| The art and study of magic is a vast study that can | | | | frustration, resentment, rage, freedom. |
| take years, and I get many questions about how | | | | Water |
| people should go about studying this topic. It can be | | | | Emotions, feelings, intuition, compassion, empathy, |
| daunting and I understand why people ask this | | | | sympathy, knowing, devotion, quest, aspiration, intention, |
| question. In my observation and experience, the best | | | | appreciation, integrity, harmony, beauty, balance, |
| place to begin studying is with the four elements of Air, | | | | serenity, fluidity, grief, apathy, joy, love. |
| Fire, Water and Earth. | | | | Earth |
| Because everything in the Universe is composed of | | | | Strength, money, foundation, endurance, structure, |
| the four elements, this study is literally part of | | | | mundane world, serenity of beingness, solidity, |
| everything else you will study in magic. Thus, to start at | | | | boundaries, permanence, land, commerce, products, |
| the beginning, start with the element Air. Air is a safe | | | | confidence, loyalty, persistence, stubbornness, fortress, |
| element to start studying because you can do very | | | | security, anchor, barter, substance, body, base, |
| little to yourself or others with air. The most you may | | | | possessions. |
| do is make yourself "spacy" or silly for a while, but Air | | | | At first, you will want to learn to handle each of these |
| dissipates quickly so you'll soon recover. For instance, | | | | elements with your bare hands, in what we call direct |
| we often start beginner magical practitioners with | | | | handling. For instance, if you wanted to handle the Air |
| cloud-moving and weather work. Clouds, being of the | | | | element directly, you could increase or decrease the |
| Air element, are easy to move with intention and not | | | | balance of Air in your body. The simplest way to do |
| likely to get anyone in trouble. | | | | that would be to wear white clothing. White is one of |
| Learning how to handle the Air element also helps you | | | | the Air element colors, and tends to increase your |
| develop the skills you will need to handle the more | | | | mental capacity. Other ways of handling Air include |
| advanced elements of Fire, Water, and Earth. Here is | | | | pulling in white energy through your hands or |
| a brief summary of what each of the elements | | | | "breathing" in white energy. |
| corresponds to: | | | | Once you have become proficient at handling the four |
| Air | | | | elements directly you can move on to using magical |
| Seeing, breathing, speaking, hearing, planning, thinking, | | | | tools. Since magical tools, such as the wand, athame, |
| believing, memorizing, communicating, learning, teaching, | | | | chalice and plate, are extensions of the basic four |
| information, ideas, wisdom, understanding, worry, | | | | elements and your own energies, they should be |
| sensation, awareness, opinions, data, memory, mind. | | | | studied and handled only after you develop a working |
| Fire | | | | knowledge and understanding of the four elements |
| Energy, power, will, desire, anger, pain, motivation, | | | | themselves. The same is true of the more advanced |
| radiance, passion, initiative, aggression, limitation, | | | | topics of divination, tarot and spellwork, which are |
| endeavor, activity, creative, willingness, urge, inspired, | | | | directly related to your understanding of the elements. |
| excitable, courage, bravado, compulsion, fanaticism, | | | | |