Element Origins
If you read my last post, Elements & Their Personalities, you’ll know that I took a lot more elements such as ice and metal and gave them personalities. Not everyone conforms to the simple water, fire, air, or earth personalities, and the same is true in nature. If all fire-based elements were just fire, then instead of lightning we’d have a column of flames bursting from a cloudy sky. There are so many variations in the world; however, they all come from four primary elements.
Similar to how there are 3 primary colors which blend to become more, there are 4 primary elements which blend to become others. As you can probably guess, those elements are the most common and the ones you often see: fire, water, air, and earth.
In order for you to understand the concept, let’s take the plant element for example. Plants need earth, water, and light to grow. Light comes from fire, so therefore the planet element is a mix of earth, water, and fire. By taking certain parts of the elements’ personalities, we can understand the plant personality. For example, plant people are very kind and empathetic, always trying to solve everyone else’s problems before their own. This is similar to water. They’re also athletic and enjoy warm weather, similar to their fire part. Like the earth and water elements, they’re creative and their homes are always welcoming.
I’ll put the rest of the elements’ equations and a brief description in the space below, and you can go back to the previous article to look at your element with more detail. With this, you should be able to dive deeper into understanding your element personality and yourself.
Ice = air + water
Like air, they’re practical and rely on facts. They’re logical thinkers and can have a difficult time socializing. Like water, they’re creative and have a great imagination.
Precipitation = air + water
Like water, they’re very creative and empathetic towards others. However, when it comes to moody v.s. calm, that’s where the interpretation becomes different.
For calm precipitation people, they have a good balance between using their heart(emotions) and their mind(logic), or using their water side and their air side. They’re very imaginative and creative like water and usually have very vivid dreams. They’re also ambitious, which they take from their air side.
However, moody people take a lot from their water side and a bit from their air. They’re free-spirited and their mood can change as quickly as the wind. However, they are very emotional and creative like water.
Cloud = air + water
Similar to air, these people are free-spirited and like to do what they want to do. However, clouds take to their water side differently than other elements. Other elements take their water as being creative, and while the cloud personality is a bit creative, they’re more unique. Cloud people tend to be different than others and they’re okay with that. They don’t necessarily stick to the rules of society in terms of being normal. While a water person might feel insecure about that, the cloud’s air side lets them accept that and be happy with it.
Lightning = fire + cloud (air + water)
Similar to fire, lightning people can be explosively passionate sometimes. They tend to lead with their emotions like fire and water; however, their little bit of air lets them be calm sometimes, especially when they’re alone. They’re kind and caring which comes from their fire and water, but sometimes their pestering and pranks becomes a bit too much to handle, making them a bit less social like their air side. They’re also independent and hard-working which mostly comes from air.
Storm Cloud / Thunder = air + water + fire
Similar to air, they can be very ambitious when they want to be. However, like fire, they can be stubborn and hot-headed. From their water and fire, they let their emotions rule over them and they barely take logic into account when making decisions. Like air, they’re introverts and prefer if people leave them alone. They’re also not social butterflies.
Metal = earth
Like earth, these people are stubborn, determined, and ambitious. They think with their head rather than their heart.
Plant = water + fire + earth
Plant people are very kind and empathetic, always trying to solve everyone else’s problems before their own. This is similar to water. They’re also athletic and enjoy warm weather, similar to their fire part. Like the earth and water elements, they’re creative and their homes are always welcoming.
Gravity = earth + air
These people are stubborn, determined, and ambitious. Air and earth are the two of the most logical and hard-working primary elements, so together they can achieve a lot. Gravity people are usually very smart and get what they want. Like air, they’re energetic. However, air and earth are also the most stubborn primary elements as well. Gravity people love adventure and can sometimes procrastinate on tasks they find boring.
I wanted to address another aspect to these elements. In my other post, I wanted to put every element I could think of. Now, one could argue that the plant element is included — why shouldn’t the animal element be included too? Here’s why.
If I were to write a personality for the animal element, it would look something like this:
Animal
There are two kinds of animal personalities: wild and tame.
Wild animal people just want to live their best life. They’re constantly thinking about their future and how their actions today affect tomorrow. They’re usually very independent and tend to drift away from their parents at an early age. They’ll do well in their studies and know a lot of practical skills such as cooking, sewing, and cleaning. Because of their want to live their best life, they don’t like to be tied down — this means that committing to a relationship is a bit hard for them. They tend to gravitate to people who are similar to them so that they can proceed through life together. Wild animal people usually love tradition and stick with it for their whole life. They’re usually very athletic as well and tend to stay in shape. They eat well and are generally healthy people.
However, wild animal people tend to close themselves off from others who aren’t like them. They’re very picky when it comes to friends and only want to befriend those who understand them. Depending on the person, they might act towards others in different ways — some might tease others while some might completely ignore them. When it comes to group projects, they like working with people are similar to them.
To those they taking a liking to, they will find themselves with a strong, loyal friend. Wild animal people stick with their friends above all else, especially their family.
Another reason that has wild animal people closed off from others is because they put themselves first. They know how harsh the world can be and are always prepared to face it. They’re good at debating and always fight for what they think is right.
The other animal personality is tame. These people tend to be spoiled. During their childhood, they had almost everything handed to them. They were brought up by loving parents in a nice home.
In regards to friends, it may vary. People react differently to being spoiled and having a loving family. Some may take that love and return it out into the world, making them a kind and caring person. However, some may be greedy and act like a jerk towards others. Depending on the person, they might be very shy or fit right in. Also, other people might take a liking to them or they might try to avoid them. Whatever the case, tame animal people always put their family first, even above themselves.
These people are not very ambitious. They’re happy with what they have and tend not to strive harder. When they move out, they’ll usually stay close to their family.
When it comes to animal people, they can be very diverse. However, they all have a few things in common that mark them out from the rest of the population.
Wild Strengths:
- They know a lot of practical skills
- Healthy
- Athletic
- Loyal
- Debating
- Able to survive in the harsh world
- Independent
Wild Weaknesses:
- Only like to be around people similar to them
- Bad at committing to a relationship
- Picky with friends
- Might close themselves off from others
Tame Strengths:
- Grateful
- Family-oriented
Tame Weaknesses:
- Unambitious
However, even that depiction of the animal element is just… wrong. I was trying to scrape up anything that might separate the animal element out from the rest of them, but the truth is, it doesn’t stand out.
The animal element is so diverse. Just looking at wild animals, they all live their lives differently. There are lions who live in prides, then there are owls who live alone. Some stalk their prey then attack when they are close enough, and some just go for it. There are wild animals who are slow or fast, live in trees or underwater, who have fur and who don’t. There are some that can be tamed and kept as pets, then there are some that cannot. Animals are way too diverse to just have one description of them.
It’s the same thing if you look at tame animals. There are cats and dogs and parrots and fish — Some are vocal and some are not. Some hate you and some can’t bear to leave your side. Some join you on the couch or on the sidewalk. There can’t just be one description that matches all of these animals. That’s why would-be description of the animal element is so vague.
This concept can even be supported using the equations up above. Look at what the equation for the animal element would be:
Animal = water + air + plant (water + fire + earth)
Animals need water to drink, air to breathe, and herbivores and omnivores need plants to eat. Carnivores eat other animals — other animals who eat plants — so it could be argued that carnivores need plants to survive as well. Therefore, the equation ends up looking like that.
Not only are all four primary elements in the equation, but one of the elements is also put in twice. No other element above has more than three primary elements in their equation. This shows just how diverse the animal element is. Just like elements, each animal takes their own personality factors from whichever primary elements they want. Putting all the animals into one element is like taking all the elements and blending them together. It’ll be so diverse and different for each person.
My point is further supported by the fact that there’s a concept of spirit animals; the animal element has its own set of personalities.
If you think about it, if someone is aligned with the animal element, then is their spirit animal all of the animals? No; of course not!
It’s almost like each animal is aligned with an element. Lions are often thought of with fire, birds might be looked at with air, and fish with water. The animal element can’t exist because each animal uses another element.
I hope you enjoyed reading this article and can understand more about yourself and your element personality! If you would like to go deeper, you can take a look at the personality descriptions in the previous post. If you have any questions or you find that you don’t match with the information on here or the other post, please let me know! Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!
