Water

This is the last of my brain storms on the elements. I have found it pretty illuminating. I never could understand before how astrology could attribute personality traits to each element. Now it makes sense. I have also started developing my own sense of each element and it's character. I hope it helps with developing my invocations.... I have also found some lovely guided meditations on each element on Badwitch's blog, I have yet to do much meditation....

So water.... I love baths, I love to wallow in lovely warm water. I especially love lush and today by bath bomb was no only gorgeously scented but it contained dried flowers, foil blue bells and a sparkly fabric butterfly. I like water.

Water is associated with Winter, the West, Yin, the Feminie, Mercury, Moon, Blue, Sapphires, Lapis Lazuli, Shells, Cups, the Chalice and the Cauldron. It is represented by the dolphin, seal, turtle, frog and fish as well as Undines, Mermaids, Naiad and Sea Serpents. The Chinese Astrological signs of the Pig, Rat and Ox come under water and in the western tradition the signs of Scorpio, Cancer and Pisces. I am not sure how useful lists like this are.

Unlike air which seeks to know everything and be everywhere, water can be everything, except fire. Ice is very similar to earth in that it is solid and water vapour is part of air. None of the other elements have this characteristic. Water has so many forms of being including snow, ice, fog, rivers, water in soil and clouds.

Water also picks up a little of everything it comes in to contact with. It erodes soil and rock and carries them off and it dissolves gases and has a huge amount of carbon dioxide dissolved in it and fish use the dissolved oxygen via their gills to breath. Water can literally move mountains with it's ability to slowly chip away at things. Glaciers created vast U-shaped valleys, while rivers created V-shaped valleys. Mountains are worn down and carried to the sea where silt can be deposited as huge deltas.

As much as it destroys it also creates. Water drips through the roof of a cave making stalagtites and stalagmites. Glaciers move rocks including huge boulders. Rivers move soil and sediments. With the aid of water eroding material and moving it these materials may form new sedimentary rocks such as slate and sandstone.

Of all the elements I think water is the most secretive. The ocean trenches are harder for us to visit than space. Civilisations have disappeared under the waves and in the Mediterranean Sea there are many important archaeological sites. Cloud scapes in the sky make unreachable epic landscapes that we can never walk on and every child dreams of exploring. Fog and mist hides things and makes navigation hard. In the days when people used the stars to find their way, this could be catastrophic. Another hidden landscape created by water is that of caves. Karst scenery is the most dramatic scenery created in this way. Rivers disappear underground and any rain just sinks away out of sight. Things sink out of sight through bogs and quicksands.

Water can be destructive in the extreme. Icebergs sank the titanic, avalanches bury skiers, tsunamis destroy coastal regions and floods destroy homes and carry people away. The greatest storms occur when fire, air and water come together and rain can be torrential. In Cornwall one mining tradegy in the mid 1800s occurred when there was a very heavy but short rain storm. The water poured into an open mine shaft and drowned 39 men before they could get out.

Water is vital to life, it is blood, sap and ichor. It is used to move food and nutrients around the body. Cells do not function without it and dehydration is very dangerous. We can live longer without food than water. Plants use the process of evaporation to drive transpiration which moves nutrients from the soil up through the plant. Trees lose huge amounts of water and those of the rain forest constantly create the rain. Where water and land meet there is a huge burgeoning of life. Coral reefs are the underwater equivalent of the rain forest. Wells and springs are often viewed as being life giving and sacred.

Traces of ancient villages are often found by water. It provides food, water, protection and transportation. Boats obviously are a mainstay of trade as they have been for hundreds of years but protection? Ancient homes were built on poles at the edge of lakes with bridges that could be taken up. Clouds help to keep warmth and light in or out depending on whether it is night or day.

Then there is the sea! It is so influenced by the moon that we have tides and these give us waves. Freak huge waves occur out at sea and strange things happen in the Bermuda Triangle... See what I mean about there being a lot to say about water?

The water personality is not surprisingly quite varied. It is very flexible, plaint and soft. Water can seem to change into many different forms but it always remains itself so a water person may have many sides to them. Water picks up information and ideas from all over the place and so is very intuitive and empathic. This also makes them able to be kind and nurturing. This can also make them needy at times and over sensative. Water people can be very forceful and strong and this may be shown as a vengeful streak. Water people feel everything.