Air (classical element)
Classical elements |
---|
Air or Wind is one of the four
Greek and Roman tradition
According to
Air was one of many archai proposed by the Pre-socratics, most of whom tried to reduce all things to a single substance. However, Empedocles of Acragas (c. 495-c. 435 BCE) selected four archai for his four roots: air, fire, water, and earth. Ancient and modern opinions differ as to whether he identified air by the divine name Hera, Aidoneus or even Zeus. Empedocles’ roots became the four classical elements of Greek philosophy.[5] Plato (427–347 BCE) took over the four elements of Empedocles. In the Timaeus, his major cosmological dialogue, the Platonic solid associated with air is the octahedron which is formed from eight equilateral triangles. This places air between fire and water which Plato regarded as appropriate because it is intermediate in its mobility, sharpness, and ability to penetrate. He also said of air that its minuscule components are so smooth that one can barely feel them.[6]
Plato's student Aristotle (384–322 BCE) developed a different explanation for the elements based on pairs of qualities. The four elements were arranged concentrically around the center of the universe to form the sublunary sphere. According to Aristotle, air is both hot and wet and occupies a place between fire and water among the elemental spheres. Aristotle definitively separated air from aether. For him, aether was an unchanging, almost divine substance that was found only in the heavens, where it formed celestial spheres.[7]
Humorism and temperaments
Humour | Season | Ages | Element | Organ | Qualities | Temperament |
Blood | spring | infancy | air | liver | moist and warm | sanguine
|
Yellow bile | summer | youth | fire | gallbladder | warm and dry | choleric
|
Black bile | autumn | adulthood | earth | spleen | dry and cold | melancholic |
Phlegm | winter | old age | water | lungs
|
cold and moist | phlegmatic
|
In
Alchemy
The alchemical symbol for air is an upward-pointing triangle, bisected by a horizontal line.
Modern reception
The
In the Golden Dawn and many other magical systems, each element is associated with one of the
Air is one of the five elements that appear in most Wiccan and Pagan traditions. Wicca in particular was influenced by the Golden Dawn system of magic and Aleister Crowley's mysticism.[15]
Parallels in non-Western traditions
Air is not one of the traditional five
The element air also appears as a concept in the Buddhist philosophy which has an ancient history in China.
Some Western modern occultists equate the
See also
- Atmosphere of Earth
- Sky deity
- Wind deity
Notes
- ^ W. K. C. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. 1, pp. 466, 470–71.
- ^ Plato, Timaeus, ch. 27, p. 83.
- ^ Guthrie, History of Greek Philosophy, vol. 1, pp. 115–16, 120–32; Jonathan Barnes, Early Greek Philosophy, pp. 77–80.
- ^ Guthrie, vol. 2, pp. 362–81; Barnes, pp. 289–94.
- ^ Guthrie, vol. 2, pp. 138–46. Guthrie suggests that Hera is the safest identification for air.
- ^ Plato, Timaeus, chap. 22–23; Gregory Vlastos, Plato’s Universe, pp. 66–82.
- ^ G. E. R. Lloyd, Aristotle, chapters 7–8.
- ^ Londa Schiebinger, p. 162.
- ^ Israel Regardie, The Golden Dawn, pp. 154–65.
- ^ Regardie, Golden Dawn, p.322; Kraig, Modern Magick, pp. 149–53.
- ^ Regardie, Golden Dawn, p. 80.
- ^ Regardie, Golden Dawn, pp. 280–286; Kraig, Modern Magick, pp. 206–209.
- ^ Doreen Valiente, The Rebirth of Witchcraft, p. 64.
- ^ Regardie, Golden Dawn, p. 631.
- ^ Hutton, pp. 216–23; Valiente, Witchcraft for Tomorrow, p. 17.
- ^ Donald Michael Kraig, Modern Magick, p. 115.
- ^ Bob Brier, Ancient Egyptian Magic, p.128.
References
- Barnes, Jonathan. Early Greek Philosophy. London: Penguin, 1987.
- Brier, Bob. Ancient Egyptian Magic. New York: Quill, 1980.
- Guthrie, W. K. C. A History of Greek Philosophy. 6 volumes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1962–81.
- Hutton, Ronald. Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999, 2001.
- Kraig, Donald Michael. Modern Magick: Eleven Lessons in the High Magickal Arts. St. Paul: Llewellyn, 1994.
- Lloyd, G. E. R. Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of His Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968.
- Plato. Timaeus and Critias. Translated by Desmond Lee. Revised edition. London: Penguin, 1977.
- Regardie, Israel. The Golden Dawn. 6th edition. St. Paul: Llewellyn, 1990.
- Schiebinger, Londa. The Mind Has No Sex? Women in the Origins of Modern Science. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989.
- Valiente, Doreen. Witchcraft for Tomorrow. Custer, Wash.: Phoenix Publishing, 1978.
- Valiente, Doreen. The Rebirth of Witchcraft. Custer, Wash.: Phoenix Publishing, 1989.
- Vlastos, Gregory. Plato’s Universe. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1975.
Further reading
- Cunningham, Scott. Earth, Air, Fire and Water: More Techniques of Natural Magic.
- Starhawk. The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess. 3rd edition. 1999.