When seeking to understand the body one must first understand the five elements. All physical matter in the universe is made up of the five elements: water, air, earth, fire and ether. Earth represents a solid state; water the liquid state; air the gaseous state; fire the power to transform; and ether which is the space that holds matter.

Ether is unique in the fact that it is the source of all other elements and is the creative energy of the universe. It does not interact with the other elements in the same way as it is a sound that is penetrated by all vibration such as microwave, ultraviolet, infrared, X-rays, etc. Only the lowest of vibrations can pass through earth yet, all vibration passes through ether.

The Chakra system is an assemblage of the five elements plus spirit. Earth is represented as the firm, hard physical body, water is represented as moisture in the body, fire by heat, air by breath, ether by the indwelling spirit.

The five elements existing within the microcosm to the macrocosm interact with the human organism in three distinct ways: as food for nourishment, medicine for balancing or as poison, disturbing the system.

Depending on how one is designed according to an astrological view and how the elements are employed in day-to-day activities determines how the elements impact. Earth can provide stability or it can petrify and block. Water may bring a “juicy” quality to life or it can make things “sticky”, glued and attached. The condition of juicy versus sticky is mostly dependent upon how the body is digesting food or dealing with toxins. Fire can be used to bring clarity and acute mental abilities or it can be used to selfishly manipulate others. Air can bring vigor and exaltation or it can exhaust the body according to how it is flowing in the body. If one is not receiving enough oxygen, then tiredness and exhaustion set in. Ether brings a silent mind or a depressed, hollow feeling, depending on the state of one’s constitution and health.

Environment has a great deal of impact on how the elements are operating and influencing inside the body and is based on likeness or unlikeness. If there is resonance and like-minded individuals who share same goal and state of maturation then there is abundance and increase. If there is unlikeness between people in an environment then there is decrease, which decreases the body’s harmony and health. Likeness combines, gathers and brings together while unlikeness differentiates and identifies differences; likeness agrees and unlikeness disagrees. This is the basic principle and nature of existence.

In the same way, standing in the sunlight warms the body, standing in the cold makes the body cool, everything experienced increases like parts and decreases unlike parts. Likewise, beneficial habits create more health and positive experiences while bad habits reinforce unhealthy and unpleasant experiences.

Through the senses the elements express as space relates to hearing, air relates to touch, fire to site, water to taste and earth to smell. With these five elements working through the senses, the body and mind translate or determine environment, experiences, allies and their direction in life.