How do you work with the elements?

[Rick O'Shez]

I'd be interested in hearing about how people work with the elements. I realise there is quite a lot of symbolism involved, but here I am more interested in the practical side, what people actually do.

As I understand it pagans typically work with 5 elements, ie earth, wind, fire, water and spirit. I understand the first four reasonably well, but I'm not yet clear how pagans think about "spirit" - is it something like life force?

 

[Quintessence]

I could write a book about the Four Elements. Probably several. It's a huge element (pun intended) of my path and has been from the start, and my username here is a direct reference to mysteries of the Elements. I'm also fairly opinionated about it, having done extensive research into the subject, but I aim to keep that in check when discussing it with others.

One thing that tends to be left out of education about the Elements in the Neopagan literature is what the intended purpose of the idea was and its overall historical origin. The Four Elements (there were never five) of Western culture come from natural philosophy of ancient Greece. These philosophers were aiming to answer the following question: "what is the fundamental substance that underlies all things?" I won't bore you with the details of the history, but the model that took hold and influenced Western thinking for centuries afterwards was the one posited by Aristotle. By this classical understanding of the Elements (which is the one I personally follow), the Four are metaphysical "substances," not physical substances. They are essences or principles, rather than things out there in the world that can actually be "worked with" in the manner many people mean. It is commonplace to see the Neopagan literature conflating the Four Elements with physical substances (e.g., interpreting Elemental Water as rain). While I wouldn't call this wrong per se, I find it important to understand that rain is not the Water Element, but perhaps one of the closest things we can get to directly interacting with it. If you do end up going through the whole Bardic grade of OBOD, there is a lot of working with the Elements in this way. They don't take the classical approach to it that I do, but they take the approach that matters: direct personal experience and immersion that will definitely give you a window into the metaphysical principles that are the Elements.

As for how I work with the Elements in this indirect fashion, well... I could tell dozens of stories, probably. Not sure where to begin. I think for now I'll say that to me, the Four Elements are gods in their own right. In the sense that they are the most primal, one could say they're the most important gods of my path. As such, I approach them in a manner similar to how I approach the gods - with respect and reverence, plus a lot of "getting to know you" work. Some of the earliest rituals that made it into my printed tome were for attuning to the Four, and a bunch of exercises for communing and experiencing stuff. A lot of it boils down to paying attention and observation, coupled with (in my case) a deep study of classical natural philosophy and its legacy.

 

[Rapha]

One way to work with the elements would be to allow a entity into your host body.

An example would be if you feel a tapping on your left shoulder then it is a djinn wanting entry into your body or possession.

From what i have learned, a Shaytan class djinn is a air elemental and their primary weapon is lightning.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

A lot of it boils down to paying attention and observation, coupled with (in my case) a deep study of classical natural philosophy and its legacy.

I've done quite a lot of observation, but more in the sense of them as physical properties. Could you say a little more about how you approach them as metaphysical "substances", practically speaking?

 

[Quintessence]

I've done quite a lot of observation, but more in the sense of them as physical properties. Could you say a little more about how you approach them as metaphysical "substances", practically speaking?

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "practically?" Do you mean in terms of practices, like rituals and the like? Should I go into the natural philosophy and stuff? Or something else?
Figure I should clarify before I dive down some rabbit holes...

 

[Rick O'Shez]

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "practically?" Do you mean in terms of practices, like rituals and the like? Should I go into the natural philosophy and stuff? Or something else? Figure I should clarify before I dive down some rabbit holes...

I'm interested in the practices particularly. I've been working with this stuff in a Buddhist context for many years but I'm interested in broadening out, exploring different possibilities.

 

[Erebus]

There are probably thousands of different rituals, spells and meditations focused on the elements floating around on the internet.

My advice would be to ignore them for the time being. Take a walk in the countryside. Forget about modern life and technology for a while. Just experience what it is to be in the wild.

You might feel a connection to something primal. You might just feel tired and cold. Either way, I'd say that immersing yourself in the world beyond civilization is a good starting point. If you jump right into rituals, you risk getting too caught up in the minutiae and missing the bigger picture.

 

[Quintessence]

I'm interested in the practices particularly. I've been working with this stuff in a Buddhist context for many years but I'm interested in broadening out, exploring different possibilities.

Sure.

As I noted earlier, I developed some attunement rituals early on. While I won't reproduce those here in full, I can outline how they basically work. You would want to adapt this to your personal manner of practice, definitely. This one is an example for Elemental Air

Materials

• Incense of Air
• Oil of Air
• Singing bowl (or bell if you prefer)

Methods

• Perform a standard ritual opening appropriate for the working to get in the right mindset, such as a short recitation, chant, prayer, or meditation
• Ring the singing bowl or bell to signal the beginning of the work, light the corresponding incense, and anoint with the corresponding oil
• Recite or spontaneously compose an incantation stating your desire to attune to and learn from the energy of Elemental Air
• Gaze into the curling trails of incense smoke, focusing on the essential nature of the Element; basically a mindful meditation
• Once focused and in the right head space, pick up the incense boat or censer and pass the smoke over various parts of your body, one at a time, while being mindful of the energy and action
• Spend as much time meditating/communing as you would like; let the experiences be what they are and resist the urge to label
• When you are ready to wrap up, recite or spontaneously compose an expression of gratitude to the Element for your experiences
• Perform a standard ritual closing, and ring the singing bowl or bell to signify the end of the work

There is another part of the ritual I sometimes do with ceremonial tools for the Elements in much the same way, but it's optional. Sometimes I will do some journeywork in with this sort of ritual - open up gateways to the Elements within my inner sacred space. Not something I would necessarily start with, though. I have had some really strange experiences opening up and journeying through the gateways... experiences that would make for fantastic stories but not be taken seriously unless I wrote them up as fiction.

To adapt this to the other Elements, you follow the same basic idea with passing a physical proxy for the Element around your body. I use a tea light with Fire (be careful not to set yourself on fire!), rub dirt/sand for Earth, and water for Water.

Oh, and I should probably add... by "incense of Air" and "oil of Air" I mean aromatics that have the proper Elemental correspondence. What is that, exactly? Something you need to figure out for yourself based on your own works. There are plenty of correspondence tables out there, but I disagree with how they are constructed. However, I find that the oils and incense produced by AzureGreen for the Four correspond very well compared to other brands I have looked into.

 

[Erebus]

I'm interested in the practices particularly. I've been working with this stuff in a Buddhist context for many years but I'm interested in broadening out, exploring different possibilities.

I've suggested avoiding ritual for the time-being. Quintessence has provided a ritual you could try.

I just wanted to chime in here and say that you'll see this kind of thing a lot as you explore Paganism. It's highly focused on individual discovery and so two people can (and will) give you completely opposite answers and advice. It's now up to you to decide for yourself which route to take

 

[Rick O'Shez]

My advice would be to ignore them for the time being. Take a walk in the countryside. Forget about modern life and technology for a while. Just experience what it is to be in the wild.

Thanks, but I've been doing that for many years and I'm a bit of an amateur naturalist.
( naturalist, not naturist )

 

[Rick O'Shez]

Materials

• Incense of Air
• Oil of Air
• Singing bowl (or bell if you prefer)

Methods

• Perform a standard ritual opening appropriate for the working to get in the right mindset, such as a short recitation, chant, prayer, or meditation
• Ring the singing bowl or bell to signal the beginning of the work, light the corresponding incense, and anoint with the corresponding oil
• Recite or spontaneously compose an incantation stating your desire to attune to and learn from the energy of Elemental Air
• Gaze into the curling trails of incense smoke, focusing on the essential nature of the Element; basically a mindful meditation
• Once focused and in the right head space, pick up the incense boat or censer and pass the smoke over various parts of your body, one at a time, while being mindful of the energy and action
• Spend as much time meditating/communing as you would like; let the experiences be what they are and resist the urge to label
• When you are ready to wrap up, recite or spontaneously compose an expression of gratitude to the Element for your experiences
• Perform a standard ritual closing, and ring the singing bowl or bell to signify the end of the work

Thanks, that's useful. I've done something similar in a Buddhist context, it's called kasina practice and includes colours as well as the elements.

 

[allfoak]

There are plenty of correspondence tables out there, but I disagree with how they are constructed

Could you expand on this a bit?
I have looked at a lot of correspondence tables and found them to be mostly the same.

 

[Quintessence]

Could you expand on this a bit?
I have looked at a lot of correspondence tables and found them to be mostly the same.

This is a little off topic, but I strongly dislike correspondence tables because they never reference or cite anything. No reasoning is given, no footnotes, no nothing. To tell it like I really feel it, they're garbage. Different practices are grounded on different assumptions or principles. Correspondence tables never illuminate what these are. They never provide what the foundation for their reasoning is. Looking at one, you've got no idea why X is listed as corresponding to Y. They don't tell you "well, we list X corresponding to Y because there's some mythology from ancient Greece that tells a story about this, and you can read more about that here (citation)." They don't tell you "I list X as corresponding to Y because this is my personal experience." Nor do they tell you "I list X corresponding to Y because this is how it is listed in Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy (citation)." Rubbish, the whole lot of them. Whole lot of them seem to be a bunch of who-knows-what haphazardly slapped together that the reader is to take on blind faith. No thanks.

It's questioning correspondence tables that led me to do extensive research on the Four Elements, actually. I saw how two opposing Elements were next to each other on the Wiccan circle and went "wait a minute... that doesn't make sense... shouldn't those be across from each other?!" After doing all the research turns out I was right to question that... it doesn't make any sense if you research the original natural philosophy of the Four Elements instead of starting with more contemporary Western occultism. But nobody builds correspondence tables based on proper research and explicitly spelled-out metaphysical principles. It's haphazard slapdash garbage.

[/rant]

 

[Rick O'Shez]

Some interesting background here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element

 

[Quintessence]

Yeah, I wrote chunks of that article. Well, at some point in time anyway. It seems there are some things in that article that have gotten a bit wonky, but I quit caring after a while.

 

[allfoak]

Thanks for the rant @Quintessence.

I am reminded of a basic rule of life.
All teachings are heresy.
All teachers are heretics.

Truth is dynamic not static.
This means of course that we should believe nothing.

Thanks again..

 

[Rick O'Shez]

I saw how two opposing Elements were next to each other on the Wiccan circle and went "wait a minute... that doesn't make sense... shouldn't those be across from each other?!"

Talking of which, I would quite like to assign directions according to where I live:

The sea is to the east ( water );
The prevailing wind is from the west ( air );
The sun peaks in the south ( fire );
Earth would end up in the north.

Do you see any particular problems with this approach?

 

[Quintessence]

Talking of which, I would quite like to assign directions according to where I live:

The sea is to the east ( water );
The prevailing wind is from the west ( air );
The sun peaks in the south ( fire );
Earth would end up in the north.

Do you see any particular problems with this approach?

It's not uncommon for people to assign Elements to directions based on features in their area. It's not how I do it, though, because greater symbolic and metaphysical considerations override that to me. The problem I would have with that arrangement is that I refuse to put Elemental opposites next to each other on a circle. The order must always be Air-Fire-Earth-Water. If I was working with a linear system, I can tolerate the (from low to high) Earth-Water-Air-Fire used in early cosmologies, though.

Just in brief, when I say Elemental opposites, I mean per the natural philosophy which understands the Elements as metaphysical principles defined by four qualities. Those four qualities (again, which are principles, not meant to be understood literally) are hot, cool, moist, and dry... each element has two of those and one is primary to the others. Aristotle describes that Elements transform into one another, but when they do so, they shift one quality of a time. Because of that, you get a natural "Elemental rotation" that goes Air-Fire-Earth-Water. While shifts from Air-Earth and Fire-Water are not impossible, they are rare as it demands switching both qualities at the same time. In modern chemistry, this is analogous to substances typically moving across solid-liquid-gas with solid-gas and gas-solid transformations being rare. Since Neopaganisms honor natural cycles, it seems to make a great deal of sense to me to operate by the rotation and not break it when laying out various circles, be they for the seasons, directions, times of life, etc.

 

[allfoak]

I can tolerate the (from low to high) Earth-Water-Air-Fire used in early cosmologies, though.

You would put fire at the top?

 

[illykitty]

I just wanted to post to get notifications as this thread is very interesting for me and I have learned a bit from it. I feel a connection to the classical elements so I am trying to work with them.