The Zodiac Elements – Fire, Earth, Air and Water – underly everything. They are the basic building blocks, the core matter of all substance and when you add the 5th element Quintessence, of magic.
You can see them in Tarot, where the Wands represent the Fire element, Pentacles – Earth, Swords – Air and Cups – Water.
I sometimes wonder if the reason Swords get such a bad rap in Tarot is because thinking/talking/writing (Air) was dangerous in medieval times.
Think also of the Jungian typing system – Thinking, Feeling, Sensation and Intuition, which is also used by the Myer-Brigg method, medieval temperaments – Sanguine, Choleric, Phlegmatic and Melancholic – as well as the different but related elements of Feng Shui and Traditional Chinese Medicine.
The elements have a narrative of their own, beneath the more precise and complex alignments of the planets at your birth. Do you have a deficit in one element? Betcha that’s the element you’re going to be drawn toward mate and date.
How many people do you know who out-source their Water element energy to a partner? So that person does the emotional work of the relationship whilst the other person carries the Fire? Or insist that a lover is their grounding whilst over-emphasizing their Air elemental self?
Elemental balance is ideal so if you are high in Fire but low in Earth, you can bring yourself back into harmony by grounding in the physical. Think orgasms, bare feet on grass, time with animals, yoga etc.
People who are low in Fire may think they’re supposed to relax by more chill exercise and passive entertainment such as the cinema or binge-watching television but actually the balancing effects of classic Fire element ‘leisure’ activities like martial arts or cardio-anything will be more beneficial.
Are you a bit low in Water? It sounds cheesy but you can bring Water into your life via swimming, bathing and wearing blue hues. Think also poetry and becoming more aware of your dreamscape.
Low in Earth? Try walking barefoot on grass, tuning into your body & consciously striving to be more grounded. People who are strong in the Earth element mediate everything via gut instinct and like to sit with subjects – think ‘tree’ – before arriving at a conclusion.
Whereas Fire? You can often talk them into something with dazzling repartee. Water needs to feel there is a simpatico emotional rapport – often via an obscure but meaningful conversational tangent. Air element characters value snappy repartee and well-informed people.
Low in Air? Be more breezy and cultivate an objective mindset…something that comes v.easy to blessed in Air but which can be hard if you have no or few planets in Air.
If you are low in a particular element, watch for when something such as your Progressed Moon fills in what is missing. Eg; you have very little Fire element and maybe lack confidence and assertive powers but then your Moon progresses into Leo – hello, Fire.
Be conscious about the way you work the Elements in Astrology for sensational results. Otherwise, you’ll pull strange stunts in a subliminal attempt to balance things out
Not sure of your elemental mix? They’re delineated in my Astral DNA birth reports.
Everything’s in fire, & 3 airy planets in gemini – & I always am attracted to peeps with anything in gemini. Low on earth and water, but my earth planets are trining each other in neptune, which makes everything pretty complex. I feel close to water signs & have always loved the sea, mermaids etc. My best friends are pisces, gems & leos. i have real trouble knowing what to do with emotion…
ha, this coincides with my realization that nearly all of my boyfriends were uber-caps with pisces, cancer, and saggitarian influences.
i think it’s the smart but loony loner vibe they give off.
1 fire, 3 air, 6 earth, 4 water
7 cardinal, 5 fixed, 2 mutable
So true about needing water as i have none in chart but fairly well balanced Fire Air & Earth.
I CRAVE water, it mesmerises me & helps with my predominent fire to cool & refresh.
Snap starstrokes, I love really windy days and am nonplussed by people who moan about them. I only feel alive in 25 knots and above. I have no air planets but MC is in Libra. Jeanette Winterson is a heavy earth/fire combo and I can remember an interview somewhere where she says that astrologically, that is known as the steamroller! I’m earth/water and sorry to say that is swamp and quicksand and mud up to the axles in my case.
I’m light on fire but pretty even spread on all else – I use fire in ritual so I guess that’s where I make it up. Have never wanted anything from fire types other than friendship – first relationship of length was with a leo and he was the vainest man I’ve ever met – for good reason, but really, there’s a limit to time spent grooming when the bathroom is shared. GREAT sex tho. Mythological. They eat up my air if I get any closer than just friends – have successfully had decades long friendships with them – and then there’s the leos who suddenly morph into virgos, LOL. Wicked Scorpio men were my favourites (my moon & neptune in scorp) before I discovered the aqua but they’re usually addicted to something – sometimes me which is gratifying to the ego and I love their passion – but the obsession thing is ultimately draining – serendipitous water metaphor. My first orgasm was via an aqua mountain climber… sigh. Big ups to you, wherever you are. He ran away toute suite because he realised he loved me and this was complicated because I’m afraid of heights. It was destined to fail for this reason apparently. He just dematerialised and I found out about the love years later. Still smile when I think of him – such a uranian response, such a funny man. Love the aquas so not sure how the whole ‘seeking the element to make you whole vicariously’ works for me. I seem to go for the peeps who amplify what I already have – as if it wasn’t enough.
Huh. I seem to have a bit of everything..lowest on fire though I am usually attracted to Earth and Water types.
I have more air than I do water it seems… so perhaps I need these fellows to ground me. I must say I do like being the one flitting about in the relationship, like nicely flitting..
My planets are mostly earth & fire, with an air moon & a water Neptune. I need lots of water, space & love to feel the wind in my hair, though earth/fire types like me have been described by Alan Oken as bulldozers. Yup…
i love this topic!
I’m no expert Lexi but I’ve found the progressed moon to be really accurate. It spends about 2 – 2 and a half years in a house and you can really feel it just before it changes house/sign imho. You can research major periods of your life using the chart on astrodienst – use natal and progressed (or if you really want to do your head in, try natal, transits and progressions). Just put in the past dates that were significant. For me i got married when progressed moon was in my 7th and had my children when it (together with transiting Pluto) was in the 10th (massive change to career!).
That doesn’t really answer your question at all …. I think the progressed sun is the solar arc thingy but haven’t a clue about the secondary.
So I did some research and yes, you’re right, progressed moon does sorta define eras in life doesn’t it. And at least the progressions moves fast enough to track some interesting sense of change… Still not really sold but thanks for the thoughts on it FF.
Re progressed chart lexicorn – progressed jupe in the 2nd ($ you earn) = offer of absurd wage. Altho Jupe also on MC simultaneous so I suspect it’s a cocktail as opposed to the prg jupes alone. Also recently had a consult which included prog stuff and it def stacks up. Me thinks good to be aware of undertones and subtext so you can pounce/respond if opportunity arises as opposed to overthinking and dogmatic regimes that inhibit flow.
I agree FF, progressed moon is usually spot on, it was one of the first things that was explained to me when I first looked into astro and the progressed moon has always been a great indicator of the trend.
Hey – question for the chic astro geeks in this here space…
Progressions – I’m not a big believer or fan of them – but if I were to take them seriously for a moment, which style do you think is best?
The secondary (one year = one day thingo) or the solar arc (one year = one degree)…?
Transits make so much more sense to me.
that’s me tati … thought i’d put scorp in me name so i don’t need to keep putting it in the post!
Lotsa fire, lotsa water, very little air and earth … does this explain why I keep frustrating my own endeavours?
I am low on Earth-iness – it figures. I do feel deeply at peace with mud, clay, dirt, rocks, getting back to nature, gardens, lying on the ground and ‘earth-ing’ myself. I love various aspects of all the sun signs but Virgos are among my favourites. Also Caps. The fixed toros I do struggle with, but i have learnt to appreciate them more thanks to a few toro crushes and love interests over the years, plus some lovely g/fs.
also a bit low on water – naturally the beach is pole position in my life.
Loaded with fire and air tho.
in fact, i have saturn, mars, jupiter and uranus all in fixed signs and 3 others in Aries (cardinal fire) – this may help explain why i can be a stubborn inflexible bastard sometimes, even to my own detriment.
good DIY homework mystic…
My sun, moon and asc. signs are all fire, but I have 6 planets in earth, 3 are cardinal and 3 are mutable. I’m a Leo, but not very fiery. I also have pretty much no air (MC and mean node are in air, but I dunno what those are xP) and 3 in water. So I really need to focus on balancing out earth, mainly with fire. I need me some more firey-ness. I’m looking into getting some fire element oils and wearing more fire eement crystals, like carnelian.
Oddly enough, my boyfriend is a Taurus. I seriously need to find out what the rest of his signs are.
That’s weird… I have NO Fire whatsoever, but I don’t really associate with fire types! I have a ton of water and ALWAYS go after those watery boys.
I guess I inject fire via my color scheme? I dye my hair a bright, bright red and tend to wear (and look quite good!) in reds.
I love DIY astro!
Oh deary deary me. All Air and Fire, a smattering of Water and ZERO Earthikens. Ok Virgo in Pluto which hardly counts, and the tail end of it too so it might as well be feckin Libra!
Well I’ve known this all along!! I duly admit to being the most ungrounded, flighty, inconsistent nutbag I know. Ok … at least I’m consistent in my nutty ungroundedness.
I think a lack of Earth is one of the most challanging imbalances to have to deal with since … well let’s face it, we live on Earth and this is an Earth based reality, so if you lack consistency, routine, patience, groundedness, stability and perseverence you’re pretty much rooted…
… no pun intended
Yes I do draw in my earth via super-grounded Earthy mates: all Virgo, Taurus, Leo. They stop me from going too mental and I provide the entertainment. 🙂
and anytime anything goes into Virgo or Cap I seem to be able to settle down to some semblance of productive action after an initial attempt to rebel and loaaaaaaads of grizzling. heh 😉
Wow, that’s rather interesting! I’ve always known that I am a very firery personality, the I look it up and sure enough, 4 planets in fire signs including chiron and true node. Also know that gardening is one thing that truly grounds me, as does swimming. And I am ludicrously oversubscribed by capricornian men who are as fascinated with my airyness and boheme as I am by their groundedness and their safety. And yes, only one planet, venus, in earth sign taurus.
So true! PRogressed moon in Aries and all the friends around me now are Sagg/Aries/Leo.
I love it 😀
I have something in every box except one, earth/fixed. Maybe that’s why working in my yard has always been so relaxing.
We need to find animals that represent us totemtically shell! I like the winged cow! The cow that flew over the moon – it’s a new myth! What lives without air but in earth or water Uber? A sea mollusc? No, that’s not so grand…
Apart from my Leo Sun I am a Cardinal/Mutable mess of Fire and Water with the further planets in Air. I have one lonely Mars in Virgo (if you count the MC that’s another) BUT I just realised hubby no earth at all! Hubby is quite ‘King of Swords’ cool and logical, but he isn’t ‘heavy’ or stern.
And I don’t find most Earth signs attractive actually, something a little lugubrious about them for my taste. My exes are all Leo, Sagg or Cancer – I have always found Taureans very hard work, just so little in common. But I have had very close Virgo or Cappy friends.
Anyway I suppose hubby and I compensate by being relatively Saturnian a la Donna’s Saturn Test – we both score over 45 or so and can be quite tenacious.
Don’t care for gardening (well, yet, being so enthusiastic about stuff I can never say never to trying something new for two months) and massage I find a little icky and personal unless I like the therapist very much.
That Piscean progressed moon must to be blame for my meditation fixation.. ha! NOT helping me get my taxes done tho…
creatures that live without air, in water – those crazy sea-mount critters that respire with sulfur compounds, not Carbon. you can see where George Lucas gets his inspiration with these things. just google ‘sea-mount’ and ‘marine life’ etc
Oh thank you! I can’t think of any creatures that don’t walk the earth and adore fire? Fire-flys? Salamanders of legend? Are you a science person UP!?
I was thinking if I attracted Earth in my life in my work as Uber suggested can occur.
I suppose living by the sea in a small hotel I built with my friends meant serving food (Taurus), organising systems and admin (Virgo) and being generally entrepreneureal (Capricorn),
I won’t need that Capricornian stem cell transplant, thanks Lexicorn!
Oh go on – I spent all night harvesting some for you…
Ummm… eeeeww…
Ai yaaaa, the cell of which stem….?
Indeed… It’s a lottery really.
Let’s pretend this never happened.
Pretty balanced, a little less water, getting to see the ocean everyday is my saving grace.
Sadly I am a gemini with only my sun and pluto in air. And how airy can pluto be really? Furthermore my flightly little sun is dragged down by some serious taurus action. A cow with wings? I’m pretty much all fixed fire and earth, with a watery moon frantically dog paddling away to the side trying to support my more poor sun by being flaky.
I’m strangely bereft of air peeps in my life though. Earth and fire all the way for me it seems.
but as you suggest UV, my occupation is very mercurial.
and I’m sooo over earth sign men!!! How can I get the earth without going back to them? 24/7 gardening and massage??
why are you over them, d27? you can maybe gather your earth-girls instead for a different take on the vibe. and yes. Food, common-sense, sex, pragmatism, straight-talking, being in your body (massage, yoga, other ways to gain physical awareness etc), bare feet on the grass etc, dig some holes for a tree, befriend some animals 🙂
I have not a one in cardinal and only one in earth…all fire, air, water and fixed and mutable balanced??? What does that all mean? and what is the progressed moon?
What if E, W & F are nicely balanced with excessive Air?! How do you compensate for excess in an element?
I seem to have an excess of fire… anyone got an answer?
I do swim alot… and get really aggro when I dont… hrmmmm…
Oh Oh… have only just realised that the box also contains cardinal, fixed and mutables…
o.O
Cardinals are the initiators/pioneers of the signs olyalyalya. Fixed energy is the pig headedness (think of Aqua or Toro when they dig their heels in!).
totally unconnected : LOVELY new avatar
nothing to do with elements etc just a random compliment