Each element has a spirit for example:
Water: moon and ocean spirit
Fire: Sun spirit (I think)
But each element also has an "original bender" for example:
Sky bison
The koi fish (i think)
The dragons
The badgermoles
And then there is the whole lion turtle thing
So I wanna know what you guys think (tell me in the comments) and here is a youtube theory video with an explanation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG53BgpII5s