Theosophic Misfits

Impqueen · Acolyte Joined: 01 Nov 2006 Posts: 139 Location: Essex, GB

Could someone explain the elements to me? Your take on them and how they fit into your conception of how the universe works? They are something which confuses me (amongst all the other things which confuse me....) and as yet I'm not even sure whether they fit into my ideas of how the universe works. Nothing I have read so far really tells me what the elements are supposed to really be, or why everything is supposedly aligned with one or more of them. So far, if casting a circle (happens very rarely indeed), I have tended to think of them collectively as symbolising 'everything'.

Are they just a system of categorisation? Or is there something deeper than that?

I'm sorry if this isn't particularly coherent - I'm tired. Embarassed

Darkk · Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:23 pm Post subject:

In my particular cosmology, the elements stand for the metaphysical properties of the gestalten universe... a physical/spiritual "echo" of the greater whole, if you will.

For instance, Water is the manifestation of Primordialism or Primordial essences... mutable and unshaped, the essence of Water flows from shape to shape, refusing to take on a fixed form in any permanent sense. Spiritually, Water represents the aspects of depth, profundity, and timelessness. The Cycle of Being begins in the aspect of Water... unformed matter moving in a fluid fashion, flowing between forms in the Unmanifest void.

Stone, or Earth, is the essence of Stasis... fixed and unyielding, it represents solidity of form and stability of design. Stone represents the spiritual concepts of protection, stewardship, and scaffold... its purpose is to nurture and protect, to encase and to defend. It is second in the Cycle of Being, as unfixed forms calcify into True shapes and are given names... Stone brings the gift and curse of concrete reality.

Wind is the essence of Dynamism... the intrinsic movement between and around all things, the motion of fixed points throughout shared space. Wind's primary spiritual connotation is that of change and progress... it is associated with time and its passing as well as all the internal cycles within the Cycle of Being. It stands third within the Cycle of Being itself... moving forms within the unified All on their paths, demarcating beginnings and endings.

The final element of Fire is the essence of Entropy... the essence that reduces forms into their base components, simultaneously destroying their original shapes and judging the gestalt of their existence. Fire's spiritual nature resonates with destruction, but also with illumination and judgment. It is the final spoke in the Cycle of Being... the reduction of concrete forms into their individual elements, which in turn returns them to the primordial state so that the cycle can begin again.

In my own spiritual/magical system, the elements are typically dealt with as singular forces... the All is considered beyond the grasp of the human mind, though it can be represented in various spiritual diagrams to serve as crude maps of the metaphysical universe and as a focus in some kinds of rituals or workings. Because the elements represent the four Prime Essences, they touch on and interact with just about everything... depending on how many levels of abstractions you wish to chase up the chain of events or causal roots.

- Darkk
_________________
All around me darkness gathers,
Fading is the sun that shone,
We must speak of other matters,
You can be me when I'm gone.

Impqueen · Acolyte Joined: 01 Nov 2006 Posts: 139 Location: Essex, GB

Interesting. I'd never thought of them as phases in a cycle before.

I rather like the fact that you use 'wind' and 'stone' instead of 'air' and 'earth', is there a particular reasoning behind this?

Darkk · Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 5:30 pm Post subject:

Earth does not really underline the nature of the element it is supposed to name, in my opinion... Earth is a proper place, but Stone is broader classification of substance... it just strikes me that using the term "Earth" to describe the element of Stone as a mixed metaphor, at best.

As for air... air is simply ambient space, it has no real connotations that the element is supposed to carry... air does not denote movement in a physical or spiritual sense. Wind, however, does carry these connotations, and seems a bit more apt for what the element itself is meant to convey.

- Darkk
_________________
All around me darkness gathers,
Fading is the sun that shone,
We must speak of other matters,
You can be me when I'm gone.

blackrose · Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 4:26 pm Post subject:

I didn't answer this before because I wasn't really sure how to answer. I'm still not sure I really do, to be honest... but I had some thoughts/musings regarding elements and gender last night... and I remembered this thread...

The closest system that I could be said to follow is the general Neopagan one, which seems to take elemental understanding from alchemy and/or astrology... which seem to have been influenced by the Greek notions of the 4 elements and humors...

I suppose in many ways I tend to think of them in that regard - water is intuition and deep feeling, air is thought and movement, fire is passion and transformation, earth is nurturing and solid...

But, mostly, I think of the elements in terms on their physicality and their natural essences moreso than the more abstract/metaphysical... It is one of the major differences between my way of seeing things and Aucald's - he's more mechanistic and I'm more 'natural'... more on the realm of what you see is what you get in some ways...

When I think of elements in the terms of the more abstract, I think of their varied manifestations and their more symbolic meanings... but in a more practical, day-to-day vein I deal with individual expressions of the elements... for instance, the creek I pass on the way home, the trees and woods around me, the river down the way... the wind that's blowing that day, whether it's fun and playful, or powerful, or angry...

I guess, ultimately, I tend to deal with specifics and less with generalities, except in spellwork or meditation...

Now - the specific thoughts that I was having yesterday, as I said, were in regards to gender assignments and elements. Earth is generally considered to be feminine, a la Mother Earth - but most expressions of Earth that I am drawn to - forests, in particular - I feel as being essentially male. Mountains are also mostly male - despite some people's feelings that caves within mountains are representative of wombs...

Water is seen as mostly female, and I have usually thought of it this way. I know the ocean near where I lived in Ireland almost always felt female... but there's the almost. Of course, she also had moods and each mood seemed to have a different personification/aspect...

The river near where I live now is definitely feminine...

But last night as I was walking home I passed the creek and my mind went down this particular path and I realized, for the first time, that the creek is masculine. It's also young... younger than the river that it feeds into. It's much more playful - childlike, almost. (Young in the sense of geological ages, mind you... )

Fire is often thought of as male, but I think of the sultry type flames are female - but the big, blazing out of control fires are often male, and sometimes neither... and sometimes some combination of both...

And, lastly, air is, again, thought of as male - but I tend to think of it as neither male nor female, for the most part... tho storm winds are often one of the other, depending...

I suppose part of it is tht a lot of the gender notions of the elements come from the thoughts of their abstract meanings/symbolisms... and the gender roles assigned to them. Earth is nurtuing, and women are more nurturing than men... Water is emotional and intuitive, often thought to be feminine traits. Air represents logic, often thought to be a male dominated thing, and fire is aggressive and destructive, often, again, thought to be male...

I think that, with me, I don't see anger as male as some might... I see anger as something which can have both male and female versions - men generally get angry in a way different from women. Of course there are exceptions and gender cross-overs and also gender-neutral varieties... and so, perhaps for me, I see the elements in the same way... it's the particular expression or feel of the essence which translates as male or female or both or neither...

I relate to the elements in the sense of they are parts of the living world around us. Yes combined they make up the planet, symbolizing 'everything'... but they also symbolize their own specific abstract and metaphysical constructs... and they are also, simply, what they are...

On an unrelated note, I something think of 'elements' in a larger sense... a larger conglomerate of the force of nature... like order and chaos, for instance. When discussing things like "what's your element" I often take the more "traditonal" approach... but, sometimes, the words spring to my mind: "My element is change... "
_________________
"... he who dares not grasp the thorn... should not crave the rose..."

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best night and day to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle any human being can fight and never stop fighting. --e. e. cummings