Elements are the building blocks of the material world. In Western thought, there are four primary elements: earth, air, fire, and water; the esoteric tradition describes a fifth and spiritual element, the Quintessence.

Each element has its unique properties and characteristics, which in magic and alchemy as well as in ancient traditions of medicine, function on both physical and spiritual levels. In addition, there are beings called elementals that live in each element and embody its essence.

Associations of the elements are:

Earth: physical; the body; health; personal resources such as money, time, energy; solidity; fertility.

Water: emotions; intuition; the unconscious; vitalizing fluids and forces; rhythms of nature.

Air: mental effort; thought; rationality; communication; intellectual activities; decisions.

Fire: action; exploration; purification.

According to Henry Cornelius Agrippa in Occult Philosophy, the four elements exist through the universe in everything, even spirits and angels, and occur in three types. On Earth they are mixed and impure; in the stars they are pure. A third type are composite elements which are mutable and are the vehicles for all transformations.

In kabbalistic thought, the four elements are represented by the four rivers that flow out of the Garden of Eden, described in Genesis. The four elements are associated with the four fixed signs of the zodiac, the four apostles of the New Testament, and the four directions of the world:

Paracelsus distinguished two types of substances, adamic and non-adamic. Adam is flesh, from which all human beings are made, is composed of the four elements, each of which rule different aspects of health and being. The body has a physical or mineral component, a vegetative or humid component, a fiery or warmth and motion component, and an airy or intellectual component.

FURTHER READING:

• Bardon, Franz. Initiation into Hermetics: A Course of Instruction of Magic Theory and Practice. Wuppertal, Germany: Dieter Ruggeberg, 1971.
• Hall, Manly P. Paracelsus: His Mystical and Medical Philosophy. Los Angeles: The Philosophic Research Society, 1964.
• Melville, Francis. The Secrets of High Magic. Haupaugge, N.Y.: Barron’s, 2002.

SOURCE:

The Encyclopedia of Magic and Alchemy Written by Rosemary Ellen Guiley Copyright © 2006 by Visionary Living, Inc.