The Element of Water

Think of the rivers, lakes and vast oceans, of the tides of feeling that can sweep over you from time to time. Think of the nuances and moods of emotion that characterise human experience. In all these things we find the essence of the element of water.

The water signs, Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces all concern the vast realm of the feelings. Cancer has a great protectiveness to it, a very nurturing feel. Scorpio represents the emotions that touch us most deeply, that arouse the most passionate and fierce of our feelings. In Pisces we find great sensitivity to the unseen realms, and a strong theme of letting go and sacrifice. In this last of the water signs we find the capacity to release outworn feelings that are holding us back.

The planets that rule these signs, the Moon, Mars/Pluto and Jupiter/Neptune all have varying degrees of association with water. The Moon is perhaps the most natural signifier of our feeling life, and her constantly changing cycle of waxing and waning phases aptly reflects the ebb and flow of human emotions. Mars is feeling through passion and drive, whilst Pluto more aptly reflects the deepest and darkest emotions that lie at the base of our soul. Jupiter is, I think, less associated with water than its co-ruler of Pisces, Neptune, who wonderfully reflects the vast ocean of the subconscious and all that is irrational and mysterious in the world. These too are associations of the element of water.

With the Sun in a water sign our fulfilment is bound up with the extent to which our vocation or identity can express our emotions and feelings.

The Moon in water often suggests a very sensitive and emotional person, someone who may suffer from mood-swings (particularly the Moon in Cancer). With the Moon in water we are instinctively acting from our own subjective emotions and may find it harder to access the emotional states of others, so overwhelmed are we by our own rich feeling life.

With Mercury in water our thinking is often coloured by our emotions, and we may communicate with sensitivity and attention to our feelings.

Venus in water often enjoys a close, emotional relationship, where the honouring of each other's feelings is a prime component.

With Mars in water our ability to go after what we want may be strongly linked with the extent of our emotional involvement. If we do not feel it, we simply do not act.