Water Signs: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces and the Symbolism of the Element

Where do the four elements come from?

In the scheme of Aristotle (fourth century BCE), which takes up the “four roots” of Empedocles, water is cold and wet: the element that takes the shape of its container, that flows and dissolves. Hellenistic astrology then divided the twelve signs into four groups of three, one per element, and linked the signs of Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces to water.

The three water signs

See the portraits of Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. These three signs are 120 degrees apart in the zodiac: they are in trine. Each belongs to a different modality (cardinal, fixed, mutable).

The symbolism of the element water

Water symbolically represents the emotional and inner life: feelings, memory, empathy, intuition, intimacy, emotional bonds, the imagination. It is seen as the element of feeling, in contrast to the air of thought. Traditional portraits of the water signs evoke sensitivity, depth and compassion. Their shadow side: over-sensitivity, withdrawal, resentment, confusion between oneself and others.

In the ancient medicine of Hippocrates and Galen, water corresponds to phlegm and to a “phlegmatic” temperament: calm, slow to be stirred. This theory of the humours has been abandoned by modern medicine; it left the word “phlegmatic” in the language.

Planets and houses of water

The planets that rule the water signs are the Moon (Cancer), Mars or Pluto (Scorpio), and Jupiter or Neptune (Pisces). The houses IV, VIII and XII are called “water houses”: by analogy, they correspond to the areas these signs evoke: home and roots, crises and transformations, solitude and the unseen.

Water in other systems

Correspondences vary from one tradition to another. In tarot, nineteenth-century occultists associated the Cups with water (see the guide to the minor arcana). In the Indian chakra system, it is the sacral chakra that is linked to water. Among Carl Gustav Jung’s four psychological functions, several astrologers match water to feeling; Jung did not present this correspondence as proven. In Chinese tradition, water is one of the five “phases”, associated with winter: a very different scheme.

The balance of elements in a chart

Astrologers count the bodies in a chart by element to estimate the dominant one. A chart “rich in water” would be one of emotion and intuition; a chart “without water” one in which expressing feelings would require more effort. This method is debatable: Mercury and Venus stay close to the Sun and therefore often fall in the same element as it, which skews the calculation, and no study has shown that an excess or lack of one element corresponds to a real personality trait. Consider it a reflective game.

Images and myths of water

In the sixth century BCE, the philosopher Thales of Miletus claimed, according to Aristotle, that water is the principle of all things. Almost every culture has stories of birth from the waters or of a flood, from Mesopotamia to the Bible. The Greeks saw in Oceanus a river encircling the world, and in Poseidon a god of the seas and earthquakes. Water is also the element of purification in many traditions, hence its image as an element that cleanses but also engulfs. These stories explain the place of water in the symbolism of emotions: what flows, what overwhelms, what washes.

A simple step to make the symbol your own

If the image of water inspires you, you can express it through a gentle gesture: a bath or shower taken without rushing, a glass of water drunk slowly, a walk along a stream, a moment of music, a notebook in which you write what you feel. These are pleasant habits, with nothing medical about them, and they promise no effect.

An honest view of this reading

The four elements are a system of symbolic classification, not a description of matter: modern chemistry recognises more than a hundred elements, and fire is not an “element” in the scientific sense. No study has shown that the element of your sign determines your character. See the history and limits of astrology.

Frequently asked questions

Also read

The meanings mentioned belong to tradition and symbolism. They are neither promises of results nor medical advice. Back to Guide to astrology basics.