Elements in Astrology...Fire...
The ultimate source of life, fire is positive, reactive, expressive, inspirational and creative. It can consume and affect any of the other elements in nature and thus feels powerful. Intuitive, it relies on gut instinct and reacts to situations immediately. Future oriented, fire has faith in these gut feelings and in a positive outcome, regardless of the situation. Fire is naturally optimistic and energetic with a constant drive to move forward. It is at its best when it is free to express itself as fully as possible artistically and creatively. Art and creativity are future based, come from gut instinct and a positive outcome is always assumed. This represents the essence of fire. Fire needs to live in a sort of fantasy existence where it is free to see the best in the world and use its own creative slant to color the world a better place. At times this creative slant seems odd and expresses itself through seemingly dark art, such as, goth styles or dramatic underworld stories of dragons or vampires. Remember this isn't necessarily dark to the element of fire. Fire needs excitement and drama. This is just a natural expression of creativity which embraces fantasy and battles of good and evil. Watch closely, good usually wins, but the fun is in the challenge of fighting for a better future and saving the weak. Fire needs a challenge and needs to constantly look forward to something better; otherwise, life can seem pointless and boring.
(Fire is found in the signs Aries, Leo and Sagittarius and in the 1st, 5th and 9th houses.) |
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Water...
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On its own, water is inert. It can have an affect, but it must be acted upon by another force in order to do so. However, it can be very sensitive to these forces. The gravitational pull of the sun and moon are subtle forces not consciously felt by people and don't affect fire, earth or air, but constantly move water causing the tides. Water is receptive and extremely sensitive to even the most subtle forces, reacting to them constantly. Feeling isn't a choice for water. Water cannot choose to stop feeling. Furthermore, no matter how hard water tries, it cannot block feelings. Because water is so sensitive and receptive, it can't help but pick up on the feelings of those around them or even the feelings of a group as a whole. In the same way, water can't help but nurture. Water fosters the growth of life. It offers a gentle, receptive place for life to begin, develop and enter the world.
(Water is found in the signs Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces and in the 4th, 8th and 12th houses.) |
Air...
Air goes largely unnoticed unless it is in motion. But once it is in motion, it can have the powerful force of a tornado. However, this type of extreme motion is rare. For the most part, air is constantly battling its virtual invisibility and trying to make itself noticed. This is why air has an incessant need to have an affect on people and its environment. It creates commotion and stirs action. Air can take a perfectly tranquil situation and mix things up to a point where chaos is at hand. Although it usually doesn't have this strong of a need to exert its influence, it is always happening on some level. Normally, the need is expressed as an extremely social nature, sparking conversation or stimulating new ideas. Or it can be shown as a need to display a talent and share its gifts with the world. However, it can also ignite revolutions and stir people's ideas of right and wrong to the point of battle. Never concerned with feelings or emotions, air isn't afraid to stir things up. Air will let the cards fall where they may because air is concerned with facts. If people are suppressing facts because of fear of emotions or delusional fantasies, air will uncover them. It isn't that air intends to inflict any harm, rather it lacks that finesse and subtle nature of the other elements and sees the world in terms of right and wrong. This combined with a need to have an affect can breed a great deal of activity and excitement.
(Air is found in the signs Gemini, Libra and Aquarius and in the 3rd, 7th and 11th houses.) |
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Earth...
For the most part, earth simply is. It doesn't reach out and affect you. It can block air and water as well as smother fire, but it never tries to conquer with force because it doesn't have the ability. Earth's gift is in its strength of stability. It can be moved by fire, water or air, but it takes a great deal of effort. Water can slowly wear away at earth, air can blow dirt from the surface, and fire can shift earth when pressure builds from earth's core. Overall, it is quite difficult to move earth. It is stable, dependable, and unchanging. Fundamentally, only water or fire weaken it. We don't depend on earth where water is permeating the soil or where there is a volcano. But air can do little more than affect the surface. In fact, we go under ground to protect ourselves from air. We depend on earth to be there for us and provide a place to build our homes and grow our food. We even use its substance to build our homes that protect us and keep us warm or cool.
(Earth is found in the signs Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn and in the 2nd, 6th and 10th houses.)
(Earth is found in the signs Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn and in the 2nd, 6th and 10th houses.)
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In each group of elements, there
is one sign in each modality. The elements of fire, earth, water and air each contain one cardinal sign, one fixed sign and one mutable sign |