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Instinctual variants as "four elements"

Cimarron

IRL is not real
Joined
Aug 21, 2008
Messages
3,417
MBTI Type
ISTJ
Enneagram
5w6
Instinctual Variant
sp/so
I just thought that the sx/so/sp variants sound a lot to me like the Earth, Fire, Air, and Water "elements" of many traditional / spiritual descriptions.

Fire matches well with sx?
Earth matches well with sp?
Air and Water, not sure which is better with so.

Of course, I don't really know much about either of the systems that I'm comparing here, but putting the possibility out there for your critique.
 

Nymma

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Jun 9, 2010
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28
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INFP
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3w4
Interesting association attempt. Earth for sp and fire for sx seem fine. Since air is an element often associated with communication, I would pair it with so. As for the element of water, it has a focus on relationships(at least according to the tarot book I've read--and,people tend to pick this deck for a tarot reading because they're relationship-oriented) and is tied into the emotional world--therefore, in my opinion, water would join fire in the sx category.

I actually think this theory of yours might be worth looking into. As many analysts have observed, most archetypal categories have been re-made over and over again into various forms(Hearts, spades, diamonds, clubs/wands, cups, swords, pentacles/fire, water, earth, air/plegmatic, choleric, sanguine, melancholic/spirit, mind, soul, senses, etc...). I'm not the most knowledgable person in that area, but it seems to me that the number Four has a special significance--everything is divided into 4. So in my opinion, it makes sense to tie the Four elements to every concept, including the system of variant stackings-Sp, So and Sx.

P.S.: I'm quite envious of the awesomeness of the first line in your signature...
 

pinkgraffiti

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Mar 20, 2011
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1,482
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748
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
i had the same thought in parallel with you. i'm an sx dom, also a scorpio, my element is water, it's a very big part of my life and i identify with it. but i'm also very impulsive and hot headed and i guess fire also works. take these words with a grain of salt, there's nothing scientific here.

Interesting association attempt. Earth for sp and fire for sx seem fine. Since air is an element often associated with communication, I would pair it with so. As for the element of water, it has a focus on relationships(at least according to the tarot book I've read--and,people tend to pick this deck for a tarot reading because they're relationship-oriented) and is tied into the emotional world--therefore, in my opinion, water would join fire in the sx category.
 

entropie

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It all has its origin here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humorism
and here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Temperaments

What forms an intresting theory: what back then was the art of the day in medicine, nowadays has become the art of the day in typology. You can see by those things that people before werent sleeping all day and actually had some serious thoughts about things. Yet us accepting that old theory nowadays again, basically is a sign of our ignorance towards 2,000 yrs of medicine that laied in between.

Therefore my claim is that, with any sort of research you do, really resilient facts you can only have, when you know your history in that special field; when you know the big picture and how theories have evolved and changed. Every other idea you have, unbound to history, is in 99% of the cases just a reinvention of the wheel.
 

Haven

Blind Guardian
Joined
Apr 26, 2011
Messages
1,075
MBTI Type
ESFJ
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2w3
Instinctual Variant
so/sp
Actually, it's kinda funny I was thinking about this while listening to some Tiesto.

Fire is sx, water is sp, and air is so.

[YOUTUBE="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Usp4huOuUC8&feature=related"]Fire[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RvcaVr-VMY&feature=related"]Water[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl-U0zptSxA"]Air - skip to 7:00[/YOUTUBE]

(skip to 7:00 on the "air" video)
Water is sp because it sustains us, according to Tiesto at least :)
Earth, I guess is nothing, or everything.
 

INA

now! in shell form
Joined
Jun 6, 2008
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intp
Actually, it's kinda funny I was thinking about this while listening to some Tiesto.

Fire is sx, water is sp, and air is so.

Water is sp? Wha...? If it's one thing we can say about water, is that it has the merge with everything and get mixed up in everybody's business. Not very self-contained or self-preserving, that. Water is more "sexual" in both the "instinctual variants" and the layman sense. Hell, it's even involved in most aspects of sexytiems in some form.
 

Haven

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2w3
Instinctual Variant
so/sp
Water is sp? Wha...? If it's one thing we can say about water, is that it has the merge with everything and get mixed up in everybody's business. Not very self-contained or self-preserving, that. Water is more "sexual" in both the "instinctual variants" and the layman sense. Hell, it's even involved in most aspects of sexytiems in some form.

Well you could just watch the Tiesto videos and come to your own conclusion like I did.
 

INA

now! in shell form
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Well you could just watch the Tiesto videos and come to your own conclusion like I did.

I'd rather wander the desert with not even a mirage in sight.
 

Cimarron

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sp/so
Cool! People liked the idea.
 
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