Elements

Learning about different cultures, I have found, always makes me question my own. My most recent question: Why is North earth, East air, South fire, and West water? Each of these four elements has a direction associated with it, but who came up with these? Has the creator of this phenomenon been gone for so long we don’t remember why these elements are important to their respective directions?

This question hit me as I was studying a book on Feng Shui. The book is an excellent book and I am learning much about the ideas of Feng Shui and some of the ideas of eastern society. In the ideas of Feng Shui, there are five elements. They are fire, earth, metal, water, and wood. Not only is air not an element, spirit not mentioned as one, and metal added to the list, Feng Shui also focuses on eight directions, the four cardinal directions and the four directions between the cardinal directions. South is represented by fire, Southwest by earth, West by metal, Northwest by metal, North by water, Northeast by earth, East by wood, and Southeast by wood.

Interestingly enough, I found this so strange that I wondered why Feng Shui has these elements in these directions. Then I paused, and wondered why I had not asked the same for wicca? I had accepted that North was earth, that East was air, that South was fire, that West was water, and that the center was spirit. I never questioned such a thing before.

I found myself questioning now though. So, I decided to look online to see if anyone had an answer. Many didn’t seem to talk about why the elements were placed as they are. I then came across a website that talked about the elements and directions in relation to where you live. They insisted that this was what mattered, along with how one felt about where each element should be placed. If it felt wrong to put water to the West, then put it where it felt right. For people who live in the Northern hemisphere, the weather becomes warmer as we travel towards the equator, and this may be why the element of fire was put in the South. But, for people who live in the Southern hemisphere, the opposite is true. When you travel North, the weather warms.

Now, I have no qualms with the elemental placements. In fact, the traditional placements feel very natural to me. But what surprises me is that I did not question this before. I accepted, and thinking about it now, if I were to align myself with the land around me, the oceans are to the East and West of me, the land rises to the East (since in Kansas, the land goes down in elevation when you travel West) but the fertile farm land is in the West, air flows in all directions because I live in the Midwest, and the warmth comes from the South and the bright sun that moves East to West. The elements are all around me and they more surround me than are placed in only one quarter. This feeling of being enveloped and surrounded brings me comfort.

Now, does this mean I won’t cast my circle with the traditional elemental directions? No, but it does mean that I feel I have a deeper understanding of what it means to be connected to all the elements and to have them in all places. This also means that if someone were to put an element in a different location, I probably wouldn’t blink twice. What I love about my faith is that it is my own, and what I love about faith is that everyone else has their own too. It’s okay to believe something different, to think for yourself, and to have the grace to understand that others have the same right. Our differences make us unique, and they bring us together in new ways of understanding one another, not in ways that separate or break us apart.

So, wherever your elements are, whatever they may be, they are special to you, and that’s all that matters.

Blessed Be