The five elements symbols of fire, water, air, earth, spirit
The Greeks proposed the existence of five basic elements. Of these, four were the physical elements - fire, air, water and earth - of which the whole world is composed. The alchemists eventually associated four triangular symbols to represent these elements.
The fifth element, which takes a variety of names, is rarer than the four physical elements. Some call it Spirit. Others call it ether or quintessence (literally "the fifth element" in Latin).
In traditional western western theory, the elements are hierarchical: Spirit, fire, air, water and earth - with the first most spiritual and perfect elements and the last most material and basic elements. Some modern systems, such as Wicca, consider the elements equal.
Before examining the elements themselves, it is important to understand the qualities, orientations and correspondences associated with the elements. Each element is connected with aspects in each of these and helps to correlate their mutual relationship.
Elemental qualities
In classical elemental systems, each element has two qualities and shares each quality with another element.
Hot Cold
Each element is hot or cold, and this corresponds to a male or female gender. This is a strongly dichotomous system, where male qualities are things like light, warmth and activity, and female qualities are dark, cold, passive and receptive.
The orientation of the triangle is determined by heat or coldness, male or female. The masculine and warm elements point upwards, going up to the spiritual realm. The feminine and cold elements point downwards, descending into the earth.
Moist/Dry
The second quality pair is humidity or dryness. Unlike hot and cold qualities, wet and dry qualities do not immediately correspond to other concepts.
Opposite elements
Since each element shares one of its qualities with another element, this leaves an element completely independent.
For example, the air is moist as water and hot as fire, but it has nothing in common with the earth. These opposite elements are located on opposite sides of the diagram and are distinguished by the presence or absence of the crossbar in the triangle:
Air and earth are opposite and have the crossbar
Water and fire are also opposite and lack the crossbar.
Hierarchy of the elements
Traditionally there is a hierarchy of elements, although some modern schools of thought have abandoned this system. The lower elements in the hierarchy are more material and physical, with the higher elements becoming more spiritual, more rarefied and less physical.
This hierarchy can be traced through this diagram. Earth is the lowest and most material element. By turning clockwise from the earth, water is obtained, then air and then fire, which is the smallest material of the elements.
Elementary pentagram
The pentagram has represented many different meanings over the centuries. At least since the Renaissance, one of its associations is with the five elements.
Preparations
Traditionally, there is a hierarchy between the elements ranging from the most spiritual and rarefied to the least spiritual and most material. This hierarchy determines the positioning of the elements around the staff.
Starting with the spirit, the highest element, we go down to the fire, then we follow the lines of the pentagram on air, water and earth, the lowest and most material of the elements. The last line between earth and spirit completes the geometric shape.
Orientation
The question of whether a pentagram is facing up or down only gained relevance in the XNUMXth century and has everything to do with the arrangement of the elements. An upward-pointing pentagram came to symbolize the spirit that rules over the four physical elements, while a downward-looking pentagram symbolized the spirit that was assimilated by matter or that descended into matter.
Since then, some have simplified those associations to represent good and bad. This is generally not the position of those who commonly work with down-down staves, and often it is also not the position of those who associate with point-up staves.
Candle Dyes
The colors used here are those associated with each element from the Golden Dawn. These associations are also commonly borrowed from other groups.
Elemental correspondences
Ceremonial occult systems traditionally depend on correspondence systems: collections of elements that are all associated in some way with the desired goal. While the types of correspondence are almost infinite, the associations between elements, seasons, time of day, elements, moon phases and directions have become fairly standardized in the West. These are often the basis for further correspondence.
Elemental / directional correspondences of the Golden Dawn
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn codified some of these correspondences in the XNUMXth century. The most important here are the cardinal directions.
The Golden Dawn was born in England and the directional / elemental correspondences reflect a European perspective. In the south there are the warmer climates, and therefore it is associated with fire. The Atlantic Ocean lies to the west. The north is cold and formidable, a land of the earth but sometimes not much else.
Occultists who practice in America or elsewhere sometimes do not find these correspondences at work.
Daily, monthly and annual cycles
Cycles are important aspects of many occult systems. By observing the daily, monthly and annual natural cycles, we find periods of growth and death, fullness and sterility.
Fire is the element of fullness and life and is closely associated with the Sun. Therefore, it is not surprising that midday and summer are associated with fire. According to the same logic, the full moon should also be in the same category.
The Earth is in the opposite direction from the fire and therefore corresponds to midnight, winter and new moon. Although these things can represent sterility, most often they are representative of potential and transformation; the point where the old gives way to the new; empty fertility prepares to feed new creations.
Air is the element of new beginnings, youth, growth and creativity. As such, it is associated with spring, the crescent moon and sunrise. Things are getting warmer and brighter, while plants and animals are giving birth to a new generation.
Water is the element of emotion and wisdom, especially the wisdom of age. It represents a time past the peak of sustenance, moving towards the end of the cycle.
Fire
Fire is associated with strength, activity, blood and life force. It is also seen as highly purifying and protective, it consumes impurities and repels darkness.
Fire is traditionally seen as the rarest and most spiritual of the physical elements because of its male properties (which were superior to the female properties). It also lacks physical existence, produces light and has a transformative power when it comes in contact with more physical material.
Quality: warm, dry
Gender: male (active)
Elemental: salamander (here referred to a mythological lizard creature that could explode in flames)
Golden Dawn direction: south
Golden Dawn Color: red
Magic tool: sword, athame, dagger, sometimes wand
Planets: Sol (Sun), Mars
Zodiac signs: Aries, Leo, Sagittarius
Season: summer
Time of day: noon
Aria
Air is the element of intelligence, creativity and beginnings. Largely intangible and without permanent form, air is an active male element, superior to the more material elements of water and earth.
Quality: hot, humid
Gender: male (active)
Elemental: Sylphs (invisible beings)
Golden Dawn direction: East
Golden Dawn Color: yellow
Magic tool: magic wand, sometimes sword, dagger or athame
Planets: Jupiter
Zodiac signs: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
Season: spring
Time of day: morning, sunrise
water
Water is the element of emotion and unconscious, as opposed to conscious air intellectualism.
Water is one of the two elements that have a physical existence capable of interacting with all the physical senses. Water is still considered less material (and therefore higher) than earth because it has more movement and activity than earth.
Quality: Cold, Wet
Gender: female (passive)
Elemental: Undines (water-based nymphs)
Golden Dawn direction: West
Golden Dawn Color: blue
Magic tool: cup
Planets: Moon, Venus
Zodiac signs: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces
Season: autumn
Time of day: sunset
Terra
The earth is the element of stability, solidity, fertility, materiality, potential and immobility. Earth can also be an element of beginning and end, or death and rebirth, since life comes from the earth and then decomposes on the Earth after death.
Quality: Cold, Dry
Gender: Female (passive)
Elemental: Gnomes
Golden Dawn Direction: North
Golden Dawn Color: Green
Magic tool: Pentacle
Planets: Saturn
Zodiac signs: Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn
Season: Winter
Time of day: Midnight
Spirit
The spirit element does not have the same matching dispositions as the physical elements since the spirit is not physical. Various systems can associate planets, instruments and so on, but these correspondences are much less standardized than those of the other four elements.
The spirit element has several names. The most common are the spirit, the ether or the ether and the quintessence, which in Latin means "fifth element".
Also, there is no standard symbol for spirit, although circles are common. Eight-spoke wheels and spirals are also sometimes used to represent the spirit.
The spirit is a bridge between the physical and the spiritual. In cosmological models, spirit is the transient material between the physical and celestial realms. Within the microcosm, the spirit is the bridge between body and soul.
