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April 7 through April 13, 2025

Mercury officially turns direct on Monday, moving us out of its retrograde cycle at last! Technical and electronic glitches, as well as miscommunication, could still go on for another week or so, so be prepared to stop and change direction when it acts up! The Moon will travel through Virgo Tuesday through Thursday, making midweek the ideal time to focus on detailed projects, organizational tasks, and helping others. Balance is the theme when the Moon moves into Libra on Friday, and even more so on Saturday when it waxes full. Relationships, equality, and love will rule the weekend. To top it off, Venus will turn direct after six weeks of backward motion, and as the planet that rules Libra, will make our emotional connections even stronger in the process. Sunday's Scorpio Moon carries an energy of spiritual depth and intense focus, making whatever we turn our attention to a guaranteed joy.

Are You the Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, or Metal Element? Introducing the Personality Test You Didn’t Know You Needed, by Tisha Morris

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

Personality tests are a multi-million-dollar industry with a continued growth rate of 10% to 15% annually. According to the Harvard Business Review, it's common for employers to require workers to take personality assessments to identify who to hire and how they can best collaborate and work as a team member. In the post-pandemic era, personality tests are likely to only increase as more workers move to remote working. In such work environments, a personality test may be the best indicator of one's personality and work style.

The Myers-Briggs test developed in the 1960s has continued to be the most popular personality assessment test in the workplace and for interpersonal use. Now, we have a multitude of personality systems with which to define ourselves, such as astrology, human design, and the enneagram. However, the Five Elements based in ancient Taoism is arguably the earliest of all personality indicators.

The Five Elements were first introduced in the ancient text, known as the I Ching, or Book of Changes, as the foundational building blocks of everything that exists. They were not originally viewed in terms of the individual until thousands of years later when Chinese Medicine applied the Five Elements for purposes of medical diagnoses. Chinese Medicine used the Five Elements to determine an imbalance in the organ systems, which we now know as Acupuncture.

It was after Chinese Medicine migrated to the West when the Five Elements were also used as a system for individual personality types. While there is no exact marker for when this evolution took place, it most likely occurred as a result of the depth psychology movement spearheaded by psychoanalyst Carl Jung. In fact, Carl Jung looked to the I Ching as a guide for the archetypes that became a significant part of his work.

Considering that the field of psychology was developed only 150 years ago and only became mainstream approximately fifty years ago, we've had a relatively short amount of time in our evolution to consider who we are, what we want, and what makes us happy. Until then, the individual ego that gives rise to one's personality was not examined to the extent it is today.

Perhaps our fascination with ourselves can be attributed to having more options than ever in choosing what career or relationship is best for us, particularly for women who were historically exempt from such choices. It's now rare to commit to one career or one person and stick with it for the rest of our life. The pursuit of what will make us happy is not as easy as it seems and takes self-inquiry to help find what will bring us satisfaction.

You may be wondering what makes The Five Elements different from the other personality systems. The Five Elements consist of Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal, which exist as the cycle of birth, growth, death, and rebirth in nature. According to Taoist philosophy, everything on the planet consists of the Five Elements, including us humans. It's the one system that doesn't separate us with all living or non-living beings. We are all a microcosm of the Universe, a mini-Universe, so to speak, and thus all connected. And yet we all have our unique concentration of the Five Elements.

At our base, we all share these core energies. Our individuality is expressed with each one of us having a slightly different concentration of each element. In other words, we all have the same recipe, just a different amount of each ingredient. For example, some people have more yang energy, meaning they embody more Wood or Fire elements, while others are naturally more yin and thus embody more Metal or Water elements. This individual makeup of energy will play a role in one's physical characteristics, energy level, and even personality traits. Some people may have a high concentration in one element, while someone else may be more evenly balanced among all five elements.

Not only do we each have our own Five Elements constitution that makes us unique, but your profile may change as you go through different phases and experiences in your life. Knowing that we fit into a category can be comforting, but it can also be limiting to the full breadth of who we are and who we can become. Instead of stuffing yourself in a box, you can truly be all categories by what you put your attention on. Thus, the Five Elements allows expansion of ourselves.

By reading the following elemental descriptions, you'll probably glean some insight as to which elements you are stronger and weaker in. Usually, there are one or two elements that feel natural to us and at least one element that feels foreign or challenging. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses can be an invaluable tool in understanding yourself in work and relationships. While the full characteristics of the elements are beyond the scope of this article, the following descriptions provide a quick look at each element as personality types.

Water Element: The Water Element is the Philosopher. They are quiet and typically introverted, and yet so unassuming. They hold a quiet strength. They may seem fragile at times, but they are anything but weak. They are deeply creative, contemplative, and introspective. They will most likely be the ones to figure out the key to world peace or an invention that saves climate change. It will be up to the other elements however to implement it.

Wood Element: The Wood Element is the Pioneer. They are the leaders, inventors, seekers, and visionaries. They will take the lead in groups and take action steps to create movement in projects. They can easily vacillate between being introverted and extroverted depending on what a situation calls for. For example, they can work solo on creating a new business or work well with groups. Wood elements keep things in forward motion and their challenge is to know when to contract their energy or take a step back.

Fire Element: The Fire Element is the Manifestor. They are high energy and generally extroverted. They are often the life of the party and enjoy life. Like a flame, they create the highest expression of energy in the form of enthusiasm and passion. Fire elements provide the fuel in projects in order that they manifest in its highest and truest form. While the idea may have been born with the Water element, and the Wood element provided forward motion, it is the Fire element that brings something to full culmination.

Earth Element: The Earth Element is the Stabilizer. They are the grounding force that keeps the status quo maintained so that change doesn't happen too quickly. The Earth element is the container or stage on which we all get to play. They are highly supportive people that bring harmony to groups and help maintain the peace. Think of the Earth element as the parent that keeps harmony among the children when bickering ensues. They go out of their way to not ruffle feathers. Worry is their default emotion, especially when something seems out of their control that could lead to possible change.

Metal Element: The Metal Element is the Organizer. They are natural organizers and keep things in check and on schedule. They make great accountants, engineers, scientists, editors, architects, personal assistants, and professional organizers. They are guaranteed to be detail-oriented, focused, and precise in anything they do. They tend to cut to the chase in conversation without the need for embellishments. They also love an orderly environment with even their storage items labeled appropriately.

For a deeper dive into identifying your primary element and your missing element, you can take the Five Elements Quiz in the book, Missing Element, Hidden Strength. Once you determine your missing element, you can learn how to integrate it into your everyday life, along with all Five Elements. You'll likely find that your missing element is what has kept you from starting projects, finishing tasks, or even sticking with relationships. Once you identify it, embrace it, and embody your missing element, it will soon become your hidden strength to unlocking your full creative potential.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2022. All rights reserved.

I have a strange situation. I was involved in a motorcycle accident, and at the time I was thrown to the ground, I was embraced by a man in a white suit. Though my right leg was fractured in the accident, I didn't have another scratch on me. I'm wondering who this man in the white suit was and if I'm right in assuming he was some sort of guardian angel.

Tanti

Astrea:

My mother was an Angel Expert; she studied Angels like other people study foreign languages. Long before it was popular to wear representations of Angels, she was drawing and painting them as she saw them. I know that sounds like pretty spooky stuff, but she was a pretty spooky person! For example, she loved Gustave Dore's scary etchings.

In the early seventies, she produced beautiful jewelry of 24 Angels based on the Astrological calendar. No one bought them. Back then, people weren't wearing Angels in every buttonhole or hanging them from cell phones, over doorways and in their cars.

Mama's research led her to believe that each Sun Sign has an Archangel and a Messenger Angel. For instance, as a Sagittarius, I have Michael for my Archangel and Sizyahasel as my Messenger Angel. Michael is the Archangel for Fire Signs, Gabriel for Water, Uriel for Earth and Raphael for Air.

There are twelve Messenger Angels, one for each Astrological Sign. They are quirky and moody and expect us to believe in them on Faith and accept their help and advice without question. Documentation of this came from The Book of Enoch, which is another one of those Apocryphal texts that got left out of the Christian Bible.

Angels appear to most children as Creatures of Light. They are often seen in long white robes and are usually much larger than regular people. It's said that we see them (on the rare occasions that we are allowed to do so) at times when we are in danger, sorrow or some kind of trouble.

While some Angels have lived lives on Earth as humans, I believe that Angels like the one YOU saw have always been Angels and never lived in human form. Lately I've been reading and hearing that we frustrate our Angels quite a bit with our behavior. They can help us out of horrible situations and advise us on all sorts of problems, but they can't force us to accept their help and advice.

I guess that's part of being an Angel: to be once removed from our lives in ways that we don't fully understand. Of course, if they COULD control what we do, the world would be a much nicer place!

Since the mental pictures most of us have of Angels involve Beings of Light in white robes, it makes perfect sense to me that these days, Guardian Angels might be a bit more modern and dress in white suits.

A fractured leg is a pretty big deal to me, but I understand how much worse your motorcycle accident might have been. That person in a white suit MUST have been an Angel; otherwise you would have wound up as highway goo!

*****

Susyn:

Yes, you were definitely protected by a guardian angel or one of your spirit guides when this accident occurred. When people are involved in a life-threatening situation, they often see and hear things of a spiritual nature that they would not typically notice in their day-to-day activities.

It's not unusual for those who have survived near-death experiences to recall the phenomenon of seeing their lives flash before their eyes. If they have been pronounced dead but a few minutes later returned to life, they often describe being surrounded by a white light and seeing loved ones who have passed over waiting to greet them.

During the shock and trauma of this accident, your spiritual vision was keener than usual, which enabled you to recognize your guardian angel beside you. His embrace and protection were definitely what prevented this accident from being worse.

When people experience life-threatening situations, their spiritual abilities may reveal themselves quite suddenly, which is why you saw your guardian angel at that very moment. Now that you have healed, you will begin to notice more synchronistic events and encounters with spirits because you'll be more open to them.

If you would like to know more about this mysterious man in white who appeared out of nowhere to protect you, there are a few ways to go about it.

First, set aside a half an hour or more for a guided meditation. Find a quiet place where you won't be disturbed so that you can concentrate on the accident and what you remember about it. Light a few white candles and some sage incense. Take a few deep breaths to clear your mind. Then either describe what you remember in as much detail as possible or sketch a picture of the man in the white suit. (You can also do both!)

Once you have a mental picture of your guardian angel and have refreshed your memories of this incident, meditate for the next fifteen or twenty minutes, asking him to reveal himself and how he came to be there just when you needed him. You may discover his name during this meditation, along with his purpose for being in your life.

He may be a loved one who has passed over, such as a grandfather, father or uncle figure. He may be a guardian angel who has protected you since you were a young child, and if this is the case, he may reveal other instances when he kept you from harm.

Forming a conscious connection with your spirit guide will provide you with a new sense of confidence and trust that you are never truly alone in life, and are always spiritually protected.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.