The Elements, some personal reflections

I was going to do a post on the Elements, but I decided to talk about them together and then individually.

I find myself somewhat astonished at how the Elements are treated in ritual after ritual and spell after spell that I read. I find there is either a hurried...now call the Elements so you can get on to the good stuff...or, possibly even worse....long, long, long demands for the presence of the Elements, couched in archaic language and aimed somewhere into oblivion.

I find this astounding because I, personally, feel a very strong sense of the presence of the Elements and a very strong connection to them. It's one of those things that you just assume that everyone feels the same as you do. It can be a shock to find out that there are actually other ways of thinking about something.

I can remember as a small child chanting, 'Earth, Wind, Fire and Rain'

I have no idea where I got this, but I had it mixed up with prayers. This and other similar mix-ups were the despair of the nuns in my grade school.
I doubt that I read it anywhere, since I was hooked on science fiction from a very young age, not a lot about Earth, Wind, Fire and Rain there. But I heard it somewhere and it stuck as a simple truism.

I have always had a very deep seated belief in the very real presence of these Elements as very powerful entities of raw power. When I discovered that a lot of the things that I believed were actually a religion, I also learned that the Elements were called Earth, Air, Fire and Water. I find that I tend to think of those names as their "formal" names. My childhood names for them still linger as their "real" names.

I am going to indulge myself and describe for you "my" Elements. In later posts I will give you the more accepted information.

Earth is passive. Not terribly interested in humankind, but not in the least malicious. If you can get his attention (Earth is 'he' to me), you can get help in things like calmness, grounding, clarifying your thoughts and connecting to nature, especially if you are willing to do something simple like take your shoes off, walk on the ground and sit and FEEL the ground under you. Earth is very grounding to me, I am a Virgo so perhaps that comes naturally to me.

Air or Wind is female to me. Curious, interested in us, more than willing to get involved. Air wants to bless us all with creativity and learning but will pour things at us faster than we can take in, so she can be overwhelming. She is also somewhat capricious and relates to us as somewhat alien. If we can't keep up, she might just leave without saying a thing.

Fire is neither male or female to me. Fire is the consummate elemental force, equally willing to burn or to help us and not very concerned with our needs. Fire needs to be approach with respect but also from a posture of power and confidence. Fire will take advantage of any weakness and can be hazardous to us. I occasionally gingerly call on Fire for power, but I prefer to just acknowledge the power that is there and not ask anything of it. I feel there is a poltergeist sort of personality in Fire, easily dangerous.

Water or Rain is to me the most powerful of all the Elements, even more so than Fire because she is less erratic. Yes, she is a she and to me the easiest way to connect to the Goddess. Water is also somewhat uncaring about the troubles of humans, but she serves the Goddess and because of that is willing to help us connect to her. I don't feel a great personal connection to Water, but I feel that she is an intermediary to be trusted and appealed to at any time.

When I call on the Elements I call them with respect. I ask them to be present, to be witness, to honor the God and the Goddess with me. Sometimes I ask one or more of them for some particular bit of help or insight.

When I have evoked them for a ritual while I do ask them to be present, I also do tell them to leave. I feel that they don't always pay close attention and once present if I don't make it clear that we are done and they need to go back where they came from, there is a danger that they will just hang around, spreading their own sorts of energy that could cause chaos for me.

I also, because of my childhood habits, sometimes casually call on one or more of the elements for help without any ritual. I never call on Fire this way, but I will the other three.

So this is my personal experience with the Elements. It does not all match with what you will read or hear or find in research. The Elements are more influential in my life than I think they are for many people, this is after all a personal path and will not be the same for any two people.

In the next few blog posts I will pull together some of the information that I have researched about these Entities.