The Elements
What are the elements?
If you divide our wonderful little twelve Zodiac signs into four, you have the four elements: fire, earth, air and water. The elements are basic qualities that the ancients used to describe something that we have in all of us.
What is an earth sign?
The earth signs are the practical doers. Earth signs are how you consume the world. Earth signs are like the Earth: everything that grows, everything that you feel and everything that is sensual comes out of one of the earth signs. The first of the earth signs is Taurus. Good old Taurus. Taurus wants to consume what's made of the earth. If you've made music, let's sit down and listen to it. If you've got food, let's enjoy it slowly. Taurus is about consuming the earth, and wherever you have Taurus in your chart, there's a part of life you want to consume. You actually want to get there. That's why Taurus also rules money. It's the real down to earth, practical sign. The second of the earth signs is Virgo. Virgo in the northern hemisphere coincides to when you bring the crops in. After the heat of the summer, you have to harvest the crops, and that's what Virgo does. Virgo is about the practical application of having made use of what you've got. That's why people find them critical and perfectionist. They have to get everything exactly right. They have to feel they've got the value out of it. Virgos look at the minuscule detail and think, What have we got? That's why it's an earth sign: it's the practical way of using what you've got. The last of the earth signs is Capricorn. Whatever we've got, wherever we've created in the world, Capricorn wants it. It wants to rule it, it wants to be the king. Capricorn is the earth sign that sees the value of everything and it's got have to get the biggest share of it. Capricorn doesn't want the wrapping paper, it wants the present. A Capricorn will also look at the price tag, not what you wrapped the present up in. That's why it's an earth sign. It's all about what is real, what is actually there. People with a lot of earth in their chart are said to be grounded. People without earth in their chart are said to have their head in the clouds. It's all this terminology that makes up an earth sign. That's what earth signs are about: are you actually getting anything out of it, or is it all airy fairy, pie in the sky?
What is a fire sign?
Fire is the easiest element to look at. Fire is an instigator. Fire wants to get something started. Let's look at the first fire sign, Aries. We've all seen Aries, the bright red, the big flash, the let's get in there, let's get it started. That's what a fire sign does. It won't finish the job for you, but it will definitely get you fired up about something. Fire signs have that certain spark. That's why everyone likes a bit of fire in their chart. Wherever you see people with a bit of fire in their chart, they are very lively. They're at the top, they're an extrovert. People with no fire are the opposite, they tend to be more subdued - the quieter ones, the ones that listens first. Let's go through the fire signs one by one. Aries rules by Mars, impulsive; they are all traits of the fire sign. Whenever you see a fire sign, just wait and let them take the first action. They're not going to listen to you, they're not going to take the long term route. The second of our fire signs is Leo. It's easy to see why Leo is fire: the extrovert personality traits, that joy of life. Whenever you see a Leo, you can almost see the fire in their faces, they light up. Fire signs are the ones that want to make the world happen now. That's the compulsion of the fire sign. Leos have that wonderful quality of lighting up the world with their fire. The third of the fire signs is Sagittarius. Sagittarius fire comes out in optimism. It comes out in that wonderful quest of: what's next? - that uncontrollable feeling that life must be going somewhere. When you start a forest fire, there is no telling where it will go. That's what Sagittarius likes to do. He likes to see what is next, what it can expand to. Fire is about a creation and Sagittarius wants to create the idea. Sagittarius is the third and the last of the fire signs.
What is a water sign?
Water is the fluidity. Water is the emotions. Water is what changes, and what runs. So, wherever you have water in your chart, you find a very emotional-type thing. The first of the water signs is Cancer. Cancer is all about the emotions. Cancer is all about "How do you feel?" Whenever you talk to a Cancer, they're not interested in what you've got. They don't want to talk to you about what you think. They don't want to talk to you about how well you're doing in life. They're always asking you, "How do you feel?" What is the emotion? What is the thing that's moving all the time, where is the fluidity? And that's what a water sign does. It looks at what's moving, what's in transit, what can't be defined. Water rules the emotions of life. The second of the water signs is Scorpio. Scorpio is all about emotions. As you see, if you've clicked the "Fixed" button, Scorpio is a fixed sign. Fixed water is ice. People often describe Scorpio as being as cold as ice. Because what Scorpio wants to do, it wants to get into your deepest feelings, it wants to know what you really, really feel, deep down inside. It's emotionally based. Scorpio is not after the power that money gives you. It's not after the power that intellect gives you. It's after the power that you get if you can understand someone, if you can click into that emotion. That's why Scorpio is a water sign. The last of the water signs is Pisces. Because at the end of the day, when you've looked at everything, when you've worked out all the other signs of the Zodiac, and how they all fit together, you end up confused and feeling that you don't know how you feel. And that's why you arrive at Pisces. It could be this, it could be that, it could be going this way, it could be going that way. Pisces is about the jumbled-up-ness of life, before you start back again at Aries, thinking, let's do this. So wherever you see Pisces in your chart, you do see the mysteries of the sea. It's never in the same place twice. It will move. Pisces is a water sign because it realizes that nothing is fixed, that nothing is stable, and nothing really matters, because it's all about how you feel. It's all about, what is the impression of life?
What is an air sign?
Air is about communication. Air is also around you all the time. You need air to breathe. You need air to communicate. You need air to relate to people. You need air to have an intellect. Air shows the intellect in the chart. It shows the communication in the chart. If you like, it shows where life is in life, where the breath of life is. The first of the air signs, the first way of understanding it, is Gemini, which is all about communication. If you've got a lot of Gemini in your chart, you'll be somebody that likes gossip or soap operas or reading newspapers, or you'll have to get a book and get a little bit of information out here, a bit of information out there. Gemini is all about communication of the world. It's an air sign. The second of the air signs is Libra. Libra has to communicate because it has to balance everything. One of the easiest ways of getting in agreement is to get people to smile and verbally say they agree. This is why Libra rules diplomacy. You can have a very nice agreement where you all smile and you all intellectually agree that things are balanced, but you walk out of the room and you hate each others guts, but diplomatically, you've arranged a peace. Libra the peacemaker, but it's a peacemaker as a mental concept. Libra is about understanding a balance of peace. It's not about a real balance, it's an intellectual balance. That's why Libra is an air sign. The last of the air signs is Aquarius, and Aquarius is about ideas. When you're as progressive as an Aquarian, you can't bring things down to Earth, you can't feel them because they're not real yet. You're living way, way into the future. The only way you can live way in the future, the only way you can be progressive, is in an intellectual way. You know what's coming next, but you can't materialise it, you can't feel it, you have to intellectualise it. That's why Aquarius is an air sign. Who knows why they chose it as a water carrier in the old days? People confuse Aquarius with a water sign. It's not; its clearly an air sign. Aquarians haven't got anything to back up their wackiness, it's just the wackiness of intellect, the wackiness of mind, of creativity. That's why Aquarius is an air sign.
