These are the building blocks upon which the entire chart is based. Learn these well, because you will always use them. An abundance of one element makes it very powerful in that chart, but just as importantly an absence of an element makes it exceedingly important. An absence exists when there are only 1 or less planets in a given element. When this happens we get the phenomenon that Psychologists call overcompensation. The chart will exhibit extreme and marked aspects of the missing element and may appear to the outside observer to be EXTRA similar to the missing element.

For example a person with no water in their chart may be very sensitive, cry easily or be extroardinarily fascinated with the world of psychic expression and abilities - even more so than someone who naturally has these qualities in thier own chart. Even if they appear very water like, this is usually in a way that is foreign to them, like a child wearing a parents shoes. This person will have life lessons associated with the missing element and with people of that missing element.

FIRE – the element of passion, enthusiasm, and excitement. In it’s purest form Fire represents energy. Sports, causes, adventure, riots, and joi d’vivre are all within its domain. It is equivalent to Wands in the Tarot Deck and in playing cards the suit of Clubs. Fire is the life force behind all things, ever driving the process of experience forward. It is causal spiritual energy.

EARTH – this element represents solid tangible objects, money, resources and all things tactile. You will find commerce, construction, materialism and agriculture under its influence. In Tarot the equivalent is Pentacles or Diamonds in the deck of playing cards. Earth is the physical experience of life, and the lessons that physicality represents. It is solid and practical.

AIR – represents ideas concepts and wind. Words, laws, communication, strategy and wars are all under its governance. In Tarot Air is equal to swords, or Spades in playing cards. Air is the mental or intellectual experienced of life. It is conceptual and logical.

WATER – conveys emotion, feeling, the subconscious and unification. Consumables, plumbing, religion, imagination and dreams all belong to its realm. It equals Cups in Tarot and Heats in playing cards. Water is the emotional spiritual bonding and nourishment we seek and need. It is changeable, malleable and persistent.

The Qualities
CARDINAL – Represents leadership, independence and beginnings. Cardinal signs are often the ‘bosses’ of their jobs, or work for themselves. Within it’s element Cardinal people pioneer new terrain. In fire (Aries) it represents new terrains to conquer and the enthusiasm to start things. In water (Cancer) it represents emotional new beginnings, forming families, groups and places that fulfill our emotional, spiritual needs. In Air (Libra) it signifies beginnings of new ideas, such as laws, and artistic aesthetics. In Earth (Capricorn) it represents beginnings of material ventures such as business licenses and the structures and buildings associated with these beginnings.

FIXED – signs are the organizers and system makers of the Zodiac. These are the people who create order and form from the beginnings taken by the Cardinal people. In Earth (Taurus) this takes the form of systems for exchange and commerce, such as banking, barter and the structuring of assets and resources. In Fire (Leo) this takes the form of order among personalities and the hierarchy of popularity and such ranking systems, as well as the creation of plans for the promotion of personality, enthusiasm and excitement, such as concerts. In Water (Scorpio) this structure is represented in the creation of shared ventures, merging, bonding (sexuality) and organizing emotional things into contained, or useful spaces, such as recycling, or undertaking. In Air (Aquarius) this quality represents pinning down ideas and concepts into a constant form, such as in a mathematical equation or by tying musical notes into scales or songs, or by testing, verifying and recording scientific absolutes like gravity, the speed of light or quantum physics.

MUTABLE – these are the go-betweens of the Horoscope. Mutable is changeable and negotiative by nature, constantly relaying back and forth between two outside elements. In Air (Gemini) this takes the form of ideas, and concepts through words, sales, communication devices or the Internet. In Earth (Virgo) this energy is represented by monitoring states of physical experience through such outlets as gardening, nursing, or physical exercise. In Fire (Sagittarius) the negotiation of that which people become passionate about takes center stage through things like myth, storytelling and cultural or philosophical negotiation. In Water (Pisces) this go-between is represented by the movement between conscious and sub-conscious needs, ideas and desires in the creation of fantasies, religions, glamour, and mystical, ecstatic or altered states of consciousness.

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