Conflict of the Elements
The Air-Water Conflict |
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The air-water polarity is basically about moisture. Since our bodies are roughly two-thirds water, the difference between dryness and clamminess is found in the narrow margins of a few percentage points above or below the ideal. However, this conflict is also about senility and aging vs. regeneration and rejuvenation. |
The Fire-Earth Conflict |
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Fire is about vision and progress and the risks taken to create the future whereas Earth is about stability and safety. You might say, we measure our willingness to gamble on the tension between the ideal and real. Without fire, there is no change; without earth, there is no conservation of the known. Much of the conflict between these elements plays out in the mind, but there are physical ramifications as well. |
The Fire-Water Conflict |
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Fire and Water are the perfect opposites and both are necessary for our internal harmony. Fire is hot, dry, and light and Water is cold, moist, and heavy. Fire rules the future and Water rules the past. Fire is hierarchical and Water is inclusive, familial. Fire is impatient and Water is patient. Fire is intuitive and Water is imaginative. The opposites are almost endless. |
The Air-Earth Conflict |
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The air-earth balance is mainly about flexibility on both the psychological and physical planes, but it is also about tolerance and judgment. Air is agile and openminded whereas Earth is rigid and opinionated, but to survive we need both adaptability and structure and here is where we measure those assets. |
The Air-Fire Conflict |
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Though Air and Fire are the same polarity, masculine, they can be opposite in the horoscope: Gemini-Sagittarius; Libra-Aries; and Aquarius-Leo. The main distinction comes in how warmth is used as a physical and psychological property; but there are profound differences in social attitude and responses to stimuli that make this duo very interesting and not always as compatible as most textbooks imply. |
The Water-Earth Conflict |
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Water and Earth are also not always as on the same page with each other even though both are feminine. What differentiates them most is "humidity" and this is because Water is the only element that is wet. For this reason Water is more nurturing and protective; Earth is more resistant to outside influences and more cautious in general. These energies are part of our survival and recovery quotients. |
The Lessons This set of lessons takes the study of the elements to another level, beyond anything you can find in most astrology textbooks even though there are theories in ancient Greek as well as Chinese philosophy and medicine that provide the foundation for this major component of my work in medical astrology. The Greeks felt that the material world cohered or disintegrated as a consequence of the love and hate existing between the elements. The Chinese approach these concepts from another angle and Dr. Carl Jung had another take on the shadow plays between the elements. This work is intensely interesting, practical, and highly original. |
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Poulsbo, Washington
Copyright by Ingrid Naiman 2008 and 2015
Graphic Design: Damien Francoeur