Index to The Elements

The Elements of Magick

The "Elements" within Magickal Symbolism are the basic components of all that exists. These four Elements - Earth, Air, Fire and Water - are at the same time visible and invisible, physical and spiritual. From these Elements all things have been fashioned, according to magickal thought. The elements described here are not at odds with Science, just different, and are still considered relevant within the Magickal Systems! The Four Elements are a simpler, yet more complex set of Symbols. Earth, for example, refers not only to the planet on which we exist, but also to the phenomenon of Earthiness, of foundation and stability. Similarly, Fire is much more than flame. Since we are Magickally working with Nature, using natural powers, tools and symbols, it is important to understand them, giving them Names, Definition, and Differentiation.

The following Topics deal with the Physical and Symbolic aspects of the Elements and types of Magick related to the Devas. All Magick falls under the rulership of one (or more) of the Elements. This is true, too, of all that exists. An understanding of them will aid your magickal work immensely. The difference between an Element and an Deva is that an Element has power and energy but is not considered a being, while a Deva is considered a being in possession of the powers of the elements. Devas are described as "masculine" or "feminine," but that should not be viewed as an absolute! Like all Magickal systems, this is symbolic - it describes the basic attributes or aspects of the Deva in terms more easily understandable. The "Gender Aspect" doesn't mean that it in order to be more masculine you have to perform Fire Magick, or for women to use Water Magick to be more feminine!

The Devas

These beings are made up of an etheric substance that is unique and specifically resonant to their nature, as nature spirits they are the spiritual essence within each of the four elements:

FIRE: Salamanders
WATER: Undines
AIR: Sylphs
EARTH: Gnomes (Pans, Satyrs, Dryads, Elves ...)

Elemental Aspects of Air

Air is the Element of the intellect, it is the realm of thought, etheric, which is the first step toward creation. Magickally speaking, Air is the clear, uncluttered, pure visualization which is a powerful tool for change. It is also movement, the impetus that sends the visualization out toward manifestation. It rules spells and rituals involving travel, instruction, freedom, obtaining knowledge, discovering lost items, uncovering lies, and so on. It can also be used to develop the psychic faculties. Spells involving Air usually include the act of placing an object in the Air or dropping something off the side of a mountain or other high place so that the object actually connects physically with the Element. Air is being dry, expansive, and active. It is the Element that excels in places of learning, and which is at work while we theorize, think, and ponder. Air rules the East because this is the direction of the greatest light, and the light of wisdom and consciousness. Its color is yellow, the yellow of the Sun and of the sky at dawn, and its season is spring. Air governs the magick of the four winds, most divination's, concentration and visualization Magick.

• Title Aspect: Maiden
• Astrological Rulers: Jupiter, Mercury
• Keys: Life Principle, Intellect
  Raphael (instructor, traveller, healer)
• Rules: mind, essential qualities, spiritual plane, knowledge, abstract learning, theories, windy or high places, breath, speech
• Virtues: gregarious, diligent, optimistic, dexterity, joie-DE-vivre, persuasive, friendly, healthy, knowledgeable
• Vices: frivolity, boasting, absent mindedness, rootless, easily distracted, loquacious, tends to intellectualize emotions (rather than experience them)
• Spring & sunrise
• Direction: East, Eurus
• Color: yellow
• Symbols: topaz, galbanum, aspen, frankincense, vervain, birds, eagle & hawk
• Tools: wand, censer (arrow stabs air & conveys message Outer to Inner)
• Spirits: The sylphs are spirits of air , their element being the highest vibratory rate of the four (beside earth, fire, water).

Elemental Aspects of Fire

• Color: red
• Symbols: fire opal, almond (in flower), garlic, hibiscus, pepper, olibanum
• Tools: scourge, sword, athame
• Spirits: The salamanders are the spirits of fire, without which fire wouldn't exist. Their ruler is a magnificent flaming being called Djin. There are many families of salamanders, differing in size, appearance, and dignity. Some appear as small balls of light, but mostly perceived as lizard-like in shape and about a foot or more in length. The salamanders are the strongest and most powerful of all the Devas, having the ability to extend their size or diminish it, as needed. They and others of their kind are mischievous, like children that don't fully understand the results of their actions, affected by thoughts and actions of people around them.
• Shortage: body heavy or chilled, thoughts slow, unenthusiastic
• Excess: hot, hyper, flitting thoughts, insomnia, anger, snappishness

Elemental Aspects of Water

Water is the Element of purification, the subconscious mind, love and the emotions. Just as Water is fluid, constantly changing, flowing from one level to another, so too are our emotions in a constant state of flux. Water is the Element of absorption and germination. The subconscious is symbolized by this Element because it is rolling, always moving, like the sea which rests neither night or day. Water Magick involves pleasure, friendship, marriage, fertility, happiness, healing, sleep, dreaming, psychic acts, purification, and so on. A ritual of Water usually involves an object being tossed or placed in or on a body of Water. This is a feminine Element, and its color is the blue of deep, deep Water. It rules the West and autumn months of the year, when rain showers wash the Earth. The Magick of Water is wrought with mirrors, the sea, fog and rain.

• Title Aspects: Mother
  Astrological Rulers: Venus, Moon
• Keys: Love Principle, Fertility
  Gabriel (turns force into form)
• Rules: Emotions, love, sorrow, courage, astral planes, clairvoyance, tides, oceans, pools, streams, wells, womb!
• Melancholic; Feeling; strong, excitatory
• Virtues: Compassion, tranquility, tenderness, forgiveness, modesty, fluidity in creativity, receptivity, influence!
• Vices: Self-indulgence, negligence, cowardice, indifference, instability, moodiness, infatuation, easily put upon, delusions
• Autumn & sunset
• West, Zephyrus
• Color: blue
• Symbols: willow, dolphin, fish, water snakes, sea birds, myrrh, ferns, rushes
• Tool: cup
• Spirits: The undines are the Deva beings that exist within the water itself. They are beautiful to look upon and are very graceful, often seen riding the waves of the ocean clothed in a shimmery substance shining with all the colors of the sea. They are also found in rocky pools and in marshlands. The undines also work with the plants that grow under the water and with the motion of water. Some inhabit waterfalls, others live in rivers and lakes, every fountain has its nymph, every ocean has its oceanids. The smaller undines are often seen as winged beings that people have mistakenly called fairies seen near flowers that grow in watery areas, having gossamer wings and shining clothing. The undines closely resemble people in appearance and size, living in coral caves under the ocean or on the shores of lakes or banks of rivers. The undines work with the vital essences and liquids of plants, animals, and human beings, present in everythin and assist you, only if you are deserving of our help - and 'ALWAYS REMBER' - do not attempt to rule us! You must first learn to rule yourselves, in your own nature, respecting the life force and the living beings around you.

Elemental Aspects of Earth

• Title Aspect: Crone
  Astrological Rulers: Venus, Saturn
• Keys: Law Principle, Solidity
  Auriel ("Lord of Awe")
• Rules: birth & death, body, growth, nature, stones & metals, material things, caves, chasms, silence, graves, fields
          Sanguine; Sensation; calm, imperturbable
• Virtues: strength, endurance, commitment, responsibility, thoroughness, practicality, wisdom, patience, sense of timing
• Vices: dullness, lack of conscience, melancholy, boredom, inertia,
  stagnation, hoarding of resources (including information)
• Yule & midnight
          North, Boreas
• Color: green
• Symbols: oak, rock crystal, salt, bull or cow, stag, grains, comfrey, ivy
• Tools: pentacle, altar stone (body of Anima Mundi)
• Spirits: gnomes under Gob (friendly & easy to reach, teach access to own depths & caverns & how to mine & work the vein of gold therein)
• Shortage: spaciness, hyper-activity, instability
• Excess: body heaviness, general lack of energy, inertia, etc.

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