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Whether you’re intrigued by all things mystical or simply desiring more authenticity and self-awareness, astrology offers answers. Your Sun sign offers the wisdom to strengthen your sense of self and individuality, your Moon sign supports you in nurturing yourself, and your rising sign assists you in interacting with the world. And within the vast language of astrology, there’s another, lesser-known layer of self awareness that has to do with the astrology elements.
The fundamental elements of fire, air, earth, and water in nature are also a foundational component of astrology. Each of us are comprised of each element, although in differing proportions that create our unique balance and personal modes of expression.
How Do I Know Which Element I Am?
Just as every zodiac sign expresses itself through us, we are our very own makeup of the four elements in astrology. It is through exploring and understanding our unique blend of traits that we can access greater insights into the tools and gifts available to us, how we draw on them as we move through the world, and what our relationship is with emotion, change, action, inspiration, and more.
Knowing what your astrology elements are is like holding up a mirror and asking how we can best support ourselves. It’s learning how to move and work with our nature as opposed to against it.
Each zodiac sign and astrological house is assigned an element. We are typically dominant in one or two elements and we can tend to attract others to us that are dominant in the elements that we may be lacking. Through intention, awareness, and certain actions and practices, we can call upon and strengthen each of the elements within us.
To find your elemental balance, you can use online calculators. Calculators such as these look not only at the element of your Sun sign, but also consider every zodiac sign, planet, aspect, and house placement within your natal chart and how they express themselves. While you may be a Leo Sun and therefore hold the element of fire, beneath the surface may be a considerable amount of water swirling within you thanks to an emphasis on Cancer, Scorpio, or Pisces.
What the Four Astrology Elements Mean for You
Following are insights into the expression of each element. You can explore your dominant element for identifying characteristics and insights, although also draw on the insights held within the other elements to help create balance.
Astrology Elements: Fire Signs
Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius
Passion, inspiration, and movement. The fire element is excitement, expression, and adventure. Those strong in fire are invited to live life in their own way, to learn and grow through taking action, and to follow their desires without restraint. There is a quick energy to the fire signs, an excitement that overflows into the need to move, create, and express. It is through trusting and acting on these instincts that those who are strong in fire cultivate and refine their intuition.
Fire can support us to bring more excitement into our lives, follow our passions, build confidence, spark inspiration, and take action wherever we feel we’ve reached a roadblock. It is medicine if ever we are doubting our potential, encouraging us to remember our magic and try anyway. And if we “fail,” it coaxes us to try again or to try a new way. As long as we continue, as long as we follow the path that calls our name, the fire is sated. If ever it looks as if there are no opportunities presenting themselves, fire guides us to create our own.
Astrology Elements: Earth Signs
Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn
A strong earth element means a life rooted in the tangible world. It is an invitation to build security and stability for ourselves through practical action and experiencing the body. It is a path that invites us to create something lasting and to methodically create the foundation for our dreams through focus, time, effort, and reliable action. The gift of a dominant earth element is a calmness, a grounded and regulated nervous system, that supports us in the movement of life around us.
Naturally, the earth element in Astrology is medicine in grounding, practicality, consistency, reliability, and stability. It is when we feel disconnected that this element can bring us into connection, where we feel unstable that it supports us to reach into stability, and where we are impatient that it reminds us of the power in small, consistent, and intentional movement over time. This element supports us in landing our dreams, desires, and excitements into reality, as it builds in the tangible inspired and informed by the passions of fire, the ideas of air, and the emotional meaning of water. And it is our partner to reach out to if ever we need to feel safe, secure, and at home.
Astrology Elements: Air Signs
Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius
Just like air itself, this element—and the zodiacs it represents—must have the freedom to move, to shift, to change at any moment, and to venture wherever desired. The air element in astrology represents the mind, communication, and our thought processes. Those strong in air hold an invitation for a lifetime of learning, exploring, and expanding on the intellectual level. Their path is rich with—and fulfilled through—stimulating communication and seeking new perspectives through which to understand life.
Air supports us to step back and find objectivity within any situation. If ever we are lost in the the fires of passion, the routine of earth, or the waters of emotion, air invites us to step back and observe the situation with a level of healthy detachment and curiosity, allowing for a greater perspective. It is an element that we can harness in moments that feel stagnant, lacking in perspective, or whenever we are ready for a cleansing breath to flow through our minds, bodies, and lives.
Astrology Elements: Water Signs
Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces
Water represents our emotions. It is feeling, intuition, and observing the movement beneath the surface. Those dominant in the water element can sense the subtle emotional currents that inform each decision made by ourselves and those around us, beyond words spoken or actions taken. Their way is guided by emotions, where what is right or not right for us is felt in our inner waters. For those ruled by water, emotions are the compass.
We all experience emotions, no matter if we have a lot or a little water in our elemental nature. Yet not all of us feel safe or are comfortable with feeling them. Water supports us in this. It guides us to ourselves and our chosen others through vulnerability, emotional honesty, and intimacy. It welcomes more of life into our experience through feeling the colors, textures, and offerings that are on offer in each and every moment. The more we begin to connect with water, the more we learn how to nurture ourselves. Water heals by inviting us to feel our fluid emotions.
How to Draw on All the Astrology Elements
Each of these elements supports one another much like a family. They are, in a way, incomplete on their own. When we find our sense of harmony and balance within the elements, we can reach into the fires of passion and excitement and have them grounded by the earth through practical and tangible action in our chosen direction. We can feel the waters of our emotions and understand how to nurture ourselves just as we can bring the air element of objectivity, logic, and perspective to our decision making.
When our astrology elements are balanced, we can ground ourselves into a stable home and routine with our earth, just as we can feel the freedom of movement and flow at our fingertips with our air. And it is where we can swim through the movements of our emotional body just as we can feel safe and secure in our body doing so.
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Learn more about the influence of astrology in your life, including astrological events the Moon cycles, your Sun and Moon and rising signs, how journaling can help you connect with the current influences, and more with Jordane Maree at Girl and her Moon.
About Our Contributor
Jordane Maree is the founder of Girl and Her Moon, a platform and community exploring Soul through the lens of astrology, tarot, and energy healing. She is a writer, intuitive astrologer, energy and soul guide, and host of Girl and Her Moon, The Podcast. She is inspired, every single day, to be the mirror for you to see all that you truly are, you in all your infinite abilities, in total expansion, in infinite opportunity and love.