Element Discussion/Tutorial

Ask questions! :D I don't mind!

Hey hey guys, it's Memory and I'm back with some more spirit animal discussion.  In my last piece, I basically gave an introduction to spirit animals, the relationship making/bonding process, all that.  I even answered a bunch of questions, and people even asked me questions after I posted the piece.  Interestingly enough, after I posted the first piece, half of the questions I got were about elements.  Some of the questions were things I didn't think to mention in the previous piece, though the first piece wasn't about elements.  Elements are important in your relationship and finding of your spirit animal, so I thought making one separate piece on elements was necessary.  So, let's get started with elements!

When people say "the four elements", they mean the main elements: fire, water, wind, and earth.  All other "elements" are branches of these four, or trace back to them in some way.  Just like every single color in existence comes from the three colors yellow, red, and blue in some way.  Each element has its own personality, its own rules, and its own limitations.  Sometimes, finding your element helps in detecting when your spirit animal is trying to contact you.  Before you run off in search of animals you feel that deep connection with, find your element and find proof of it being your's to narrow your search.  There ARE rare instances when people have dual elements, or tri-elements, but we'll get into that later.

The first step in finding your element is writing down your personality.  Unlike with a spirit animal, YOU chose your element, it doesn't chose you.  This doesn't mean you can just willy nilly say you want this one because it's cool, I mean you don't have to wait on it to find you and you get to make the first move.  Get a piece of paper or a blank document on a laptop, and write down every aspect of your personality.  Divide it into sectors with the main emotions of happiness, sadness, anger, and fear etc. if you have to.  Ask people to come up with words that describe you.  Just get it down somehow and organized, then reread back over it.  Ask someone who knows you REALLY well and has known you for a long time to reread back over it and say if it's accurate or not.  

Next, observe your activities.  Though the elements are all very diverse with different virtues, they all have one goal: freedom.  They make us feel free and burdenless, like our spirit animals.  Ever heard of people getting out in nature and unplugged, and feeling refreshed and stuff?  That's what I'm talking about.  Do you like to climb trees in the woods, and run amuck through bushes?  Do you like to run across open fields or jump as high as you can on a trampoline to see if you can fly?  Do you like to swim a lot, and see just how long you can stay underwater?  Or do you like to get close to fire and put your hand over it, feeling the warm twine with your fingers and the smoke hold your wrist?  Figure out what you do.  When you go outside, given reasonable circumstances, what are your activities?  Whichever element you're around or that you gravitate to to feel free is most likely your element.  I tend to get around water or go swimming when I go outside, whereas my sister Ethale prefers to run buck wild in the woods and climb trees or make leaf crowns.  Just figure out which you do, and make note of it.

Third, consider each element's virtue.  Each element has a separate virtue or moral, and it fits in well with your personality.  Water's virtue is acceptance.  This means acceptance of change, challenge, and even of strange things or people.  Water isn't quick to judge, and accepts everyone as one.  Earth's is nurturing.  Earth has a lot of patience, and heals people the easiest, and makes them feel the most loved and looked after, like a mother.  Fire is life.  Fire is bright, fast, and like a beacon in the darkness, bringing people to light in life situations, decisions, and even when they're down and being boring.  Wind's is thoughtfulness, or consideration.  Wind is always mindful of others, and thinks a lot about others, which is why they can quickly befriend almost anyone.  Figure out which of these four virtues is you, and make note of it.

Lastly, the test.  Go into the woods, in an open field facing the sky, in a pool, by a fire/fireplace that's lit, anything to have a clear visual of your element, or be close to it.  Close your eyes, relax, and try to clear your mind of any background noise.  Open yourself to everything around you, and just feel.  Do you feel free?  Do you feel like you're one with that element?  If so, that's no doubt your element.

Now, I'll give a personality description of each element, and the animals that fall under them.  It's copy/pasted from my previous tutorial piece fo spirit animals.

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Water - This is my element.  Water is bipolar, constantly changing.  Water types are very accepting and understanding, and rarely ever judge others.  They are refreshing to those they are around, and uber protective of their friends.  They tend to stay serene and calm, and is the only element to rival fire's temper.  Water is very violent when angered, and can turn sour, sarcastic, and hateful in an instant.  Water types tend to be very supportive of others, but very down and derogatory on themselves; they are extremely selfless.  The animals that fall under water are pretty much any kind of water dwelling animals, be they mammals like dolphins and whales, or fish like bass or sharks.  It can also be sea turtles, stingrays, anything that lives in the ocean/a pond/lake.

Air - These are your air-heads.  They are kind of ditzy and have trouble paying attention, and are also flighty.  They are quick to change their minds and thoughts.  They're pretty much bipolar, but with their minds and thoughts than their emotions, making them very logical.  They dream big and go hard for the goal, but are also kind of shy and introverted.  They're the kind of people that would try to cheer you up by making you laugh, or taking you out to get your mind off your problems.  They are also generally clueless and the last ones to get a joke.  These animals are all birds, or any flying insects like bees, lady bugs, dragonflies, etc.  Birds that can't fly, like penguins and ostriches, are tied to other elements because of their inability to fly.  Penguins would be water, and ostriches would be earth.

Fire - Fire people are known for their hot-headedness and tempers, but this isn't all they are.  Fire types are very passionate people and put their passion into everything they do, and I DO MEAN EVERYTHING.  They are not weak-minded nor submissive, and they are extremely social and forward.  They speak their mind whether you want to hear it or not.  They are kind of your rough outer shell people with a rather caring, warm inside.  You just have to find out how to get to that inside.  Fire animals are all reptiles.  Snakes, lizards, all that.  Because reptiles are known for living in hot habitats, they earned the name of fire well.

Earth - Earth is extremely nurturing, gentle, and welcoming.  Earth doesn't care who you are as long as you're a good person.  They have the longest fuse and get angry the least, but when they do, it's more of a controlled, righteous anger than a violent one like water's or fire's.  They are natural counselors and healers, and mend others well.  They seem to have a fantasy about them and a gracefulness, as well as gentleness that's almost motherly.  They also tend to be very sensitive, not only to others around them, but when it comes to insults too.  Earth animals are pretty much anything that's not a fire, water, or air type.  They are all the other animals and insects, making them the biggest category.

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Okay, now that that's out of the way, I'll go on to more complicated stuff.  Some people say "Well I show all the attributes of a fire type, but my spirit animal is a raven.  What's wrong with me?"  These cases are VERY VERY rare, but do sometimes happen.  Most of the time, when people say they have attributes of the wrong element from their spirit animal, they are chosing a "cool" element, or molding themselves into something they wish they could be instead of being honest with themselves.  EVERYONE gets warm fuzzy feelings around all the elements, even I do.  There's days I swim like a fish, and days I wish I could fly through the sky and never come down.  Whereas spirit animals are based on feeling and emotion interaction, elements are based on personality type.  Everyone has a little of every element, but it's the element they fall the most heavily under that's there's.

Another thing is what is called "branch elements".  I had one friend say she was more drawn to lightning and ice than the four elements.  Branch elements are mini elements that branch off the four main ones.  Is it possible to be attached to these elements?  Yes, but your roots go back to one of the main four, making that your element.  For example, ice would be an extension of water because ice is frozen water.  There are so many branch elements it's not funny, so if you have a question about the attributes of a certain branch element, please ask and I'll tell you what I know.

One thing many people seem to get confused is your relationship with your element, and then the one with your spirit animal.  Your relationship with your spirit animal is very close, personal, and passionate.  Your animal is there to protect you, love you unconditionally, and share dreams, thoughts, or moments with you.  Your element is suppose to be close to you too, but it doesn't have the personal relationship with you that your animal will have.  Your animal is more like your best friend, and your element is like a coworker.  You have a relationship, and defend each other, and share a bond, but it's no where as personal and intimate as your animal's.  

The best way to describe your use of your element is a tool.  I don't mean "tool" in a derogatory way, I mean it as a means of communication with your animal, a place you can go for healing, a biome in which you can go to connect to your animal, and even a means of a minor form of magic.  When I say magic, I don't mean Harry Potter magic, or Avatar: The Last Airbender magic.  I mean bending the element emotionally and on an energy level.  Take the energy out of the air that the element is offering and either feed from it, use it to heal, send the good vibe toward a friend, or even use it as a shield or psychic attack on others, but do so sparingly.  You don't want to be known as an instigator.  

Each of the elements, when it comes to using them, demands a certain amount of respect, control, time to get a secure and grounded feel for, and even a certain amount of dominance to get a grip on.  I'll list below the attributes of each element when it comes to each concerning control, difficulty, etc.

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Water:

- Control - When it comes to controlling water, you, like with every element, have to accept the virtue.  Because water's is acceptance, you have to accept yourself, first.  Decide this is how you are, and that you're content with yourself.  Let your emotions flow through you like water, and aim it at what you want it to do.  Water has a medium difficulty in mastery, you just have to learn emotional balance to keep the flow steady.  

- Relationship - Water is very accepting, but also emotionally unstable.  Water is one of the two elements that doesn't require you to be dominant or submissive to control, you just have to work in sync to achieve your goals.  All the elements require respect in order for you to get the cooporation out of them you need, but water does not require too much praise in order for you to learn to control it.

- How To - Because people with the water element are so emotionally off-balance, bringing themselves to an emotional equilibrium can be exhausting as well as draining.  They need to build up stamina to be able to use their element for extended periods of time, so it can take time and lots of practice to master it.  Start off with baby steps and build up to use it frequently.  Let your spirit animal help you with using it.  Water isn't very demanding when it comes to usage, so take your time.

Air:

- Control - Air shows compassion, and you have to have compassion for yourself and others before you can use it.  Let your love for others and your desire to make them happy fuel a powerful cyclone in you, but keep it under control, because wind can be very destructive.  Air has a medium difficulty much like water's, and you have to learn to trust to be able to use air effectively.

- Relationship - Because air is free-flowing, again, much like water, it can go in any direction.  The only difference is, with air, you have to be submissive.  Air people aren't boastful, loud, and all that like fire is, and requires you to be a trusting, willing student.  Air is like earth in the sense it teaches you what you need to learn instead of you training to learn by trial and error.  Be submissive and let air guide you.  Push down your flighty tendencies and logical thinking, and open your mind to learn and be pulled toward what you need.

- How To - Like every element, air requires you to go outside your comfort zone some to control it.  Because people with the air element are flighty and logical, they make for skiddish, skeptical followers.  You have to learn to let yourself be guided in order to control air.  Air is the dominant force between the two of you, and you have to trust it to show you how to command it.  Learning how to control air is fairly simple and takes little time, but be careful not to rush yourself or you will be drained.

Fire:

- Control - Fire shows life, and you need to be an active, lively person to control it.  Fire is the most difficult element to control, and requires the most training and time to securely grasp.  Fire is very destructive and violent, and will pull a lot from you to use.  Fire will push you to your limits to see how much you can take, and you have to give it a great deal of respect in order to earn its cooporation.

- Relationship - Because fire is so alive and tends to be very forward and aggressive, you have to be the dominant one of the two of you.  There's no median like with water, you are going to be the bigger force, or it will swallow you whole.  You have to demand fire's respect, and give it reason to respect you.  However, don't be a bully, because I promise you won't win against it.  Humble respect and patience are key to mastering fire.  Show that you respect and love the element, but won't be pushed around, and it'll learn to fall in line over time.

- How To - Fire takes you the furthest out of your comfort zone and pushes you to the most dangerous limits to master.  It will purposely test your patience, and test everything about you.  Don't lose your cool with it because that's what it's expecting you to do; keep patience and respect, and stand your ground.  Show it that you are in control, but you have a mutual alliance with it, and you aren't there to be a dictator.  It will take a lot of time and vigorous training, but once you gain mastery of it, it's a dangerous tool that takes great responsibility.

Earth:

- Control - Because earth is a natural nurturing healer, and is the slowest to anger, it is the easiest element to control.  Your desire to heal others' wounds and shield them should be your driving force.  Though earth is the calmest element, it can be dangerous, so don't get too comfortable.  Earth is the only element besides water that doesn't require you to be dominant or submissive, because it's a team effort.  To control earth, you need to be very well grounded, and need to de-sensitize yourself to your touchiness.

- Relationship - Because earth is very patient and motherly, it is willing to work with you to help you learn control.  Earth is everywhere; you're around that element more than you are any other.  To control such a big element, you need to shield yourself.  Turn off your sensitivity and keep yourself grounded to learn how to effectively heal others, or their pain and suffering will become your own.  Don't become cold-shouldered to the needs of others, but try not to let their suffering effect you, or you won't be able to help them and control your element.

- How To - Earth keeps you in your comfort zone; it will rarely ask much of you, but that doesn't mean it's unheard of.  It is patient with you and willing to work together with you for as long as you need.  Because earth is so extensive and covers trees, vines, rock, plants, wood, etc., there's a lot to learn, and it can take a bit of time.  Learn to shield your heart and energy often to effectively use it, and always use it to protect and heal others, never to harm them.

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Well, that's all I can think of for now.  If you have any questions about the elements, branch elements, or have a story to share with me, please do!  :D  I'll try to think of something to write next in my spirit animal journey.  If you have a big topic discussion, let me know and I'll be happy to write about it if I have a lot of knowledge on it!

With Love,

~Dolfury

Author's Note

Please enjoy! I hope to do more of these! :D

Reviews

[Saya Marie Vandiesmonte]

What would electricity cover?

[Dolfury Nixie Ritter]

Electricity would be an extension of fire. It would have all of fire's attributes, but with the personality traits of being unpredictable, hyperactive, and REALLY REALLY REALLY bubbly and friendly. Pretty much you.

[Saya Marie Vandiesmonte]

YAY!*giggles*