How does one circumscribe the totality of human experience, both for the individual as well as for culture? One of the oldest ways is the twelvefold division of the Houses of the Zodiac, which may have its origins in Babylon. Other similar systems were used in India, China, Europe, etc. In my diagram above I’m using Latin numerals along with the Latin names of the houses.
For Western Astrology, four groups of three houses are divided by the four classical elements and then into triplicities (from Wikipedia):
- Fire : Identity (I, V, IX)
- Earth : Material (II, VI, X)
- Air : Social and intellectual (III, VII, XI)
- Water : Soul and Emotional (IV, VIII, XII)
And somewhat similarly for India, the divisions of Vedic Astrology are broken into four Bhavas or “needs” (from Wikipedia):
- Dharma : (Duty) The need to find our path and purpose
- Artha : (Resources) The need to acquire the necessary resources and abilities to provide for ourselves to fulfill our path and purpose
- Kama : (Pleasure) The need for pleasure and enjoyment
- Moksha : (Liberation) The need to find liberation and enlightenment from the world
There are more recent and scientific divisions of human universals, such as those by George Murdock, Robin Fox, and Donald Brown, as mentioned by Jungian analyst Anthony Stevens in his book “Archetype Revisited”. These are also grouped into four categories (from Wikipedia):
- Language and cognition
- Technology
- Society
- Beliefs
Further Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_(astrology)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_astrology
https://www.dimension1111.com/astrology-the-houses.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_universal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Stevens_(Jungian_analyst)
Anthony Stevens / Ariadne’s Clue: a guide to the symbols of mankind
Note that John Crowley’s “AEypgt Quartet” uses the Latin names of the Houses as “books”, three to a volume.
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