The Elements in Astrology Series: Fire
Part 1
Hello reader! Every Thursday, I post the notes from this week’s episode of Maria Luz’s Conscious Curiosities podcast. Feel free to email me with any comments. The direct links to my different Substack sections are in the footer, along with a link to instructions on how to unsubscribe.
I don't know if it is the official dog days of summer, but I am feeling the urge to just enjoy the time outdoors (we live for this time of year up north!), therefore the next few installments will be on the short side while I soak up the sun's rays!
Leo season kicked off on Monday, so I thought we would begin talking about the four elements with fire. Which may not be an element at all, as some traditions consider it more of a process rather than an element. To my biochemistry trained mind, this makes more sense, as the other three can and do exist on their own, but fire requires air and something of the earth to manifest.
You likely use words or sayings containing the elements every day. He has a fiery temper. This tea tastes earthy. So and so is an airhead. But have you stopped to consider which element(s) you most identify with? I am not talking to which you have an affinity towards, such as mountains or ocean, but what do you feel like? I know that I am a fire person. I am more often hot than cold, my skin and tongue tend toward redness, it doesn’t take much to get me into motion, I sweat easily in order to cool my skin. On the flip side, I have a low tolerance for anything slow and meandering. Meandering may be okay as long as it is done rather quickly or covers a lot of territory.
I will give you a real life example. Several years ago my siblings and I visited EPIC, The Irish Emigration Museum in Dublin. We entered the museum together, but didn’t exit together (don’t worry, there was no big argument or anything!). I emerged first, after a couple of hours, believing I had spent a fair amount of time in each exhibit. My brother emerged next, maybe 30 minutes later. My sisters and sister-in-law not only stayed on a few more hours (my bro and I split up to do our own thing), they returned the following day to finish. Arguably, my brother and I have the highest interest in Irish emigration and hold the most knowledge of our ancestors of all of us.
I chalk it up to our astrological elemental make up. By our sun signs alone, the amount of time we spent in there makes sense to me. I burned through (Leo, fire), my brother made steady progress (Capricorn, earth), then my sister-in-law (Scorpio) and sisters (Pisces twins) meandered as water tends to do without propulsion. As we are missing air, I will just say that air can go either way, wishing to see everything with equal time, or going deep on one or two topics, and the period of time can be extremely short or long.
All of this may intuitively make sense to you, but we will cover the different attributes today if it doesn’t. I wanted to begin with a story before we go academic just to demonstrate that you already have a sense of these things. Also, note that the modality of the sign also plays a role. I will cover the modalities (cardinal, mutable, and fixed) in another episode.
The elements have been used by all of the traditions across history (as far as I am aware) to describe organic forms and energy, seen and unseen. In astrology, the twelve signs of the zodiac fall into one of the following designations (note: these are from Astrology for Yourself):
Fire is the identity principle.
Earth is the material substance principle.
Air is the mental principle.
Water is the feeling principle.
Remember, we are all twelve signs of the zodiac, because our birth chart contains all twelve, however, the placement of planets and signs at the key cusps will determine to what extent we feel them in our bodies and experience them in our lives. Over the course of this series of four installments, we will delve into the signs associated with each element.
So what does it mean that fire is the identity principle? First, we may need to backup a bit to what came before identity. A primal urge. I think it is helpful to think of the solar plexus, also known as the third chakra. This is perhaps the gut feeling you have that is meant to drive you to take action. Why we say someone is ‘fired up’ when they start gesticulating or turning red in the face to make a point they feel passionately about. In fact, passion, the drive to create life is very much associated with Mars, and Mars rules Aries, the first sign of the zodiac.
Thinking about Aries, the sentence, “Don’t get eaten” popped into my head just now. It is about survival. And in order to survive (not be eaten), we better get a move on. Aries wouldn’t pause and strategize about whether hiding is a better strategy. It comes forth already lit up. Just ask anyone with Aries in their Big Three (Sun, Moon, or Rising sign). They have likely experienced having ‘ants in their pants’ as a kid, acting impulsively even more than their friends as a teenager, and having a competitive streak or suffering adrenal fatigue as an adult.
Aries is associated with the first house, which is most often associated with the self in its physical and intrinsic form. The keyphrase often seen is “I am”. Think about the first bud of a plant in the Spring. It has no idea what it is or where it is, but it knows it must burst out of the soil.
Look to which house in your birth chart you have Aries. It is in that area of life, you may be presented more often than not with a perceived sense of urgency to spring into action.
In addition to Mars, the solar plexus is associated with the Sun, which leads to the next fire sign, Leo, which the Sun rules. With Leo, think regal. There is the entitlement that comes with royalty, yes, but with Leo it is more of an entitlement to love that comes with being heart centered. Leo understands that their entitlement comes with an obligation to be a benefactor to those they lead. It is part and parcel of the heart of a lion that allows for a courageous leader.
Leo and the Sun are associated with the 5th house, which is most often associated with creative self-expression, romance, and children. At first glance, those things do not automatically sync to the courageous leader archetype. But don’t the best leaders have a flair of their own, are inspiring in a way that only they can be, and are childlike in the sense that they expect love and appreciation?
In order to be the responsible leader Leo strives to be, one must first learn self leadership and self sovereignty. There is the saying “lazy as a lion” for a reason. Too much time spent in apathy and not finding what really lights you up leads to ruin where Leo resides in your chart. I speak from experience, as a Leo Sun. When I have just gone through the motions and lacked self-leadership or when I have just gone along with others and lacked self-sovereignty, it has been painful and tough to claw out of.
Finally, think or an archer who is blindfolded. As she is preparing to release the arrow, someone lights the tip of the arrow on fire and spins the archer around in circles. The arrow is released in a random direction and where it hits, the fire spreads rapidly and wherever the terrain takes it.
This is Sagittarius, the final sign of the fire element. Sagittarius is ruled by the planet Jupiter, which is about expansiveness, determining how a populace will join under a philosophy, travel abroad, and higher learning. Sounds pretty great, right? Well… as astrologer Steven Forrest puts it in The Book of Fire: The Life-Givers, “It’s complicated. Jupiter represents the impulse to look at life and say Yes.”
Under Sagittarius’s influence, decisions made without context can become like the wildfire set by the arrow. More always sounds better! However, as with Aries, more activity can simply lead to burnout, and as with Leo, more consumption can make you too stuck in boredom to do anything but be lazy.
However, the beautiful fire within Sagittarius is hope, a certain innocence that everyone is equally good. One of my evolutionary astrology teachers, in speaking of the murder of 26 people, including 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December of 2012, exclaimed “And these children were all Pluto in Sag!”, and while this event needed no extra punctuation, her observation just highlighted the innocence and hope of children in a way I could feel in my soul. We are already seeing the Pluto in Sagittarius generation doing amazing, hopeful work everywhere in the world. This of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani female education activist who won the Nobel Peace prize at age 17 as an example.
Where Sagittarius lies in your birth chart may be where you experience temptation of expansion, just be intentional about the expansion and heart centered with your hope. I should also point out that if you are newer to an astrology practice, whenever I say something like “where x lies in your birth chart”, the same will apply when a planet is transiting through that portion of your chart, only you would synthesize the energy of the sign in that house with that of the transiting planet.
Using our fire signs and associated planets as an example, if Mars happens to be transiting the house in your chart where Sagittarius resides, you may feel a drive to action (Mars) in traveling abroad or seeking higher learning (Sagittarius). Mars is actually a great planet to practice what transits feel and manifest as, because it is so active and it spends not too short, nor too long a time in any given sign. In fact, I think I will give a Mars based assignment in this Friday's YouTube for this weekend as there is a nice opportunity.
Another way to think of the energy of these fire signs is:
Aries: heat of holding your hand directly in a flame.. burning hot, immediately move out of danger
Leo: heat of a cozy fireplace or campfire… draws you in and keeps you there
Sagittarius: heat of a wildfire… you don’t directly feel it, but it is mesmerizing and pulls you in different directions to see where it is going
I hope this has been a helpful perspective. Thank you so much for listening. You are now empowered to be consciously curious about the element of fire in astrology!
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