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Introduction

The first knowledge lesson of Self-Initiation into the Golden Dawn Tradition mentions the four elements (air, water, fire and earth) and various associations with those elements. However, there is very little mention of the source of those associations and how they can be used. I will attempt to present some alternative material and viewpoints that I have gotten from ancient and modern authors.

Symbols

In Timaeus, Plato says the various forms are sharper (able to penetrate other forms) when they have less parts and have more acute angles. Therefore, the regular solids in order of their sharpness are tetrahedron (4 sides), cube (6 sides), octahedron (8 sides), dodecahedron (12 sides) and icosahedron (20 sides). Of these, the dodecahedron was not spoken of publicly because it was sacred. All of the other forms are made from equilateral triangles except the cube. Earth was associated with the cube since solids and cubes are both less mobile. Fire was associated with the tetrahedron as they are both the sharpest (most penetrating). Of the remaining, the least sharp, the icosahedron, is associated with water. Leaving the octahedron for air. The last three are also associated in order of weight since, the form with the least parts, weighs less.

From The Greek Qabalah, we learn that the Greek words for the elements (ahr, gh, pur, udwr) contain exactly four consonants (non-voiced or semi-voiced letters). Therefore, these consonants were frequently used in magical writings to represent those elements (rho for air, gamma for earth, pi for fire and delta for water). The associated magical words can also be used for greater effects (reroutohr, geniomouqig, purobarup and dhmogenhd, respectively).

Potential

In Physics, Aristotle mentions that each element has the potential of all others. On the physical plane, earth represents most solid material, water represents liquids or metals, air represents gasses and fire represents energy. So Aristotle's comment means that any solid can be transformed into a liquid, a gas or energy (and vice versa). On the mental planes, air represents ideas or forms, water represents raw materials, fire represents the energy required to transform ideas and raw materials into actualized objects and earth represents the actualized objects. Now Aristotle's comment means that a car, for example, contains the idea of a transportation device, the metal, plastic, glass, etc. of its composition, the potential energy from its formation and the actual Ford Mustang sitting on the front lawn.

If this statement is expanded a little, it could also mean that each object has the potential to be any other object, to one extent or another. (For example, every person has the potential to be a passionate lover or a mental genius.) If this is true, when we manipulate magical energies, we are not transforming something into something that it isn't. We are merely bringing out the potential that already exists.

Entropy

Another statement from the same source says that the total amount of any substance remains the same so, if a cup of water becomes air, somewhere else, air becomes a cupful of water. Otherwise, the size of the universe would have to change and Aristotle discusses a logical proof that the size of the universe must stay the same. This can be illustrated by freezing a sealed bottle of water but I wouldn't recommend it as it results in lots of broken glass.

Ocellus Lucanus, an early Pythagorean, supports this idea when he said such things as "the universe is indestructible and unbegotten since it always was and always will be" and "This universe is therefore without a beginning and without an end". (The reason the universe has no beginning and no ending, in my opinion, is that, every time something is created in one place, the same substance is destroyed somewhere else.)

If this concept is expanded to other forms (love, wealth, etc.) two things become apparent. First, anytime you successfully cast a love spell, you are effectively removing part of someone else's capacity to love. If you successfully cast a wealth spell, you are removing part of someone else's ability to gain wealth. This shouldn't stop a person from using magic for such things but they should consider the ethical implications of casting spells to gain something that they already have more than their share of.

The second implication that I see is that this would probably tend naturally to a uniform level for everyone. This means that it should be easier to cast a wealth spell for a poor person to achieve their fair share than it would be to cast the same spell for a rich person to gain more than their share.

Powers

It is also from Pythagoras that we first hear of the "primary powers" (dry, moist, heat and cold) of the elements (earth, air, fire and water). There are sixteen "powers": heat and cold, moistness and dryness, heaviness and lightness, rarity and density, smoothness and roughness, hardness and softness, thinness and thickness, acuteness and obtuseness. The powers of fire are heat, dryness, rarity and sharpness. The powers of water are coldness, moistness, density and obtuseness. The powers of air are heat, moistness, softness, smoothness, and lightness. The powers of earth are coldness, dryness, hardness, roughness, heaviness and thickness.

The magical uses of the powers of the elements are twofold. First, it allows us to determine the different types of elements (stone is harder than soil but they are both types of earth). Second, it allows us to transform objects (or situations) from one element to another (to transform fire, which is hot and dry, to air, which is hot and moist, just add moisture). To create a transformation when there are more than one power that differs, you must go through the intermediate stages. In example to magically transform an idea (air, hot, moist) into material wealth (earth, cold, moist), you must first go through the stage of energetic endeavor (fire, hot, dry) or gathering raw materials (water, cold, moist).

Conclusion

I have shown the sources of many of the associations of the elements and I suggest that to use them magically several things should be considered. You should consider what your magic is trying to accomplish, what is the source of what you're trying to accomplish and what intermediate stages you need to go through. You should consider if you are trying to get what you deserve or more than what you deserve and you should consider what side effects your magic will create. Magic can still be effective without these considerations but it will likely be more difficult and have unpredictable side effects.

WORKS CITED