Our bodies aren’t as separate from the external world as we might sometimes think. At our deepest level we are a part of the natural world, composed of the elements both physically and meta-physically, with each of the five elements within us.

In the Western world these are: Fire, Water, Earth, Air and Spirit. In the Eastern world they are: Fire, Water, Earth, Air and Metal. I’ll be talking about the Western mindset of elements.

Generally, one or two elements will be stronger than the others as we move through our day, week or cycle. Much of this depends on what’s happening in our lives at the time.

For instance, if we are taking care of a sick child we are accessing our nurturing element of water. If we’re angry and lashing out we’re activating the fire element within. Each element carries attributes, strengths and weaknesses.

We can also express a particular element more than others, which directly relates to the external world. Someone who “has” to live near a body of water may activate more of the water element than one who likes to live inland near a forest or mountain. If the “water person” moves to an inland location they may find themselves feeling “landlocked”. And one who likes the forest and mountains might feel off balance living far from the stability of a tree or mountain.

Our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health rides on whether we can utilize all five elements in a balanced rhythmic dance. If we continually access one over the other we can actually get stuck in that element causing an imbalance that leads to illness, disease or lack of harmony in our lives.

Knowing what our predominant element is and which one(s) we’re using can be useful in understanding ourselves. We can also look to the elements to help us get out of stuck situations, sticky relationships and to deal with other issues in our lives.

Let’s look at each element and it’s properties.

Fire: Passion and inspiration, the male activating principle, expansion and desire. It is a cleansing element. Fire consumes other elements.

Fire people are natural born leaders and generally interesting to be around. They often become inspired and will get bored easily with routines. Due to their energy, they are the life of the party and people gravitate to them. But, they can run right over other people with their intensity and self-righteousness. Typically hot-tempered and impulsive…..quite literally the “fiery-tempered” personality.

Water: Emotions, it’s magnetic, the female principle, nurturing, coolness and contraction. It is our unconscious and intuition.

It’s all about the heart to a water person. They feel and empathize with you and are great at listening. Water people tend to be artistic and creative and many gravitate toward the mystical practices.   The emotions run high with a water person causing them to feel things greatly and cry easily. Unfortunately, the negative side of this can lead to depression.

Earth: The grounding principle, solid, stable, foundation of all the elements, fertile, The Great Mother.

Earth people need to feel grounded or “rooted” to wherever they live. Their home is important to them. Not usually a dreamer, the earth person takes it one step at a time, able to postpone gratification to get the goal. Patience is a strong quality. Most earth people will marry and stay in long committed relationships. Just like a mountain, earth people can be stubborn to the point of never moving forward.

Air: Thought, movement, communication, ideas, knowledge, and dreams.

The Air person has a gift for the gab. Excellent communicators as well as story-tellers. They like to think things through rather than feel them. Air people are individualists and freethinkers who can hold many thoughts at once. Too much air can cause an air person to become the intellectual who can’t share his thoughts with anyone, often lacking social graces.

Spirit: Binding energy of the other four. Realm of potentiality, source of all energy, completely balanced.

Spirit is in all of us and everything and everywhere. It unites all things. It is that spark of life within us and our connection to the “greater something”. It is perfectly balanced energy of all the elements and cannot be defined.

To put it all together, take a look at the attributes of each element and notice what seems to look or resonate most with you. If you tend to be more emotional than analytical, you would associate with water. If you’re energetic and people seem to be drawn to you, you would associate with fire. If you find it important to spend a lot of time in nature and seem more at ease there, you’d probably pick earth. And if you like to really think things through and are often considered an idea person you would pick air.

Since we contain all the elements in ourselves and we are multidimensional beings, we usually run more than one element at a time. Identifying what your predominant element is and the other element(s) you’re running at any moment can help you in changing situations.

It’s then a matter of accessing the element, which would most assist in activating the change you desire.

How to utilize the elements to create change…….to be continued in the next post.….

If you’re really interested in the elements—both in the Macrocosm and Microcosm check out the upcoming training in February 2017. We’ll be spending time learning about the elements, the Elementals and teaching you to access and manipulate them at will.

Go to: http://www.spiritsmuse.com/ancientwisdom.html to learn more.