>.
Also keep in mind that these books are written by a Waldorf teacher with decades of experience who also studied with a Steiner student himself, so he speaks to an audience that is dedicating their lives to the Waldorf method without exception.
Because of this, all of his views are not reflected in the Earthschooling curriculum and not all of them may be ones you want to embrace or are able to use. In all of Alan Whitehead’s writings the opinions are his own and may not align with Earthschooling or Waldorf Books. In some cases, we will be updating some of these chapters in the future with additional and/or updated information.
Ultimately, however, as I read through these passages I find I can distill wisdom from even those paragraphs that do not resonate with me.
We invite you to read with an open mind and heart and with eagerness to learn and discuss…
SEVEN PLANET PERSONALITIES
Rudolf Steiner was born on February 27, 1861. In the new ordering of the processional Zodiac since 1413, that makes him an Aquarian. The quality ascribed (by him!) to Aquarius is ‘man in a state of balance’ – balance between thinking, feeling and will. Thus, as a purely bodily/zodiacal man, was Rudolf Steiner. This ‘balance’ quality, embedded deeply into the physical body itself, would remain for life in the great teacher as a normally unconscious but long-term influence.
We’re not sure what Steiner’s temperament was, that 2nd element in the mosaic of man; especially as a child from 7 to 14; but the guess might be melancholic, black-eyed as he probably was. Personal reflections of his idyllic childhood, wandering alone among the meadowed mountains, help to confirm this. He was however, by the same eye-color reckoning, a choleric adult. This gem of wisdom in identifying the temperaments was given, albeit in cryptic form, by The Man himself.
It’s easy to discover the body nature of a person; just look up the birth date. Indeed astrologers who focus on this ‘sign’ factor as the only reality of the supra-sensible human being, are only one step removed from the materialist, he who perceives man merely in his corporeality – as animated meat!
The temperaments are far more arcane than corporeality, or even the star man. One must look at the physiognomy to understand this ‘humors’ man. Starting from the secure foundation of the eye color, many corollary factors influence temperament; like hair color, body shape, complexion and so on.
Again, temperament stays with the human being for life, as a second level of psychic faculty. Many people, although ahead of the materialists and the astrologers, consider this the final functioning aspect of man. Temperament in adults however only really surfaces in times of crisis or stress.
Even more cryptic is the 3rd layer of man, the personality. This is the ‘mask’ – as the word means – with which, from 14 on, we meet the outer world in our day-to-day existence.
The ‘persona’ protects/creates an astral envelope around the sacred center of man, the ego – that upon which, after 21, character is built. And merely a mask personality is – the persona is not the individual.
Many people share like personalities, but no two egos are the same. Some individuals of rare character even take off the mask, revealing the I am to those with eyes to see. The great teachers of mankind are often non-personas, functioning on an exclusive ego level most of the tie. Indeed the comprehensive personality leads naturally over into a higher, and ego, expression.
So Rudolf Steiner was an Aquarian body, a choleric temperament, a sun personality, and an individual of rare power and principle. ‘Sun personality’? As mentioned, the 3rd layer of metaphysical man is the astral entity. Here there are not 12, as in the body/zodiac understanding; nor 4 as in the temperaments (or 1 individual even!); but 7 Personalities. As such they are inspired by, and have their high home in, the 7 Planets.
This 3rd Creation of man, the Personality, was born on the 3rd planetary incarnation of our planet, Ancient Moon. It was essentially an astral or soul condition, and was initiated by the Dynamis, or Spirits of Motion. Following their kinetic contribution, form was bestowed on this moving, amorphous astral sea by the Exusiai, Spirits of Form. The separation of the 7 planetary elements, those which today manifest as the 7 Personalities, was under the wise and sacrificial governance of the lofty Principalities – the Spirits of Personality themselves!
These sublime Beings, the Archai, harnessed the essence of the 7 planets – Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn – in a divine differentiation embodied in the nascent astral bodies of Moon mankind. This miracle has been chronicled in the various legends of the 7 planetary delegates to earth, whether in a Greek, Roman, Judeo/Christian, or even Norse interpretation (For example Ares, Mars, Samael, Tiu – all are the same fundamental Being.) A study of the virtues and vices of these 7 gods is an insight into the Soul Man himself.
These 7 planetary gods are emblematic of, not individualism, but personality; seen in the aggression of Mars, or the taciturnity of Saturn. The vices are caused not by the personality as such, but by the indigence of ego control over its subordinate psychic brother.
The ego enhances the best of the carious personalities – courage with Mars, profundity with Saturn. In determining which personality type an individual is – especially salient in understanding adolescents – there is no judgmental factor. One is not better than another; all 7 have their anointed role in live. If any were missing, say in a particular high school class, there would be a serious soul deficiency in that community.
Just as the temperament in primary can create an illusion with its complementary ‘disposition’; so the teenage personality, a mask in itself, can hide behind a second ‘mask’ – a false personality. This is the same process whereby an actor can play any of the Big Seven, no matter what his/her own. However it is hard to sustain this false mask – a tautology!? In personality terms, the truth will out!
Indeed one can only really assess the personality of a student if there is a fairly generous observation period. Say the young person enters the class, and initially operates on the false personality. He (say) convinces peers and teachers alike that, although he is really a Mercury Soul, he is Jupiter. The first has a relatively superficial, quicksilver conceptual life; the second is wide-reaching and penetrating on this illusion, the newcomer is chosen to represent the class on a public forum.
After a good start, where he skates over the issues with sparkling adroitness (Mercury), things start to slide when the difficult question arise, or the audience demands greater depth (Jupiter).
This false ‘Jupiter’ is now found to be out of his depth, losing face with classmates and teachers. For this reason, and many others, great care should be taken in determining a student’s personality type, and delegating tasks therewith. It is actually easier to ascertain the personality by asking what it is not, rather than what it is – by a process of elimination.
Again, based on diligent observation, the high school teacher asks of one of her students: Is he a Moon person? Are his interests of a genetic nature? Is he imaginative? Is he surrounded by a cocoon of silver luminescence? (the teacher would have to be pretty perceptive to see this one!) – and many more questions which would point to the lunar type.
None of the above? Then move on: is he quick, bright, scintillating, light on his fee…? All things indicating a Mercury Soul…maybe? Not sure? How about Venus then? Is he loving, kindly, affectionate, comely, with a serene nature – but not too bright!? Definitely not!
How about Sun then? Is he the center of attention, radiating a golden aura wherever he goes? Is he the person the group turns to for reassurance? Is he the all-rounder, do people defer to him, orbiting around him like adoring planets?…?…sort of… no, probably not. Is he a Mars Soul? Does he express a kind of audacity – raw courage? Is he a ground-breaker – does he have a short fuse??? In a crisis does he have natural leadership qualities. Definitely not!
Alright then, how about Jupiter? Are his thoughts like javelins, original and accurate – is he widely informed – does he emit an air of authority and confidence? Is he wise, as on anointed? (Wisdom of youth is of the God-given, rather than the personal kind.) Weeeell…yes ….but then he often contradicts himself. If you ask him to explain some profound utterance, he brushes it aside. No, Perhaps not.
There’s only one left, brooding old Saturn. Like an Old Testament prophet, this truculent soul casts his visionary eye back to the past – to perceive the far future…enough! He’s no Saturn Soul!!
So it’s between – um, Sun and Mercury eh? Sun is actually a combination of all 7; I don’t think our student, although popular, has that kind of breadth. Mercury is charming and witty – he certainly is that! Okay, with caution, he is probably a Mercury Soul. Caution indeed, one must wait for life in the class to confirm this first tentative assessment.
In the recapitulation of the great evolutionary events, the years of adolescence are a reflection of Ancient Moon. In both, the astral body was born. The Dynamis, Moon initiators, (indirectly) pour their creative benison into the souls of 14-year-olds; followed, as on Old Moon, by the forming powers of the Exusiai with 15-year-olds. In the 16the year, the Spirits of Personality – that word again! – consolidate this emerging Sentient Body by giving emphasis to one or other of the planetary influences; usually creating a counterbalance by making one appear non-existent.
Unlike the temperaments, where the life-long goal is to ‘temper’ – to balance out, the personality is an emphatic tool with which to achieve one’s karmic tasks. The Jupiter soul may not benefit by canceling out part of its inherent conceptual energy, by taking on the intellectually tolerant aspects of Venus. The strength of personality is to function on one’s gifts at their highest level, not nullify them into a smorgasbord of mediocrity!
It is not as easy to determine the outer planet personality of an adolescent as the inner, more simplistic, orbs of Moon, Venus and Mercury. The Sun too can be evasive, being so all-encompassing, it can emanate a Venus type one day, Mars the next, and so on. Or it can be the most obvious of all, the solar teenager being the center of attention every day!
The reason to know a student’s personality is not idle curiosity – or staffroom kudos-garnering! – but to help. Here we can prevent the damage done by false expectations. Dad might think his Moon son is going to be a lawyer just like him; but the gentler stirrings in his soul direct him to more aesthetic pursuits. The personality-informed teacher makes no such error.
“Creativity stimulates the brain.” Said Rudolf Steiner. The brain is the Moon organ, that through which the personality expresses. This is not to be seen in a crude I.Q. context, but the brain as it operates on the higher level of sensitivity, creativity and imagination – especially the currently evolving but still nascent faculty in human evolution, Imaginative Cognition.
We see the Moon soul as Norse Mona, Selene in Greece, Luna in Rome, and Gabriel in the Judeo/Christian legends Moon students are usually calm, creative and content – and they love babies! The negative Moon aspects, those in which the potential glory of the personality is hi-jacked by Lucifer or Ahriman, are vapid fantasy in place of reality-based imagination – and attachment to ole images, like princesses et al (Lucifer and Ahriman respectively). Brett Whitely, the Australian painter, was both advocate – and fallen angel – of the Moon Soul. His drug used wrested his creativity from the heights, to the black depths of despair.
The loftier expression of Mercury is Egoism, its Luciferic counterpart, egotism. The human hands are the most evident planetary reflection of this ego factor. The 4 main kinds of hands spotlight the kind of Mercury Soul their owners are.
Physical hands are strong, often stubby and inarticulate; typical of farmers, and policemen. They are hands which can transform wilderness to civilization – a timeless Mercury task. Hands that are adroit, that make things, that are intelligent, are etheric hands. These are most often long-fingered and strong, and found in trades and crafts people. They transform the raw materials provided by the physical hands into consumer goods.
The astral hands are more would-expressive; usually smaller, they are found on the ends of artist’s arms – performance and visual alike. They are the hands that sculpt the air when their owners talk – or make a centerstage performance of lifting a teacup! They are mannerist hands, common in effeminate men, and over-cultured ladies! Watch for these 4 different kinds of hands in the Mercury/Wodan/Hermes/Raphael tales.
Finally we have the ‘ego’ hands, the passive. These do very little in the world, resting leisurely on laps, desk tops and arm rests. They are often elegantly long and white, with blue veining. They are extremely conscious in their economy of movement, pointing meaningfully to heaven when referring, as their owners often do, to higher worlds.
The ego/passive hands are those of the condemning judge; the astral/expressive give the benediction; the etheric/adroit construct the gallows – and the physical/strong dig the grave! – to give a gloomy 4-fold metaphor of this richly instructive area.
Owners of all hands however can rise to the heights of Mercury/egoism, or wallow in its Luciferic superficiality – the Ahrimanic contribution is downright trespass! This is depicted in the stories of Rome, where this Puck-like being is god of tricksters. Lucille Ball was an example of the better Mercury type.
The lungs are the organs dispensing their inspirational gifts to Mercury man; many of these students love fresh air, enjoying outdoor sports and the like. Ahriman suppresses the vivacity in these happy souls with the evil of smoking.
Mel Gibson is a Venus man; according, to the women’s magazines, he is conscientious, amiable, personable, cooperative, charming and good-looking – all Venus virtues. Let’s hope he can resist the temptation (the overweening astral vice) of sentimentality, that curried by Lucifer to subvert the fine Venus qualities.
Ahriman pushes this right across the line to re-emerge as blind, irrational hatred. (Venus souls are not often conceptual giants.) Teenagers who love most deeply, abandoning themselves to Venusian passion, when betrayed, hate most virulently. This they do by suppressing the love emanations of the kidneys – Venus organs – those marvels which strain out both sediments and hatred from their over-burdened owners.
The Sun personality, with its natural popularity and gregariousness, has the Luciferic danger of insincerity – of dishonorable conduct in the worst case.
Rudolf Steiner, the classic Sun/Michaelian type, was never guilty of this, nor was he of the Ahrimanic counterpart to the intrinsic holism of the sun, fragmentation. The heart is the mediator between heaven and earth, or spirit and body, for the Sol personality.
Anything which defiles the heart, either physically or psychologically, diminished the light-filled power of this ‘persona’. The solar student will bear, potentially at least, the qualities of all 7 personality types. This makes them very capable indeed. One 17-year-old, after a Catering block lesson, successfully catered for 100 guests at a school seminar!
Bob Hawke was a Mars man; in spite of his efforts to convince the nation (the false persona again) that he was a pillar of consensus. Mars produces many leaders, people of courage who take the risks in the hazardous area of social reform for others to follow. The downside of Mars – the Ahrimanic – is naked aggression.
The gall bladder infuses the Martian with these capacities; it contains a highly bitter bile – ‘He galls me!’ This attacks the fats and other heavy substances lying indolently around in the digestive tract. So do the Mars types attack the slack cats of their community. An overload of gall can permeate the whole being, creating a most unpleasant person indeed (Hitler!); one who lives with a perennial bitter taste in the mouth.
From this, aggressive or foul speech can pollute the aural environment, demeaning the high Mars faculty, oratory. Some classical statues of this god have a ‘grark’, a small, ugly head held in the hand – mouth open!
In high school, these leader types provide the spice, the audacity in the class. An over-cautious hang-gliding instructor thought conditions unsuitable for a flight, so the class “mars’ took off anyway – and had the must flight of the day!
So to Jupiter/Zeus/Thor/Zachariel, gold of the liver – of wisdom in the highest – and of knowledge at a more pedestrian level. These personalities hurl their lightning bolts of clear, incisive, penetrating concepts down from their high home – Zeus means ‘luminous sky’.
Another of Australia’s Prime Ministers, Paul Keating, is a classic Jupiter type, his opponents fear, most of all, the damning persuasiveness of his ideas – the man can think, and all without a shred of tertiary education! So too can the Jupiter students, often not hitting their straps before Class 11 or 12; it is they who set the learning pace in the high school.
The wisdom with which the liver creates the chemical miracle of transubstantiation we call digestion, is a picture of the potential of the Jupiter Soul.
Brooding Saturn is the most enigmatic of the personalities, therefore the hardest to determine – and the rarest. These teenagers live in a world of relative isolation, of introspection. It is a still, quiet, inner landscape of Time. The spleen, organ of Saturn, is a time calibrator, the mainspring of man’s biological clock.
The spleen tells us when to go to bed; when to stop for morning tea; when to go on holiday! It also informs us where we exist on the Path of Time itself; stretching back into the mists, and forward into the binding light.
Many writers are Saturn types; they love the solitude, that which liberates the visionary faculties of time-and-space travel without moving from the chair! Patrick White, surly, dark-souled but clear-spirited, was a typical Saturn personality; as was ‘I want to be alone.’ Marlene Dietrich!
Cronus – Time, Lord – is depicted as eating his own children; as well as other layers of meaning, this refers to the present, our children are of the now. Saturn types can almost not endue the idea of contemporary existence – especially if you’re having fun!
In high school, this personality often doesn’t emerge till quite late, if at all; a Saturn student being a puzzle to both peers and teachers alike. They’re regarded as eccentric, moody, self-absorbed – and friends are few!
As in all the 7 personalities, a student usually has one dominant, and one or two corollary – with one decidedly weak, if not absent all together. Rudolf Steiner was a Sun personality, with Moon, Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn corollary – his weak one was…?!!
Of the 12 human senses, that of Warmth is the Aquarian sense, and the blood is the Temple of Warmth. This hemic factor is the first year of adolescence has to be carefully considered, physiologically and psychically; as it does on another level in the primary equivalent, Class 1.
“That makes sense,” said the small, wiry Class 8 teacher as he stuffed a bee veil in his bag “at 14, the teenager is coming into a new relationship with the blood. In Class 1, the blood was gradually tenanted by the child’s Life Body; in the 14th year, 7 years later, the Sentient, or Astral, body is again blood-focused, creating, a state of hemic instability – chaos. That which is required before something new can be born. I see it every day, many of the boys easily over-heat, breaking out in acne, rashes and so on; while many girls seem to be slightly anemic – the high-spirited hormones of course are carried in the blood. I suppose our goal is to try to bring a calmness to this volatile red river – but how?”
The Class 2 teacher, a very prim person, spoke “The balancing element for heat is obviously coolness,” she said coolly “this can be cultivated by clear, rational thought – a cool form of expression if ever there was one! Young hot heads unconsciously cry out for a lesson presentation with rich thought content. Or to put is in their language – Stay cool!”
Heads came up like leghorns at this unlikely phrasing from Prim; but Athletic went on.
“the other extreme, anemia, is counteracted by creating a blood surge;” he stooped to pick up his pent yet again “and the best way to do that is with an active physical program, including sport and dance. I’ve always found that there is an inner yearning in the souls of 14-year-olds to express these gangling limbs in swimming, cycling, basketball and such – especially with the boys. As long as the movement is intelligent of course. And the girls assuredly love to dance.
In fact a balanced program of physical and cerebral activities would be to go. Every Class 8 lesson-plan should have a modern dance unit of some kind.”
Bee Man took notes “Hmmm, this movement quality seems to correspond with another aspect of their development – the spiritual contribution of the Dynamis – Spirits of Motion. 14 is indeed the Dance of the Dynamis!
THE SECRET ANNEXE OF THE SOUL
The Seven Planet Personalities as Expressed in Adolescence
It is sometimes considered, in Steiner circles at least, a heresy to suggest that animals, like humans, express personality. This is because some people confuse personality with character. The first is based on Sentient or Astral Body development from 14 to 21; the second is a perennial quest for Ego-consciousness – for the whole of adulthood. One only has to refer to those who study the great apes for confirmation of each animal embodying its own specific personality – not to mention dogs!
Even though all higher animals have Astral-based personality, they lack Ego-based character, one activated by rational thought, morality, conscience, and other specifically human properties and values. However, all teens are busy crafting a survival personality mask (‘persona’ means mask) to carry them through to adulthood. These astral masks are indeed necessary to protect the budding Ego.
To comprehend the infinite complexity of the process of the 7-year personality development, it is helpful to divide the seven definitive personality types into the 7-planet houses. Though many young people can shift between these seven, say from Sun to Mars, there will always remain a core personality throughout the odyssey from 14 to 21 years. The following, using primarily famous teenagers with whom every reader is acquainted, is a simple – simplistic? – guide to identifying the main characteristics of the seven personalities.
The Moon adolescent (adolescent – a nice word meaning ‘to nourish’) is indeed ‘moony’ – a person who tends to moon around daydreaming. S/he has often a rich if mostly unrealizable fantasy life, one combined with a strong affectionate nature – to both humans and animals. Snow White is a Moon personality.
Alas, our young Atlantean was not very bright – positively gullible, indeed. Because of her trusting nature, she could easily be tricked by a wicked queen, witch, and seven dwarfs alike. Tricky dwarfs? These yo-ho homunculi somehow managed to engage a full-time, compliant housekeeper-cook for mere food and lodging! Like many Moon teenagers, Snow White – the original girl who can’t say no! – didn’t even know she was being exploited, rather dreaming all day about some imaginary prince on a white charger coming to call.
On the bright side of the Moon personality, due to a colorful inner life and rich imagination, these teens are often highly artistic, usually extending their aesthetic talents into adult life; even forging a successful vocational pat with them.
In fact, my researches into the seven-personality phenomenon over almost five decades has revealed that in very many cases the adolescent personality carries over into the career path choice – becomes a kind of foundation for it, even.
For example, one Moon boy in my class later became a celebrated landscape painter in America, specializing in sweeping tableaus featuring the mysterious Everglades; a specially Moon-water subject.
The brain is the organ of the Moon (the genitalia rather the bodily region), it is also the sanctuary of imagination, providing Moon teens with an artistic head start. Speaking of genitalia, the Moon personality’s fantasy life is richly enlivened both sexually and sensually: their art hopefully providing an antidote to a descent into the prurient.
As with every developmental process, the crafting of the mask of personality is a gradual one, being easier for parent to teacher to identify as the teen years progress.
Ancient India was a Moon civilization; the Moon living in the House of Cancer, as it does. In the great Platonic year of the post-Atlantean civilizations, India was a Cancer Age. The culture of the Kama Sutra, and the sensual-sexual statuary ubiquitous in Old India is a clear expression of an image-filled Moon civilization.
One negative aspect of the Moon personality is that of fixation. Sadly, the oft’ enfeebled powers of thought can be insufficient to break the bonds of compulsive, habitual, or repetitive behavior. Snow White’s dedication to – entrapment in – menial routine fits this model! Again, an intelligent arts program is the best therapy to wrest the soul of its servitude.
With Mercury we have a dramatic personality change, indicated by the common descriptor for this type being ‘mercurial’. My well-known Mercury teen is Jessica Watson. This peripatetic and clever teenager was, at 17 years of age, the youngest person to sail single-handedly right round the world – about as mercurial as you can get!
The Mercury personality often has a quicksilver intellect, which manifests in coping with both worldly and personal affairs in an efficient, rational way. Mercury (Greek Hermes) was, after all, the god of trade (‘mercantile’, ‘merchant’, et al), and its dark underbelly, thievery! So the negative of this type is the capacity for deceit, duplicity, deviousness and deception! In worst cases, these youngsters often engage in a stage of shoplifting and other meretricious behavior.
The Mercury region is the lower abdomen, the mobility fulcrum par excellence; the organ being the lungs, twin centers of inspiration, both physiological and psychological.
Indeed, Mercury teens seem to be continually ‘inspired’ with wit, street smarts, clever problem-solving, and even trendsetting throughout their busy day. A Mercury boy from one of my classes later became decorated-for-bravery police officer, assisted by a black belt in Tae Kwon Do!
Ancient Persia, the following India, was a Mercury Age (Mercury lives in the house of Gemini); hence these people were the great inventors of civilization.
I’ve chosen the teen pop sensation Justin Bieber for my well-known Venus personality; though I could have used any number of such glamour stars from every generation (Little Patty from mine!).
These young people seem to just emanate attractiveness. This can be a package of good looks, gesture, deportment, hair, dress and even – or especially – voice.
In fact all teens are, to some degree, Venus (Greek Aphrodite) beings, the goddess of love and beauty being the regent, as Rudolf Steiner tells us, of the 14-to-21 development stage. “In the period from the 14th to the 21st year, the Venus Mysteries are now seen.”
The Venus region is the upper abdomen, the organs the kidneys. These amazing filters not only cleanse the blood, but cleanse the soul as well, especially of negative elements like hatred. In fact, where the soul, hence its organs, malfunction, the Venus teen can suffer debilitating jealousy and other love-based psychoses, most tinctured with obtuseness, non-co-operation and irrationality. Though when functioning to the best of their personality, they are usually agreeable, congenial, cordial and non-adversarial.
Ancient Egypt was a Venus Age, and its pharaonic apogee, represented by Nefertiti and Akhenaton are archetypal ‘Venusians’, in both manner and looks. In fact the pharaoh Akhenaton was often depicted as curiously feminine.
Now, to travel to the epicenter of the 7-planet-personality solar system – to the Sun types. For this I have chosen a famous historical teenager (not a lot of these!), Joan of Arc.
St. Joan had the unique capacity to have all who orbited around her in her thrall, to bask in her radiant light. Her deeds were beyond improbable; in patriarchal medieval Europe a mere slip of a girl leading an army to victory. Through this was achieved with the aid of divine help in the form of visions of the Archangel Michael – the Sun archangel! In fact the qualities of this current Zeitgeist are reflected in the solar teen.
With the Sun personality there is consistency (rather than complements, as with the other six planets) between the organ and the region; the organ being the heart, the region the chest. Sun types – like St. Joan – exhibit, for all to see, a plenitude of the three main heart-Sun qualities, courage, love and truth (will, feeling, thinking). In fact, these adolescents do not suffer the negatives of this lofty triune – as do the others with their 2-sided psychic coins – but, alas, sometimes an unhealthy excess.
For instance, courage may slide into recklessness, love into blind passion (or misdirected love, as towards a criminal), and truth into indiscretion. In any case, the operative adjective to describe the Sun personality is, of course, sunny!
These teens are perennially optimistic, enthusiastic, dependable, reliable, responsible and approachable. They are people who would be described as centered, taking the lead in, or at least approving of, most collective initiatives. If one has the Sun person on side, the rest will surely follow. One of my Sun girls became a director as a major Canberra arts center.
Now to the Mars personality. Who better than that famous Old Testament teenager, David? His story of audacity, naked bravery and skill is part of the world’s psychic DNA. We all know what a ‘David and Goliath’ contest means. And these are – among others – the qualities of the martial soul. Then there is the implied of oft’ manifest ill-tempered Mars aggressiveness, possibly leading to violence. In fact Mars types are often the school bullies. They naturally have an adversarial, combative nature, especially in speech. However, at their best they exhibit a protective spirit none of the other six can equal.
Other positives are in the area of the entrepreneurial and the innovative, the oratorical and the tactical.
The Mars region is the larynx; hence they usually have a high degree of verbal skill. The organ is the ever-bitter gall bladder. A curious reflection of this universal principle can be seen in those two symbols of peace and war, the dove and the hawk. The former has no gall bladder at all; the latter’s being not only present, but highly functional. Mars souls are, like all the outer planets, usually cerebrally endowed. It is this talent which proves an insight in dealing with a bully in my class many years ago. My resident tough kid was making life miserable for a new boy who suffered a moderate metal handicap.
My usual methods of proscription and reproach seemed impotent, so one day I had a talk with him – alone. Here I described the unhappy life his victim had endured prior to coming to our school – including bullying! Some small flower of compassion – or empathy at least – blossomed in his heart, and from that day on he became, not the boy’s oppressor, but his defender – and it stayed that way. My young warrior later became a successful businessman – the occupation mirroring the earlier personality once again. Naturally, a competitive, extraverted nature is part-and-parcel of the Mars soul.
The Mars (Aries-Ares) civilization – 747BC – 1413AD – was the ever so combative Greco-Roman. The greatest honor being to die on the battlefield! The color of Mars is red, the metal, iron – both reflected in the souls of these feisty Mars adolescents.
The most wonderful world example imaginable of the Jupiter teenager is Anne Frank. Again, we all know her story. This was of how, during World War II, with a small group of Jewish friends and family, a young teen Anne was secreted, for over two years, from the occupying Nazis.
This was in a hidden part of a business premises in Amsterdam they called The Secret Annexe. This Secret Annexe is indeed an apt metaphor for the mysteries of pubescence all adolescents experience. They all have a “Secret Annexe”!
The Diary of Anne Frank ultimately became one of the most continuously best-selling books of all time – and only a Jupiter teenager could have penned it! Her quotidian descriptions of people, places and events are beyond poignant. Anne exhibits, in the highest possible degree, all the attributes of the Jupiter soul; to name a few: thoughtfulness; intelligence; compassion; insight; tolerance; self-reflection; humor – especially humor. Lots of comedians have Jupiter personalities! But what could there possible be to laugh about in such dire circumstances? – especially when one knows the tragic denouement of the story. This was the beautiful young 15-year-olds death, flowing betrayal (for a price of five gulden, a few dollars!). And then the tragic subsequent deportation to Auschwitz; and finally to perish in Bergen Belsen concentration camp.
But let’s give Anne her own voice to gain an unprecedented access into her own – spiritual – Secret Annexe; and into the universal teen soul, indeed – Wednesday, January 5, 1944:
“After I came here, when I was just fourteen, I began to think about myself sooner than most girls, and to know that I am a ‘person’. Sometimes, when I lie in bed at night, I have a terrible desire to feel my breasts, and to listen to the quiet rhythmic beat of my heart. I already had these kinds of feelings subconsciously before I came here, because I remember that once when I slept with a girlfriend I had a strong desire to kiss her, and that I did so. I could not help being terribly inquisitive over her body, because she had always kept it hidden from me. I asked her whether, as proof of our friendship, we should feel one another’s breasts, but she refused. I go into ecstasies every time I see the naked figure of a woman, such as Venus. It strikes me as so wonderful and exquisite that I have difficulty in stopping the tears rolling down my cheeks. If only I had a girlfriend.”
And, as a typical example, a mere two months later on March 7, of the tempestuousness of the teen soul, she deflates the assumption that she is an incipient lesbian with the following:
“I discovered my longing, not for a girlfriend, but for a boyfriend. I also discovered my inward happiness and my defensive armor of superficiality and gaiety. In due time, I quieted down, and discovered my boundless desire for all that is beautiful and good.”
This, and so much more, must be one of the most beautiful teal-time personal descriptions of adolescent self-realization ever written. In fact, Anne Frank (Frank, a name aptly meaning “Truth”!) is another example of the 7-planet soul disposition flowing into adult life as vocation – even though she never became an adult! Yet again I permit her to express her vision of a meaningful future in her own inimitable way – April 4, 1944:
“I must work, so as not to be a fool, to get on, to become a journalist, because that’s what I want! I know that I can write, a couple of my stories are good, my descriptions of the Secret Annexe are humorous, there’s a lot in my diary that speaks, but – whether I have real talent remains to be seen…”
And so it has, with Anne Frank becoming one of the world’s best-selling authors – with a single work penned as a young teenager! But she continues:
“I am the best and sharpest critic of my own work. I know myself what is and what is not well written. Anyone who does not write doesn’t know how wonderful it is; I used to bemoan the fact that I couldn’t draw, but now I am more than happy that I can at least write. And if I haven’t any talent for writing books or newspaper articles, well, then I can write for myself.”
And later on May 10:
“You’ve (addressing “Kitty, her diary) known for a long time that my greatest wish is to become a journalist some day, and later on a famous writer. Whether these learnings towards greatness (or insanity!) will ever materialize remains to be seen, but I certainly have the subjects in my mind. In any case, I want to publish a book entitled Het Acheterhuis (roughly “the back of the house”) after the war. Whether I succeed or not, I cannot say, but my diary will be a great help.”
About Kitty, she wrote:
“I hope I shall be able to confide in you completely, as I have never been able to do in anyone before. And I hope that you will be a great support and comfort to me.”
Anne was reported to have stated to a friend, in relation to her writing, that: “I want to go on living after my death.” And so she has; the treatise you’re reading now being yet another small voice in support of Anne Frank’s immortality in print.
Needless to say, the “Jovian” soul can usually express itself well, especially in the written word. After all, the overweening virtue of Jupiter is ‘wisdom’, the region being the face (the wise owl exemplifying this).
The liver is the wisdom organ of Jupiter. Hence stupidity is its enemy – and the Jupiter teens are rarely guilty of that. In fact they usually provide considered and considerable counsel – whether sought or not! – to the other six personalities. However, the dark shadow of the Jupiter soul is often self-righteousness (lots of that in Anne’s ‘frank’ account), superiority, aloofness and intolerance.
One of my Jupiter boys, who typically shined on the stage in school productions, later, I am proud to say, became a Doctor of Environmental Science, making significant discoveries both in the field and in agitating for the preservation of wilderness.
Finally, to the most enigmatic, the Saturn soul. Finding a famous example was hard, as these teens do not usually shine on the world stage. But I have chosen James Dean, he who rocketed to stardom in the 1950s with his ‘rebel without a cause’ smoldering performances.
The Saturn teen is most often an isolationist – the classic ‘nerd’. Though, they often form one or two very close relationships – often with like-minded “saturnines”; so they are not necessarily misanthropes. They just want to be left alone to get on with whatever introverted obsession takes they fancy. If annoyed, they can be unforgiving, with long and forensically accurate memories. Their thought life verges on the profound and the melancholy; they have a contempt for lesser beings – and can even be prophetic, their dark souls curiously aligning with Time, as they do.
As such, they are almost always engrossed by the study of history, the past – and also to science fiction, the future. In fact the organ of Saturn is the spleen; that which regulates time in the human being. For example, the spleen tells one, via tummy rumbles, when it is time for your 11am buttered bun!
The region of Saturn, however, is the crown, the highest chakra of the seven. It is here that the Saturn psyche spends most of its time, I a form of contemplation, or even waking meditation, of one kind or another.
The saturnine example from my own teaching experience was a dark-eyed girl who pretty well matched the above profile. For our class King Arthur play, due to being, by definition, a community event, she exhibited the usual contempt at worst, indifference at best.
That is until we had to cast the archetypal villain, Mordred. Even though she was obviously a girl, she stepped forward for this demanding male role (no swooning – Moon – Guinevere for her!). It was as if she had a deep need to explore the Mysterium Iniquitatus, the Mystery of Evil.
What she found, and expressed artistically in both rehearsal and performance, was positively chilling. Her long, black hair and impenetrable back eyes were in keeping with an all-black, self-designed costume. With these she created a presence on stage of manifest wickedness. However, after the show she displayed a curious new lightness of soul. It was as if she had externalized some resident psychic toxin of vengefulness, especially towards hapless teachers, that seemed to burden here. (Not to me, thank heavens – one birthday present was double tickets to the rock musical Hair.)
Ah, yet again, the healing power of the arts!
So what career path did my ‘Mordred’ pursue in later life? I have no idea; as mentioned earlier, unlike moony Snow White, mercurial Jessica Watson, Venusian Justin Bieber, sunny St. Joan, Martian David, and Jovian Anne Frank, these Saturn souls, being secretive as they often are, don’t pop their heads up above the parapet very often!
The perception of the seven years of high school is different for teacher/parents and for their offspring. For the former they are part of a 5-act play, one scripted by the curriculum and the above seven stages of development. This is an exciting 7-personality play with an Introduction, a (not known) Climax, and an inevitable Conclusion.
For the teenagers actually living their 5-year high school experience, it is rather a bewildering voyage across a storm-tossed sea, with occasional shafts of the sunlight of optimism and sheer joy breaking through. (Every reader can, if they are, reminisce on this journey from his/her own adolescence.)
Our task as teachers, parents and carers is to help our seemingly bewilderingly complex teenagers navigate this hazardous La Mer – to reach the destination of which they are ultimately the sole – and soul – deciders. With knowledge of the 7-planet personalities we can do this so much more effectively that without such insights. So, after recalling your own teen years, see above, what of the above seven personalities were you, the reader, as a teenager? This is best determined by a process of elimination – it’s sometimes easier to know what you were not, than what you were! This can be yet another winding pathway to the Know Thyself ultimate goal in life.
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