Member-only story
At its core, Western Esotericism has a powerful symbol stack: The elements, the planets, and the zodiac signs. Reflecting aspects of consciousness, these represent personal, interpersonal, and transpersonal realms. While seasoned practitioners work with all, the journey starts with the four elements: Fire, Water, Air, and Earth.
In the previous video, we discussed the unicursal hexagram which can work that whole stack. In this one, we’ll focus on the Elements including:
- Their origins,
- Magickal technology,
- Symbolism, and
- Rituals.
Not Chemistry
Emerging from Ancient philosophy, the classical elements are not those of chemistry. Rather than atomic compositions, they are metaphysical concepts referring to states of existence. Liquids are represented by the Water Element, but ice, by Earth, as Water represents liquid, whereas Earth solids. Similarly, Fire is plasma, Air, gas, and Spirit, energy, as we’ll cover later.
Origins
The discovery of the four Elements is credited to Empedocles, who is considered a founder of science and philosophy. As a herbal magician, he referred to the ‘Elements’ as ‘roots,’ representing more than their names:
