Sally Cragin - The Astrological Elements: How Fire, Earth, Air & Water Influence Your Life

About the Author

Sally Cragin is a longtime arts writer and an astrologer who has also written for The Boston Globe. Her column, Moon Signs (written as Symboline Dai), has appeared in The Boston Phoenix since 1998. She writes the monthly forecasts in the Llewellyn Astrological Calendar and has been contributing to Llewellyns Almanac for many years.

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

The Astrological Elements: How Fire, Earth, Air & Water Influence Your Life 2010 by Sally Cragin.

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First e-book edition 2010

E-book ISBN: 9780738723310

Cover design by Kevin R. Brown

Cover images: wing and fire DigitalVision;
water Comstock;
plant BrandXPictures

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CONTENTS

The Fire Element

The Earth Element

The Air Element

The Water Element

Astrological Matchups, The Same Elements

Matchups, All Astrological Neighbors

Astro-elemental Opposites

Matchups, All Element Combinations

Fire, Earth, Air, and Water

Astro-elemental Gift Giving

Many thanks to many people, starting with my mother Janet and my late father Donald, who were always interested in the study of stars, as were my aunts Linda, Joyce, and Judy; my Libra twin brother Hal and my late grandmother Shakie Manooshian Mirijanian.

I am indebted to astrology editors through the years: Sharon Leah, Clif Garboden, Peter Kadzis, and folks at the Boston Phoenix. Writers who have inspired and educated include Frances Sakoian, Robert Hand, and Sybil Leek and Penny Thornton across the pond, whose From Diana With Love , a kaleidoscopic account of being Princess Dianas astrologer, is the book Ive studied most as its provided invaluable insights into interpreting aspects and dealing diplomatically with challenging clients.

Thanks to teachers at Harvard Extension School including Professor Greg Nagy and Professor Maura Henry. Special thanks to my author cousin Susan Cragin for reading this. Also, none of this would be possible without my clients through all the years: thank you for sharing your lives and planets with me!

Finally, thanks to my husband Chuck, who suggested the original idea and supported the production of the work, and a grateful embrace for our children: Christopher Tigran, whose first word was moon, and Jet Beatrix, who came into this world dancing.

I am grateful to all writers, philosophers, and practitioners of astrology dating back to antiquity. I have learned and continue to learn from a variety of sources. There is not one human culture that lacks an astrological line of inquiry in their lorewe are all guided by the Sun, Moon, and planets. What I have found fascinating are the simple similarities that emerge among cultures that have never intersected.

In my own life, a family friend named Ruth Shepard was the first person I knew who had an interest in astrology and birthdays. Ruth had a strong inclination toward palmistry and, being a classically nurturing Cancer, could make everyone feel special on their birthdays. It was in her house in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, that I first saw the Rosicrucian ephemeris and various books about Sun signs. The ephemeris is a collection of numbers, symbols, and data I found fascinating and mystifying. Years later in my early teens, my father, Donald H. Cragin, at the National Star newspaper in New York, had an opportunity to interview a female astrologer living outside Boston. I remember going with him to this ladys house and looking at the astrology books in her library. What she said remains a blur on the viewscreen of memory but I do remember thinking, I wish I understood this.

Yet, I never read my daily horoscope. I always found the writing bland and not specific enough. It would have been much more interesting to talk to someone who actually knew about astrology! My aunts Linda and Joyce came of age in the psychedelic 1960s. I remember well-worn copies of Linda Goodmans Sun Signs in their houses and highly intense discussions regarding birthdays of individuals in their social circle. In my moms family, the dominant element is earthout of the six in my mothers generation, theres a Taurus, Capricorn, and Virgo, and just to balance things out a Leo (fire), Aquarius (air), and Scorpio (water). I cant remember a time when someone didnt ask, When is his/her birthday? if someone new was being discussed.

Sun sign astrology is fabulously entertaining and, once you know a little bit, its easy to start exploring others personalities. What propelled me to create a text that highlights the elements was thinking about similarities among the three signs in all four elements. Having primary source research in my backyard for the earth signs made it easy to note distinctions, similarities, and differences about female Taurus, Capricorn, and Virgo. In the family, the Taureans pride themselves on their stubbornness, often characterized as consistency and reliability. The Capricorn theme is independence and not needing any help. The Virgo way of doing business is taking care of details and paying attention to health matters. Whats even more interesting is the interaction between members of these earth signs, in that when each of them is around an earth element of another Sun sign, their own characteristics are acknowledged, justified, and thenamazinglyheightened.

Elizabethans would have instantly understood the premise of this book: that we are guided by humors in a more general way than our specific Sun signs. These humors are referenced throughout William Shakespeares work, and his consistent references are revealing. In his era, people surmised that ones personality was a result of these four humors being in or out of balance. The humors gave off vapors that affected ones brain.