Water
Rivers, rain, the sea and the depths of feeling: the element of flow, healing and the unconscious.
- Qualities
- Cold and wet (Aristotle)
- Zodiac
- Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces
- Humor
- Phlegm, phlegmatic
- Tarot suit
- Cups
- Direction
- West, in modern pagan practice
The earliest Greek philosopher, Thales, thought everything came from water. In Aristotle's scheme it is cold and wet, and Plato gave it the many-faced icosahedron, smooth enough to flow. Rivers, springs and the sea were sacred across the ancient world, and many of the goddesses here rule them.
In astrology water rules Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces, the signs of feeling and intuition. In humoral medicine it matched phlegm and the calm 'phlegmatic' temperament. In modern tarot it is the suit of Cups, and pagan ritual usually places it in the west.
Linking a goddess to an element is a modern practice, drawn from Renaissance magic, the Golden Dawn and contemporary paganism; the ancient sources don't assign goddesses to elements.