Air (classical element)

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Classical Elements

Western

  Air  
Fire Aether Water
  Earth  

Chinese

Wood (木) | Fire (火)
Earth (土) |
Metal (金) | Water (水)

Hinduism and Buddhism

Vayu / Pavan — Air / Wind
Agni / Tejas — Fire
Akasha — Aether
Prithvi / Bhumi — Earth
Ap / Jala — Water

Air is one of the classical elements. According to modern science, air (the Earth’s atmosphere) is a mixture of many compounds, but in traditional cultures, air is often seen as a universal power or pure substance. Its fundamental importance to life can be seen in words such as spirit, inspire, expire, and aspire, all derived from the Latin spirare ("to breathe").

Contents

[edit] Greek and Roman traditions

According to Plato, it is associated with the octahedron; air is considered to be both hot and wet. The ancient Greeks used two words for air: aer meant the dim lower atmosphere, and aither meant the bright upper atmosphere above the clouds.[1] Plato, for instance writes that "So it is with air: there is the brightest variety which we call aether, the muddiest which we call mist and darkness, and other kinds for which we have no name...."[2] Among the early Greek Pre-Socratic philosophers, Anaximenes (mid-6th century BCE) named air as the arche (first principle of the world). As it grows warm and rarified, air becomes fire; as it cools and condenses it becomes water, then earth and rock.[3] A similar belief was attributed by some ancient sources to Diogenes Apolloniates (late 5th century BCE), who also linked air with intelligence and soul (psyche), but other sources claim that his arche was a substance between air and fire.[4] Aristophanes parodied such teachings in his play The Clouds by putting a prayer to Air in the mouth of Socrates.

Air was one of many archai proposed by the Pre-socratics, most of whom tried to reduce all things to a single substance. However, Empedocles of Acragas (c. 495-c. 435 BCE) selected four archai for his four roots: air, fire, water, and earth. Ancient and modern opinions differ as to whether he identified air by the divine name Hera, Aidoneus, or even Zeus. Empedocles’ roots became the four classical elements of Greek philosophy. [5] Plato (427-347 BCE) took over the four elements of Empedocles. In the Timaeus, his major cosmological dialogue, the Platonic solid associated with air is the octahedron formed from eight equilateral triangles. This places air between fire (four triangular sides) and water (twenty triangular sides), which Plato regards as appropriate because it is intermediate in its mobility, sharpness, and ability to penetrate.[6] Plato’s student Aristotle (384-322 BCE) developed a different explanation for the elements based on pairs of qualities. The four elements were arranged concentrically around the center of the universe to form the sublunary sphere. According to Aristotle, air is both hot and wet, and occupies a place between fire and water among the elemental spheres. Aristotle definitively separated air from aether. For him, aether was an unchanging, almost divine substance that was found only in the heavens, where it formed celestial spheres.[7]

In ancient Greek medicine, each of the four humours became associated with an element. Blood was the humor identified with air, since both were hot and wet. Other things associated with air and blood in ancient and medieval medicine included the season of spring, since it increased the qualities of heat and moisture; the sanguine temperament (of a person dominated by the blood humour); hermaphrodites (combining the masculine quality of heat with the feminine quality of moisture); and the northern point of the compass.[8]

Symbol for air
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Symbol for air

The alchemical symbol for air is an upward-pointing triangle, bisected by a horizontal line.

[edit] Indian traditions

Main article: Vayu

[edit] Chinese traditions

Air is not one of the traditional Chinese elements, save for in the Buddhist religion. Some modern occultists equate the Chinese classical element of wood with air.[9]

[edit] Other traditions

Enlil was the god of air in ancient Sumer. Shu was the ancient Egyptian god of air and the husband of Tefnut, goddess of moisture. He became an emblem of strength by virtue of his role in separating Nut (sky) from Geb (earth). He played a primary role in the Coffin Texts, which were spells intended to help the deceased reach the realm of the afterlife safely. On the way to the sky, the dead person had to travel through the air, as one spell indicates: "I have gone up in Shu, I have climbed on the sunbeams."[10]

In China and Japan, Air was represented by a blue dragon; in the Aztec religion, by a rabbit; to the Scythians, a yoke; to the Hindus and Greeks, a sword[citation needed], and in Christian iconography as Man.

[edit] Air in modern magic

[edit] Ceremonial magic

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, founded in 1888, combined ideas from many different sources including Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry, the work of 16th-century magician John Dee and his assistant Edward Kelley, a Christianized version of Kabbalah, and recent archaeological discoveries of Egyptian and Greco-Roman magic and religion.[11] Thus air and the other Greek classical elements were incorporated into the Golden Dawn system despite being considered obsolete by modern science. Theoricus (2=9) is the elemental grade attributed to air; this grade is also attributed to the Moon and the cabalistic sphere Yesod.[12] The elemental weapon of air is the dagger, which must be painted yellow with magical names and sigils written upon it in violet.[13] Each of the elements has several associated spiritual beings. The archangel of air is Raphael, the angel is Chassan, the ruler is Ariel, the king is Paralda, and the air elementals (following Paracelsus) are called sylphs.[14] Air is considered to be active; it is represented by the Man and the symbol for Aquarius, and it is referred to the upper left point of the pentagram in the Supreme Invoking Ritual of the Pentagram.[15] Many of these associations have spread throughout the occult community.

In the Golden Dawn and many other magical systems, each element is associated with one of the cardinal points and is placed under the care of guardian Watchtowers. The Watchtowers derive from the Enochian system of magic founded by Dee. In the Golden Dawn, they are represented by the Enochian elemental tablets.[16] Air is associated with the east, which is guarded by the First Watchtower.[17]

[edit] Neopaganism and Wicca

Air as one of the four elements appears in many neopagan traditions. Wicca in particular was influenced by the Golden Dawn system of magic. Gerald Gardner, one of the founders of Wicca, was in contact with Aleister Crowley and incorporated elements of Crowley’s works into Wiccan rituals.[18] Many practicing Wiccan traditions therefore use attributions inspired by the Golden Dawn, but there are many variations as well. Common attributions include:

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ W. K. C. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. 1, pp. 466, 470-71.
  2. ^ Plato, Timaeus, ch. 27, p. 83.
  3. ^ Guthrie, History of Greek Philosophy, vol. 1, pp. 115-16, 120-32; Jonathan Barnes, Early Greek Philosophy, pp. 77-80.
  4. ^ Guthrie, vol. 2, pp. 362-81; Barnes, pp. 289-94.
  5. ^ Guthrie, vol. 2, pp. 138-46. Guthrie suggests that Hera is the safest identification for air.
  6. ^ Plato, Timaeus, chap. 22-23; Gregory Vlastos, Plato’s Universe, pp. 66-82.
  7. ^ G. E. R. Lloyd, Aristotle, chapters 7-8.
  8. ^ Londa Schiebinger, The Mind Has No Sex?, p. 162.
  9. ^ Donald Michael Kraig, Modern Magick, p. 115.
  10. ^ Bob Brier, Ancient Egyptian Magic, p.128.
  11. ^ Ronald Hutton, Triumph of the Moon, pp. 72-83.
  12. ^ Israel Regardie, The Golden Dawn, pp. 154-65.
  13. ^ Regardie, Golden Dawn, p.322; Kraig, Modern Magick, pp. 149-53.
  14. ^ Regardie, Golden Dawn, p. 80.
  15. ^ Regardie, Golden Dawn, pp. 280-286; Kraig, Modern Magick, pp. 206-209.
  16. ^ Doreen Valiente, The Rebirth of Witchcraft, p. 64.
  17. ^ Regardie, Golden Dawn, p. 631.
  18. ^ Hutton, Triumph of the Moon, pp. 216-23; Valiente, Witchcraft for Tomorrow, p. 17.

[edit] References and Further Reading

  • Barnes, Jonathan. Early Greek Philosophy. London: Penguin, 1987.
  • Brier, Bob. Ancient Egyptian Magic. New York: Quill, 1980.
  • Guthrie, W. K. C. A History of Greek Philosophy. 6 volumes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1962-81.
  • Cunningham, Scott. Earth, Air, Fire and Water: More Techniques of Natural Magic.
  • Hutton, Ronald. Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999, 2001.
  • Kraig, Donald Michael. Modern Magick: Eleven Lessons in the High Magickal Arts. St. Paul: Llewellyn, 1994.
  • Lloyd, G. E. R. Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of His Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968.
  • Plato. Timaeus and Critias. Translated by Desmond Lee. Revised edition. London: Penguin, 1977.
  • Regardie, Israel. The Golden Dawn. 6th edition. St. Paul: Llewellyn, 1990.
  • Schiebinger, Londa. The Mind Has No Sex? Women in the Origins of Modern Science. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989.
  • Starhawk. The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess. 3rd edition. 1999.
  • Valiente, Doreen. Witchcraft for Tomorrow. Custer, Wash.: Phoenix Publishing, 1978.
  • Valiente, Doreen. The Rebirth of Witchcraft. Custer, Wash.: Phoenix Publishing, 1989.
  • Vlastos, Gregory. Plato’s Universe. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1975.

[edit] External links

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