EARTH: The Titan of the North

For untold millennia our race has walked upon the surface of our planet. The great oceans sweep across its surface, the mighty winds race over the mountains and valleys of the world. The fiery rays of the sun descend to warm our lands and heat rises from deep within the planet to shed warmth of a different kind upon the dwellers of Terra. These three elements, so integral to life itself are baseless and lack a vessel in which to work their magic without the great alembic of Earth. Although this statement seemingly applies to the physical planet only, it is also true on a variety of levels as we shall see in this essay.

Like all three of the other elements, earth has value in three different aspects of human existence. Besides the obvious physical aspect, this element also bears value on mental/psychic and spiritual levels. Through the course of this essay, we will examine all three of these aspects of elemental earth and the importance they hold for human beings, not only in the realm of earthly existence, but also the metaphysical value of these aspects to the Seeker.

Physical earth is a composite substance made up of a great variety of minerals, chemical elements and metals. Some of these include such well-known substances as gold, iron, magnesium and lead, but also more simple substances such as stone and rocks like granite, basalt and marble. The structure of physical earth in the form of our planet, Terra, is a little more complex. At the center of our world is a great iron core, liquid and incredibly hot due to the intense pressure of billions of tons of rock and metal that rest upon it. Surrounding this core for thousands of miles in every direction is a plastic-like layer called the mantle. This layer is made up of molten rock called magma. On the surface of this magma rests the most familiar part of the planet to us; the crust of the planet is made of cooler, solidified rock. This crust forms the continents upon which we live and also provides the vast basins in which the oceans and seas of the world rest. The crust of the planet is cracked and splintered, however, made up of great slabs of stone called tectonic plates. These plates slide and move slowly, advancing towards or away from each other at the rate of a centimeter or so each year. The movements of these great plates are the cause of such terrifying phenomena as earthquakes and volcanoes, as well as the creation of majestic sights such as mountains and hills. For example, the Pacific plate, which rests under the ocean of the same name, is grinding against the North American plate. This is the cause of the San Andreas fault, which supposedly threatens California with eventual annihilation. The entire edge of the Pacific plate is constantly shifting and moving against the plates surrounding it, and for this reason is the Pacific coast, on both sides, called the Ring of Fire, due to the intense volcanic activity that rings the world on either side of the vast oceanic expanse. So, from this brief overview of the structure of the planet, we can see the relationship that has developed over billions of years between physical earth, water and fire. Air, however, is not left out of the equation. The great winds that sweep over the planet influence rains, ocean currents and even the very distribution of life on the surface through seed distribution and food sources. If the winds were different, the great tropical forests of the world would never have existed.

Earth as a physical element is not only apparent in our lives on such a large scale, however. Our bodies are largely made of water, but elemental earth also plays a large part in our physical forms. The same minerals that make up the surface of the planet also make up our bones and organs. Calcium, magnesium, iron, lead, gold, silver and an incredible variety of other elements and substances make up our corporeal forms. The most important of these is undoubtedly carbon. Life on this planet is carbon-based, meaning simply that without carbon, we could not exist. No other part of physical earth could fill the role of carbon in our bodies.

Physical earth is not simply a material we are built out of, however. Maintaining our forms also requires a steady influx of minerals and metals from the planet via plants that absorb them through their roots and the flesh of animals that consume them and are in turn consumed by us.

The metals and elements of physical earth are also used by our species to build, providing shelter and places for social gathering as well as transportation, tools and mediums of communication. With the materials provided by our planet we have managed to do what no species before us has done; we have traveled away from the surface of the planet and lighted upon the surface of Luna, the one satellite of our world, that is, the one natural satellite , for we have also constructed false celestial voyagers, creatures of metal and plastic that circle our globe and reduce the size of the world to that of a grain of sand. These same materials also provide complex information storage and exchange technologies, such as computers, that allow us to travel the expanse of a new world, cyberspace, where we 'exchange graffiti with a disembodied race' in the words of Neil Peart

The great cycles that govern our physical lives, from the water cycle to the cycle of nutrients, would all be impossible without the presence of physical earth.

Beyond the planet upon which we rest, and out of which we build, there is the psychic or mental aspect of earth to consider. Earth represents our bodies, and like the planet upon which we stand, it provides a vessel for the psychic aspects of the other elements to act within, the Mind, the Will and the Emotions are the psychic tools that allow us to relate to the world and to the people in it. Of all the four elements in psychic manifestation, we share only this one, the body, with all other living things. Our bodies, and the signals that rush within them along every neuron and axion,. provide us with a means to develop psychically and spiritually. The ancient practices of tattooing, branding, scarification and piercing do not transform simply through the marks left behind, but also through the inflicting of pain. Many are the native tribes of North America whose rites of passage into adulthood involve rituals of torture . One of these, found in a variety of variations across the continent, involves objects of weight such as buffalo skulls being attached to the flesh via wooden stakes. The participant in the rite dances and moves until the stakes rip free of the flesh and the intense pain initiates a trance state and spiritual experience. Physical exhaustion also serves as a path to the same type of experience. This is evidenced in the rituals of Dancepathing, where the participants dance until they literally collapse from exhaustion. Combined with stimulation the physical senses, which are manifestations of the elements, these rites are powerful indeed.

Psychic earth is the slowest, densest of the subtle elemental manifestations; it is unchanging compared to the rapid movement and transformations of the other three, less dense elements. For this reason, the time of the year associated with elemental earth is winter, when everything sleeps under a blanket of snow and slowly replenishes energy for the coming spring. For the same reason, midnight is the time of the day belonging to earth, for at this time a hush falls over the land and most living things are dormant.

In the north of the circle rests the qualities of strength and endurance that elemental earth brings to us. In circle, I have always felt a quiet mystery in that quarter. The great Bull of the north is silent, but the strength inherent in him is always apparent.

As I have done before, I shall further explore elemental earth in its psychic aspect by examining the elemental signs associated with it. The three signs of earth in the Zodiac are Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn. Taurus, the Bull, is summed up in the phrase 'I have' . This is the most material of all the key phrases of the signs. It is concerned with pure quantitative thought. Secondly is the sign Virgo, the Virgin. It's key phrase is 'I analyze' . This is a sign that on the surface would seem to belong to Air, rather than the opposed earth, but again this concept of analyzing in this sense refers to quantitative measurement. It is very much concerned with grey areas as opposed to straightforward black and white observations. It seeks perception rather than judgment. The third sign of earth, Capricorn the Goat, carries the phrase 'I do' . It is the sign of pure activity as a quality, rather than the knowledge of Air, the being of Fire and the pure emotional conviction of Water. The signs of earth relate to physical existence alone, in having, knowing what they have and doing something with it. As Crowley states in the Book of Thoth, Fire and Water are harmonized in Air. This again brings us back to the idea that earth is the vessel within which the activity of the other elements may occur. Elemental earth gives us the psychic vessel, a pure one of great strength, wherein we may transform ourselves. Though it is itself dense, heavy and slow (comparatively) it changes and transforms through its containment of force and bestowal of form. Does not consecration stem from the pentacle?

And this, of course, brings us to the working tool of elemental earth: the pentacle. More than just a platter for the cakes of ritual communion, the pentacle is the key to the arts of magick. Consecration begins with the pentacle, and unless it be consecrated, the other tools may not be. In days now gone, the pentacle was often made of wax so that it could be easily destroyed to prevent discovery. Nowadays, the pentacle is often made of wood or metal. It seems that copper and brass are used most often, rather than the heavy and dense lead one might expect to find. Copper is a venusian metal, however, and is therefore a metal embodying love, as opposed to the saturnian influence of lead. The pentacle is also a tool of manifestation, and for this reason, ceremonial magicians employ it in the evocation of spirits. The pentacles of the planets con tained within the Key of Solomon show this. One modern evocation ritual also places great emphasis upon the use of the pentacle in compelling a spirit to manifest.(See 'The Golden Dawn' by Israel Regardie}

The pentacle itself has as many different forms as there are traditions of mystic occultism. Our own pentacle has certain signs with which it should be adorned, and the pentacle used in Golden Dawn ritual bears a hexagram upon one side, a pentacle on the other. It symbolizes in this way the union of the Microcosm (the pentacle) with the Macrocosm (the hexagram).

The pentacle's use as a tool of protection and the manifestation of divine protection has a history as long as the other tools. In the form of a shield,. it protected Perseus from the gaze of Medusa. As the Lia Fail, or Stone of Destiny, it heralded the right of a true monarch to sit upon the throne of Britain. Moses struck stone and brought forth water for the Hebrews during their sojourn in the wastes of ancient Palestine.

Some of the symbols of elemental earth follow here, below, as well as a brief description of each.

This triangle is the Golden Dawn symbol of Earth. It's downward pointing apex marks the feminine nature of the element.

Prithivi, the Hindu Tattwa of Earth. It symbolizes the solidity of earth and is useful in meditation on the element.

The trilithon symbolizes the 'womb and tomb' concept of Earth, that from it come our bodies and to it we return. It may be seen in Stonehenge and the Torii of Shinto shrines.

The astrological symbol of Taurus is also the Kerubic Sign of Earth, the 'life' of the element according to Crowley.

Auriel, the Archangel of Earth in the Qabalah. He is the embodiment of the element, and is pictured as a mighty angel clothed in brown, russet, citrine and olive, the colours of Malkuth, the sehpira of Earth.

In addition to these symbols, each of the elements can be subdivided into four subelements, allowing the Seeker to fine-tune his understanding of the element and to invoke more specifically that force which he desires in ritual. They are, along with Crowley' s examples of natural phenomena springing from them:

Fire of Earth: Mountains--violent pressure (due to gravitation)

Air of Earth: Plains--steady bearing of life

Water of Earth: Fields--quiet spiritualized to bear vegetable and animal life

Earth of Earth: Badlands--unchanging, little affected by other elements.

Elemental earth may also be studied via the Tarot deck, or, Book of Thoth. The suit of pentacles corresponds naturally enough to earth, and deals mainly with material prosperity and happiness or the lack thereof. Cards of the Major Arcana that may be attributed to earth include The Hierophant (via Taurus), the Hermit (via Virgo), the Devil (via Capricorn), and the Universe which embodies all the elements working in conjunction in creation, which is an idea identical to that expressed by the Qabalists as the sephira Malkuth, the Kingdom, which ' is called the Resplendent Intelligence, for it sits above every head and is exalted upon the throne of Binah., which is to say that it is the final product of the containment of force in form that was begun in Binah, the Womb of the Supernal Mother, that is, the Goddess herself in her aspect of Mother.

The final of the three aspects of earth is that of the spiritual. As before, I follow Crowleys line of reasoning when he states that an element finds its birth in its cardinal sign, its life in its kerubic and its spirit in its mutable sign. The order of the signs, then, is Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo. The first act for the Seeker on the path of earth then is to simply do. Activity is the first step that must be taken by the Seeker in conjunction with the other three elements. To hum and haw over what step must be taken is stagnation and inertia. A body in motion tends to stay in motion and therefore to begin one must do. Once we have begun to travel we path, we may realize what it is we do have, that is what tools we have to wor k with. A man who refuses to walk has not yet realized that his feet are good for something. Now, we may analyze what we have. We have begun walking, we now know that our feet do something other than play 'This Little Piggy' and we are able to finally see what it is that our feet truly are: an instrument of locomotion. The same applies to the mystic. Once we have overcome our spiritual inertia and realized that we have tools to use, then may we begin to understand where our feet are taking us, and how to take the next step. The value, spiritually, of earth, is to aid us in manifesting to consciousness those tools that we have and the knowledge of how to use them, in order that we may proceed. Earth consecrates us as surely as the pentacle consecrates the athame or wand or chalice. Only when we are thus purified by our own Higher Selves may we begin to take our place as enlightened beings. Only then may we, in the words of the Golden Dawn Neophyte initiation, 'Quit the Night and seek the Day' , that we may 'aspire to become more than human' . \

APPENDIX ONE: Correspondances of Earth

Season: Winter

Time: Midnight

Tool: Pentacle

Sephiroth: Malkuth (Hebrew, 'The Kingdom')

Direction: North

Colour: Black or Green

Planet: Earth, or Saturn by some accounts.

Signs: Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn

Human Being: the Body

Polarity: Feminine

God Name:\ Adonai ha-Aretz (Lord of Earth)

Archangel: Auriel (Sandalphon is the archangel of Malkuth)

Tetragrammaton: He final

Spirit: Gnome

Wind: Boreas

Stones: Topaz, Peridot, Black Diamond

Herbs/Plants: Mallow, Snowdrop, Lily, Narcissus, Indian Hemp, Orchis Root, Thistle

Animals: Bull, virgin, anchorite, solitary animals and people, goat, ass \

Magical Weapons: The Labour of Preparation, the Lamp and the Wand, the Bread, the Secret Force

Scents/Incense: Storax, White Sandal, Narcissus, Musk, Civet, Dittany of Crete

Figures: Amissio, Conjunctio, Carcer

World: Assiah (activity and manifested physical reality)

Permutations (f)YVH, H(f)VYH, H(f)VHY, H(f)HYV

Pentagram: Lower left point

Metals: none specifically. All partake of earth

Divinities: Asar Ameshet Apis, Shiva (Sacred Bull), Isis (as Virgin), the Gopi Girls, the Lord of Yoga, Set, Lingam, Yoni , Hera, Venus, Attis, Ceres, Adonis, Pan, Priapus, Vesta, Bacchus, Demeter, Geb, Dagda, Bloedwedd, Vertumnus, Flora, Atlas, Cronos, Saturn, Rhea, Maui, Persephone, Gaia, Pluto (as Lord of Wealth) , Hades