On a personal level, elemental magick is a great way to clarify problem solving. Every aspect of your reality falls into one or more elemental domains, as do various aspects of your health and personal growth or skill development. So to stick with the four element system for now, every sector of your life could, in theory, be divided into the four elemental domains.
The fire domain would be everything having to do with your energy and your transformation. The earth domain would have everything to do with your strength and stability as well as your constructive activity and planning. Air would be everything regarding your perception and communication, and water would be everything of a more essential nature, your emotions, self reflection and self knowledge. Water is the water of life. The element of spiritual matters or the soul. Everything you face could be broken down into one or more of those four domains, and every aspect of a problem acts exactly like the element it’s connected to. So rapid change can be slowed by attending to the spiritual aspect of your experience.
This is very interesting, and I think modern psychology is still thinking along these terms. Much of science and medicine hasn’t gotten that far away from its original and perhaps more intuitive roots.
The first thing that comes to mind seems to be water hindering a fire part of my life. Excellent observation, and you may want it to do exactly that. Don’t things seem the most chaotic and pointless when your thinking gets really “dry”? But it’s also true that the search for meaning saps energy and can distract from constructive action.
I’m thinking too much emotions and perceptions are slowing me on a certain transformation at the moment. Ah yes, too much water and air, not enough earth. Like a fire without wood.
Perhaps an observation is that the earth element would not only hinder another, but perhaps provide balance as well? Oh, very true, and sometimes you would want that.
Arguable you would mostly want to set up the creative cycle in your personal life. Earth feeds fire. Fire emits gas or “airs”. Air condenses into water which moistens and makes earth fertile. Ideally, you would have to do very little destruction, but sometimes your creative cycle can become twisted and it takes on an inertia of its own. In those cases, the cycle of destruction is valid and necessary for balance. Water douses fire. Earth blocks air.
Hence the spiritual practice of seeking solitude in crisis. Add water to fire? Yes, and this can be valid and the most appropriate path for a time, but eventually you would want to take up the creative cycle again. Reject any one domain or aspect of your life, and they will all get twisted. If you refuse to ever be earthly, you will pollute your spirit with the senseless erosion of your physical life. See the elemental connection?
And out of balance? You would be out of balance.
I’m thinking of oxidation. Which is too much fire. Oxidation makes things “red”. Even if you aren’t looking for mastery of the actual elements, these energies tend to be unified with each other anyway. So you can’t influence your own personal elemental energy and not effect the bigger domain.
Getting too caught up in your perceptions (air) can feed fire in relationship or activity? Sometimes too much in relationships and they get out of balance. Yes. Hot air, argumentative.
Earth is needed to ground? Earth is very needed there.
To dive into health, even our health needs to observe element balance. If one gets too much exercise (fire) without reflection (water) then the other qualities get consumed, and you wind up with the athletic burn-out. Funny they call it burn out, is it not?
Too much communication and information seeking (air) leads to loss of order or center (earth), and the person could wind up spouting their hot air in a mental health facility.
Likewise, too much progress (earth) without projection (air) leads to gross industrial tragedies and ecological damage. Like when people just thoughtlessly use whatever cleanser in their home and wind up with a toxic reaction.
Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.
Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~