The Elements

The zodiac signs are landscapes. Or astralscapes. They are the places that planets wander through. I know the houses are places too but thinking about the signs as places rather than “styles” helps me remember they are as alive as your favorite river or meadow. It helps me remember that the reason why a planet may act a particular way when it's in a particular place is because any being is mutually constituted by where it is located.

  Similar to how you are going to find water nymphs in water and dryads in the woods, the elements tell you what kind of beings to expect in these places. They also describe what sort of experiences, resources, limits, companionship, and opportunities of tending the planets can expect.

Planets in water signs do water things. That’s what’s around them. They can also have water things done to them because that’s where they are. The element of a zodiac sign tells us about a planet’s limitation, weather, and companions when the planet is there.

  If you want to play with this, think of a planet in your chart. What sign is it in? What is that sign's element? Look at these verbs. These are things that that planet can do as well as what the landscape can do to that planet.

Earth

capricorn, taurus, virgo

Earth buries, holds, presses, shapes, teems, decomposes, devours, nourishes, emerges, redistributes, solidifies, tends, layers.

Water

CAncer, scorpio, pisces

Water drowns, floats, bloats, freezes, melts, heals, pours, reflects, converges, diverges, dilutes, erodes, cleans, channels, transports, douses, evaporates.

Air

libra, aquarius, gemini

Air flies, snatches, shivers, directs, scatters, tickles, lifts, travels, pollinates, sky-paints, resounds, carries, exchanges, rips.

Fire

aries, leo, sagittarius

Fire burns, alchemizes, warms, bursts, blinds, rises, gathers, hungers, licks, illuminates, purifies, peels, crowns, crumbles.

If you’d like to explore these skyscapes in your own chart, consider booking a reading with me.