The five elements are the building blocks of matter, including all of life and our physical bodies.

I have deep gratitude, respect, and love for the elements. We are made of them and they surround us and give us life. So here is a little reminder of how important they are. Let's honor, respect, and care for them a little more. 

FIRE

Fire element represents the quality of heat or energy. Any matter where energy is in prominence are called fire elements. Internal fire elements include those bodily mechanisms that produce physical warmth, aging, digestion, etc.

Energy, sunlight, heat, power, disintegration, transformation, metabolism, will, rajas, creation, source of life, food for 99% of life, unfolding universe, Third chakra, manomayakosha.

Fire signs - Aries, Leo, Sagittarius -Like fire itself, fire signs tend to be passionate, dynamic, and temperamental. Fire can keep you warm, or it can do great destruction. While fire burns out quickly without fuel to keep it going, it can also regenerate its power from the ashes. A single spark can set off a forest fire. As a result, fire signs need to be nurtured and managed carefully.

Thank you Fire, thank you Sun for warming us and cooking our food, and lighting up the earth.

EARTH

Earth element represents the quality of solidity or attractive forces. Any matter where attractive forces are in prominence (solid bodies) are called earth elements. Internal earth elements include head hair, body hair, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bone, organs, intestinal material, etc.

Foundation, heavy, dense, enduring, solid, mineral, source from which plant and animal life spring, resistant, gravity, inertia, tamas, First chakra, Annamayakosha.

Earth signs - Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn
Earth signs keep it real. They are the “grounded” people on the planet, the ones who bring us down to earth and remind us to start with a solid foundation. Slow and steady, these “builders” are loyal and stable, and stick by their people through hard times. On good days, they’re practical; at worst, they can be materialistic or too focused on the surface of things to dig into the depths.

Thank you Earth for growing the foods we eat, for being our collective home, and being the ground we stand on.

WATER

Water element represents the quality of liquidity or relative motion. Any matter where relative motion of particles is in prominence are called water elements. Internal water elements include bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, nasal mucus, urine, etc.

Liquid, matrix, context, background, adaptability mobility, dissolving, penetrating, flowing, yielding, exclusive home of life for 2 billion years, second chakra, Pranamayakosha.

Water signs - Cancer, Scorpio Pisces
Intuitive, emotional and ultra-sensitive, water signs can be as mysterious as the ocean itself. Like water, they can be refreshing, or they can drown you in their depths. These signs often have intense dreams and borderline-psychic intuition. Security is important to them—after all, water needs a container, or it dries up and disappears.

Thank you Water for giving us life, for hydrating us, and allowing us to swim in you.

AIR

Air element represents the quality of expansion or repulsive forces. Any matter where repulsive forces are in prominence are called air elements. Internal air elements includes air associated with the pulmonary system (for example, for breathing), the intestinal system ("winds in the belly and ... bowels"), etc.

Breath, oxygen, carbon dioxide, gases, movement, lightness, communication, expansion, irregularity, speed, dryness, upward movement against gravity, fourth chakra, Vijnyanamayakosha.

Air signs -  Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
Air signs are all about action, ideas, and motion—they are the “winds of change.” When a strong gust hits you, you can’t help but move. While some within their ranks may be true-life “airheads,” others are as powerful as a gravity-defying G-force. Air signs bring everyone a breath of fresh air when things start to get stale. Like the breeze, you can’t quite catch them, and you never know where they’ll drop you once they sweep you up. It will almost always been an adventure, though.

Thank you Air, for you give us life, without this air we breathe we can't live.

Space

Space or Ether, also Aether, the internal space elements includes bodily orifices such as the ears, nostrils, mouth, anus, etc.

Spirit, causation, evolution, background, ambient, permeability, most subtle, atomic, inner and outer space, 99.99% of the body, highly mobile, fifth, sixth, seventh chakras, Anandamyakosha.

The fifth of the five elements, ether is the most subtle and pervasive of all the elements (earth, water, fire, air, and ether). Ether, sometimes called space, is the element from which all other elements originate, and to which all elements return. In this way, space is always present and part of every practice and everything.

There are also many terms for the movement of energy through the Aether, or the movement of Aether itself. These include qi (also written as chi, ch’i, or ki) which is a traditional Chinese and Taoist concept for the natural energy or “life force” of any living thing. In Hinduism, a similar idea is known as prana, which is the life force which connects all the elements of the universe. For Hawaiian and some Polynesian cultures, this field of living force is known as mana. The same concept is known as ruah in Hebrew, as lüng in Tibetan Buddhism, as pneuma in ancient Greece, and vital energy in Western philosophy. It is also popularized by the idea of “The Force” in Star Wars.

Thank you spirit, source, multiverse, God.