Hello beautiful people of Expansive Capacity! Happy Woo-Woo Wednesday, lovelies! Astrology for Creatives is here again. Let’s dig in for some Chart Harmony! Woo HOO!
Today we’re gonna tour through the elements. There are four of them and odds are you have one that leads a lot of important stuff in your chart… and probably another one that’s underrepresented.
The four elements are water, air, earth, and fire.
Here’s your TL;DR roundup of how to think of each of these elements: water is where the dream is created, air gets the dream’s details sorted out, earth puts in the work to bring the dream to life, and fire celebrates the dream come true.
That’s ultra basic and enough to get you in the right mindset for examining what it is you lead with, what your collaborators and creative partners add to the mix, and what might be missing from the full picture.
Because it’s always cool to illustrate via the lives of folks you know, I’ll share how Keith and I complement each other (and where we’re collectively “weak”) when it comes to the elements in our charts.
Reminder: If you’ve not yet mapped out your chart, create one here at Astro (if that link doesn’t take you directly there, choose to create a natal chart drawing from the extensive Free Horoscopes menu at the main page). You will need to have handy your place and time of birth.
First, which signs belong to which elements?
Water (a receptive element) covers Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces. Air (an assertive element) covers Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius. Earth (a receptive element) covers Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn. Fire (an assertive element) covers Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius.
Looking at my chart, I’ve got 6 water signs, 4 air signs, 2 earth signs, and 2 fire signs. As you’d imagine, this means I lead with water’s strengths (more on that in a moment), supplement them greatly with air’s strengths (ditto), and need to surround myself with earth and fire if I’m gonna truly make magic happen in life.
Looking at Keith’s chart, he’s got 6 water signs (I know. Could we BE more emotional over here?!?), 2 air signs, 4 earth signs, and 2 fire signs. So… he’s great at helping me with the earth I’m missing (hold tight for what that means), I’m great at helping him with the air he’s missing (ditto), but OMG if we don’t have LOW FIRE in our lives.
Enter: y’all.
Seriously, my clients with big fire in their charts? They’re the ones who take my work, turbocharge it with their gifts, and HOLY BALLS, TOGETHER WE MAKE MAGIC!
Before I get into more descriptive goodies, let me mention that it’s also quality, not just quantity, so there are certain planets that — when in certain elements — do way more than in other settings. I’m not going to get into that today but suffice it to say that a low or high NUMBER of planets in an element isn’t the only factor to consider. But for today’s work, that’s what we’re gonna peek at. 😉
Okay, so here’s how I find out what I’m dealing with.
Take a look at this stack o’ data from my natal chart.
Sun = Cancer (water), moon = Libra (air), Mercury = Cancer (water), Venus = Leo (fire), Mars = Cancer (water), Jupiter = Libra (air), Saturn = Taurus (earth), Uranus = Libra (air), Neptune = Scorpio (water), Pluto = Virgo (earth), True Node = Pisces (water), Chiron = Aries (fire), rising (AC) = Libra (air), and midheaven (MC) = Cancer (water). The other items in the data stack are four of the houses and of course we did our first visit with the houses last month so we’ll just omit this data for the purposes of checking out the elements.
Okay! So… even though some planets’ pull on us is greater than others (essentially, the planets closer to Earth have a greater influence on how we operate than those farther out there in the solar system), for the purpose of this particular Woo-Woo Wednesday, we’re going on quantity.
Do this for yourself, count up what’s heavy in your chart (for me, that’s water followed closely by air) and what’s missing by comparison (for me, earth and fire). See if you have someone in your inner circle who helps support anything you’re missing (like how Keith’s earth balances me there and my air balances him there). Perhaps you too will notice that collaborators of a certain element have a way of doing more with what you bring to the table!
Now for the juicy stuff: What if you don’t have someone’s chart but you want to figure out what elements are at play (and which are absent, dormant, or less active) in their lives?
Start by noticing what’s missing around them!
If water is missing, you find it challenging to cry or sit with your feelings. If air is missing, you might be antisocial and you definitely don’t like talking things out. If earth is missing, you may have a messy house, you may struggle with keeping money, or you lack grounding. If fire is missing, you don’t have a lot of fun or magic in your life.
Yes, I just told you I don’t have a lot of fun or magic in my life.
Of course, that’s not true! But what it means is that I attract people INTO my life who bring the fun. We make magic together! I find fun in my work and partnerships and collaborations. Good thing I’m an extrovert! But for Keith, my introverted partner, his fun and magic are found in a world of fantasy he creates. We both have to work to bring more fun and magic into our day to day. Luckily, we don’t mind this task! (We create things that attract a lot of really fun people and we consistently make magic together.)
I share this about my chart so you can see that having something dormant in your chart does NOT mean you live your life with a hole in it, always seeking that underrepresented element.
One last roundup of this month’s topic with an eye toward how to best FEED your dominant elements.
If you’re water-dominant, you need music, baths, wine, naps, and your journal to feel balanced. If you’re air-dominant, you need a reality check and you get it by talking things out (sometimes just talking with yourself will do the trick). If you’re earth-dominant, you need to garden, cook, go for hikes, and indulge the senses (break out the essential oils, babe). And if you’re fire-dominant, you want to peel your skin off if you’re not getting regular exercise, sex, dance parties, or the chance to strut your stuff.
All four of the elements are a part of the creative process. Go back to that quick summary all the way up top. 😉 You start with water (dream it, feel it, pine for it), then move into air (talk it out, share the dream), then shift over to earth (put in the work, this is the nuts and bolts of it all), and finally kick into fire (surrender it to the magic of existing, celebrate the creation).
If you find yourself rushing to any of these stages out of order, you can bet you’ve got a strong pull toward that element in your chart. Grant your creative impulses all their seasons, babe.
It’s a beautiful process, framing manifestation and abundance this way!
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So looking forward to what you’ll do with all this awesomeosity! We’ll be chattin’ it up in the dojo ’til this month’s Zoom (and beyond). ’til then, lean into these elements and have fun workin’ that money, honey! I am *loving* your Manifestation Bingo shares out on social media!
All my love,
Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!