GENDER OF THE ELEMENTS Within the framework of magick we work with the four (4) basic elements: Fire, Air, Water, Earth. Many traditions have placed human physical and mental values on these, other place a great deal of earth science related terms to these elements based on "arcane" wisdoms". Most people however have given these elements gender attributes. I believe that to limit each of these elements with only one gender is as equally as wrong as saying the Divine source of the Universe is only Male or Female. Paganism, Witchcraft, and the Occult are based in a dual nature. Each element has both female and male characteristics, for the purpose of this letter I will call the Masculine: ACTIVE and the Feminine: PASSIVE, this is not a statement of sexual strength or dominance. FIRE: The masculine/active attribute of Fire is active plate tectonics, lava and volcanoes. These actively created the Earth, as we know it. The applied use of this type of FIRE is the forge, the basis for tool making, tools for digging and tools for shaping. The feminine/passive aspect is body temperature, warmth, sunlight the requirements for life. The applied application of this is the hearth, controlled fire for preparing the food of life. WATER: The active form of water is freshwater, is sculptures the land and is in constant motion; the applied concept of this is powering mills and generators. Using "active" water to accomplish something. Symbolically fresh water as rain could be seen allegorically as the semen needed to awaken the seed/ovum. The passive form of water is the ocean. Salt water, the primordial sea. It is the same salinity as the fluid in the womb. As the waters of the womb it nurtures and surround the still evolving Earth. EARTH: Actively it is the mountains, the veins of ore, it is the rocks upon which all is built. Passively it is the small "e" earth, the soil and the fields in which we grow our crops. AIR: The active element air is the atmosphere. Again the wind, which erodes and moves mountains. The active air is the hurricane, the ocean storm and it is the force that moves a leaf. The passive element attribute is the nitrogen/oxygen mixture in our lungs, that which keeps us alive. The masculine/active element attributes created the feminine/passive attributes. The fire of the Earth created all; once it becomes harnessed it becomes usable. The mountains and rocks break down to create soil, they hold minerals when extracted produce life The fresh water rains fell from the skies and moved minerals into areas that became oceans The atmosphere evolved and became oxygen-rich and thus life was born. The masculine aspects are changing forces and dynamics of the FIRE and EARTH of mountain and continent building, the forces of AIR/wind and WATER/rain. The feminine aspects are the nurturing force of animal and plant life and of course Human life. The EARTH/soils, the AIR/breath within our lungs, the FIRE/food and shelter and the WATER/oceans that gave us life. The same ocean that still controls the weather and therefore all life on this planet. |