Outline · [ Standard ] · Linear+ The Elements, Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Spirit

One of the major building blocks of the ritual work I do (or rather five of the major bulding blocks!) are the elements. The group I work with is not Wiccan, but wiccan influenced, which is where the elements come in.

We work with:

Air: East, Spring
Fire: South, Summer
Water: West, Autumn
Earth: North, Winter

Obviously there is a lot more to working with the elements than this, and different aspects are called on at different times of the year or for different purposes.

A brief list of some of my personal associations with the elements:

Air: Blue, white. Ideas. Head in the clouds. Floaty. Inconstant. Hurricanes.
Fire: Hot, passionate. Yellow, red and orange. Sultry. Angry. Purifying. Warmth or destruction. Hearth or forest fire. Extremes. Creative spark.
Water: Green, turquoise, some blues. Emotion. Communication. Travel. Mutability. Seas, lakes, rivers. Storms, tempests, whirlpools. Hidden knowledge. Tides.
Earth: Greens, browns, gold. Some reds. Stability. Maternal feelings. Protectiveness. Roots. Stone, caves. Hearth and home. Hills and landscape. Earthquakes. Steadiness. Feet on the ground.

And then we have spirit, the fifth element, made of a combination of all four others and yet more than those. Hmm - still working on those associations.

I'm also working on making physical representations of the elements to focus my mind on study - water is a cross stitch, earth will be a rug, the others are yet to be decided.

Anyone else care to share their views on the elements? Do you use them, do you call them? Do you see them as represented as a human type representation? Do you have associations I haven't listed? (I'm learning the tarot ones!)

i think many have there own way and colours to represent them. these are how i see them and how they work for me.

east, fire, passion, emotion and smell
west, water, reflection,divination, dreaming
north, air, intuition, touch
south, earth, creation taste.

i dont have seasons to match because all four are to me part of the whole.
but your personal associations are basically what i think of them, so we must be doing something right.

There is a very intersting book about the elements and how they corrospond to peoples personalities...

its called: Making magick by Edain McCoy

She talks about foods, etc. which corrospond to the elements too its really a very interesting book..

Lovely topic Woodsong!

Your elemental associations actually tie in very much with my own. I've done a lot of work, working out which direction meant which element to me and so on, and so here's mine:

Air. East. New beginnings. New day. New ideas (is there a theme emerging here?! ). Creation, freshness, breezy, bracing, invigorating, changeable. Purifying. Outward looking. Optimism. Light blue, purple, grey, pale yellow. Spring. Babies.

Fire. South. Slumber. Heat, warmth, laziness, indolence, arguments. Comfort, hearth, fun, fiesta, passion. Growth. Drought (of land and of ideas). Blazing orange, tropical green, zesty citrous. Youth.

Water. West. Hidden depths, hidden and underestimated powers. Emotions, deep thoughts. Ever changing. Slate blues and turquoise. Destruction. Adulthood.

Earth. Solidity. Stability. Basis for growth. Contemplation and planning. Home. Comfort. Warm blankets and shelter. Tales and sagas. Stubborness, immovability. Midnight blue, earthy brown, forest green. Old age and wisdom.

So do we have anyone on here who assigns different elements to different directions? Or associates them with different qualities to those mentioned?

My personal perception of the elements is pretty similar to what's already been mentioned, but I believe that some paths have a very different view of them and I'd like to know more.

So do we have anyone on here who assigns different elements to different directions?

Because I currently live in the southern hemisphere I use fire as north and earth as south. The logic behind this is as fire is associated with noon, fire is always the direction from which the sun shines at noon. This means earth is in the south. Also sunwise in the southern hemisphere is counter-clockwise.

However, because I was born in the UK, did secondary schooling in the UK, the northern hemisphere correspondances were stronger in my mind. It took me a while to change to the sytem. I wanted good reasons to change apart from books saying to reverse them. Alot of the time they gave no reason.

Stormy's a different set of directions, though it's one I briefly worked with :-) I believe it's the Luciferian system - air is north because it's above you, earth is south because it's below your feet, fire is east because the sun rises in the east (Lucifer son of the morning), and water is west because - well, it's left

Stormy's a different set of directions, though it's one I briefly worked with :-) I believe it's the Luciferian system

Ah, that'll teach me to speed read! That's really interesting, I've never come across that idea before, but it certainly makes sense.

I use:-

East-Water ( to my East lies the North sea)

South- Fire (The sun attains its highest point in the South)

West- Earth ( from my location on the coast all to the West is land)

North- Air (Cold refreshing)


It sound okay to me anyway.....

I've been working on the elements with my 13 year old son and we've been doing a collage. We've started with Earth and have collected items such as soil (obviously), bark, pebbles and small stones (including a piece of volcanic rock). We've also used pieces of fabric like tweed, hessian and velvets as well as various other textures (tissue paper etc.) and colours from brown through to red. We've also made some interesting "spatters" (for want of a better word) of brown wax. We finished by drawing the four points of the compass in the corner emphasising N for north.

The bits and bobs were collected over a period of time during many of our walks and it was great discussing our thoughts at each new find.

For our next element, Nick has chosen Air and we have started our collection of feathers, leaves, bit of fabric (nice breezy ones) and paper in blues, lilacs and whites etc.

I think once we have completed them all, they'll be framed and I have the perfect length of bare wall waiting. No doubt, I'll try do the same with my 5 and 3 year old in time.

PS We may need a little help with Spirit mind you - answers on a postcard please!!!

I tend to rate the elements by their energy pattern and how 'light' I see them:

Fire- Extreme outwardliness, all that gives energy forth, bright light, the extremes of light

Air - Some outwardliness, gives some energy forth, a soft light, the next step down from fire

Earth - Some inwardliness, takes some energy in, a dim light, the next step down from air

Water - Extreme inwardliness, all that takes energy in, darkness, the next step down from earth

Something new?

DMaster

The anthroposophical system, which I guess may derive from the ancient Greeks, relates earth to the physical body and the melancholic humour: careful, reflective, sympathetic. Water relates to the astral body, emotions, and the phlegmatic humour: easygoing, lazy, sensual, loyal. Air relates to the etheric body, life forces, thought, the sanguine humour: outgoing, interested, flighty. Fire relates to the sense of self and the choleric humour: decisive, confident, forward looking.

I think of earth in the north, air in the east, fire in the south and water in the west, for much the same reasons as others are giving. Recently I have been learning about a brand of shamanism that puts them in a different order and I can't get my head round it. This is where sticking to one system would be the sensible option.

New to me, DragonMaster!


Thanks for reminding me of that Julai, a friend of mine (Shoog where are you!) related the elements to parts of the body -

Earth - bones
Water - blood
Air - breath
Fire - soul, the divine spark

the elements lets see...

Enochian and Kabbalah...

Fire - south - salamanders - heat and dryness
Air - east - sylphs - heat and moisture
Water - west - undines - cold and moisture
Earth - north - gnomes - cold and dryness

for the body (as a whole) myself i tend to use...

Fire - soul
Air - mind
Water - emotions
Earth - body

The only thing that is different is the colours...

Earth:Green
Air:yellow
Fire:Red
Water:Blue
Spirit:White

I can never get my head around the southern hemisphere directions though as every book iread is different.If any southerners have the any they use i would love to hear them...

I've been working on the elements with my 13 year old son and we've been doing a collage.  We've started with Earth and have collected items such as soil (obviously), bark, pebbles and small stones (including a piece of volcanic rock).  We've also used pieces of fabric like tweed, hessian and velvets as well as various other textures (tissue paper etc.) and colours from brown through to red.  We've also made some interesting "spatters" (for want of a better word) of brown wax.  We finished by drawing the four points of the compass in the corner emphasising N for north.

The bits and bobs were collected over a period of time during many of our walks and it was great discussing our thoughts at each new find. 

For our next element, Nick has chosen Air and we have started our collection of feathers, leaves, bit of fabric (nice breezy ones) and paper in blues, lilacs and whites etc.

I think once we have completed them all, they'll be framed and I have the perfect length of bare wall waiting.  No doubt, I'll try do the same with my 5 and 3 year old in time.

PS We may need a little help with Spirit mind you - answers on a postcard please!!!

this sounds wonderful! will you be taking pictures at all? because i would love to see the finished products.

lovely topic indeed nice to read about how you all see things. It has given me something to thing about. Thanks!

oh yeah.... oops i almost forgot that 1 "SPIRIT" LOL
cheers silverowl11 thanks for reminding me!

but i dont really class spirit as an element for the same reasons i dont class chaos as an element but hey if i was too...


Spirit - White - above/center - divine

Fire - red - south - soul
Air - yellow - east - mind
Water - blue - west - emotions
Earth - green - north - body

chaos - black - below - evil

does it make a differance if you are colour blind.

does it make a differance if you are colour blind.

hmmmmm......

i suppose intent of purpose is more important than specific details considering there seams to be much variation in the attributes themselfs!

I don't see why it should - a lot of it is down to your personal associations, so however you see the colours or differentiate between them, you'd still know which ones you link with which elements.

It's all dressing at the end of the day, the bells and whistles to help you visualise your intent.

I agree that its your personal perception of them and it should make one bit of difference if you are colour blind

spirit - white, exactly what is says it is
Fire - south, red , soul
Air - east, yellow, mind
Water - west, blue, emotions
Earth - north, green, body