Elemental Rituals

In Ancient Greece, about 500 years before the birth of Christ, philosophers suggested that there was a single material source of the world that we experience. Some suggested it was water, others suggested fire, and I imagine that there were quite a few other suggestions being offered. One of the philosophers of that time, Empedocles, came up with his own theory, one that still resonates in our modern culture. In his poem “On Nature” he introduced the idea that the world was not the product of one material source, but four. He argued that everything was made up by the process of air, water, fire, and earth combining and separating.

This idea has seemed to stick with us as a culture. From the rings in the cartoon Captain Planet (excluding heart, which would be compared to “aether”, or spirit, an addition to the elements from Aristotle), to the movie “The Fifth Element”, these classical elements seem to be well represented by pop culture. Perhaps the correlation between the elements and the states of matter help keep them in our collective mind. Earth is a solid, water is a liquid, air is gaseous, and fire corresponds with plasma.

The lasting awareness of these four categories of the material world might also have something to do with their persistent use in Western magic. The idea of four (or five, if you count spirit) elements seemed to have spread out from Greece, to be integrated in medicine, magic, and philosophy of other cultures. It found its way into Ayurvedic practice, Buddhist texts, Islamic philosophy, alchemy, and astrology. The alchemical and astrological uses of the four elements seemed to have deeply affected the magic of the Renaissance. European ceremonial magic used the four elements, and it seems that a lot of the correspondences that many mages use nowadays stem from their work.

The elements grew to be a bigger metaphor than the actual matter that is earth, air, fire, and water. Each was a handy way to categorize the spirit world, the natural world, and the human experience. Plants, planets, directions, and even archangels were assigned an element, and a lot of these associations live on in ritual magic. There were even beings said to be specifically from elemental realms; undines from the realm of water, salamanders from the realm of fire, sylphs from the realm of air, and gnomes from the realm of earth.

I personally use the elements quite often in my ritual work. In fact, the ritual format that I use relies heavily on it. In my work, I usually call on the four elements, and three different forms of Spirit (which I will cover in a separate post). For actual consecration work, such as blessing a tool or an amulet, I would have a full set up, tools to represent the four elements, a central altar, and a lot more invocation and blessing work than what I do on a daily basis to connect to the spiritual nature of Nature. My daily work doesn’t involve tools, it just involves me.

The ritual I perform daily is called the Sphere of Protection, and it is a practice from the Ancient Order of Druids in America, the Druidic order to which I belong. I like it’s use to connect to the natural world, and how well it translates into ritual for purposes beyond connecting to natural forces. I also like how adaptable it is. One could change it to fit whatever belief system they like, as long as they are interested in working with nature within the parameters of their belief.

The first step of the Sphere of Protection (or the SoP), is to calm your mind. The order suggests imagining that you are standing in a clearing of a forest, surrounded by standing stones. I find that part is optional. The only part important to imagine is the sun shining above you, and the heart of the earth shining below you.  You raise your hands towards the sun and imagine a beam of light streaming down to your hands. You pull the light to the center of your forehead, and intone an appropriate sacred name. Honoring my past with Christianity, I intone the name of Raphael, the Archangel assigned to Air. You then bring your hands to your solar plexus, drawing down the light to that part. There, you intone the second name. I use Uriel, the Archangel of Earth. As you intone the second name, the light shoots through you to the heart of the Earth. You bring your right hand out, the light following, and passing into infinity, as you intone the third sacred name. I use Michael, Archangel of Fire. Your left hand goes out, sending another beam of light from your solar plexus as you intone your fourth sacred name, or word. I use Gabriel, Archangel of Water. I then ask the powers of nature to protect me as I visualize two more light beams from my solar plexus, one before me, one behind me. I then chant the word “Awen”, a holy word of the Druid Revival.

Then comes the actual invoking of the elements. I start in the East, with Air. I draw a symbol for air, invoking it with the Druidic name of the Spring Equinox, Alban Eiler, and the animal that represents air in this tradition, the hawk. I ask for its elemental blessings. I also ask for it to be balanced in my life, as the elements can be destructive if not in balance in your life, physically and metaphorically. I move to face South, the traditional direction of Fire. I invoke it with the name of the Summer Solstice, Alban Heruin, and the white stag. Blessings and balance. Then I face West, the direction of water, and invoke with the name of the Autumn Equinox, Alban Elued, and the salmon. Blessings and balance. Finally, I face North, the direction of Earth, and invoke with the Winter Solstice, Alban Arthuan, and the bear. Blessings and balance.

One ends that by creating the elemental cross again (the bit where I used the names of the Archangels). At the end of that, you focus on the light of your solar plexus, expand it to a protective ball of light about you, and imagine it spinning forwards, sideways in a clockwise manner, and diagonally. This is to solidify the energies of the elements within your spirit body, and help protect you from harmful, unbalanced energies that you might run into.

The ritual actually continues into work with Spirit, but this entry is long enough already, and working with the elements for a while is a good start before moving into Spirit. If you find this ritual intriguing, I suggest looking it up on the AODA’s website, linked here, for a more detailed explanation, as well as other ways people practice it. You can also find it in “The Druidry Handbook” or “The Druid Magic Handbook”, both by John Michael Greer.

Until next week

-The Green Mountain Mage