A Summary of the Element of Earth:
The Element of Earth is connected to the material world, where objects are perceived directly by the senses as real and tangible and represent the energy that gives form and substance to creation. There are 3 Signs that embody the qualities of Earth: Capricorn, Virgo and Taurus. This Element often emphasizes the practical, common sense approach to life and supplying material substance.
An excess of the Element of Earth in one’s chart could produce an individual who seems “stuck in the mud,” overly cautious, fearful of change and regimented. A lack of the Element of Earth can demonstrate as ungrounded, spacy, irresponsible and uncommitted.
The Element of Earth from a Psychological Standpoint:
The Feeling (Tactile) Type: The Signs Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn react in an exactly opposite manner than the Fire Signs. If looking behind appearances was central for Fire, here perceiving concrete facts themselves forms the central idea. Everything possible is felt out and tested for its concrete value with the senses. Reality and efficiency are concepts that belong to this type. Things that can’t be perceived with the senses simply don’t exist for the earth type. Earth will have precious little understanding of the fantasy world of the fire signs, a fantasy world that is just as real for the fire type as the earth itself.
The consciousness of the Earth type is geared to concrete experience, a reason why so much value is placed on outward beauty: beautiful is something that can be perceived concretely and judged accordingly. The Fire Sign’s search for possibility is something that would only give rise to anxiety in an Earth sign: the danger for Earth is that they might lose all they have built up in the way of material security for something they can’t or don’t want to imagine. Therefore, out of a need for security, the Earth type builds for a future that offers a solid, practical basis; they will aim for it with purpose, energy and a tenacious ability to persevere.
Because the Earth type seeks a foundation in concrete facts and actualities, they run the danger of missing the essential relationships between things, which their experience can only coordinate with difficulty, if at all. On the other hand, dedication to the concrete and material gives this type an outstanding feeling for form and proportion.
Skillful Qualities:
practical, pragmatic, realistic, useful, dependable, reliable, trustworthy, circumspect, planner, refined, deliberate, cautious, delicate, provider, good sense of timing, grounded, solid, stable, physical, tangible, material, substantial, structured, corporeal, sensuous, resolute, patient, enduring, persevering, persistent, industrious, and productive
Unskillful Qualities:
overly conservative, unenterprising, afraid to take risks, security-oriented, coarse, base, opportunistic, Machiavellian, stubborn, rigid, materialistic, acquisitive, possessive, narrow-minded, secretive, has tunnel-vision, hoarders, demanding, melancholy, greedy, fearful, obstinate, intransigent, inflexible, immovable, unchangeable, unbending, unyielding, lacks empathy, and manipulative