MAGICK 4 -- ELEMENTS AND FORCES

The Ancients divided the world into four basic
principles or *elements* -- earth, water, fire, and air.
That viewpoint has mostly changed with advances of science,
but the four elements are still accepted in magick, for they
are more closely linked with the emotions than modern
explanations of the world. Many occultists think of the magical
elements as forces, or as *qualities* of energy; especially
within the astral world. Each element has a symbol and color.
(Common symbols are -- fire: a triangle pointing up; air:
a triangle pointing up and with a horizontal line through the
middle of it; water: a triangle pointing down; earth: a
triangle pointing down and with a horizontal line through the
middle of it.) Colors of the elements are -- earth: brown and
green; water: blue; fire: red; air: yellow...The Eastern
tattvic system uses different symbols and colors. The elements
are often used in magick ritual.
Magick sees relationships between things. These
relationships are called 'correspondences'. Although magical
correspondences are not literally equal to one another, you can
think of them that way (such as gold equals sun). Tables of
these relationships, called 'Correspondence Tables', are
available (an important one is Crowley's '777'). Thus one thing
or symbol can be used to suggest another. This is important in
magick, for the magician may surround himself with as many
appropriate correspondences as he can to vividly affect the
senses; thus making his magical contact with the inner planes
more lucid.
The magical elements have correspondences with the
tarrot cards as the four suits. The four quarters (directions
of the universe as used in magick ritual) and the Archangels
also correspond with these same elements --
Element Suit Quarter Archangel
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earth pentacles north Uriel
water cups west Gabriel
fire wands south Michael
air swords east Raphael