As the earlier lessons on elements and astrology have said, the four elements can be regarded as four basic principles of life. These can be applied to all sorts of things through the principles of similarity and analogy. C.G. Jung has opened the door to a modern understanding of these categories by developing a system of types, in which the elements correspond to four basic functions of the psyche. The emphasis or non-emphasis of the elements in the individual horoscope reveals fundamental aspects of the personality.
In Astrology, the signs are grouped in four triplicities based on their element. The triplicities are water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces), fire signs (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius), air signs (Libra, Aquarius, Gemini) and earth signs (Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo). Each has the three Zodiac signs associated with that element. This lesson focuses on how the element Water influences / affects Water Signs. Water Signs are Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces.
General Characteristics for Water Signs: Those with planets in Water signs are often assessing a situation by its undercurrents. It can give them an air of being aloof or even shy at first, but they're the warmest of souls when you've won their trust. Going forward in a relationship or situation often means being sure of their emotional ground, a kind of decision-making process that is baffling to others. Their perceptions border on psychic, but these insights get clouded by the intensity of feelings, or are altered by the vivid imagination.
The nuances of feeling experienced by Water signs can lead them into the arts. Some find release from their own personal dramas when they're able to express them as universal. As writers, musicians and actors, they help others make sense of the human experience. But this also happens in everyday life, since Water signs soften the edges of the mundane by padding it with emotional meaning.
Water is a formless element on its own, and that's why those with this sign are so quickly shaped by their relationships to others. They need time alone to remember where they end and others begin. And to let what's been stirred up by life find its way to a quiet calm again. These are people who need people, but also need the restoring space of solitude.
Water signs are attuned to waves of emotion, and often seem to have a built-in sonar for reading a mood. This gives them a special sensitivity in relationships, knowing when to show warmth and when to hold back. At their best, they are a healing force that brings people together -- at their worst, they are psychic vampires, able to manipulate and drain the life force of those closest to them.
Water signs are tuned into the many shades of meaning in relationships, and at times can absorb "vibes" from others. They have to work harder than other elements to maintain their personal boundaries.
Keywords: intuitive, emotional, imaginative, nurturing, secretive, dreamy
Broken down by sign
Cancer: Cardinal Water / Ruler: Moon / Exalted: Jupiter / Detriment: Saturn / Fall: Mars
As a cardinal water sign, a useful image for Cancer is water moving powerfully in one direction or another, such as rivers and waterfalls and waves. I think the key to this sign is its tidal nature, since it is ruled by the Moon, which is constantly waxing or waning and rules the ebb and flow of the tides. Physically, Cancer rules the breasts and the stomach, the functions of giving out nourishment to others and taking in nourishment for oneself. As long as the ebb and flow are kept in some kind of balance, this sign tends to function positively.
Scorpio: Fixed Water / Personal Ruler: Mars / Transpersonal Ruler: Pluto / Detriment: Venus a fixed water sign, Scorpio is like a very deep, dark, still well. The phrase “still water runs deep” is particularly appropriate here, because although the surface of the water may be calm, there is always a strong sense of the mysterious and unknown and often frightening depths lying below the surface. At the bottom of the well lies rotten, decayed and decaying detritus which all of us, unless we are Scorpios, would rather not think about. There is an intense magnetism about Scorpio, and people tend to be either strongly attracted or strongly repelled by its atmosphere of inscrutability and controlled power. As a water sign, this magnetism is generated by a powerful emotional intensity which Scorpios will bring with them when they walk into a room, creating a change or a shift in the atmosphere.
Pisces: Mutable Water / Personal Ruler: Jupiter / Transpersonal Ruler: Neptune / Exaltation: Venus / Detriment: Mercury
Pisces is so inclusive that it is very difficult to define, or to get any kind of intellectual grip on it. As the most mature water sign, Pisces is also the most collective, non-personal sign of the zodiac. In this sense, Pisces can be whatever you want it to be since, as a mutable water sign, it is the chameleon of the zodiac, taking on the shape and color of its environment. The Jupiter ruler of Pisces describes the potentially joyful, ecstatic 'dolphin' nature of this sign. Pisces has a heightened sensitivity to beauty and can enter realms of fantasy and imagination which other signs can only dream of. Pisceans are often masters of creative self-expression, wonderful actors, since they can feel their way into any persona, and often tremendously skilled in non-verbal communication, such as dance, art and music, capable of merging and surrendering to forces and feelings which are greater than themselves.
Interaction with other Zodiac Elements:
Water and Earth: Water signs can soften Earth and take them into the deeper emotional layers of intimacy. This brings touchy and feely together for a satisfying physical relationship in romance. Earth can help Water with the practical challenges of life, and encourage them to bring their gifts into the real world through some tangible effort.
Water and Fire: Water and Fire can be one steamy combination under the right circumstances. Water can add emotional nuance to Fire's instinctual responses, and help Fire learn things like tact, compassion and how to nurture. Fire can blaze a trail for Water out of the swampy abyss of inaction. Their vitality and enthusiasm lifts Water up, so they can find their way. Like with any element, there's a danger here of mutual harm if things are not in balance. Fire can dry up Water, and make them feel brittle and undernourished. Water can smother Fire, put out the flames of inspiration, which usually sends them right out the door.
Water and Air: Water can help the Air sign make the deeper emotional connection. Water inspires Air to create a stronger personal base for what they're saying, by meaning what they say. Air signs help Water put their feelings into words, and understand the patterns at play in their lives. Air encourages the insights of Water, and can be a motivating force for creative expression.
Water and Water: Here is a pair that can dive together into the deep end, for better and worse. They'll understand the need of the other for "me" time to process all they've experienced. But two Water signs can easily merge and lose their sense of boundaries. This might not always be a bad thing, but at times it might feel like two people at the mercy of the emotional highs and lows of life. With balancing elements, this can be an incredibly close bond, to the point of being telepathic.
Again, as noted in earlier lessons, for those of you really into astrology, you can take this even further with your natal or birth chart. If you know your birth chart (and there are a number of places online to get it free if interested), you can see how many planets are in each of the four elements, regardless of your zodiac element. Most birth charts indicate a fairly even combination of the elements. However, you may find that you have a dominant one that is not your Zodiac element and that the dominant element affects your personality traits even more so that the zodiac element. You might also find that you have a lack of an element, which can affect your personality traits.
For example, someone who has a dominant water chart might exhibit an ocean of emotions that overcomes thinking / reasoning not allowing them to be objective. A dominant water is also more likely to be over-empathetic and to have difficulty maintaining their separateness. Their extreme sensitivity often leads them to withdraw into themselves. Often quite psychic, they respond with great compassion to the needs of other people.
A lack of water in the natal chart might be exhibited by being out of touch with one’s own feelings, which can lead to moodiness, over sensitivity, over sentimentality, being vulnerable, a lack of empathy and / or responsiveness, an inability to be nurturing, lack of imagination
Activity: Continue working on finding out your dominant element (homework originally from Lessons 4 and 8 and 12). Remember, the element of a sign reveals the basic temperament of the sign. The element of your Sun, Moon, or Rising sign are of significant importance, but the overall distribution of elements in your chart is what counts the most. Having more than 4 planets in an element will have an impact on your behavior, even if that element does not correspond to your Sun sign. An abundance (5 or more), or a lack (0-2), of an element has much impact on your temperament.
Birth charts take a lot of work to interpret, work not covered in this lesson. But, if you get a copy of your birth chart on a free online site, you can find your planets (the sun and moon count as planets in birth charts) and positions. Planets and elements are associated via their qualities: warm/cold and dry/wet. As early as Ptolemy, writing almost 2000 years ago, the planets were being ascribed with those same qualities. Thus, for example, Venus and the moon are both described as cold and wet, so eventually those bodies were associated with the element of water, which is also cold and wet. See chart image for Element associations of warm/cold and dry / wet. The planets basically correspond to the elements this way:
Sun: Fire
Moon: Water
Mercury: Air
Venus: Earth & Water
Earth: Earth
Again, a birth chart takes a lot of time to interpret, but you can do your birth / natal chart online for free and start with figuring out how your planets correspond to the elements and what seems to be dominant or lacking in yours.
No comments:
Post a Comment