If you’re familiar with astrology, you may notice astrological symbolism popping up in movies and books. Shakespeare and Chaucer are said to have included astrological reference in their works. Students of astrological symbolism claim the Bible is full of references to astrology.

The personality profiling that is sold to corporations for thousands of dollars is also based on astrological symbolism (via Carl Jung).

Why does astrological symbolism appear so frequently in our culture?

First, because astrology is a cohesive description of the world. Secondly, because for books or movies to be interesting, the characters must be different and balancing.

In Sex and the City, there are four characters that clearly represent by their personalities the four astrological elements:

Carrie – air

Miranda – earth

Charlotte – water

Samantha – fire

Carrie is a writer, an air sign occupation. She’s witty and flaky and capricious. If you’ve ever taken a sick day and sat on the couch and watched several seasons in a row, you might be surprised at how many times she and her flame “Big” break up and get back together. Carrie is not consistent. She’s the perfect airy Gemini.

Carrie is AIR.

Miranda is the serious, ambitious lawyer trying to be a partner in her firm. Her life is about success. She’s the perfect Capricorn, critical and judgmental.

Miranda is EARTH.

Charlotte is the nostalgic, emotional, sentimental character. If you pay attention to Charlotte on that sick day while watching season after season, you will notice that it is very important to her to be married and have children. Her obsessive need to conceive a child [spoiler alert] ruins one marriage and almost a second. Charlotte is a perfect Cancer.

Charlotte is WATER.

Samantha is a beautiful, sexy and supremely confident public relations executive. She prowls like a cat at night for sex. Samantha is a loosely drawn character with sex as her primary preoccupation and competition her second. Regardless, she is still much like a Leo or Aries.

Samantha is FIRE.

The Wizard of Oz is also a good representation of the four elements. Why not watch The Wizard of Oz instead of Sex and the City?

Time moves and so do the projections of our astrological elemental selves. Whether we are Dorothy or Miranda, the Straw Man or Carrie Bradshaw, the fundamental nature of the elements remains.