Analysis of the elements in astrology
Astrology is a symbolic language of energies. It is extremely important to understand the different classifications that may be attributed to these different energies, and in particular the various combinations that are possible :
- The 12 zodiac signs, archetypes of consciousness
- The polarities : positive / negative, masculine / feminine, and active / passive
- The modes: Cardinal (action), Fixed (stabilization), and Mutable (transformation)
But there is a “root classification” that is often neglected, which is the elemental classification : Fire, Earth, Air, Water (see Astrology, Psychology, and the Four Elements : An Energy Approach to Astrology and Its Use in the Counseling Arts by Stephen Arroyo).
The entire universe is a mix of these four elements : rocks, gases, plants, animals, people, all things, and all matter are the result of these elements combined in different proportions.
These elements circulate everywhere, they keep life going, and they enable growth and development.
A harmonious circulation is beneficial, both psychologically and physically.
If this circulation is incomplete or broken an imbalance arises.
As a reminder, here are the combinations of the zodiac, the Signs are manifestations of the elements, as they each have their own polarity and their own different way of operating in the world :
- Aries : Fire Cardinal Masculine (+)
- Taurus : Earth Fixed Feminine (-)
- Gemini : Air Mutable Masculine (+)
- Cancer : Water Cardinal Feminine (-)
- Leo : Fire Fixed Masculine (+)
- Virgo : Earth Mutable Feminine (-)
- Libra : Air Cardinal Masculine (+)
- Scorpio : Water Fixed Feminine (-)
- Sagittarius : Fire Mutable Masculine (+)
- Capricorn : Earth Cardinal Feminine (-)
- Aquarius : Air Fixed Masculine (+)
- Pisces : Water Mutable Feminine (-)
One of the biggest advantages of this system of classification by element is that it allows the zodiac to be simplified by reducing the 12 zodiac signs into only four distinct categories, also known as “triplicities,” which sorts them differently from when they are sorted by their “mode”.
The element provides simple and immediate information on a person’s fundamental archetype of consciousness, and as a result it gives as much information about the person’s abilities to perceive their environment as it gives about how they usually react to various things.
It should be noted that, of course, it is also important to analyze these elemental energies in the context of the here and now, for example looking at lunar cycles and important transits, in order to better understand what is at play in the energy of your birth chart. See the subscriptions to my Premium newsletter, which can help you on a day to day basis with a roadmap of the current elemental and archetypal influences.
The Fire Element
Energy, warmth, radiance, optimism, love, a strong ego, anger, directness, impulsiveness, edginess, liveliness, etc.
The Fire element is active and assertive.
Fire’s goal : master their anger and move towards love.
Jungian typology : intuition.
Alchemical process : Calcinatio.
Fire Signs : Aries, Leo, Sagittarius.
Fire Houses : 1st House, 5th House, 9th House.
Fire Planets : Sun, Mars, Pluto.
Polarity : Masculine Yang.
Mode : Cardinal.
Axis of Individuation, Confrontation.
Living the Fire’s Elemental Energy :
It is ignition, the spark at the root of all other processes, the fundamental energy that radiates, self-generating and self-feeding.
It represents the root of consciousness and intelligence, sacred force, creative intuition and convictions that animate the flame of life on a daily basis.
It is the perpetual movement and change of state, it allows purification and discernment, it gives the necessary strength to undertake and break the inertia.
Its energy combines determination, strength, courage, audacity, capacity to love and to rise, to awaken, it forms the fundamental will as well as the different forces of volition that make it possible to realize it.
In its coarsest state Fire represents the matter destruction, which constitutes its negative polarity, but in its most subtle state it represents the unshakeable inner faith, the indestructible light that chases away the shadows.
The Fire’s most important challenge is to succeed in mastering and channelling itself, it must understand the usefulness of the global process and the function of each elemental energy in order to be able to use them consciously, to listen to its spirit and emotions, to cultivate patience and ways of structuring, no longer destroy but create !
The Earth Element
Materialism, logic, attachment, patience, solidity, stability, caution, thriftiness, willpower, tenacity, etc.
The Earth element is passive, constructive, and structured.
Earth’s goal : overcome their selfishness and move towards security and helpfulness.
Jungian typology : sensation.
Alchemical process : Coagulatio.
Earth Signs : Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn.
Earth Houses: 2nd House, 6th House, 10th House.
Earth Planets : Saturn, Venus.
Polarity : Feminine Yin.
Mode : Fixed.
Axes of Possessions, Attachments and Detachments
Living the Earth’s elemental energy :
The Earth directly faces reality, it tests the matter, it confronts the different limits, but with the aim of producing structuring.
It represents an energy of agglomeration, concentration, crystallization, which seeks much to retain, to preserve.
It forms the solid bases on which we can rely to allow our effective and productive realization.
In this work, it relies on the time factor, which alone makes it possible to produce sustainable achievements, even if it requires patience and perseverance…
The Earth’s most important challenge is to make the sky’s connection, to succeed in rising and to avoid being locked into sclerotic parts that are already too well known and mastered.
The Air Element
A pure spirit, abstraction, conceptualization, sensation, imagination, perception, sociability, expression, volubility, exuberance, etc.
The Air element is active, effervescent, and social.
Air’s goal : overcome their fickleness and move towards fraternity.
Jungian typology : thinking.
Alchemical process : Sublimatio.
Air Signs : Gemini, Libra, Aquarius.
Air Houses : 3rd House, 7th House, 11th House.
Air Planets : Jupiter, Mercury, Uranus, Venus.
Polarity : Masculine Yang.
Mode : Mutable.
Axis of Communication and Learning, Socialization
Living the Air’s elemental energy :
The elusiveness characterizes a lot this element, it’s the alertness, eloquence, when the word succeeds in marvelously translating the thoughts.
Air directly represents the mental and social parts, the intellect, everything that allows to learn, to exchange, to communicate, to socialize, to bind, everything that manages interpersonal exchanges, the small messages allowing the fastest and most instantaneous interactions and reactions.
The world is seen here as an idea, as a concept, which is perpetually to be developed, improved, idealized, redefined, reformed, and always with the need for Freedom and emancipation from constraints as a backdrop, but to find the best partners to share this path.
The Air’s most important challenge will be precisely to succeed in recontacting the material, the real, the concrete, to face the reality trial, and in this path an important way of sublimation will be through transmissions and teachings, the different perpetuations that it will be able to leave around it, to others, to the collective…
The Water Element
Sensitivity, receptiveness, emotion, intuition, creativity, daydreaming, impressionability, empathy, philanthropy, turbulence, etc.
The Water element ispassive and oriented towards the subconscious and the psychological.
Water’s goal : overcome their fears and move towards inner peace.
Jungian typology : feeling.
Alchemical process : Solutio .
Water Signs : Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces.
Water Houses : 4th House, 8th House, 12th House.
Water Planets : Moon, Neptune, Pluto.
Polarity : Feminine Yin.
Mode : Cardinal.
Axis of incarnation and fulfillment of life
Living the Water’s Elemental Energy :
Water represents the world of feelings and inner life, opening the way to the different metaphysical parts that are more transcendental.
It is directly linked to care, healing, psychic and even psychoanalytical work, to the different introspective processes allowing a work on oneself.
It can allow an important process of purification, an opening, an awakening of consciousness, abnegation, sometimes even sacrifice…
At its extreme it’s the dissolution and universalization power, where all barriers have fallen and only fundamental unity of all things remains.
Here it is no longer a question of opposing or contraction, but of “embracing”, of reaching a perfect inclusiveness, a connection of the conscious to the unconscious.
The water’s most important challenge is to clarify and purify its perceptions, to calm them down and to succeed in using them concretely, not to drown in its own emotions but to allow them to be better externalized.
Compatibility of the elements
The elements are known to mix with each other differently depending on the combination. The following combinations are harmonic :
- Fire / Air : active, extroverted, conscious
- Earth / Water : passive, introverted, unconscious
These combinations are known to be less compatible :
- Fire / Water : emotional excitement
- Air / Earth : abstraction and practicality
- Air / Water : intellect and emotion
- Fire / Earth : constructive energy
You can easily imagine the different possible combinations using the keywords listed above.
With nothing but an elemental analysis of a birth chart using the planets, it is possible to deduce a huge number of things, independently of the Houses.
For the elements of the planets, it is helpful to differentiate individual, social, and transpersonal Planets; it may be useful to work with pairs of planets to better understand their influences and how they work together (Moon / Sun, Venus / Mars, Mercury / Jupiter, Saturn / Jupiter, etc.).
Instead of just a using quantitative analysis of the number of planets assigned to each element, it is important to perform a “qualitative analysis”, for example by assigning coefficients to the different factors. For this, each astrologer has their own recipe ! 🙂
Our birth chart thus reveals our compatibility with the different elements, the way in which we resonate and reason, and which elements we have more or less of.
Again, there is no such thing as a “perfect birth chart”.
An emphasis on one element invariably means that there is a lack or imbalance of the other elements.
A disharmony may lead to physical and psychological tension, but may also bring about a deep richness of character and considerable creativity. These people may overcompensate and thus find “derivatives” that allow them to enhance their disequilibrium.
Integrating these dissonances is difficult and complicated, but in the end it will only make the person’s life experience richer and deeper in the long term.
See notions of Emptiness in astrology.
The element of the ruling planet of the Ascendant is especially pronounced and should be studied in depth in the same way as the element of the sun sign (including any dissonance that may arise). It reveals a person’s deeper underlying motivations.
The impact of the astrological elemental energies directly correlate with the Aspects involved.
Depending on whether an aspect occurs between two planets in the same element or in different elements, the aspect will be diminished, reinforced, or even modified.
The exactness of the aspect in degrees reveals the strength of the aspect (large orb = diminished strength).
The color of the elements gives the degree of harmony of the encounter between the Planets.
It is important to note that with orbs, the nature of an aspect and its associated elements may be radically changed.
For example, a Trine, which by definition connects signs of the same element, could connect the preceding or succeeding sign, thus tending more towards the character of a Square or Quincunx.
For a square, which by definition connects signs of the same mode but different elements, it could tend towards a Sextile or Trine, etc.
This is what we call “dissociate aspects”.
Synastry and the classical elements
A synastry chart is not studied in the same way as a birth chart. Thus, a harmony or a dissonance between the elements of a birth chart is not determined in the same way as for a comparison between charts in synastry.
It is important to be very observant and meticulous when setting up each chart and determining the above-mentioned “coefficients” to establish the dominant elements of each chart : the success of the synastry depends upon taking care during these steps.
Moreover, although it is possible to “cheat” to a certain extent by adapting the elements of certain planets in a birth chart in order to allow for better development in the social theater, for example by diminishing a Fire of Venus or an Earth of Mercury, it is an entirely different story to do the same with the element of the solar sign, the Ascendant, the ruler of the ascendant, and the Moon !
These essential elements, which make up the pillars of the chart, have a disproportionately large weight in the determination of the dominant elements, as much for a synastry as a birth chart.
Only with great difficulty can you contradict their powerful influence, and even then these changes come at the risk of frustration or pushback, often in the form of time bombs that eventually make you pay for your mistake.
An illustration to help you understand harmony of the elements : you have surely had the experience of talking with someone where you understood each other perfectly, you were constantly on the same wavelength, and you could have finished every sentence that they said !
Well, that is one of the forms of harmony of the elements. You were in your element, and it was the same element as that of the person you were talking to.
Even though the utopian idea that opposites always attract is very nice —no offense to this rule— our experience of our concrete, daily reality tells us that you still need some sort of common ground, a base of likeness, for a lasting, harmonious union.
Two people who are complete opposites may be complementary and be attracted to each other precisely because of this dissimilarity, but on the whole, for a lasting union it is more true that “birds of a feather flock together”. The attraction of opposites is often transitory, lasting only as long as a phase of personal development (though it may be very positive and rewarding when all is said and done : no need to reject this kind of relationship). In the end, it all depends on what you are looking for in a relationship, what type of relationship it is (friend, lover, colleague), etc.
Conclusion on elements in astrology
Given what has been discussed above, hopefully you now understand the importance and the usefulness of analyzing charts through the lens of the elements : this analysis is both efficient and easy to use.
At the beginning, I wrote about “root classification”, which for me is one of the first analyses to do on an astrological chart : it is at least as important as an analysis of the modes (Cardinal, Fixed, Mutable). The root classification of the elements gives not only a general overview, but also a deeper level of analysis, not to mention its simplicity, all of which makes it a key technique, not just a simple “astrological gadget”.
To go further :
Article on Wikipedia : Elements ( astrology)