Every Earth Day, I note how serendipitous it is that the honorary date falls amid the first few days of the first Earth sign season of the astrological calendar: Taurus. Right after the sun enters Taurus, we celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd by centering environmental education, and working to understand the interrelatedness of natural elements. The astrological level of elements—Earth, air, fire, and water—similarly help us optimize how we exist in nature by centering the values that drive each of us.
In 2020, Deepa Iyer, a South-Asian American lawyer, writer, strategist, and racial justice advocate, developed the Mapping Our Roles in a Social Change Ecosystem, which she describes as “a framework that can help individuals, networks, and organizations align and get in right relationship with social change values, individual roles, and the broader ecosystem.” And just like natural elements generally align themselves to preserve the Earth’s well-being (though we, humans, must help by adopting sustainable habits and demanding eco-friendly infrastructure), astrology can help us align with the intrinsic value of our individual roles as a means to help the broader social ecosystem.
When we know our value and can exist cohesively in relationships with others who may play a different role, we can work towards maximizing the desired four values of Iyer’s framework: equity, liberation, justice, and solidarity. Optimizing those values net out to a healthier and more sustainable Earth as a whole, and we can achieve this natural cohesiveness by acting in natural alignment with the four astrological elements and the top value of each.
If you’re an Aries, Leo, or Sagittarius, you’re a fire sign, and your driving astrological element value in relation to the Social Change Ecosystem is liberation. If you were born a Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorn (and are, thus, an Earth sign), I’d point to justice as your value. For air signs born under the Gemini, Libra or Aquarius sun, equity is your most motivating value. And if you’re a Cancer, Scorpio, or Pisces water sign, solidarity is a value you put into practice beautifully.
Below, see a breakdown of the most meaningful value in the social change ecosystem for each astrological element to implement in honor of Earth month—and every month.
The astrological element value for striking real change
Fire signs: liberation
Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius are positioned to engage in critical transformation. They can do so with the help of leaning on a three-step method by Brazilian philosopher and educator Paulo Freire:
- 1.See the problem or situation others experience.
- 2.Analyze the factors (personal, cultural, and institutional) that contribute to the problem.
- 3.Act to change the problem or situation.
If you have extensive fire in your chart (you can check by running an online natal chart generator like this one), you have wisdom that can be shifted into action to liberate individual, relational, and social ecosystems.
Earth signs: justice
For Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn, “justice” means fairness is a given for access to resources that people need in order to live a good life: peace, accountability, reparations, housing, health care, and safety. Earth signs know how such justice provides the security for a good human life, and they are mobilized to work to make such justice a reality for all.
Air signs: equity
Air is the element of connection, which is why I connect it to the value of equity. Air signs have a sense of relational intelligence that helps them put prioritize access for all while working to eliminate barriers precluding said access to opportunities and resources. The air signs know to use language and organizing to herald opportunity to those who don’t have any.
Water signs: solidarity
Last, solidarity that prioritizes the best interests of the collective is the domain of the water signs: Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces. The most effective solidarity for working in alignment with natural elements is rooted in an empathic functioning—another water element theme. And so when we connect to the emotions that underpin our collective experiences, we can generate social cohesion, which promotes collective well-being.
Now that you have a sense of how your dominant element suggests the value with which you most align, you can follow the directions in Iyer’s framework to see it out. We all have a role, a nature, and an element to fulfill that creates a more just, equitable society rooted in liberation and solidarity. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the enormity of all, so lean on both Iyer’s framework and your astrological inclinations to know your role. You belong, you’re valued, and you have exactly what it takes.
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