pagan: Attuning with the four elements

Marybeth (

plur_na_gaoithe) wrote in

pagan,
@ 2008-03-13 19:42:00

Attuning with the four elements
Hey guys. I've been processing for a while the idea of spending some time on each of the four western elements(earth, air, fire, water) to attune to the energy of each separately, spending maybe a month on each. I'm sure that at least a few people have done workings like this, and so I wanted to pick your brains.

Basically, in summary, what sort of things did you do? How much time did you spend on each element, and how did you feel about the length?

-What mundane changes did you make in your life for each element and why?

-What sort of magickal workings did you perform while attuning to each element? Did you do magickal workings throughout, or a ritual at the end of each period?

-What were your goals in undertaking the process? What were the results? What changes in your magick and in yourself did you notice after each stage? After all the stages were completed?

-What order did you choose to do the elements in and why?

Thanks. : )

(Post a new comment)

	freesprouts 2008-03-14 01:19 am UTC (link)
	I'm actually starting this myself at New Moon in Aries (April). Id be curious about what your answers were. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	plur_na_gaoithe 2008-03-14 11:52 pm UTC (link)
	I may make some blog entries about it later, but I don't make any guarantees. If I do, do you want me to add you? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	freesprouts 2008-03-15 01:59 pm UTC (link)
	That would be great. I'll hop on now. I'm actually starting to post some relevant material hopefully today about my work with Twelve Wild Swans that I started last night. (Reply to this)(Parent)

doom_diva
2008-03-14 01:34 am UTC (link)

Dunno if this is exactly what you are looking for, but here's my $0.02 for what it's worth...

One thing I adapted for myself is I changed Water to East and Air to West. I live in Chicago, and the standard doesn't quite work for me.

- North makes sense: the Wisconsin border is North, and the further north you get, the more woodsy it becomes! And ask any Wisconsin native; they'll tell you we consider Wisconsin to be "Illinois' playground"!

- South makes sense: it gets warmer the further south you go! :)

- East doesn't: that's where Lake Michigan is, a very large body of water!

- West doesn't: that's where the air blows in from!

With my switching of directions/Elements, I always wondered if any folks living in Sydney did the same thing and got EVERYTHING switched around, including the Holidays! ;)

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	plur_na_gaoithe 2008-03-14 10:43 pm UTC (link)
	I've actually been seriously considering doing the same, although I'm not sure what to just yet, or if I need to. I'm going to try some experiments during this time along the lines of trial-and-error seeing what works out as well as researching nearby land/water bodies and see if I get some ideas that way. Thanks! : ) (Reply to this)(Parent)

thegreencall
2008-03-14 01:35 am UTC (link)

There is a lot of information out there on this kind of thing. I'd recomend 12 Wild Swans which is a workbook and goes through the elements as it maps on to a story. It has exercises within for each element, some energetic and some for personal growth.

Some general tips, I would look at your associations with the elements and think about things you'd like to improve on. If you associate air with language, you could spend time thinking about your words. This is could be anything from trying to drop "ums" and "likes" from your speech pattern (not picking on anyone, just an example) to looking at things that you say carelessly (again, just examples). For earth you could do anything from cultivating a plant to examine your financial planning to examining your health/choices around heath and making changes. You can also look at the Earth Path which has a lot environmental work you can do with the elements.

In terms of order, I would suggest following the order of casting a circle.
Working with the elements covers a lot. And your questions are big questions. I don't think you'll get everything out of the elements in one pass. Connecting with the elements in new or deeper ways is something that will probably (hopefully?) serve you for long time on your path. Good luck!

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plur_na_gaoithe
2008-03-14 11:05 pm UTC (link)

12 Swans looks awesome. I enjoyed Spiral Dance a lot, and while I have Earth Path I've yet to read it all the way through. (I have the tendency to flit between books when I have free time to read and don't always finish them all at once.) I think I'm going to buy 12 Swans and work through both books. Thanks.

Yeah, I know that a month is almost going to be a crash course, especially when trying to balance between my spiritual life and school, and I'm almost certain I will come back and do this again over a longer period of time.

Thank you. : )

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	unity_the_ninth 2008-03-14 02:22 am UTC (link)
	The Aquarian Tabernacle Church Podcasts have a series of four discussing the Elements including correspondences, information, and a meditation for each. The Church website is www.aquatabch.org and I'm sure there's a link to the podcasts (all of which are excellent) there. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	greenteadragon 2008-03-14 01:11 pm UTC (link)
	Thanks for this! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	plur_na_gaoithe 2008-03-14 11:05 pm UTC (link)
	Thanks! I'll take a look at it. (Reply to this)(Parent)

lizrocks
2008-03-14 02:28 am UTC (link)

over the past few years I've become very focused on keeping the elements balanced inside me so I've tried to do a lot of reading not just on the elements themselves and working with them in ritual but also keeping them alive and balanced inside myself.

I *highly* recommend Practical Solitary Magic by Nancy B. Watson (http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Solitary-Magic-Nancy-Watson/dp/0877288747/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205461484&sr=8-1) (and the Way of Four by Deborah Lipp is also very good http://www.amazon.com/Way-Four-Create-Elemental-Balance/dp/0738705411/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205461442&sr=8-1). Don't let the title fool you, she's very into keeping the elements balanced inside yourself and gives great advice on different ways of exploring each element.

First I'd figure out which elements were my strongest and which were my weakest and decide whether I wanted to challenge myself by exploring a weak element or work on fully understanding my strongest first.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	plur_na_gaoithe 2008-03-14 11:20 pm UTC (link)
	I've been looking at the Nancy Watson book for a bit. Haven't heard of the other one, though. Thanks. : ) (Reply to this)(Parent)

jrfrench
2008-03-14 03:20 am UTC (link)

For the work I did for the Order I belong to, I did a slightly modified version of the Greater Invoking Ritual of the Pentagram, three times a day. I started with all four Elements balanced for a month, then did one Element per month, invoking the same Element in each quarter with a longer invocation (Levi's, actually) at the end. Once I'd cycled through all the Elements, I did another round of balanced invocations for a month. I picked Tetragrammaton order- Fire, Water, Air, Earth. So overall the process was six months long.

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	plur_na_gaoithe 2008-03-14 11:26 pm UTC (link)
	That sounds pretty intensive. I admire that a lot. (Reply to this)(Parent)

kistha
2008-03-14 06:29 am UTC (link)

I think it varies from path to path what elements mean, and where they go. For my faith the elements are integral to the god/dess that they represent, and you do them in the order of the season you are in when you start. (God/dess are elemental and seasonal the circle always starts in the season you are in, so the same for discovery.)

I'd find out which path version makes sense to you, then use that method.

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	plur_na_gaoithe 2008-03-14 11:29 pm UTC (link)
	Thanks. : ) I think I may start with Air/Spring. I considered doing the elements along with each season, and I think when I do this again in the future I'll do that rather than spending only a month. (Reply to this)(Parent)

elvenstars
2008-03-14 09:43 am UTC (link)

Well, this is a rather personal thing, but here's my own experience:

I spent a year working with each element, about two months more intensive in the beginning leading up to a ritual/festival and then the rest of the year integrating the lessons and working with this energy in more relaxed way.

I did not make changes for each element, but working with it resulted in changes. I let the elements teach me their nature and point to the relevant areas I needed to work on. So for example, when working with earth I started paying more attention to the world around me, live more in the moment, really see trees etc. That's what I needed at the time and it may be different for you.

The result of the whole period was to be more aware of the nature of each element, how they are expressed in me or by me, to be able to better recognise imbalances in myself and how to fix them (not that I'm perfectly balanced or anything, just more aware than before!)

I started with the one I felt more familiar with and then just went with the flow, working with whichever one felt right at the time. The resulting order did not agree with any formal system.

Hope this helps.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	plur_na_gaoithe 2008-03-14 11:35 pm UTC (link)
	That is helpful. Thank you. : ) (Reply to this)(Parent)

thistlemoons
2008-03-14 12:24 pm UTC (link)

This is something I have been working on for the past 2 months or so. I am working through each element, going in order - Earth, Air, Fire, Water. I have learned lessons just by being open to what each element wants to tell me. For example, I have learned of course that all the elements are affected by the pollution and deforestation and destruction of the earth and the balance of the earth - so I am getting my cues about what I can do to help the earth by listening to the voices of the elements. I am not sure that this is the right way, or that I am getting all I need to know initially, but I plan to keep working on it. It would be great for all of us working on elementals to let each other know if we stumble upon something interesting...

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	plur_na_gaoithe 2008-03-14 11:42 pm UTC (link)
	I may end up blogging about it some online, but I make no guarantees. Would you like me to add you and put you on that filter if I do? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	thistlemoons 2008-03-15 01:14 pm UTC (link)
	Sure, that sounds great! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	oaktavia 2008-03-15 05:22 pm UTC (link)
	I'm very interested too... I would really like to be added and put on the filter as well, if you decide to blog about this :-) (Reply to this)(Parent)

badseed1980
2008-03-14 01:38 pm UTC (link)

The way I approached getting to know the elements was by keeping track of all the activities I did during a day on a fairly high level (e.g., "wake, dress, eat, travel to work, work, eat, take a walk, work, travel to restaurant, eat, travel to dance class, dance, travel home, shower, sleep"). Then, on a two-day delay (that is, starting two days after I started writing my activities), I would associate each action with an element. On a one week delay, I would go back and look at whether I felt positive or negative or neutral about each activity. Was the weather gorgeous when I was walking? I felt positive. Did I have a fight with my boyfriend? Negative. Did I eat a moderately tasty lunch while working at my desk? Neutral. I did this for a month, and it gave me the opportunity to see how much each element influenced my life, and in what way. It was pretty cool.

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	plur_na_gaoithe 2008-03-14 11:46 pm UTC (link)
	That is really cool. I've never heard of anyone doing it that way before. Thanks. : ) (Reply to this)(Parent)

lupabitch
2008-03-14 06:00 pm UTC (link)

I am in the process of self-directed training in a neoshamanic path. Part of my first six months of training involved the elements. I started at the last Equinox, and will be finished with the first six months of training next weekend at the Spring Equinox. Here's how the six months went:

1 - Introduction to all four elements
2 - Earth
3 - Air
4 - Fire
5 - Water
6 - All four elements, but with the experience of the previous months to deepen the lessons

I blogged about my experiences; here are the links to the entries tagged for Earth Month, Air Month, Fire Month, Water Month, and all the elemental work, including the above four months. You'll have to go back to the earliest posts in each category and work your way forward.

Hope that helps!

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	plur_na_gaoithe 2008-03-15 12:12 am UTC (link)
	Thank you! This is definitely the kind of thing I've been interested in and I'm looking forward to perusing it all. : ) (On an unrelated note, I gave Mr. Ellwood's book Pop Culture Magick to my brother-in-law this past December and am working my way through Inner Alchemy right now, and enjoy it very much. :) ) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	lupabitch 2008-03-15 02:49 am UTC (link)
	Cool. Let me know if you have any questions or anything else I can help with :) And let us know how you like IA! We haven't gotten quite as much feedback on that one, so Taylor's really curious as to what people think about it. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	plur_na_gaoithe 2008-03-27 12:48 am UTC (link)
	BTW, my teacher Freeman in Birmingham says that he knows you and asked me to tell you hello. : ) (Reply to this)(Parent)

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