Caroline Tully writes:
>
<SNIPS>
> Let me explain for northern hemisphere readers: The traditional (northern
> hemisphere) attributions of the elements to the cardinal points are well
> known: Earth = North, Air = East, Fire = South, Water = West. These
> elemental attributions are based on the movement of the sun through the
> northern hemisphere sky - when facing east in the northern hemisphere, the
> sun rises and travels through the sky slightly to the right of someone
> standing there watching. This is where we get the idea of moving "deosil" or
> clockwise - following the sun. The sun reaches its zenith in the southern
> part of the sky before sinking in the west and therefore, in the northern
> hemisphere, south is considered the direction of fire.
<SNIPS>
I have been a practicing astrologer and astral magician
for 35 years, and can vouch for the tenacity of the
attributions given above among the various communities
I have been acquainted with in Manhattan [ Wicca, OTO,
GD, &tc. ].
These attributions have absolutely nothing to do with
my practice, which is based on my study of Ptolemaic
astrologies and grimoiric literature.
Classical astrology arises primarily from the fact of
the turning seasons, and not from astronomical concerns
- which is why Ptolemy and Aristotle employ Empedocles'
qualities and elements when discussing astrology to
begin with.
Spring will always be of Air, and Sanguine. Autumn,
Melancholic and Earthy. Summer and Winter will be
Fiery/Choleric and Watery/Phlegmatic, respectively. And
these facts will obtain regardless of where the
constellation of Aries gambols off to.
Here are the attributions I employ:
SEASONAL/HUMORAL/ELEMENTAL/DIRECTIONAL ATTRIBUTIONS:
1.) SPRING/ BLOOD/ AIR/ EAST
2.) SUMMER/ CHOLER/ FIRE/ SOUTH
3.) FALL/ MELANCHOLY/ EARTH/ WEST
4.) WINTER/ PHLEGM/ WATER/ NORTH
A.) AIR = WARM & LESS MOIST
B.) FIRE = HOTTEST & MOST DRY
C.) EARTH = LESS DRY & COOL
D.) WATER = COLDEST & MOST WET
These are the attributions found in Hippocrates, Aristotle,
Galen, Avicenna, Al-Biruni, Ficino, Agrippa, &tc...
This particular ordering of the elements, which assigns the
seasons to the directions, is based on the 'Rotation of the
Elements' - the notion that, as one season passes to the
next, it 'hands off' one elemental quality, and 'takes up'
another one; for example, Spring leaves off Moisture and
becomes Dry on the way to becoming Summer.
The model I'm discussing has to do with Phases of energy -
it is like paper/scissors/stone, or the Pa Kua.
Think about the four seasons, with the 2 solstices and 2
equinoxes, as Stations of the day.
You have the Dusk/Dawn meridian as well as the Midnight/Noon
meridian.
The Dusk/Dawn meridian corresponds to Fall and Spring, the
'Twilight' times of November Eve and May Eve.
And then the Midnight/Noon meridian parallels Winter and
Summer.
In this model the year resembles a day, Writ Large.
This page sums it up:
Greek Elements
http://tinyurl.com/bg639
Among practitioners of astral magic, the attribution of the
Directions to the Elements is not thought of as referring to
Signs or Planets that are in One Forever Fixed Position.
With all the usual disclaimers about Wide Generalization,
what we're talking about is the 'Window Frame' of the Horizon.
This 'Frame' is composed of the points of Rising, 'Nooning'
[ the 'Medium Coeli' / Middle Sky ], the Setting, and the
'Midnighting' below the horizon - what folks sometimes think
of as a point directly beneath their feet.
This 'Window Frame' is what astrologers refer to as the
'Houses'. Since the Houses are based on the local horizon,
they are the Fixed reference system for observing the
Travellers as they move from Sign to Sign.
In the older, square-looking charts, it's easier to see the
four Triplicities tucked up into their respective angles,
waiting to be determined by the data. Nowadays, we have
circular charts.
One of the reasons a 'magic circle' comes in so handy, is
the possibility of marking planetary & stellar positions
along the rising/setting arc as you face north in the
southern hemisphere.
Of course, you could likewise face in a southerly direction
to 'observe' planets and stars located Below the horizon,
but Generally one observes planets at rising, setting, and
at the Midheaven - a planets 'noon'. That 'noon' is called
it's 'culmination', when it's as high in the sky as it's
likely to get. This time around, anyway.
Thus the mention of a planets 'Altitude' in some of the
grimoires - they're talking about the Elevation above the
horizon, what we refer to these days as 'Ascension' or
'Declination'.
The elements turn up in Greek Philosophy as Types of Energy
at least as much as they do as 'elements' in the sense of
Types of Atoms. And, as Types of Energy, we're concerned not
with what they are so much as with what they DO - with
Function, and with Energetics.
If anything, this elemental stuff is more like a
pre-scientific pseudophysical prototypical Wave Theory than
an Atomic Theory. Polarities suggest a Field, and involve
wave-motion through a continuum. That's what al-Kindi was up
to, with his 'De Radiis'. Seismographs, magnetic compasses,
and tables of the ocean tides all demonstrate a familiarity
with the 'field paradigm'.
Oscillations of heat and moisture, of light and motion, wind
and stone, dispersion and aggregation - these are part of
the 'energy language' found in all the varieties of
astrology, which 'organizes medicines and diseases according
to prime elements, energies and biological humours'[-David
Frawley].
And 'complex position', the idea that some 'thing' is not
simply located and bound at a particular point in space, but
is distributed among, defined by, and contributes to
relationships with every 'thing' else - that a plant or a
stone participates in events occurring throughout the
universe - that's the basis of astral magic, of alchemy
and medicine.
Open up your Culpeper - it's in there. That old herbal
might not be gathering so much dust if folks had a better
grasp of the elemental framework that it was assembled with.
Whichever of the arrangements of the elements and directions
is best, or correct, depends on your application of the
Elemental Qualities.
If you experience them as a cyclic organization, where each
element is succeeded by the next, then the Humoural sequence
is a natural choice.
This is not to say that there are no other assignments to be
found. I am simply pointing out what looks to me like a
spot of Cognitive Dissonance between the contemporary W.E.T.
and the Greek/Stoic/Ionian/Unani traditions of astral magic,
alchemy, and medicine that said W.E.T. is [supposedly]
founded on.
I hope that some of this Rummaging About among various
Correspondences and Attributions will set a few folks
looking into the Consistency [or lack thereof] in the
Assignments they employ.
If, however, you are employing the Maps provided by your
Tradition, then you must own Them as Best.
When all is Said and Done, no one 'Corrects' a Tradition.
That's what makes it a Tradition.
See also:
The Hippocratic Corpus
http://tinyurl.com/8rwoz
Healing
http://tinyurl.com/99j62
Adam McLean's Alchemy site:
http://tinyurl.com/2j4vp
Pre-Socratics
http://tinyurl.com/dg5sf
Humoural Pathology
http://tinyurl.com/anwsg
Porta's 'Natural Magick'
http://tinyurl.com/clr5c
Unani Medicine
http://tinyurl.com/9fedq
UNANI MEDICINE
http://tinyurl.com/9zn2p
Four seasons chess
http://tinyurl.com/9mbel
"As its name implies, the game is a competition
between four players, each representing one of
the seasons.
Moreover, each player's colour represents one
of the four elements and a humour.
Green represents spring, air, and blood;
Red represents summer, fire, and choler;
Black represents autumn, earth, and melancholy;
White represents winter, water, and phlegm."
Farmer's Chess
[four seasons variant]
http://tinyurl.com/azham
The History Of Chess
http://tinyurl.com/9p2nz
List of the works commissioned
by Alfonso X, el Sabio
http://tinyurl.com/b2sy3
The Picatrix: Lunar Mansions
in Western Astrology
http://tinyurl.com/a6m52
--oO0Oo--
Cors in Manu Domine,
~ Khem Caigan
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