The Classical Elements

INTRODUCTION

My first introduction to the four classical elements was through the 90’s animated cartoon series Captain Planet where five teenagers became the five planeteers with the magical powers of wind, earth, fire, water, and heart. Given my mother’s affectionate observation that I’m the Tin Man, the power of heart held no interest to me. Throughout my childhood, I kept seeing the first four pop up. Usually in fantasy media, elemental magic is present. The interest truly blossomed for me when Avatar: The Last Airbender aired on Nickelodeon and I was immersed in a fantasy setting revolving around the four elements of air, fire, water, and earth. It followed me through my adulthood, pushing me to seek this concept outside of nostalgia, finding it in literature, myth, religion, and herbal witchcraft. What draws humanity towards the four classical elements lies in the intrinsic value we place upon them and how we weave those values into our culture and beliefs.

Empedocles

Empedocles of Acragas was not the first to theorize the significance of air, fire, water, and earth. Nor would he be the last as many philosophers after him expanded on his own beliefs. Empedocles believed the four Classical Elements to be the Four Roots or the four pillars of life in which all matter in the world derives from. Then these elements are bound together by the force of Love or separated by the force of Strife.

The belief of Empedocles and other philosophers that the four classical elements were embedded in every bit of matter on our planet spread. However, that has been proven to be untrue when viewing it from the lens of chemistry. In 1661, an Anglo-Irish philosopher and chemist by the name of Robert Boyle published The Sceptical Chymist, where he found that some bodies such as gold could not be reduced to components of the classical elements. Then in 1783, another chemist named Antoine Laurent Lavoisier conducted several experiments, eventually concluding that water and air aren’t true elements. In Philip Ball’s “The Elements: A Very Short Introduction”, air, fire, water, and earth are scrutinized underneath a microscope, analyzing its relation to what people commonly think of as elements. One definition of an element is simply a part or aspect of a greater concept.  When most people come across the word element, the color-coded periodic table appears before them. But no one is creating a magic system palladium. “They are not the elements of chemistry, but they say something resonant about how we interact with the world and effect that matter has on us.” ( The Elements: A Short Introduction, 20)

The Four

1. Air

First, there’s air, the element that soars around us. Only caught by the human eye when it affects the environment beneath it. Air is our ultimate life force. A force that carries us to freedom and creation. Air is the element of communication, knowledge, and freedom. It represents an idea of innovation and discovery that can only be constructed with an open mind and willingness to look within. 

2. Fire

Out of all the classical elements, humanity has chosen fire to be the most dangerous. An element that humans can conjure for a short time and lose control just as quickly. However, the classical elements don’t lend themselves to the human notion of placing concepts under a good or bad label. Yes, fire can lead to destruction and death, but they’re not attributes of fire. Fire represents protection, passion, and purification. When man summoned fire, he extended the vitality of his life and his descendants.

3. Water

Water is the element of emotion and healing. Adaptable and boundless, water in all its forms is a vital element for humanity.  Water is never lost nor completely destroyed; traveling through the cycle of condensation and evaporation. Throughout time, water remains.

4. Earth

Earth represents stability, fertility, and wealth. Mother Earth gives us life, harvest, and nourishment. Not to be too on the nose, but this element keeps us grounded to our environment or to reality in general. Another element that doesn’t fall to time, but instead became one of human’s first indicators of time.

The Three

The Classical Elements are represented by the alchemic triangular symbols. Fire is an upright triangle while water is an inverted triangle. An upright triangle with a line cutting right under the top point represents air and the opposite symbol is earth. Their positions reflect similarities between the four. I’ll be diving deeper into the significance of the triangle for the Classical Elements as well as theorizing the cultural significance of each element in a separate paper. I believe the three points of the triangle symbolizes the natural beauty and raw power of each element, and also unity of all four. Can these three pillars fit into Empedocles’ notion of the universe being teetering on the balance of love and strife?

Conclusion

Humanity craves understanding. We study to identify and label. The Classical Elements are four simplified (yet very complex) matters that humans have used to categorize and define every aspect of the universe. It is a coveted theory to understand the world around us and how we fit into it. Our blood is the rivers that cut through land, stone, and flesh. Our bones will be the only piece of us that remains, then that will be dust as well. We seek to understand the elements because we desire to fully understand ourselves. The Classical Elements lay within us and around us. We see ourselves in these four. We see our mortality in the elements. We are the elementals, beings or flames, wind, dust, and blood. 

References 

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. 180AD. Penguin, 2019.

Ball, Philip. The Elements : A Very Short Introduction. Oxford ; New York, Oxford University Press, 2004.

Ivo Domínguez, Jr, and Courtney Weber. The Four Elements of the Wise : Working with the Magickal Powers of Earth, Air, Water, Fire. Newburyport, Ma, Weiser Books, 2021.