Finding Meaning on the 4th of July

Connecting to the Four Elements and the Human Story

I truly struggled on the Fourth of July this year to feel interested or even connected with the normal holiday festivities, the fireworks, the family BBQ. I found it all uncomfortable and unsettling given the world events, the Texas Hill Country Flood, and bombings in the Middle East. It's in times like these that I find myself turning to the meaningful stories of real people to seek deeper understanding of the human experience we are dealing with. That is what appeals to me so much with astrology.

That weekend, I ran across BBC’s story of Hanya Aljamal. Hanya is a young woman who was a teacher before the war began in Gaza in 2023. The BBC picked up her story after she began podcasting her experiences. Her story gave me a needed dose of reality and a reminder about what makes us human. On an astrological level, it brought me back to the essence of what makes us human and the four elements, FIRE, EARTH, WATER, and AIR.

Hanya describes how her normal life stopped and how she now lives in constant fear. Being a teacher, I pictured myself in Hanya’s shoes, heartbroken to see the children who should be students in her classroom, dealing with such horrors. Despite her dire conditions, she gives three powerful symbols of hope in her podcast: a man tending his garden (EARTH), finding respite in the sky (FIRE), and children flying kites (AIR).

Fire

We are first are foremost beings of FIRE, the spirit. This comes with the sign of Aries in the spring, as the heat and light increase and warm up the seeds in the ground after winter. We are also beings that come from and will return to the SPIRIT when we pass from this life, represented by the colors formed in the dawn sky by the FIRE of the SUN. Hanya's solace in the colors of sky reflects the inherent drive of all fire signs to find light and meaning, even when faced with overwhelming darkness, a testament to the unyielding human spirit. Dynamic and initiatory Mars rules Aries, the creative and the generous Sun rules Leo, and the optimistic and expansive Jupiter rules Sagittarius. The fire element gives us our purpose in the face of life’s difficulties.

Earth

Secondly, we are beings connected to the EARTH (represented by the man tending his precious and tiny garden) while drone and bombs shatter the peace of his neighborhood. We cling to that which sustains us and we tend it, nurture it. Earth provides us stability. Venus rules the material comfort of Taurus, Mercury rules practical and analytical Virgo, and Saturn rules the disciplined and responsible Capricorn.

Air

But my favorite image in Hanya’s story is the symbol of the kite, the third element, AIR. Messages are carried on the wind and the messenger of the Gods, Mercury rules Gemini. Venus rules Libra and the communicative spirit needed for harmony in relationship, and Saturn/Uranus rules the hopeful future vision of the air sign Aquarius.

The kite represents the vibrant breath and life of Hanya herself and the young children she observes who strive to have some semblance of a normal childhood and life in the midst of war in Gaza. The intellectual and communicative aspects of Air suggests that even in silence, ideas and hope can still circulate like seeds carried on the wind, little packets of hope for the future.

”Kites are an act of hope,” Hanya says at the end of her piece.

Water

Lastly, I wondered where is the 4th element, the WATER, in this story? Upon reflecting, perhaps water is represented through the children’s tears, and Hanya’s, the sadness wrung from the eyes of the innocents who have lost their parents. This speaks to the profound emotional depth of the Water element, present in the nurturing heart of Cancer, the transformative intensity of Scorpio, and the boundless compassion of Pisces.

These four elements, both in Hanya's story and in life and as represented in astrology, show in simplest form the complete spectrum of the human experience – the fire and spirit to begin, the earth and grounding to endure, the airy intellect to hope, dream, and the watery emotions to connect and heal. We find these four elements represented in everything, every good story, in every life.

Real stories and real people can teach us so much if we listen. May we remember our common humanity beyond our mere nationality.

#NeverStopLookingUp

Read the BBC Story of Hanya Aljamal.
Listen to Hanya’s Podcast