The four Zodiac Elements

The four zodiac elements: air, fire, earth and water each represent an essential type of energy that acts in each of us.
The four zodiac elements are found in each individual, even if each of us is more in synchrony with some types of energies rather than others. It is our birth chart that indicates which energy is easier for us to express and which is more difficult to integrate.

To learn which type of energy we have more contact witch and which type less, we calculate the proportions of each element in our birth chart. The lack of an element, however, does not mean that we lack that energy but that it is not available on the conscious level and will tend to act unconsciously. An uneven distribution of elements will cause an unbalance in the individual personality.

The four zodiac elements are traditionally divided in two groups: Fire and Air are considered masculine and active elements since the energies that drive the individual to act and establish social relations and thus extroversion, while Earth and Water are feminine and passive since the energies drive the individual to organise, limit and communicate with the inner world and thus introversion. Active elements have affinity since both their energies move in the same direction and the same can be said for passive elements. Thus there is a reciprocal exchange between Air and Fire, the same between Earth and Water.


AIR ELEMENT - Mental energy

Area creates spaces, separate, grants perspectives, detached from immediate experience in daily life. Air is limpid, transparent, it provides a clear and distinct view of things, there is no smoke from fire, nor the depth of water or thickness of earth to fog the view. Things are seen as they are through air. Air is everywhere, endlessly circulating and penetrating all spaces because it does not have a distinct shape. It is abstract, it cannot be captured, yet it is there. You can feel it on your skin and in your hair.
Detachment, objectivity, flexibility, elasticity, adaptability, are essential air sign characteristics. The air location is "high" like the earth location is "low" because air is mainly in the sky, far from everything that is material: it lives in the reign of spirit and ideas. Mental activities dominate in air signs. Air signs have the continuous need to create plans and categories where they can logically and consequently order events. Their judgements are not influenced by re It is air, extraneous to the materiality of the flesh, that carries the fragrance of the earth, of flowers, of freshly cut grass, and thanks to it we perceive sound, images, words.
Air is the element with which we come into contact with the surrounding environment to communicate, compare, discover and order everything.

The Air signs are :

Gemini
Libra
Aquarius

FIRE - Life energy

Fire is life, pure energy that we cannot see or hear but only experience. Fire is the energy that burns and drives the world, any world it touches, from the sentimental world that becomes feelings to the world of thought that becomes intuition, creation. Fire is the sun that heats and fertilizes the earth. It is the light of the spirit that illuminates the mind and destroys the shadows of ignorance. It is the flame of love that burns in the heart. Fire burns in the bowels of the earth mixed with primordial liquid, boiling water and fire, incandescent magma; but it is also the flame in the home fire that lights and heats. Fire signs thus need to paint the grey duties of everyday life with the colours that the light of the sun-fire make vivid and bright. Fire signs need to express the heat and energy they are made of because they are warm, generous, unconsciously courageous. This is based on an uncontrollable trust in the future and thus in lift, magnificent fairy tale populated by wandering pure and fearless knights and fragile damsels to be protected. Fire signs have an intuitive and immediate perception of the facts of life which, almost unexplainable, are almost always exact. This leads to the feeling shared by those in these signs, that everything will turn out right. They always have a noble cause or grand idea to pursue and complete which, like the fire that burns and shines in their hearts and the prosaic and stupid daily needs and duties obstacle. Trust, optimism, vitality: these are the fire sign keywords.

The Fire signs are :

Aries
Leo
Sagittarius


EARTH - Physical energy

We walk on the earth and we feel safe on the earth. Saying: "I feel the earth tremble under my feet" is like saying: "I feel lost, I feel like I'm falling". "Having ones feet on the ground" means being in close contact with the material world and nature, knowing the rhythms and complex patterns of its processes. It thus means being realistic, practical, concrete and reliable. The earth gives us everything we need to live and then some: from the fruits of nature, to wood to build furniture and house, to steel for construction and fuel for heating and machinery. Who hides and keeps precious treasures for us in his bowels that we can patiently and tenaciously find, or who offers fruits, grain and more that we can constantly and diligently care for, that we only have to pick? The earth gives us all this, our first great mother, provider of food, safety and wellbeing. Some religions always include an offering to the "Great Mother" in thanks of her multiple gifts. Through contact with the earth we learn to trace the borders that separate what is mine from what is yours, to recognise our needs and understand which one is necessary and which is superfluous. Who works the land knows that some secrets must be learnt to reap its fruits: in fact, there's a time for sowing and a time for gathering, you need perseverance to nourish it, otherwise it will dry out, the patience to wait, or its fruits will not ripen and be lost. But, what is gained with fatigue should not be wasted. Thus earth signs are naturally aware of how much effort, patience, tenacity and determination is needed to achieve real results. This is why earth signs innately need to build something solid, that lasts in time. Safety is a constant goal, the primary goal for earth signs. Realism, method, rigor and pragmatics: these are the earth sign keywords.

The Earth signs :

Taurus
Virgo
Capricorn

WATER ELEMENT - Emotional energy

Water is fluid, in constant movement and change, at times slow and imperceptible, like the tide on the beach, at times fast and hasty, like a storm at sea. And at no time is it ever the same. Its currents cannot be seen on the surface and its life is hidden from the sight of those unable to see deeply. Its depths are full of mystery, horror, surprises. At the bottom lives an imaginary world full of gods, legends, sacred places and mysterious and fascinating characters. Water is deep, passive and receptive. It always flows downward and drags everything on its path with it. Without banks, it disperses. It is unforeseeable, just as the sea is that can surprise us when least we expect it, dragging us down into its depths. Water is the symbol of fertility, fecundity, it is the amniotic liquid that envelops a growing foetus. it is the rain that falls on fields, the spring that quenches thirst. It is the essential element of life for every being that lives on the earth. Water brings life, where it flows, something is born. For this reason there are gods of the sea, of the springs, lakes and rivers. Gods whom men, yesterday like today, have always prayed to and offered sacrifices and gifts to promote their prosperity and wellbeing. Water is also the symbol of purity and spiritual rebirth. It frees the soul of original sin like it purifies the body, cleaning it of infections and illness. It is no accident that it baptism is the emblem of the purification of the soul. Water signs have deep emotions that, like currents, flow hidden, appear on the surface and disappear according to its own rules, unattainable, unforeseeable, undefined and at times unknown and mysterious. Thus others see water signs as fickle, lunatic, ready to change moods without reason. But there is a reason. It's in the underlying and incessantly churning emotions and feelings that if not heard, absorbed, held by something or someone, fully invade and submerge the "ego", erupting in unexpected moods and sudden "escapes" from the world. Water flows tend to meet, join, grow together the same way as water signs seek unions, ties, sometimes even dependant. Emotional involvement, empathy, the ability to abandon, dependence, guilt, attachment, compassion, are the limits and merits of water signs.

The Water signs are :

Cancer
Scorpio
Pisces