The four sensory experiences that are at the root of the concept of the four elements are: hot and cold, dry and humid. The pair, hot and cold, we refer to as positive and negative. Dry and Humid we refer to as electric and magnetic. It is very important that you learn the following table:
Hot Cold
(positive) (negative)
Dry (electric) Fire Earth
Humid (magnetic) Air Water
Fire and Water are the two primary elements, opposite polarities, so to say. Air and Earth are considered to be secondary, or mixtures of the first two. This is a manner of viewing it.
Some researchers see air as an interaction between the two basic principles of fire and water and earth as the synthesis of the three. The symbolism of Divine trinities "above" the world of manifestation somewhat reflects this view. You find this symbolism in many pagan religions as well as in the Christian religion which is in principle a paganized Jewish religion.
Electric and Magnetic relates to the phenomena of electromagnetic energy and life energy. The fire element is electric-positive. On the material plane it is energy, or light, in its
conventional meaning. The earth element is electric-negative. It is structured light, or "frozen light" as some researchers say. Modern physics somewhat supports this theory.
The air element is magnetic-positive. On the material plane it is active life energy, or free life energy. The water element is magnetic-negative, or structured life.
If we relate the four elements to the material plane, we can easily order the four elements. Earth and Water belong to the dense material plane while air and fire are part of the etheric plane. The labels "positive" and "negative" are references to density. The elemental references as being "fire," "air," etc., are pictures to make us understand easier the basic qualities. The references to electromagnetism and life energy, dense (structured) and volatile (etheric, non-structured) conform more with the realities of modern physics and magic of the future. Let's repeat here:
Fire - volatile light - etheric electromagnetism - hot and dry - positive electric
Water - dense life energy - structured orgone (prana, chi) - cold and humid - negative magnetic
Air - volatile life energy - etheric orgone (prana, chi) - hot and humid - positive magnetic
Earth - dense ("frozen") light - structured electromagnetism - cold and dry - negative electric
The four elements supply us with an excellent model for the planes of existence and in correlation with it planes of experience within ourselves. The earth element refers to that which is conscious, or the material planes. The water element refers to the human emotions and to the astral plane. The air element refers to the human mind and the mental plane, while the fire element refers to the human will and the causal plane.
Magicians see some "entities" or energies of a higher order that correlate to the four elements. These traditional elementals are the salamanders for the fire element, the sylphs are spirits of the air element, the undines are spirits of the water element, and the gnomes are spirits of the earth element.
In a technological sense we may view spirits as energies of a higher order that are made to manifest (personify) in the etheric plane.
In the following I am giving you a set of correlations for each element. These correlations will suffice for our present work.
Element Fire Air Water Earth
World Emanation Creation Formation Forms
Plane Causal Mental Astral Material
Spirit Group Salamanders Sylphs Undines Gnomes
Geometric Shape Triangle Square Pentagon Pentagram
Hebrew Letter Yod He Vau He
Material Correl. Fire Gas Liquids Solids
Modern Physics Free Light Free Chi Structured Solidified
Chi Energy
(life forms)(matter)
Human Expr. Will Mind Emotions Consc.
The Planes
The planes of existence correlate with the elements. You should familiarize yourself well with this model in order to work toward consciousness of One with the techniques that I am showing you in this course. You may perceive these planes as "higher" planes or as "inner" planes. As you progress with your work you will get to understand that this distinction between "higher" and "inner" has only limited relevance. Oneness with the Divine will ultimately elevate you into realms where a distinction between "inner" and "higher" become meaningless.
The Material Plane
The material plane is the plane where you find all that is tangible and where you find these things that you become conscious of. Each one of the higher planes has a material
component that becomes conscious to you.
For convenience we subdivide the material plane into two levels: the etheric plane and the dense material plane. The etheric plane is the plane that contains free chi and free light energy. The dense material plane is the realm that is structured.
Although we make such a distinction, there is no sharp boarder between the two planes, but a continuous transition. Free chi and free light are only at the threshold of chaos. The more manifest these energies become the denser are their appearances. Also, there is nothing that is purely chi and there is nothing that is purely light, there is nothing that is totally dense and there is nothing that is totally unstructured. The labels that we use are describing extremes that are beyond our existence. It is the mixture of the elements that make things existing while the pure element by itself cannot have any existence. The material plane is far more complex than the space-time continuum that modern physics attempts to describe. Life energy does not follow the laws of the three dimensional universe that we measure, but it has its own type of "space." The main characteristic of that space is structural linkage.