How conscientiously invoking the elements through correspondences can bring greater balance and understanding to your life.

Ours is a society of affluence and privilege, regardless of any one individual's financial state. Most of us have sound shelter, heating, ample food supplies, air-conditioning, running water and stoves, and these things are considered basic necessities rather than the luxuries our ancestors would have considered them to be. We are the epitome of abundance, and should consider such convenience a true blessing of the time we have chosen and are living in.

However, with abundance and luxury oft comes sloth and apathy. Ignorance is born not from the willful disregard of wisdom, but often through ease, tradition, happenstance and simple neglect. We forget our source and often flounder in states of imbalance hoping to seek the answers from pharmaceuticals or therapy instead of the Wisdom of Nature because it's what we know. Developing a basic awareness then of the elements and their correspondences as they exist within Nature can be a very good guide and tool for aligning our consciousness to the world around us and providing a balance which when absent, though ephemeral, affects us in ways which are often untraceable to the cause.

What Are the Elements?

The Elements are a categorization of the realms of universal energy that surround us and include:

• Earth *
• Air
• Water
• Fire

Man is the only creature which inhabits and/or utilizes every realm. Correspondence is the relationship between the aspects of each element which can be utilized in order to bring about conscious balance or willful change through invoking that which is lacking or excessive. This basic wisdom can be found in simple belief systems which are no longer conscious at the root. 'Taking a cold shower' to cool off when you're angry is one example: The cold/water is a natural balance to fire/anger. Many other examples exist in daily life; we have just become accustomed to more sophisticated and generally less reliable techniques.

Correspondences

Correspondences exist in nearly every spiritual belief system with some (generally minor) differences. Using the example of anger, we find that anger is an aspect of Fire. Passion is another example of a fiery aspect. Both have been associated with cold water as relief because water contains the properties of both cold and emotion and serves to bring about a balance to the excessive heat and fire.

Taking this further, one finds that nearly every physical aspect, modality and belief system can be contained in one of the four elements.

Human/Emotional Correspondences:

• Earth – Action, effort, money
• Water - Emotion, feeling
• Fire - Anger, passion
• Air – Intellect, reason

Astrological Correspondences

• Earth - Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn
• Water - Pisces, Cancer, Scorpio
• Air – Aquarius, Gemini, Libra
• Fire – Aries, Leo Sagittarius

Elementals (non-physical entities) Correspondences

• Earth - Gnomes, Dwarfs, Elves, Brownies
• Water – Undines, Nymphs, Sirens
• Air – Sylphs, Fairies
• Fire – Salamanders

Plant Correspondences:

• Earth - Potatoes, Ivy, Hyssop, Grains
• Water - Ferns, Mosses, Seaweed
• Air - Aspen Tree, Mistletoe
• Fire - Peppers, Poppies, Onion, Cinnamon

Using the methodology of elemental correspondences can bring about several solutions to any imbalance, from foods to talismans to the elements themselves. It's a bit like cooking where there are as many ways to prepare a dish as there are cooks - the secret lies within your own tastes, preferences and individual skills. Through time and practice, you'll find that working with the elements can bring about balance more effectively than sophisticated modern means.

Further Links and Related Articles:

Sacred Spaces

In Depth - Correspondences

Classical Elements - Chart

Elements and Correspondences

*'Spirit' is often also included in the understanding of the elements, but for the purposes of this article is presented as a dimensional attribute and aspect rather than a true element. Depending on belief system, that mileage may vary.