What signs & symptoms can you expect with a patient experiencing hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state HHS )?

Photo-Illustration: by Preeti Kinha; Getty Images

There are many ways to understand the astrological signs: You can envision them as a wheel that begins with Aries — the infant of the zodiac, screaming to be heard — and ends with wise and knowing Pisces. (Virgo, the teenager, falls in the middle.) Or you can learn their qualities by associating them with people you know, or celebrities … Rihanna is such a Pisces, etc. But probably the easiest and most convenient way to get a grasp on all 12 is to understand the zodiac elements.

The signs are grouped into four elements — fire, water, earth, and air — with three signs in each. The fire signs (Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius) are bold, brash, creative, and daring; they can burn too brightly, though, and their tempers run hot. The water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces) are emotional, intuitive, and deeply in touch with their subconscious. At times, they can get overwhelmed in feeling. The air signs (Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius) are communicative, sharp, and intellectual, but also prone to overindulging in fantasy and theory. The earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn) are solid and practical, but also sensual and drawn to material goods. They can be stubborn and unyielding.

Below, an in-depth guide to each element and the three signs associated with it, by the witch and writer Liana Mack.

One of the easiest parts about describing fire signs is that we’ve never really given up on fire metaphors in modern culture. We still call people “fiery,” both as a compliment and an insult. The consequences of fire — a substance that can giveth life and taketh away — are obvious and overt. Fire can heat your home and completely destroy it, create light in the dark and totally raze a city. Fire signs tend to be obvious and overt in human beings, too.

Read the full guide here.

In astrology, the moon and water are inextricably linked. On the basest level, both speak to emotion, intuition, and memory … If the fire signs embody a solar or Martian energy, if the air signs are amorphous and mercurial, and if the earth signs are fertile and Venusian, the water signs are deep and lunar.

Read the full guide here.

Air signs are intellectual and communicative. They are experts in the ephemeral, the things of this world that lack physical form, and this is especially true of language and information … Air signs are unlimited by space and can drift everywhere, from places to people; as such, they’re vulnerable to overindulging in absolute fantasy.

Read the full guide here.

Earth is something real, corporeal. The stuff that emerges from the earth — precious stones, harvests, clay — has real value in the material world. We can touch it, we can build with it, we can share it. Earth exists beyond our personal psyches as something we can actually hold and be held inside. Earth grounds us, and the three earth signs — Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn — tend to be stable, grounded, and practical.

Read the full guide here.