The Living Elements and Why They Are Important in Ritual

My guides urged me to learn all I could about them.

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If you follow the work of witches or other magic practitioners, you’ve likely noticed the prevalent use of the classical elements (earth, water, air, and fire) in their rituals. And, if you’re like me, you might have wondered why this matters. I’m not sure if it’s because of my chemistry background, or my tendency to overthink everything, but for the longest time, I felt that these classical elements were a superfluous part of relating with magic. It felt, to me, like they were mere props in a sort of stage performance.

But my guides urged me to learn all I could about them.

So I did. I learned that the word 'element' comes from the Latin word, elementum, which simply means "matter in its most basic form." This idea of complex organisms being made up of simple, basic components is common in many traditions and cultures throughout time. The number of elements and exactly what they are varies from one tradition to the next, but the overall concept is the same.

In Western tradition, the Greek philosopher, Thales (c. 626 – c. 545 BCE), is credited with originating this idea. He belonged to a school of thinkers that was in search of the arche, or the single, underlying basis of everything. For Thales, the arche was water. For another philosopher named Anaximenes (c. 585 – c. 525 BCE), the arche was air, and for Heraclitus (c. 540 - c. 480 BCE), it was fire. Later, around 450 BCE, Empedocles reasoned that the arche was not one thing, but rather, a "fourfold root of all things." To him, these four were water, air, earth and fire. These would come to be known as the Classical Elements.

All of these Greek philosophers, regardless of how many they thought there to be, believed that the elements were alive, conscious and were, in fact, Divinity itself. Empedocles further believed that matter—as a combination of elements—was held together by the force of Love, and was pulled apart by the force of Strife.

I thought all of that was interesting, but I still didn’t feel any particular connection to the elements. My guides told me to keep going and brought me to the work of water ambassadors like Veda Austin and Isabel Friend. Through them, I learned that water is responsive and has memory. It perceives its environment and can even answer questions.

I was ever closer to understanding, and then, finally, one day I got it.

I was in a meditative state and decided to take a shower (meditation and showers seem to go hand-in-hand for me). As I stepped under the water, I felt a strong call to speak to it. Talking out loud, I told the water that I was grateful for it. Instantly I felt a surge of love both surrounding me and coursing through me. I could feel the water's joy at being noticed and having connection. In that instant, I realized that those Greek philosophers had been right all along.

Water IS Divinity. So is Air and Earth and Fire.

Somewhere along the way—since the time of those philosophers—we started to see Spirit as something separate from the physical realm. More and more, the story became that there is God and then there is matter, or the material world. It became commonplace in Western thought to have the paradigm that Life Force, or a Divine Spark, exists within a physical body, but the physical body itself is not God. In humans, this became the notion that each of our bodies houses a soul.

This became the paradigm through which we tended to view the elements as well. We began calling the elements expressions of the Divine, rather than understanding them as Divinity itself. We brought in the idea of the fifth element, or Ether, to encompass this now separate God-force and saw the elements as having more and more esoteric attributes. Generally speaking, Air became associated with mental energy. Earth with practical matters. Water with emotional energy. And fire with our passions and enthusiasm.

While the esoteric associations are wonderful and helpful in their own right, it seemed to me that we’d lost the basic idea that the elements, as the Divine, make up the physical world. The Divine IS the material. The body does not veil the soul. The body, made of The Elements, is one part of the multi-faceted soul.

Perhaps even more importantly, I learned that the Elements—just as with all living beings—long for connection. Whether outside of us, or within us, AS us, they crave relationship. This makes it really easy to have a relationship with Spirit. As the Elements, the Divine is accessible and tangible, right here at our literal fingertips.

Our bodies are about 70% water and the rest is minerals (earth), air (air), and electricity (fire). We are the Elements. We are Divinity.

At last I understood the importance of including the Elements in ritual. When we place them on our altars, we come into direct relationship with these physical manifestations of the Divine. In other words, we make friends with God(ess)/Spirit. Not only will this make our practices all the more effective, but it will also help us make better decisions, find peace in difficult situations, and feel a sense of purpose and meaning in our lives. It can help us appreciate the beauty and interconnectedness of all things, and inspire us to live more fully and authentically. It is through this relationship that we get to experience a sense of awe and wonder to our daily lives.

How do you relate with the elements? Do you have any favorite practices with them? Let me know in the comments below!