The Eightfold Year
and the
Stages of Life

• Definition of the Eight Stages of Life
• Further Correspondences
• Fourfold Division

In any case, the transition ages should not be taken too seriously; obviously they are heavily influenced by Pythagorean theory. See Opsopaus (Lib. de Oct. Mut.) for the universal eightfold structure of cycles.

The hot quality is maximized at the summer solstice, and the cold quality at the winter solstice. The wet and dry qualities are at the two points of equilibrium between hot and cold, and so correspond to the equinoxes (where light/dark = hot/cold are equalized). Cold promotes moisture, which fuels heat, which dries things out. Birth takes place when fluidity (0 = wet) is maximized, and the discriminating force of heat (2) maximizes structure (3 = dry); thereafter the chaotic (4 = cold) processes lead to its dissolution (0 = wet). The resulting correspondence between the elements and the four seasons is confirmed by Aristides (De Mus. III.19), Isidore Sev. (De Nat. Rer. 1472), Peyligk (Phil. Nat. Comp. 1499), Hippocrates (Nat. Man VII, Reg. I.33) and others.

Celestial sphere: Ptolemy (Tetrab. IV.10) associates the seven planetary spheres with the first seven lifestages. It seems natural, then, to associate the eighth, astral sphere with the eighth, immaterial lifestage. (This also agrees with Gnostic ideas of the ascent of the soul.)

Sabbats and seasons: Varro (De Agri. I.28-36) describes eight seasons of the agricultural year. Their boundaries are the quarters (solstices and equinoxes) and cross-quarters that are approximately midway between them. Varro's dates for the cross-quarters were determined by astronomical events (e.g. the rising and setting of Sirius and the Pleiades), which have shifted over the intervening millennia. Therefore I have normalized them to Feb. 1, May 1, Aug. 1, Nov. 1. Here are some modern markers with approximate dates (computed from a circular astronomy-sliderule):

Greek seasons: The Greeks originally had three seasons, then four, and later seven. Based on dates and agricultural activities, I have decided that the Greek Ear (Spring) corresponds to the first two Roman seasons and to the first two lifestages, though this is not certain. By looking at their etymology we can understand the meaning of the Greek seasons (LSJ s.vv. hora and the names of the seasons):

Form of the soul: The bodily loci of the "forms of the soul" (ta eidê psukhês), which correspond approximately to the chakras. The "eighth chakra," the "supercrown," is the divine force, located above the head, from which depends the embodied soul (Timaeus 90a-b); the Stoics (Aetius, Dox. Gr. 4.21.1-4) also recognized an eighth, transcendant "commanding-faculty" (hêgemonikon) that united and sustained the other seven parts of the soul. For more detail and sources, see Opsopaus (Ta Eidê Psuchês). Ideally, the lifestages correspond to a shift of emphasis to the higher chakras (without neglecting the lower ones, of course).

Diogenes Laertius (VIII.10) says Pythagoras allotted 20 years to each stage. Comparing with the nominal ages from the first chart shows only a rough correspondence:

The four stages are ideally an ascent of emphasis through the four mental faculties enumerated by Plutarch (Opin. Phil. I.3), Theon of Smyrna (Math. Plat. 38) and others:

This is, in effect, an alchemical rotation through the elements air, fire, earth, water (also known as Plato's Cycle).

Sources

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Last updated: Wed Jan 5 17:47:14 EST 2000