elements in paganism

Elements in My Practice

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The prompt for this reading came from one of the Discord servers I’m a member of.

Prompt: Rank the elements based on how often you use them in your practice/how much you connect with them.

elements

This answer differs depending upon which aspect of my practice that we’re speaking about.  For this reason, I’ve split this post into three different aspects.

Affinities and how I connect to the elements:

earth – This is the element that I’ve always connected with the strongest. Soil and trees, forests and mountains. Plants and growing things. Grounding and stability.

water – I find comfort here, but not stability. As I crave stability over all else, comfort comes in second. There is an emotional attribute here, but not the sharp emotions that survived the eradication during my childhood years. Instead the emotions here are soft and welcoming.

air – Adaptability lives here for me. I can connect to it and bend to it, but I can’t say that it’s exactly comfortable.

fire – Destruction lives here. This is the element that facilitates the changes that hurt the most and make the most room for new things to come in and grow. Being someone who connects with and constantly craves stability, fire and I don’t have the greatest of relationships.

How often I use the elements in my magical practice:

In my magical practice, they all have their place, and each element is included in one manner or another for all of my spellwork. They are a foundation that requires each of them to contribute to create a “whole” spell.

In this magical practice, there is a fifth element that is not present in my list for affinities, for the element of “spirit” is me. Spirit is the spark within me and the spark within others. It’s the individuality that makes each person different, and makes up the threads that connect each and every living (and not living) thing together.

How the elements present in my divination practice:

In divination, the elements represent different aspects of life.  I’ve ordered these in this post in the order of what element is most under our control to what element is least under out control.

earth – The earth element relates to the Pentacles suit in the tarot, and in my divination practice is a representation in divination of the physical world. This includes things like health, hearth and home, money and resources, physical labor, concepts of stability, etc.

air – The air element relates to the Swords suit in the tarot, and in my divination practice is a representation of one’s thoughts, strategies, ambitions, and education. Although our thoughts sometimes run away with us, our plans and strategies are under our control. We choose what we want to learn and plan where we want to go.

water – The water element relates to the Cups suit in the tarot, and in my divination practice is a representation of one’s emotions, intuition, and imagination.  Emotions aren’t really something that we have a lot of control over, and our imagination has a tendency to run wild sometimes, seeping through the cracks just like water has a tendency to do.

fire – The fire element relates to the Wands suit in the tarot, and in my divination practice is a representation of one’s “inner spark”.  This is our quality of inspiration and enthusiasm. We like what we like.  Deep inside we feel what is right or wrong for us.  It’s the home of our values, our motivations, and our passions.

spirit – The “spirit” element relates to the Major Arcana in the suit of tarot, and in my divination practice is a representation of the spiritual. It’s about our life journey, the larger picture, and how elements in that larger picture affect us.

As you can see, although the answer differs depending on the aspect of my practice that we’re talking about?  There is a theme throughout each element that connects them. That is what makes them a foundational part of my practice as a whole.

Elemental Influences

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Prompt: “What elemental system do you ascribe to? What are the correspondences of the elements in the system you use? What is associated with the elements? What are some other systems you know? Do you ascribe to more than one system, and if so where do you use/incorporate which?“

My faith is a four elemental system.

Earth is plants, soil, growing things, material things, the physical world, manifestation of items to the physical plane by creativity or spellwork. It includes our earthly pleasures like food and wealth. Its direction is to the North. The energy is solid and calm. The element of Earth is dark and still, nurturing and heavy. Grounding lives here among the tree roots. This element is the one that is most within our control and is filled with foundational strength.

Air is air and ether, wind and turbulence, strategy and thought. Communication and ambitions live here until you act upon them (then, once action is applied, they move to Fire). It’s direction is to the East where ideas rise from the depths of our mind like the sun rises over the horizon. The energy is ever moving and never still, restless. Although we can control our thoughts to a point, there is an element of lack of control here that is not present in the previous element.

Water is for wet, and is refreshing and welcoming. Comforting and soothing. Its direction is to the West. Emotions and the flow of creativity reside here, as well as intuition and the subconscious. Spirits of those that have passed often linger here in this energy. As emotions are far less easily controlled than thought, so Water becomes the third element as we get further from the earthly plane and closer to divinity. Centering oneself lives here in the depths of still waters and quiet calm among pondweed and cattails.

Fire is for flames, heat, and enthusiasm. It’s direction is to the South. It is what lights us up from within and pushes us to act. Too much fire will burn your life to the ground, too little leaves your life empty and listless. It’s energy dances and sparks, for it is through action that this element is most commonly expressed. It is the fervor of our lives, and is where our ethics and principles stand tall. Pride also lives here. Within this element, we have the least control, for it is where our soul sings out to speak of what is right for us… and what isn’t.

You will note that although the four elements above climb a ladder from what is most in our control to what is least in our control, there is no element here for divinity. Each of these elements holds their own spirituality within them. Divinity, for me, resides beyond and “above” these elements and is best defined as the energies of creation, evolution, and balance. I do not feel that it is an element, so much as the beginning and end of all things… and all that lies between those two points as well.

Having been raised Wiccan, I am of course very familiar with Wicca’s five-element system (earth, air, fire, water, spirit) of that faith. I am also familiar, through my father and research, with the Japanese Gogyo system of five elements (fire, water, wood, metal, earth). Although the Wiccan system is similar to what I use now, I don’t use either of these systems in my practice at this time.