“We call her the mermaid,” Marisa’s father tells me. “Puddles, ponds, streams, swimming pools, the lake, the ocean . . . if it’s wet, she jumps right in. She even tried to climb into our neighbor’s aquarium!” As he’s telling me this, I look down into this six-year-old’s soulful face that already has an exotic beauty, even at this young age.

Marisa has several Water features: thick, wavy hair; a domed forehead; a well-defined philtrum (the groove between the nose and the upper lip); and big, plump earlobes. “The bathtub is her favorite place in the house,” her father says as he smiles. “Every night it’s a fight to get her out of it.”

Marisa is already the classic Water child; she’s not only attracted to anything that’s wet, but also exhibits the dreamy personality that’s the hallmark of this Element. She loves to lie in her bed any time of the day and sing to herself, gaze at the ceiling, or scribble with her markers. This youngster is slow to get going in the morning and seems to dawdle on her way to do anything. She’s obviously not a “straight line” kind of girl, as her behavior already demonstrates her mind’s nonlinear way of functioning. In the park, Marisa loves to wander and explore rather than climb on the playground equipment. Sometimes her parents find her staring off into space, as if she’s seeing something that’s invisible to them; it’s like she’s in touch with other worlds. People of this Element are often highly intuitive, even psychic, and it was no surprise for me to learn that after her grandfather’s death earlier in the year, Marisa reassured her mother that Grandpa still played with her in her bedroom.

Water is all about darkness and what’s hidden under the surface, and this is a girl who loves dark places and anywhere she can find to hide. If her family can’t find Marisa, the first place they start their search is in the closets. Her mother sometimes makes blankets into a tent on her bed and lies there with her, finding patterns in the weave of the coverings. This is a highly imaginative little being who makes up complex stories and has shown an early talent for drawing, but when her art teacher tried to make her color in the lines, she cried. Tears are not a rare occurrence for Marisa. “The waterworks turn on every time her feelings get hurt,” her mother says. “And her feelings seem to get hurt a lot. But I’m hoping that as she continues to mature, this will stop.”

Dream on, I think to myself and smile. The Water personality is all about feelings and emotions, and it seems that tears are never very far away for those of this nature, even for adults. This is not a sign of emotional weakness, however, but of depth; Water people simply feel things far more deeply than others. But aside from dealing with a few extra tears, and having to keep a watchful eye on Marisa around bodies of water, she’s a relatively easy, calm child who’s able to entertain herself for long periods of time.

This little girl has already lived in two different countries during her short life due to her parents’ diplomatic careers, and the family is currently packing for a move to another distant part of the world. Water people often find themselves traveling frequently or living in exotic locations, not through deliberate choice, but because this is just how their lives naturally unfold.

Each of the Five Elements (water, wood, fire, earth, metal) has distinct qualities that reveal themselves in our personalities as archetypal patterns of tendencies to think, feel, and behave in certain ways—and inherent perceptions of the world around us. We all have some aspects of each of the elements in our makeup, but to varying degrees, and these can be read in our faces and observed in our actions. But from birth, there’s always one personality type that’s home base for each of us, like a computer’s default setting. I sometimes refer to it as your “home planet”—that is, it’s the place where you come from and the “language” you speak.

Some children have one Element that’s strongly expressed in their nature, and by recognizing it, you know nearly everything you need to about them. Others start from their home base in one main Element, but then show a second one as an additional major influence. The patterns the Elements form on their faces will reveal the intricacies of their inner designs, and once you learn to read them, their inner worlds will open to you!