Fire

In Alchemy an upward pointing triangle is used to designate the element of Fire. In alchemic tradition, metals are incubated by fire in the womb of the Earth and alchemists only accelerate their development. In ancient Greek medicine, each of the four humours became associated with an element. Yellow bile was the humor identified with fire, since both were hot and dry. Other things associated with fire and yellow bile in ancient and medieval medicine included the season of summer, since it increased the qualities of heat and aridity; the choleric temperament (of a person dominated by the yellow bile humour); the masculine; and the eastern point of the compass. Fire and the other Greek classical elements were incorporated into the Golden Dawn system. The elemental weapon of Fire is the Wand or Athame. The archangel of Fire is Michael. The Fire elementals are Salamanders. Common Magickal Attributes include: Cardinal direction: South Season: Summer Time of Day: Noon Time of Life: Youth Colours: Red or Orange, and sometimes black (infrared) Tarot Suit: Wands or Swords in the Minor Arcana. Wands are traditionally associated with Fire, and still are in most Tarot decks, however, increasingly decks are being published with Wands associated with Air and Swords with Fire. This is still a matter of debate within the esoteric and Wiccan community. Rules: Inspiration, Passion Altar Tool: Candle or Incense Energy: Masculine Other correspondences include blood, rubies, and in writing Fire is sometimes represented by a red upwards triangle. In rituals, fire is represented in the forms of burning objects, love spells, baking and lighting candles or fires. The manifestations of the element are found in the sun, lightning, fire, volcanoes and lava, and all forms of light. Cats of all types, especially the lion and tiger, are also thought to personify the element of fire, as are all predatory creatures, such as the fox. Other mythic and legendary creatures of fire include Phoenix, Drake and Dragon. Fire’s place on the pentagram is the lower right point.

Water

Water is one of the four classical elements in ancient Greek philosophy and science. It was commonly associated with the qualities of emotion and intuition. According to Aristotle, water is both cold and wet, and occupies a place between air and earth among the elemental spheres. In ancient Greek medicine, each of the four humours became associated with an element. Phlegm was the humor identified with water, since both were cold and wet. Other things associated with water and phlegm in ancient and medieval medicine included the season of Winter, since it increased the qualities of cold and moisture; the phlegmatic temperament (of a person dominated by the phlegm humour); the feminine; the brain; and the western point of the compass. In alchemy, the chemical element of mercury was often associated with water and its alchemical symbol was an downward-pointing triangle. People born under the astrological signs of Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces being one of the two drawn elements meaning it is part of two of the classical elements are thought to have dominant water personalities. Water personalities tend to be emotional, deep, nurturing, sympathetic, empathetic, imaginative and intuitive; however, they can also be sentimental, over-sensitive, escapistic and irrational. Water and the other Greek classical elements were incorporated into the Golden Dawn system. The elemental weapon of water is the cup. The archangel of water is Gabriel. The water elementals are called Undines. Common Magickal Attributes include: Cardinal direction:West Season: Autumn Time of Day: Dusk/Twilight Time of Life: Adulthood Elemental Being: Undine Colors: Ocean Blue, Sea Green, Dusky Violet, and Grey Magical Tools: cup or chalice Tarot suit: Cups in the Minor Arcana Energy, inspiration, passion Altar Tool: Cup Feminine energy Other correspondences include emotions, love, compassion, healing, dreams, divination, intuition, psychic abilities The manifestations of the element of water are rivers, oceans, lakes, wells, fog, all drinks, and the rain. Animals, especially the dolphin, seal, turtle, frog, and all types of fish, are also thought to personify the element of water. Other mythic and legendary creatures of water include the Mermaid, Oread, Naiad, Sea Serpent, and Dragon. Water’s place on the pentagram is the right hand point.

Everyday Water
by Link

 

When you think of “Water” what comes to mind? A tranquil lake, gentle rain, or raging sea? Whether magical element or just a simple cup of tea, water can be a very special part of your life.

Water Spirits
 

Every body of water is an entity. Each lake, puddle or pool has a unique life-force all its own. It can be as vast as the sea, or as small as a two-sip potion bottle – any body of water has a personality just a little bit different than any other. Can you feel the personality of your bath? Can you feel a certain comfort within a place where you swim regularly? Try to sense what makes each body of water different than another.

Water at Home
 

A home is a very special place. It holds all the elements, and surely combines them into spirit. Water is an integral part of your home, like any ecosystem. The bathroom, the kitchen, the plumbing surely are temples for your own home’s personal aspect of water. When you visit the home of a new friend, make an effort to drink their tap water to take in a bit of the unique personality of that place. It may help you get a better feel for where you are, and all that resides there. Perhaps it is no accident that one of the first things someone offers a guest is something to drink. This concept is not limited to someone’s home. Going on a sales call or job interview? Grab a quick drink when you get there!

Healing Waters
 

Water is used in a variety of healing rites. Most magical people are quite aware of healing energies in teas, brews and baths. Next time you use one of these devices, try specifically addressing the water aspect within your magic. People often focus on the herbs used in their potions. But don’t forget the water spirits within your hot cup of tea that washes these herbs into your steamy Circle. Magic is often the chemistry of mixing things, thus mixing the energies they possess. Together, water and herbs make something very special, more so than either could do alone. Employ the water you drink to help swallow an aspirin; see the “liquid” in your cough syrup. Most over the counter drugs come in both liquid and tablet form. Perhaps this choice can help fit your magical need? When might a liquid work better than a solid, or vice versa?

Water Divination
 

Some people scry as a means to foretell the future or answer questions. Scrying is the act of gazing meditatively into a shiny nebulous surface, like a crystal ball. Fill your cauldron with water and see what shimmers on its surface — whether by moonlight, candelight or just bathroom nightlight. Oh, you don’t own a $200 cast iron genuine witchy cauldron to fill? Try any household vessel, perhaps one that fits your specific need. For example, if you seek financial guidance, try using the jar you store your loose change in. A new beginning? How about your morning coffee cup. Love? Perhaps a vase you might use for a dozen red roses.

For divination, you may want to try saving water to re-use over and over again each time you scry. Perhaps this water, just like you, will become more adept at scrying with practice! You might experiment with the specific type of water you want to use. When might water from the ocean work best? The rain or morning dew? Try collecting waters from the special places in your life, the stream where you picnic, the lake where you camp. Use your creativity here. Is there enough room in your freezer for a chunk of the first snowfall?

Another form of water divination might be to merely spill it on a flat surface. Which way did it run? Towards a specific direction? What does this direction mean to you? Try dropping something magical into a pool of water and count the ripples it makes. Four? Five? Do you find meaning in this number? Water is a very flexible thing. What new ways can you create to divine with water?

Your Own Waters
 

Perhaps the water we are closest to, but notice the least, is the water within our own bodies. Each of us carries around gallons that we borrow from our surroundings via the moisture within food and drink. We store it for hours, days, maybe even weeks, and carry it around like a little magical charm. Remember this the next time you share a drink during a special moment. A bit of that moment stays with you within the water you drank. Magical people instinctively feel the magic within their own waters. Ever notice how some people put a little something extra into licking and sealing a special envelope? It becomes a magical act!

Matter can be charged with your own personal energy, like the way a chair becomes warm when you sit on it. Water is especially receptive to storing energy. What energies does water hold within your body? Note that just about every emotion is expressed with water. Our water enables release, catharsis, getting it out of our system – whether tears of joy, a nervous sweat, or acts of love and pleasure. When we get too sad, too happy, too excited – water is what we often cast forth.

When you drink in water, take in what you need from the world. Ask for new things, new benefits, new wisdom and experiences. Just drink them all in like making a toast! And when you expel water, casting it out of your body, think what you’d like to cast out into life’s magical currents. Taking in, then sending out. What could be more magical than that?

The West
 

One popular belief assigns each element to a direction, with water corresponding to the west. My guess is that this began in England where the ocean actually is in the west, where the storms blew in from, thus fitting the geography and beliefs of the people who created the system. When members of the modern Craft community came to America, they continued the custom of looking to the west for water, even though the nature and geography around them was actually quite different. Water is one example of the choice whether to follow tradition, or modify our customs to fit the unique situations around us. I live on the east coast of North America, where the Atlantic Ocean is only 60 miles to the east. Yet most people I know turn their back and face west for water. Experiment with what direction feels most like water; try sensing what works best for you. You may find that the direction really doesn’t matter much. Someone I consider quite wise once reminded me that “water is where you feel it.”

The Water Cycle
 

Can we learn from the cycle of Earth’s water supply? Water vapor rises from the ocean, crystallizes to form a raindrop, falls to the Earth, runs its course through life’s rivers and streams, returning to the ocean, its source, to vaporize once again, perpetuating water’s cycle. Are we any different? Even today, Pagans sing about a drop of rain flowing to the ocean, returning to its source, the source of all life. This song even tells where we come from, and reminds us that we shall return. Think about the words. (Z. Budapest; 1971, Spring Hill Music.)

Look at the branching shape each tiny stream has as it feeds a larger brook, which then feeds a mighty river. Now look at the veins in your own arm. Perhaps it is the nature of small things to flow together, forming something larger. What other parts of life work the same way? What small things flow into you? And what do you join with to form something greater?

Like us, water also has many lives. The same H20 molecule that sits upon your sweaty brow today may have once been a teardrop in a lover’s eye or raindrop in a raging storm. It may even have once been part of an icy comet that hurled to Earth ions ago after whirling round the galaxy.

Water Magic
 

Perhaps the most common water magic is washing away something unwanted; we wash things to cleanse. Often the physical act of washing can have a magical component as well. When you shower, do you sometimes wash away more than just the grime of the day, making your stress-relieving shower a magical act? Have you ever rinsed out a glass or piece of clothing for a special occasion, and visualized the desired outcome of that occasion? When I wash my car, I pray for safe travel. (From the bathroom, the bedroom, and even the garage — Kitchen Witchery exists in every room of the house!)

I know someone who has slept on the same waterbed for a decade. This person respects (and actually talks to) the water within this bed as something sacred, like a magical familiar. Why not? Just imagine the energies this water holds. It becomes warmed by your body heat, hears a decade worth of dreams and passion. It provides the bliss of restful sleep. No other body of water can ever be that intimate.

Like anything magical, water is multi-dimensional. Make a list of properties you associate with water. Which aspect fits your magical need? Not only does water wash, but it nourishes and helps things grow. (Perhaps it is no accident that our first meal of Mother’s milk comes in liquid form.) Water is the place where life started, creating a new beginning for primordial Earth. What new beginnings do you yearn for? Water is the ink in your pen, the wine in your clinking glass. It freezes solid, yet steams away into vapor. Water makes ripply splashy noises, and swirls round and round into spiral whirlpools. Forget what you heard when you were nine years old – please do play with water!

Link
6538 Collins Avenue # 211
Miami Beach, FL 33141
AnthLink@aol.com

Everyday Fire
By Link

 

It is around us every day.  We see it, touch it; we are sometimes burned by it.  It is the warmth of a comfortable place to sit, and the roaring blaze that devastates an entire village.  It burns within every beat of our heart.  Fire.

Fire is Change

      Fire is around us everywhere.  The energy of Fire is often quite obvious, but sometimes can be tricky to spot.  Do you have a special piece of jewelry?  Most times we look at an object and see its earthy solid form, what it looks like today.  But the metals in your jewelry took their present shape by being forged at temperatures higher than we might imagine.  And as long as they retain that shape, they retain the impact of Fire.  Fire is energy.  Energy has the power to change things.  In fact, the symbol for Fire (a triangle pointed upwards) is a Greek symbol called Delta – which means change.  Think how the energy of events in your own life have “forged” you, changed your life and shaped you into what you are today.

 

Fire is Light

      Much of the work and play we do is aided by Fire.  Reading uses Fire, since it requires light, usually either Sunlight or electrical light — both very Fiery indeed.  Next time you read something, give a special “thank you” to the light energy which carried its joy off the page to the gleam in your eye.  Take note that whatever change in the world caused by reading – every classroom, every election booth, every love-letter – comes to us via the light of Fire.

Fire is the Sun

      What else depends on light?  Photosynthesis: the act of turning Sunlight into food.  Plants do this everyday.  All our food, our incense, our herbal medicines, our wooden homes, all contain the Sunlight stored away over the years by plants.  Feel it?  Recognize the Sun’s stored flame next time you hold an object made of wood.  When wood burns it actually releases this solar energy into a fiery glow.  Feel the warmth of the sun next time you enjoy a camp fire, fireplace, or simple votive candle.  There is something very primal within Fire.  From cave-times to today, people huddling around an open flame regard it as something special.

      Without question, people notice how Earth’s agricultural breadbasket nourishes us.  But what nourishes the Earth with enough energy to create such delights?  The sun!  Mother Earth contains the solid materials, the building-blocks ready to construct this bounty.  But Sunlight provides the energy to ignite life, turning the fields green and growing.

      Sunlight also charges people with a special glow.  Try soaking up the Sun on a hot summer day.  Store it within you.  Whether you feel it or not, the Sun’s energy changes you a bit, like the way a glow-in-the-dark watch shines after you hold it up to the light.  Feel the Sun’s flame within you.  Is there a special part of your body that reacts to the Sun more than others?  Maybe after hours of soaking up its energy, you have Sun-hair, Sun-skin, Sun-eyes?  Do more intense things happen to you after you’ve been in the sun?  Do people treat you different?  Perhaps they sense a little bit more radiance within you.

Fire is Magic

We often recognize the magic of water and herbs when brewing our magical teas, but the heat in our hot steamy cup also contains Fire.  Next time you seek healing energies from a cup of hot tea, direct the Fire energy within its heat to work for you as well.  Ask it to speed your recovery.  You might find working with all the elements within your cup works better than any single one alone.

Your home is well-charged with Fire.  I often look to my heater’s pilot light as a perpetual candle flame that always stay lit.  A home is rarely without Flame.  Its lights, its electrical devices all breathe Fire’s life throughout your house, transforming it from a cold dark place into a warm happy home.

      People often find special magic within color.  Fire burns with a variety of colors.  Copper burns green; silicon (like sand or glass) burns yellow.  If you like working with Fire, and color, try creating a Flame that matches the color of your desires.  But be ecologically aware – whatever you burn ends up in the air and the ground where its ashes remain.  Try to keep it simple.

      People work with Fire in many ways.  Ever notice someone trying to start a difficult car?  They make facial expressions, utter words of encouragement; they even do some rather interesting rocking motions – anything to crank electricity from the car’s battery to the starter and into the engine!

      Gotta light?  Ever notice the way someone acts when they light a cigarette for someone else, someone they desire?  Its like they communicate right through the flame as it is passed from one person to another.

Passing the Flame

      Try passing a flame from one place to another, like lighting a candle or incense stick from somewhere special on your altar.  I like to pass flames from one candle to another, thinking about how one candle gains the gift of life from another.  If you use a candle in magic, when might you want to light its flame from the Goddess candle on your altar?  The God candle?  Or perhaps the candle of a particular direction?  Is there a particular source of flame that might work best for your intent?  If you own a car, what type of special work might you do with the flame from your car’s dashboard lighter?  From your kitchen stove?  What fires await within that matchbook you took as a memento of a special place?  For some fun, try lighting a Fire with a magnifying glass, starting your flame with nothing but the light of the Sun!

Fire is Divination

      Fire can be used for a variety of divination techniques.  We’ve all heard of scrying into tea leaves, but what about scrying into the ashes left behind by a small fire, perhaps in your trusty cauldron, or maybe in that same heat-resistant mug you use for tea.  Instead of pouring water on your fragrant leaves, light them aflame!  Try burning special woods or herbs, parchment, photos, old pay stubs, the daily news.  What might work best to answer your particular question?  Besides looking at the ashes, did you notice anything unusual about the flame?  Did it peak in any particular direction before going out?  What does that direction mean to you?  For a new experience, take a blank piece of paper and wave it over a candle flame, close enough to leave black soot marks, but not close enough to ignite.  Interpret these sooty shapes and designs the same way you would a cloud in the sky.  Do you see a pair of lips?  Perhaps a bunny rabbit?  What do these shapes and symbols mean to you?  (“Faerie Realm,” Ted Andrews, Llewellen Publications.)

 

Fire is Alive

      Each flame is a unique life form, a unique spirit unlike any other.  It has life and breath, it is born, consumes, grows, then flickers out, leaving behind an empty shell.  Ashes to ashes.  Are we any different?  Try sensing the spirit in the flames you encounter.  What makes “this” candle just a little bit different than the other?  Try communicating with the engine spark that moves you from one place to another.  Acknowledge the energy that warms your bath, rings your phone, gives you a tan or just keeps your heart going one beat to the next.  Try whispering softly to even the bathroom nightlight.  Some of these flames might just answer you back!

Link
6538 Collins Avenue # 255
Miami Beach, FL 33141
AnthLink@aol.com