And Isis answer made: Of living things, my son, some are made friends with fire, and some with water, some with air, and some with earth, and some with two or three of these, and some with all. And, on the contrary, again some are made enemies of fire, and some of water, some of earth, and some of air, and some of two of them, and some of three, and some of all. For instance, son, the locust and all flies flee fire; the eagle and the hawk and all high-flying birds flee water; fish, air and earth; the snake avoids the open air. Whereas snakes and all creeping things love earth; all swimming things love water; winged things, air, of which they are the citizens; while those that fly still higher love the fire and have the habitat near it. Not that some of the animals as well do not love fire; for instance salamanders, for they even have their homes in it. It is because one or another of the elements doth form their bodies' outer envelope. Each soul, accordingly, while it is in its body is weighted and constricted by these four.
- Kore Kosmou ("Virgin of the World") ascribed to Hermes Trismegistu
History
Empedocles of Acragas (c. 495 – c. 435 BCE) proposed four archai by which to understand the cosmos: fire, air, water, and earth. The Greek philosopher Empedocles (c. 450 BC) was the first to propose the four classical elements as a set: fire, earth, air, and water.9 He called them the four "roots" (ῥιζώματα, rhizōmata)
Plato (427–347 BCE) believed the elements were geometric forms (the platonic solids)
“Now hear the fourfold Roots of everything: Enlivening Hera, Aidoneus, bright Zeus, And Nestis, moistening mortal springs with tears.”
- Tetrasomia, Empedocles, C5th BCE.
Returning to the Greek views of the elements, in the third century BCE the Ptolemaic Egyptian high priest and historian Manetho recorded deity attributions which seem to almost sit as a bridge between the ideas of Empedocles and those of later traditions. “The Egyptians say that Isis and Osiris are the Moon and the Sun; that Zeus is the name which they give to the all-pervading Spirit, Hephaestus to Fire, and Demeter to Earth. Among the Egyptians the moist element is named Oceanus and their own river Nile; and to him they ascribed the origin of the Gods. To Air, again, they give, it is said, the name of Athena.”
The Symbol of Earth
“the symbol for planet Earth, being a circle with an equal-armed cross dividing it into four quarters. These four quarters thus equate to the four elements which the planet is comprised of.”
The 4 Elements as Present in all things…
Robert Boyle in The Sceptical Chymist, which was published in 1661 in the form of a dialogue between five characters. Themistius, the Aristotelian of the party, says: “If You but consider a piece of green-Wood burning in a Chimney, You will readily discern in the disbanded parts of it the four Elements, of which we teach It and other mixt bodies to be compos’d. The fire discovers it self in the flame ... the smoke by ascending to the top of the chimney, and there readily vanishing into air ... manifests to what Element it belongs and gladly returnes. The water ... boyling and hissing at the ends of the burning Wood betrayes it self ... and the ashes by their weight, their firiness, and their dryness, put it past doubt that they belong to the Element of Earth.”
A tree needs four things to live and thrive
- Earth, soil
- Air,
- Water
- Fire - light of sun
Element Theory
In his On Generation and Corruption,Aristotle related each of the four elements to two of the four sensible qualities: Fire is both hot and dry. Air is both hot and wet (for air is like vapor, ἀτμὶς). Water is both cold and wet. Earth is both cold and dry.
Definition of Element
“An element, we take it, is a body into which other bodies may be analysed, present in them potentially or in actuality (which of these, is still disputable), and not itself divisible into bodies different in form. That, or something like it, is what all men in every case mean by element.” — Aristotle, On the Heavens, Book III, Chapter III
Proclus’ Theory of Elements
The Neoplatonic philosopher Proclus rejected Aristotle's theory relating the elements to the sensible qualities hot, cold, wet, and dry. He maintained that each of the elements has three properties. Fire is sharp (ὀξυτητα), subtle (λεπτομερειαν), and mobile (εὐκινησιαν) while its opposite, earth, is blunt (αμβλυτητα), dense (παχυμερειαν), and immobile (ακινησιαν21); they are joined by the intermediate elements, air and water, in the following fashion:
Elements
In magick we speak of four elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. These are not primitive versions of the elements of the periodic table. In fact, they are not part of the material world at all - they are the energies that underlie the sphere of Malkuth.
Sometimes you will also come across references of a fifth element, called by various names - aethyr, quintessence, or spirit. Just as the other four elements underlie the material world, so does the quintessence underlie them. It is these five energies we can either invoke or banish using the pentagram. The four elements plus quintessence equal 5 - and each is represented by a different point on the pentagram. The prefix “pent” means five. The pentagon is a five sided building.
The reason we can use the pentagram to invoke zodiacal forces is because each sign corresponds to one of those elements. That’s why we hear of certain signs - like Cancer, Scorpio, or Pisces being water signs - while others, such as Aries, Leo, or Sagittarius being fire signs.
These four elemental energies vary in density or vibrational rate. Fire is the quickest or highest level of the energetic spectrum, followed by air, then water, and then Earth. In magick they create what we think of as the planes of reality. We exist on all of these planes or levels of reality simultaneously. Our physical senses allow us to perceive the densest level - that of Earth - but with practice and training we can also learn to perceive the more subtle levels of reality as well.
“Five is the hand of the philosopher. It is made up of the four elements plus spirit, which - like the coordination between the human thumb and the fingers - cooperates with the four elements, but is not with them for it works by opposition. Five is called The Christ, and in the Tarot it is the hierophant or priest, because it is the spirit of man rising from the tomb of matter.” — Manly P. Hall - The Sacred Magic of the Qabbalah
States of Matter
solid liquid gas Vapour
India
the pancha mahabhuta, or "five great elements", of Hinduism are: bhūmi or pṛthvī (earth), āpas or jala (water), agní or tejas (fire), vāyu, vyāna, or vāta (air or wind) ākāśa, vyom, or śūnya (space or zero) or (aether or void).
They further suggest that all of creation, including the human body, is made of these five essential elements and that upon death, the human body dissolves into these five elements of nature, thereby balancing the cycle of nature.
The five elements are associated with the five senses, and act as the gross medium for the experience of sensations. The basest element, earth, created using all the other elements, can be perceived by all five senses — (i) hearing, (ii) touch, (iii) sight, (iv) taste, and (v) smell. The next higher element, water, has no odor but can be heard, felt, seen and tasted. Next comes fire, which can be heard, felt and seen. Air can be heard and felt. "Akasha" (aether) is beyond the senses of smell, taste, sight, and touch; it being accessible to the sense of hearing alone.
Mastery of the Elements
Earth Air Water Fire
“How many of those kinds of things called elements, What are the effects of heat, earth, of humid air, From where are the great primordial skies born, From where do the seas flow or the various colors of the rainbow, What makes the clamorous thunder come from the clouds, Or from what ethereal halls are lightening hurled, What are the secrets of the flames at night, what causes comets To come, and what blind force causes the earth to swell And violently shake, and what is the seed of gold and iron, All of nature’s virtues are cleverly hidden.”
- Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Book I, Ch. 2, Agrippa