Magical Alkemic Path: The theory of the 4 elements

 Dear Friends and Readers,

I present to you an article taken from my very interesting Magical Alkemic Path: The theory of the 4 elements seen from different aspects in the passage of time.

The theory of the 4 elements: Fire, Air, Water, Earth

Fire, air, water, earth: natural elements from which every substance of which matter is composed originates. On this basis the theory of the four natural elements was formulated, introduced starting from the 6th century BC by the ancient Greek philosopher Anaximenes of Miletus and subsequently by the Siceliot philosopher Empedocles, also assimilated by the Greek philosophers Socrates and Aristotle.

The four elements

 

According to this theory, every existing substance, in the microcosm and macrocosm, is made up of a composition of four natural elements, fire, air, water, earth. Fire, a purifying and vivifying element, contains within itself the principle of life, which springs from its energy. The intangible air is the vital energy that we breathe, without which it would not be possible to live; it cannot be grasped and represents the cosmic breath. Water, the source of life, from the source becomes a stream, then a river until it reaches the sea, overcoming the obstacles it encounters on its way, reaching the depths of the earth. The earth, solid and luxuriant, symbolizes the primordial matter, welcomes life and nourishes it.

The four natural elements  are understood as states of aggregation of matter:  fire , burning state; air , gaseous state; waterfall , liquid state; Earth, solid state. They have the characteristic of being in agreement or in opposition to each other. Philistine, an ancient Greek physician, suggested that a quality be attributed to each element: heat is attributed to fire, cold to air, wet to water and dry to earth, so that water is opposite to fire but similar to earth and humid opposite to dry but similar to cold. From the interaction of these elements, composed of particles mixed in variable proportions, all the phenomena of the cosmos originate: birth, death, transformation. The forces that allow the interaction of the elements are two: love, an attractive force, and discord (or hatred), a repulsive force.

Empedocles and the four natural elements

According to Empedocles,  the 4 natural elements , i.e. the four roots ( rhizai ) that form all things, are governed by the tension between love and discord, which dominate alternately. When love dominates, all elements are fused together into a homogeneous and conflict-free sphere, the  Sphero . Originally, in the  Spherus , a separation of the elements begins through the action of discord, which leads to the destruction of matter, to Chaos. At this point, the cycle of the two cosmic forces, love and discord, continues thanks to a new intervention of love, which restores balance and life to matter, to then succeed in imposing itself on discord and returning to the initial condition of Spherus. From here the cycle begins again.

Aristotle and the 4 elements

To the  four elements , Aristotle will add a fifth: the  quintessence , called  ether , which constitutes the matter of the celestial spheres, the essence of the celestial world, eternal, immutable, transparent.

The Pythagorean tetraktys

According to  Pythagoras , Greek mathematician and philosopher, by arranging the first four natural numbers in the shape of an equilateral triangle, so as to form a pyramid with ten points, the symbolism of the  4 elements is identified  in the so-called  tetraktys . Starting from the top, in the tetraktys we find: the point, which represents unity and is made to coincide with fire; the colon, which represents duality and corresponds to air; the three points, which represent the flat surface, the creation, and correspond to water; the 4 points, which represent materiality and correspond to the earth. The  tetraktys  therefore encompasses the entire nature of the universe.

 

Hippocrates and the humoral theory

 

Hippocrates , an ancient Greek physician, tried to apply the  theory of the 4 elements to human nature, describing the existence of four basic humours, associated with the elements: yellow bile (liver) associated with fire, blood (heart) with air, phlegm (head) with water and black bile (spleen) with earth. The balance of these elements would confer the proper functioning of the organism, while the dominance of one or the other would determine the disease. Four temperaments also correspond to these elements, associated with four personalities: the melancholic, in which black bile predominates, is thin, weak, pale, stingy and sad; the choleric, with an excess of yellow bile, is thin, irascible, touchy, crafty, generous and proud; the phlegmatic, with excess of phlegm, is robust, lazy, slow and foolish; the blood type, in which blood predominates, is robust, cheerful, greedy, sociable, dedicated to a playful sexuality.

Moods and seasons 

Moods, triggered by temperaments, define the physical constitution, character, health. Depending on the time of day, the seasons and the age, moods prevail or diminish. In fact, the four  seasons are also associated with the four elements and temperaments: sanguine is associated with spring, choleric with summer, phlegmatic with autumn, melancholic with winter. Even the four seasons of life can be traced back to the 4 elements: childhood (phlegm), youth (blood), maturity (anger) and old age (melancholy). During the day, moreover, there is the prevalence of one or the other element: in the first three hours of the morning and in the last hours of the evening the blood prevails, anger dominates in the six hours in the middle of the day, melancholy in the first three hours of the evening and in the last three of the day, while in the six hours in the middle of the night phlegm prevails.

The 4 natural elements and astrology

In Western astrology, the zodiac signs are divided into the four elements: fire signs (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius), air signs (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius), water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces), and earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn). The belonging of a sign to a group gives it certain characteristics since the energies attributed to each element are different.