Many modern witches embrace a number of specific traditions when setting up an altar and working ritual. Many of us call upon the same Elements, summon them from the same directions, and associate the shapes of certain objects with certain attributes. The association of specific qualities with specific objects (like the type of elemental energy residing in a certain compass direction or certain properties being associated with specific shapes) is a useful mental tool for us to consider. Think of the concept as a snapshot of magickal energy. By associating certain properties with very specific things, when we think of a direction, of a chalice, of a round curved shape, as a witch, the type of energy that we've connected with the item before us immediately springs to mind, creating a short cut to visualizing and initiating the summoning of certain kinds of energy.
When we take the time to work out these associations in our own practice, we begin to develop a vast array of magickal tools that we can call upon as needed. Think of each type of energy as a certain color of thread, of yourself as the weaver, and the ritual before you as a tapestry you seek to create. As you call upon different types of energy, embracing them in your mind and placing them into the rite, you can begin creating the correct feel of energy around you.
Think back to our example of magickally renovating a room in our new home. We could have simply painted the room one solid color and left it at that. But that wouldn't have created the feel we wanted. Each thing we brought into the room (the spring air from outside, the complementing colors for the floorboards, the brighter colors for the window frame) changed the feel of the room around us. Ritual work, especially the creation of a specific type of energy, is a lot like the process of renovating that room. Each thing we add changes the composition of the ritual's energy, each specific concept we call upon changes the feel of the rite and the manner in which the energy is applied. Don't worry if you don't feel that you have the skills to accomplish this. We will talk about this process in great detail and you'll do exercises specifically designed to develop these skills, both in the next lesson as well as when we address the topic of spellwork.
Each direction is thought to have a specific form of elemental energy associated with it. Air is traditionally called from the East; Fire from the South; Water from the West; Earth from the North; Spirit from Within and Without. I was taught that the directional correspondences for each element were developed in the United Kingdom. Winds blew off the European continent to the east, connecting the practitioners' thoughts to Air. The equator and warmer climates were to the south, instantly associating that direction with warmth and Fire. The Atlantic Ocean lay to the west, establishing Water in that direction. And the endless ice appearing to the eye as Earth, lay to the north.
Those are extremely useful correspondences - if you're a witch practicing in the United Kingdom. But what about the rest of us? What about my Pagan friends in Australia where even the seasons are reversed compared to a witch used to practicing in the Northern Hemisphere? How do we find something that works for us in the place where we live?
What I did, and I encourage you to do the same, is to begin thinking about the environment you live in and the manner in which you subconsciously think of each direction. Perhaps you live in Kansas and there isn't a large body of water to connect with. Which Ocean do you think of when you think of Water? Perhaps you live elsewhere near the shores of a majestic lake. Does it make sense to associate Water with the direction in which the lake is found, rather than simply associating the element with a direction?
My own Tradition coincidentally mirrors the correspondences from the United Kingdom that I learned of in my own studies. I say coincidentally, because I had discovered my own home for the elements long before I learned of the associations that many modern witches draw upon.
Living in the Pacific Northwest, Water was the easiest element for me to establish a home for. The mighty Pacific Ocean, with all her moods, lay immediately to the west of me. I spent a great deal of my childhood living on her coasts, and in my adulthood I return to her again and again. Our natural cycle of precipitation begins in her womb, the rains rising from the sea and moving inland. Each river, each stream in the land I know as home races back to her embrace. All of these added to my placing Water in the west in my own Tradition.
South has always been connected with warmth and heat to me. The farther south you drive from my home, the closer to the equator you draw and the warmer it gets. Southern California and the tropics both lay to the south of me, as is the incredible heat of California's Death Valley and the deserts of the American Southwest. When I think of anything to the south of me, it's always warmer. So South became the home of Fire.
Massive mountains and countless miles of untamed wilderness lay north of me. Washington's Olympic Peninsula; Alaska's Mt. McKinley; the Canadian wilderness; all of these are found to the north. Mountains and thousands of miles of forests, drawing up the energy of the earth. North has always symbolized Earth to me.
Which left Air in the East. Eastern Oregon and Washington are filled with wide open spaces where the winds race unhampered by tree or mountain. There are vast open spaces, rolling plateaus where the wind dances through the grasses, where antelope graze, where your eyes can stretch to the horizon unhindered. There is a certain majesty to the openness, to the wind that blows through your hair, to the endless sky above. Each of these are things I associate with the element of Air, and this element naturally found its home for me in the East.
I was taught by a Native American woman that I studied under for some time, that Spirit is everywhere, that it connects all things. I came to believe, both through her teachings and my own discoveries, that the energy that connects all of us, that gives every living thing substance and life, is one energy, that we all are expressions from the same Source. So when I call upon Spirit, I call it from everywhere, both from within and from without.
All of this is very interesting, but it raised the question, "Why five elements? Why not seven? Or three? And why this combination?" Simply put, everything that I can personally picture in the natural world can be associated with these five elements. Air is the wind, the oxygen we breath, the sound waves that reach my ears, the electrical impulses that allow me to think and move. It's the breath of life. Fire is a candle flame, the sun, the warmth of a spring day, the twinkling of stars, the desire of my heart to beat, the inspiration that drives me to create. Water is rain, snow, tears, streams, rivers, oceans and the salty blood that fills my body. And to me, the moon is connected with Water as well, as it is her pull that commands the tides. Earth creates my bones, the mountains, the ground beneath my feet, the soil that crops grow in. And Spirit encompasses the intangibles of life - our personalities, our souls, our minds, and a vast array of emotions.
Other cultures and other practitioners draw upon other correspondences. I once knew a practitioner whose path was strongly influenced by the beliefs of the East. His elements were composed of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. There are practitioners that I know who follow well-established Traditions that believe that there is a certain power in having everyone use the same correspondences for generations, in knowing that you're doing things the same way they've been done for years. I personally find that there is more benefit building your own personal Tradition based on the environment around you and the beliefs of the life you live. But that's one of the beautiful things about witchcraft. Each of us chooses the approach that's right for us. This just happens to be the way I teach it.
The other type of energy that's useful in our ritual work is subtle and dynamic energy, often referred to as feminine and masculine energy. This has nothing to do with gender, as each of us are composed of varying degrees of every kind of energy. In a sense, each of us symbolizes the world as a whole.
Feminine energy is generally considered to be passive, nurturing, and creative. It's normally associated with round shapes, gentle curves, and containers which exhibit these qualities and remind us of a womb, such as cups and bowls. Masculine energy is normally thought of as aggressive, assertive, and destructive. It's most often associated with straight lines, hard angles, and objects which have features similar to a phallus such as a wand or staff.
There are further correspondences which are traditionally adopted. Feminine energy is often associated on the left; masculine energy on the right. This was established by corresponding the aggressive masculine energy with our dominant hand and the passive feminine energy with our off hand. I remember the correspondence by calling upon the image of a warrior with a sword in his right hand and a shield in his left. Both types of energy are indispensable in combat; they both simply have different applications. The assertive, masculine energy becomes the sword, the more passive, feminine energy becomes the shield.
Elemental energy is often associated with certain colors. Air is seen as yellow, Fire as red, Water as blue, Earth as green, and Spirit as white. If you come across a pentacle in a store that uses these colors as points, or a ritual where the candles are of different colors, this is usually why.
Remembering that we are each composed of these masculine and feminine energies, that we hold each of the elements within us. As we move through this course, we'll learn to call upon them and shape them to our needs. But for now we're going to look at what each type of energy means to us in: