Water Element

Origin and tradition

In classical Greek cosmovision, Water is the cold and wet element, opposite to Fire. For Thales of Miletus, the first Greek philosopher, water was the primordial substance of all things: everything is born of water and returns to water. The idea appears in many mythologies: the Sumerian primordial ocean, the Akkadian Apsu, the Egyptian Nun, the Chinese Nu, the watery chaos of the biblical Genesis.

Water is a universal symbol of the unconscious, memory, emotional flow. What is submerged under water is what we do not see but influences us. Tears are emotional water; sweat is liberated water; the river is life in motion. In alchemy, water represents the universal solvent and the fluid phase of transformation. In Christian baptism and many other rituals, water purifies and renews.

Water in the zodiac and tarot

In astrology, the Water signs are Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. They share qualities: emotional sensitivity, deep intuition, empathy, intense bonds, ability to care and heal, connection with the subtle. People with many planets in Water signs tend to feel everything intensely, to read others without being told anything, to move through emotional currents. Their shadow: hypersensitivity, emotional manipulation, blurred boundaries, evasion.

In tarot, Water is associated with the suit of Cups: the cards of love, family, emotional bonds, inner life. In Wicca, Water is invoked at the west of the altar and represented with a chalice full of water, shells or sea salt. Its correspondences include autumn, sunset, blue or silver, aquatic animals (dolphin, fish, whale, serpent), soft herbs (chamomile, jasmine, lily).

How to work with Water

If you lack Water, practices to cultivate it include long baths, contact with the sea or rivers, crying when you need to, emotional therapy, expressing what you feel, keeping an emotional diary, visualisation meditation with water. If you have excess Water, it should be tempered with practices of Fire (action, risks) and Air (intellect, clarity).