Deepening Into the Elements Part 4: Fill Up On Water
Water On the Whole
The qualities of water, one of the most highly valued substances on our planet, are extremely unique. In order to best gather how Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces express these qualities let’s soak ourselves in the essence of water itself first.
Slippery, water fills the shapes it meets, taking on their exact dimensions. When spilled on the ground it rejoins the water table, some of it giving life to Earth along the way. Bodies of water mirror back light and images. Reflection is part of its nature.
Bodies of water also take in temperatures. Water absorbs and holds what wavelengths come its way, merging so thoroughly that its composition changes. Ice, vapor, snow and liquid are all water responding to its surroundings.
Water truly merges with what it absorbs. It’s important for water itself to be cleaned and cleared such that it can offer that service back outward. Protection and boundaries are primary for water people since they can be so permeable, malleable and giving. All three signs tend to hide away at times for this reason.
The sight of the sea, rivers and lakes have known calming properties for the nervous system. Something about the silky surface and the gurgling, babbling, lapping and crashing sounds of this element soothe sensationally. Healing, cleansing and life-giving, water nurtures deeply.
Like all the elements, this one can also be destructive. Tsunamis, tidal waves, floods and dangerous waterfalls can be life threatening. Too much water damage can render anything useless. Water’s responses to challenging conditions include freezing (the cold shoulder), submerging everything into suffocation and simply disappearing. Escape is a trusty ally for the water person.
Symbolically water is associated with intuition, emotion and the subconscious. We see this in the way the ocean transports things from one shore to another, a channel between worlds.
Bodies of water contain depths that often go unexplored. These unseen, potent spaces hold mystery and power that influence the whole. It is the water signs that are most adept in the emotional, instinctual realm, particularly if they befriend their depths.
Cancer
Babbling Brook Gathers Moonlight
The first of the water signs is Moon-ruled Cancer, represented by the sideways-dancing crab. The to and fro motion the Moon elicits from Earth’s waters point to one of Cancer’s dominant characteristics. A cyclical ebbing and flowing of mood is common for this sign, usually between crabby and enchantingly sweet.
A cardinal sign, Cancer births action in its special sideways manner. The chatty stream running this way and that through the forest is an apt metaphor for the way this water sign embodies. One of the Moon’s gifts to the crab is the gift of a particularly poetic gab. They spin rhymes seamlessly and listen just as deeply.
Animals and plants in the vicinity all gather at the stream to drink just as Cancer would have them do. Cancer breathes nourishment for others, knowing just the thing to offer whether it’s empathy, cookies, a connection to the relevant person in the community or spiritual guidance. They can do this to a fault, offering all the beds and couches in their home to those in need, landing themselves an uncomfortable night on the floor. Watching this pattern is wise for it can lead to resentment and some gnashing of the crabby claws.
Like all water signs, Cancer has psychic powers. They know before you do that something is up. They also have a tendency to linger in the past. Lovers of history, family tradition and lore, this sign carries forward many a story from long ago in their fluid inner worlds. At times it weighs heavy on them and some healthy liberation from what’s come before is in order. The past can loom large, pushing fears forward to furrow the Cancerian brow. They can put the loony back in Luna if they’re left unsupported, sideways dancing themselves into a bind.
Part of Cancer’s wish to meet the needs of others comes from their yearning for their own needs to be met. As much as the stream thrives when it’s supporting many lives it needs to be kept well banked, running unimpeded and free of toxins.
Cancerians care very much about safety and security, fiscal, physical, emotional and spiritual. They are 100% savers, penny pinchers, keepers of rainy day extras and treasures of yore. If you love a Cancer, tell them! The sincere, deep care you’ll receive in return will be mighty.
Scorpio
Deep Diving Transformer
The mysterious, potent water of a deep lake reflects the fixed power of Mars-ruled Scorpio. This sign is full of potential energy. Like a reservoir Scorpio stores power in its depths, magnetizing to it what it desires.
This is the one water sign not associated with the movement of instigation (cardinal Cancer) or changeability (mutable Pisces). Comfortable with emotion and interested in sourcing out the root of issues, Scorpio’s still, alive center has an intensity not for the faint of heart. As a sign ruled by Mars, Scorpio is fearless, piercing in its focused attention and intolerance for bullshit. The glassy surface of the lake shows every detail, not covering up imperfections with a flattering crest or swell of wave.
A lake’s way of holding on to whatever drops in points to Scorpio’s particular relationship to the past. While Cancer sentimentalizes, cherishes and sometimes grips too tightly to the past generally with family and love as the biggest themes, Scorpio distills every insult and injury perfectly. At times obsessive, this intuitive warrior never forgets a slight. In this way Scorpio catalogues negative experience in order to avoid the same situations in the future.
The clairvoyance of water combines with the piercing power of Scorpio’s investigative lens to create a mighty sleuth. Between their instincts and their fascination with what’s really behind peoples’ actions Scorpio people can get to the bottom of just about anything. The territory they find most challenging to explore is their own inner landscape. The strength of their feelings is so formidable that taking inventory and facing those feelings can ice them over for a while. A large dose of compassion and perspective help bolster brave Scorpio for their own personal underworld work.
The pace of Scorpio as a fixed sign is slow. They do, however, know how to complete projects. They have high standards and great expectations of themselves. This is part of what takes them so long to finalize something. It’s got to be substantial, poignant, memorable. Generally speaking what these people create is all those things.
The death and rebirth transformative magic associated with this sign is evident in their art, their experience, their way of showing up in the world. Scorpio seeks and delivers meaningful contributions, often behind the scenes. They have no trouble keeping on the down low, protecting secrets and fulfilling their role as guardians of the mystery.
Pisces
The Oceanic All That Is
In the salty sea that covers so much of Earth’s territory, a spectacular variety of life forms make their way. This diversity of being along with the wild range of conditions found in the ocean’s waters speak to Pisces’ mutable nature. As the last sign in the zodiac Pisces contains a trace of every sign and can shift from one mood or mode to another in the blink of an eye.
Traditionally ruled by belief-oriented Jupiter, Pisces is full of faith. The ocean is often used to symbolize devotion and mystic oneness, the favorite swimming grounds of the fish. This can serve to lift Pisces’ friends and family when they’re plagued with doubt. It can also get this water sign into loads of trouble when they place their faith and offer their ocean of love to those who don’t have their best interest in mind.
Indeed, boundaries are a challenge for this sign. They love to merge with the all that is, plant, animal, human or spirit. Inhibiting that impulse takes real awareness and effort. Life will offer them many chances to build the muscle they need to protect their highly sensitive hearts.
The primary defense inherent to a fish is to get out of dodge as quickly as possible. Escape is the Piscean superpower and crutch whether it’s through sex, drugs, rock and roll, religion, poetry, Netflix or bath time. Escape could be re-termed self-preservation but must also be watched for wading too far into dissociative waters. The two fish swimming in either direction show one in this world and one in another. This world needs what the fish has to contribute so it’s important to keep tabs on the runaway mackerel.
That same connection to other worlds lends Pisces some divine inspiration. This can show up in creative practices as well as in relating. Many a Pisces will somehow just know things that seem buried deep. They can communicate about what’s painful with non judgement and compassion aplenty, facilitating healing and transformation on subtle levels.
It can be tricky to know what’s really going on for this sign. Looking down into the ocean is an optical illusion at times, layers shifting with the light. Pisces changes so often and needs so much space to recover from the psychic overwhelm of being around others, they are apt to hide what’s happening inside. They are notorious truth omitters, persuasive convincers of themselves and others into things just left of hard truth. They mean no harm by it so if you’re a stickler for facts, let them know and they’ll do their best to course correct.
It is the water signs that are most adept in the emotional, instinctual realm, particularly if they befriend their depths.