Water Element: In Alchemy, Spirituality, and Symbology

Water is an element considered important almost universally by various peoples of the earth and has given rise to numerous spiritual traditions.

Alchemical and Spiritual Properties of Water

“Praise be to you, my Lord, for Sister Water, so useful, humble, precious, and chaste.” — (Francis of Assisi, Canticle of the Creatures, vv. 15-16)

Water is the second of the four fundamental elements, according to Western cosmogonies and the hermetic-sapiential traditions of antiquity. Commonly attributed to it were qualities of emotion, intuition, and adaptability, in addition to the following attributes:

• the properties of moisture and cold, which contrasted it with dry and hot fire;
• the cardinal point west;
• the feminine gender.

In alchemy, the water element is associated with the number 2, symbolizing polarity in contrast to the unity represented by fire. While fire expresses creativity, expansiveness, and addition (+), water, on the contrary, signifies passivity and subtraction (−). Identifiable with everything liquid and flowing, even metaphorically, water was assimilated to the philosophers’ mercury, especially when combined with air.

The elemental being invoked in alchemical transmutations in this case is the Undine, which, according to tradition, carries out the catharsis of water by working in the corresponding ether of this element: the chemical ether, originating from an ancient era of lunar development. Its astrological characteristics, such as receptivity and malleability, are considered to reflect the humid element.

Like air, fire, and earth, water is also one of the four elements into which the Zodiac is divided; the water signs, in particular, include Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces. In the Minor Arcana of the Tarot, water corresponds to the suit of cups. Among the four humors, it governs phlegm, and among temperaments, it predominates in the phlegmatic.

Water Element in Western Tradition

The Greek philosophers identified water as one of the archai (or origins) of the cosmos, one of the various solutions proposed by the Presocratics to try to trace the changes in nature back to a single substance.

In particular, Thales argued that water is the primordial principle that determines life, to which all realities return once their existence is complete. Aristotle did not find reasons for Thales’ statement, but he intuited that Thales’ idea must have come from a simple observation of nature: every being feeds on moisture, so everything that is moist is vital. Therefore, since water is the source of this vital moisture, it must also be the founding principle.

For Thales, according to Aristotle’s Metaphysics, “the nourishment of everything is moist; heat itself comes from moisture and lives by it; and the origin of everything is precisely its principle.” According to Aristotle, Thales’ idea might also have its origins in the Homeric poems, which depict Ocean and Tethys as the artisans of every generation.

With the Empedocles of Agrigento (495–435 BC), water became one of the four classical elements in Greek philosophy, along with earth, air, and fire. Empedocles called them “roots.”

Plato (427–347 BC) incorporated Empedocles’ doctrine of the four elements into his philosophy. In Timaeus’ cosmological dialogue, the Platonic solid associated with water is the icosahedron, which is formed by twenty equilateral triangles. This solid makes water the element with the most sides, a characteristic Plato considered appropriate to its nature, as flowing water, when gathered in a hand, appears composed of many small spheres.

Aristotle (384–322 BC), a disciple of Plato, provided a different explanation for the four elements based on complementary pairs. He arranged them concentrically around the center of the universe to form the sublunary sphere. According to Aristotle, water is both cold and moist, and among the elemental spheres, it occupies an intermediate position between earth and air, with fire at its antipodes.

According to a widespread tradition in antiquity that persisted at least until the Renaissance, water, like the other three elements, was also associated with a color, varying from author to author. The astrologer Antiochus of Athens, according to some conjectures in the 1st century BC and according to others in the 2nd century AD, attributed white to water, while Leon Battista Alberti in “De Pictura” (1436) assigned it green. Elsewhere, less frequently, blue or purple is attributed to water. Leonardo da Vinci, on the contrary, states in Manuscript C, f. 26v, that it “takes on every odor, color, and flavor and has nothing of its own.”

The image of water as a constitutive element is also present in literature. Among various texts, Shakespeare’s Sonnet 44 stands out, where the poet speaks of himself, and therefore of the human being: “But that so much of earth and water wrought” (“but unfortunately so composed of earth and water”).

Water Element in Chinese Tradition

In Chinese philosophy, water (水 in Chinese characters, shuǐ in pinyin) represents the lowest point in the cycle of the five elements, known as Wu Xing. It is counted last, constituting the dying and most concealed stage of matter. The nature of water is the most yin among the five; it symbolizes winter, the north cardinal point, the planet Mercury, the Moon, the color black, the night, rain, and among the four animal constellations, the Black Tortoise (Xuan Wu).

Characterized by an energy tending towards stillness and preservation, it moves downward and inward. Psychologically, it translates into a person who is flexible, conciliatory, and unobtrusive, sometimes passive despite possessing potentially overwhelming strength.

In China, water is considered the element most closely related to Jing, the primordial aspect of vital essence. Notably, in the medical field, it is associated with negative states of fear and anxiety, while its positive counterpart is calmness. The organs associated with water are the kidney (yin in nature) and the urinary bladder (yang), which govern primarily the bones, marrow, hair, and ears through their respective meridians.

In Chinese astrology, water characterizes the signs of the Pig and the Rat, alternating in the so-called sexagesimal cycle resulting from the combination of the ten heavenly stems (the five elements in their yin and yang forms) with the twelve earthly branches, or Chinese zodiac signs. Specifically:

• Years of yang water end in 2 (for example, 1972).
• Years of yin water end with the digit 3 (for example, 1973).

In the generative cycle of Wu Xing or the five elements, metal generates water because it is the only element capable of turning into a liquid when heated. Water, in turn, generates wood “since rain or dew brings forth the life of plants” made of wood.

In the destructive cycle of control, water overcomes fire because “nothing will extinguish a fire as quickly as water,” while it is dominated by earth, as dams and channels built in the ground contain it, direct its flow, and the soil absorbs it.

Symbolisms of Water

In the collective imagination, water has been associated with various meanings and symbolisms, often diverse and complex, sometimes even contradictory, depending on the era and place of reference. Particularly common is the association with themes of time, life, death, eternal youth, sin, purification, and the deepest aspects of personality.

As a Symbol of Initiation

Water is present in various purification and initiation rituals, such as ablutions, sprinkling, lustration, and baptism.

As a Symbol of Life

The proximity of rivers, seas, or lakes to inhabited centers has facilitated, since ancient times, the supply of freshwater, the development of agriculture (due to increased soil fertility), river and sea transportation, and trade for many civilizations. Therefore, water is often associated with the idea of life in its various forms, particularly with birth and rebirth.

Various cosmogonic myths feature water as a protagonist or at least a prominent element. Among these, the most indicative is found in the Mesopotamian poem Enūma Eliš, where Abzu (the Abyss) is the primordial god of fresh waters that existed before creation:

“When above, the sky had no name,
below, the earth had no name,
Abzu, the first, source of both,
and Tiamat, the mother, progenitor of heaven and earth,
mingled in a single mass.”

(Enûma Eliš, 1-5)

The Homeric myth of creation also associates a primordial aquatic deity, Ocean, with the birth of the universe, deviating from the Olympian myth:

“I go to see the boundaries of the fruitful land,
Ocean, the beginning of the Gods, and mother Tethys.”

(Homer, Iliad, XIV, 200-201)

For various religious cosmogonies, including that narrated in the book of Genesis, the deity, among its initial acts, separates the water (i.e., the sea) from the earth. Regarding the biblical God, it is said that His spirit “hovered over the waters” while “darkness covered the deep” after the separation of heaven and earth and before the separation of water and land. For the Chinese, this element is the dwelling place of the dragon, and life itself originates from the waters. In the songs of Australian Aboriginals, water, represented by the Murray River, appears after creation, along with trees, animals, and humans.

Then there are myths that narrate the birth of a deity or a supernatural being from the water. A famous example is provided by Aphrodite, whose name itself (meaning “born from the foam” in ancient Greek) recalls that, according to some versions, the goddess emerged naked from the sea, fertilized by the sperm of Uranus, and rode the waves on a shell until reaching the mainland.

Aphrodite, or Venus for the Romans, was associated with love, beauty, and fertility, not by chance. Other supernatural beings linked to water were the Greek nymphs (naiads, Nereids), the Greek god Poseidon, and the Scandinavian Ægir, personification of the boundless ocean. Pausanias the Periegete spoke of ceremonies for the waters in Arcadia.

As a Symbol of Death

In addition to making life possible or even creating it, water is also capable of taking it away. This association is due to multiple reasons and has given rise to myths and legends of various kinds. In cultures devoted to fishing or naval commerce, for example, the waters of seas, lakes, and rivers represent both a source of sustenance and danger; dramatic events such as shipwrecks and drownings form the basis or have favored a negative connotation of water, seen as a symbol of death.

Around rivers and bodies of water, stories often arise about monstrous creatures that lay traps for fishermen and sailors. Among these, we recall:

1. For freshwater, there are various shape-shifting river horses that entice men to mount them, only to plunge into the water with them to kill and devour them, creatures attested in the legends of the British Isles (like the Kelpie, the Glashtyn, and the Each-uisge) and in Scandinavia (like the Bäckahästen or Nixie).
2. Also for freshwater, there are nymphs who seduce men to drown them in springs, as in the myth of Ila.
3. For saltwater, the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, the Kraken, the whale-island, Cthulhu, and other sea monsters that would inhabit seas and oceans in the imagination, especially from ancient times to the Middle Ages, of sailors, geographers, and writers.

Moreover, just as the source of rivers is associated with birth and thus the beginning of life, the mouth is linked to death. The waters of the sea on the horizon, on the other hand, seem to swallow the sun at sunset; therefore, the image of the sun sinking into the water is often connected, in ancient times, with the world of the dead and the afterlife in general.

Water is also linked to the idea of sacrifice; for example, the Trojans would sacrifice animals to the river Scamander, which had its own priests, and would throw live horses into its waves. Homer recounts that, angered by the numerous bodies of young men thrown into its waters, the Scamander attacked Achilles. The most well-known river god was Achelous, who fought against Heracles. Animals were also sacrificed to Poseidon and marine deities. Other Indo-European peoples sacrificed to rivers considered divine personifications, such as the Cimbri, Franks, Germans, and Slavs.

Water, finally, is present in various folk traditions as an element that saves and purifies, even at the cost of almost total destruction. This is the case, for example, in various versions of the universal flood, where water, in the form of rain, wipes out the previous world to make possible the formation of the next one.

Water Hinduism and Buddhism

According to Hinduism, the meta-element of water is contained in the Svadisthana chakra, corresponding to the liquid state of matter. It projects around the person the part of the material world that they can perceive through their sense of taste.

In Buddhism, water is a symbol of the infinite flow of existence and the wisdom of the Buddha. Sacred significance is given to the process of sprinkling water on the head of a monk when acquiring the status of “acharya” – a teacher.

Unicode of Water

Water has an alchemical symbol in Unicode.