Fire elemental energy/influence

Further to my post   “elements”   https://gnwmythrsglossary.blogspot.com/2015/09/elements.html   ,   the following is predominantly from my post   “Post No. 562 - A Rethinking of the ‘Laws’ of Magick”   https://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2014/06/post-no-562-rethinking-of-laws-of-magick.html   It is likely to change further over time. 

Before I discuss the Fiery Magickal Law of the Taijitu, I need to make sure we all understand what the Taijitu is. In a nutshell, it is this:

Oh, you recognise that? And, no doubt, you’ve called it the ‘Yin-Yang symbol’, until now. Well, now you know what it is ‘officially’ called :)

My take on this symbol - and I actually don’t care what the official take is, or what so-and-so says it is :) - is that is shows two polar opposites in a dynamic situation: the opposites seem to be chasing each other around the perimeter of the circle, which is repelling the opposite and also, when viewed from a single point, transformation. To further complicate matters, each polar opposite contains the seed of the other within it.

From this, we get the three Magickal Principles covered by this Law: Dynamism, Opposites and Dynamic Balance and the Opposite Seed Within.

Because this symbol illustrates transformation, I have associated it with the Magickal Element of Fire.

The Magickal Principle of Dynamism is just that: things are not static, they tend naturally towards activity and, above all else, change. Where things seem to be unchanging, what could actually be happening is:

·         the change is happening on a time scale too vast to be perceived by the observer;

·         the situation could be one of dynamic balance - discussed under the next Magickal Principle, and potentially a healthy condition; or

·         an artificially frozen or enforced stasis - which is often not healthy, but may be in situations where it enables rest and recovery (although, … that recovery is a form of dynamic change - from tired and worn out, to refreshed :) ).

On a physical level, this is where the Second Law of Thermodynamics [2] comes into focus. On a nonphysical level, however, this is where the importance of intent becomes clear. If you do a magickal working without proper focus, you won’t noticeably impact the dynamic balance or dynamic influences on your target situation, so nothing much will happen. If you do have the proper focus, and you are simply adding a little to dynamic influences that are heading towards the result you want, you will find little effort is needed. On the other hand, if you are trying to change something where strong influences are going the other way (and people trying to counsel against war too often find themselves in this situation, sadly), you will need to make more effort to manage the dynamic influences in that situation.

Doing rituals to mark the passage of the Wheel of the Year (i.e., the Sabbats), or the Esbats, is an example of magickal workings that are in harmony with dynamic influences.

Note that this does not say ‘going against the flow’ is impossible: it just says that it is more effort than going with the flow. And, in the example I gave above, of a society that is heading down a path to war, that flow may not necessarily be a ‘good’ thing …

On the other hand, attempts to enforce stasis, rather than a dynamic balance, are doomed to failure … eventually.

This Magickal Principle encompasses the Hermetic ‘Laws’ of Cause and Effect, and Transmutation of Mind.

OK, so let’s move on to the next Magickal Principle.

The Magickal Principle of Opposites and Dynamic Balance is, in a sense, another statement of the obvious - namely, that the taijitu shows polar opposites. In Asian traditions, this would often be described as yin-yang (receptive vs. active - often completely erroneously misidentified as female-male); in the old Scandinavian and Germanic cultures, this would be the fire of Kenaz and the ice of Isa. Other examples can be found - and this aspect is akin to the old, fallacious ‘Law of Gender’, which states that everything has an opposite.

The truth of the matter is that, whilst, yes, it may be possible to find an opposite, they should
(a) be seen as ends of a gradually sliding scale, not polar opposites, and
(b) there is a point of dynamic balance.

(There can also be other permutations - for instance, bi-gendered people, or people who reject gender altogether.)

Go back to the diagram: note the gradual change - most easily seen in the ‘tail’ of each section? We’re not looking at a circle which has a straight, hard and fast division across the middle …

Meditate also on what it would be like to be in the centre of this diagram, with varying ‘depths’ of each pole all round. How could you not see this as a dynamic point, a place where the varying gradations along the scale all manage to keep a perfect balance, whilst all the time moving.

Yes, active principles or energies have a balancing influence (balancing is a better way to consider this than ‘polar opposite’, actually), but they represent points on a sliding scale, and there is ALWAYS a third point, a point of dynamic balance.

Oh! Those people who misidentify yin and yang as female and male are, in my experience, often guilty of the mistake of assuming that the gender stereotypes of the last few hundred years have some sort of validity: by doing so, they are guilty of attempting to impose a stasis on a situation, and thus are in conflict with the Magickal Principle of Dynamism.

This and the next Magickal Principle supercede the hermetic ‘Law’ of Gender.

Now, the Magickal Principle of the Opposite Seed Within: is based on that small essence of the opposite colour in each half of the taijitu, which is particularly significant if one contemplates the Magickal Principle of Dynamism - all things change, and some things may transform into their opposites.

In terms of just having a seed of ‘the opposite’ within us, this can possibly be understood for many people by thinking of Jung’s concept of the anima/animus, the concept that each person has some of the ‘opposite’ gender within themselves - which immediately shows why it is flawed, as I’ve just been describing how gender is actually a continuum and there are at least three points to consider anyway.

Nevertheless, I contend that, a s a general principle, it is likely that one can find an essence of ‘the opposite’ within - possibly deeply buried and denied, but it may well be there. This can be fortuitous when it gives us the chance to understand someone who is different to us, and thus be able to relate to and interact with them more effectively. As a light-hearted example, perhaps one is disorganised and messy: the inner seed of being organised may enable us, if found, acknowledged and accessed, to understand the reactions of someone who is more organised and neat and work towards an amicable way of co-existing.

Perhaps a more useful explanation is that based on homeopathy. Now, ignoring science’s recent assertion that homeopathy doesn’t work (I would like to know whether they took the one size fits all approach), the idea of homeopathy is - to simplify - that a small essence of something that causes a problem, can lead to a cure. if I was to view this from the point of view of the Magickal Principle of the Opposite Seed Within, I could say that the substance/problem has the seed of its cure (its ‘opposite’, in a sense) within, and that manifests into the cure.

Keeping in mind that all this is about magickal work, some sources have stated that if one tries too hard, then the opposite of what one is trying to achieve can occur. This has led to discussions about whether one ‘should’ do a spell and then let ‘the Universe’ manifest it, or keep doing work to strengthen the spell. I would suggest actually observing what is happening, and determine whether the Magickal Principle of the Opposite Seed Within is stronger in a situation than the Magickal Principle of Dynamism, which suggests do it once and then leave it to ‘the Universe’, or the other way round, which suggests keep making an effort - and be aware that this may well change as time flows on, or as external magickal and other influences wax and wane.

This Principle is associated with the Magickal Element of Fire. That in itself illustrates that everything has its seed within, as, when a fire has consumed all its fuel, it will go out - and thus, the fire becomes its opposite, ‘not fire’, because of its key attribute of transformation of fuel into something incombustible (not able to be burned). In the physical world, this means a deliberate fire, for heating or cooking or magick, may need to be fed new fuel to sustain it. On the other hand, a bushfire needs to be cut off from new fuel to put it out - and hence things like firebreaks. So … transformation is not necessarily always a good thing: the old saying is “Fire makes a good servant, but a bad master”. Thus one thing to keep in mind is that spirituality is not always assured: it is possible to backslide …

This Magickal Principle encompasses the Hermetic ‘Law’ ‘As Above, So Below’.

To place the above in context, the following summarises all the laws and principles I proposed and use (and others may use others that are valid for them): 

The five Magickal ‘Laws’ are:

• the Etheric Law of Existence;

• the Fiery Magickal Law of the Taijitu;

• the Watery Magickal Law of Frequency;

• the Airy Magickal Law of Distance (I would like to have used yellow as the colour for this ‘Law’, but it doesn’t show up well enough);

• the Earthy Magickal Law of Strength and Common Sense.

The Etheric Law of Existence contains the following Magickal Principles:

• 1.       the Magickal Principle of Nonphysicality;

• 2.       the Magickal Principle of Energy;

The Fiery Magickal Law of the Taijitu contains the following Magickal Principles:

• 3.       the Magickal Principle of Dynamism;

• 4.       the Magickal Principle of Opposites and Dynamic Balance;

• 5.       the Magickal Principle of the Opposite Seed Within.

The Watery Magickal Law of Frequency contains the following Magickal Principles:

• 6.       the Magickal Principle of Harmony;

• 7.       the Magickal Principle of Octaves and Cycles.

The Airy Magickal Law of Distance contains the following Magickal Principles:

• 8.       the Magickal Principle of Magickal Distance.

The Earthy Magickal Law of Strength and Common Sense contains the following Magickal Principles:

• 9.       the Magickal Principle of Effect.

 

And from   “Post No. 690 - More on Magickal Elements”   https://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2015/04/post-no-690-more-on-magickal-elements.html  

... in Agrippa’s Philosophy of Natural Magic: Complete Work on Natural Magic, White & Black Magic, published in 1559 and being the first volume of his De occulta philosophia libri tres. (Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa lived 14^th September 1486 – 18^th February 1535, and was a German magician, occult writer, theologian, astrologer, and alchemist; I got my copy from the Ordo Aurum Solis’ on-line public library, but modern versions have been published as well.)

In that, Mr. Agrippa states that each element has two properties, which are various combinations of heat-cold and dry-moist. One property is referred to as “proper”, and the other as “mean”. I haven’t explored that description far enough as yet, but I suspect it means “higher octave/frequency expression” and “lower octave/frequency octave expression”, in the sense of levels - or frequencies - of reality.

Probably the clearest way for me to present that is in a (corrected) table:

Agrippa’s explanation is that the elements are in a sequence, where the “mean” property of one becomes the “proper” property of the next.

Furthermore, the order that he has the elements listed in is the order I use, if I travel around the outside of the pentagram in a clockwise direction. This brought to mind what I had been taught about elements when studying “Touch for Health” back in the 80s, which was arranging the (Eastern) elements into a pentagram, and viewing the interactions between them in two ways:

• generative, and
• control.

The generative cycle goes around the outside of the pentagram, in a clockwise direction. 

The control cycle is internal, and uses the sequence I use when drawing a pentagram to invoke (top to lower right, lower right to upper left, etc – and I am aware that some do that in a different order, but I don’t consider this related to the direction of the sun: more on that some other time). For an illustration of that, see here, which is from here.

So, in this system (and, strictly speaking, if I use Mr Agrippa’s system ӕther should perhaps be drawn either in the centre, or encompassing all on the outside, rather than using a pentagram - but when I have ever just stuck to using what I’ve been told? :) ), the “dryness” of fire generates the “dryness” of earth, the “coldness” of earth generates the “coldness” of water, etc, which could also be viewed as a category of what I term the Magickal Principle of Harmony, or what others term “like unto like”.

Also, if one had, say, an excess of stolidity (i.e., earth), one would use ӕther to control it. If one was being distracted (an excess of air), use earth to control it, and so on.

Now, in Touch For Health, when strengthening, one finishes by using the control cycle to stop the effect continuing until it becomes unbalanced. So, continuing with this exercise, possible uses of this way of viewing the elements (and this no doubt has parallels with the old idea of humours, which has – in the sense of physical medicine – been well and truly superceded) could include:

• emotionally:
  earth could steady (control) the mental flightiness of an excess of air, and possibly the passion of fire could control some emotions, such as some forms of depression, which may be an excess of water (depression has many forms and causes, and ALWAYS should be treated under competent medical supervision),
  whereas
  if one had a lack of emotion, one may need to use earth to stimulate that (e.g., if feeling numb and overwhelmed from modern life, get out into nature);
• physically (these examples are dreadful, I admit, but I’m tiring, now, after several hours of this):
  if a runny nose is due to an excess of water, it would be controlled by fire – dry heat (and a visit to the chemist),
  whereas
  if one’s temperature is high due to an excess of fire, and application of air would control it – so stand in front of a fan, in a sense;
• magickally:
  an excess of water manifesting as flitting from one thing to another could be controlled by a dose of fire – perhaps as passion for something,
  whereas
  being too passionate about something could be controlled by the inspired thought of air.

I am going to have a go at adding this to my weekly psychic weather reports, although many of those situations – as with all life – are more a case of the blend of elements. So a situation may be, for instance, 50% earth, 20% air, 15% water, 10% fire and 5% ӕther, whereas it should, perhaps be 30% earth, 20% air, 15% water, 10% fire and 25% ӕther. I'll be nominating an element to increase or to control an influence, and another to finish to stop things becoming unbalanced.

To summarise this, I’m going to present a revised diagram (and corrected, for the initial error of properties) which summarises what I have been talking about above, and includes a speculation that ӕther includes all four “properties”. This also shows my association of sigils with the elements – includes those of the (in the Hermetic sense) kings of each element, which is something that must be used with great caution (and is something I started exploring after reading Katherine  Kerr's Deverry series).

I am also missing the sigil for ӕther. I don’t know what it should be … so I will keep searching, and trying to earn the right to know. 

 

 

 

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