Element Energy - Magick 101
Welcome to Element Energies 101: introducing yourself to element energies! Magick is all about raising, using and directing energies. Each of the elements have their own unique energy that can be borrowed in your practice! In my personal practice, I like to try to implement each of the elements into my work. Element energies can be used to aid cleansing, consecrating, casting circles and spell work! Before using the elements, it can be greatly beneficial to familiarize yourself with each of their individual energies. This can make working with them much more intuitive. Below are a few very easy ways to start familiarizing yourself with and working with each of the elements!
Each element has a corresponding direction. When possible, facing in the direction associated with the element can help strengthen your connection with that energy (and help ground yourself to your surroundings!)
Air
Air is the element of clarity, wisdom and logic. This element's direction correspondence is the East. Of course, breathing is a way that we connect with air every day. You can strengthen that by working on breathing exercises or breathing meditations. Meditating on how the air feels different from space to space. Focus on how the air interacts with the space that you're in. If you're outside, how is it interacting with the things around you? Can you feel it? Can you feel a difference?
Another way to connect with air is with wind. Get a notebook, journal, book of shadows, grimoire, or even just a notes app on your phone. Go outside or open a window and note how the wind feels. Is it a light breeze? Is it a strong gust? Write down how it feels physically, and then write down how it feels energetically to you. Then save that and do it again when the wind is different from when your first documented it and compare the two experiences. Then try it with an artificial wind (like an electric or hand fan). Does it feel different than the natural breezes? And how? You can do this as often in as many variations as you like!
Fire
Fire is the element of transformation and creativity, but it can also be a destructive element too. The direction correspondence to fire is South. It can quickly become a strong, chaotic element energy (read: don't accidentally catch anything on fire). A simple way to connect with the fire element is to light a candle and sit with it. First gaze into the flame. Can you see the energy? What does it look like? Then raise your hand next to it and feel the actual energy - the warmth of the flame - radiating off of it. Sit with it for a while. If you have access to a fire pit or working fireplace in your home, you can compare experiences with your candle. Does the bigger fire feel different to you?
Water
Water is the element of emotions, intuition and reflection. The direction correspondence is West. The easiest way to familiarize yourself with water is to drink more water. Consciously drinking more water and seeing how you feel absorbing it and its' energies. Another way to get a feel for different types of water is to sit with some in your mouth. I know it sounds weird, but it helped me quite a bit! Try comparing mineral water to spring water, or distilled water, or filtered bottled water, etc.
You can also just touch or sit by water - especially for the kind you probably shouldn't ingest! Oceans, rivers, or lakes, rain water, storm water, moon water, you name it, you can familiarize yourself with it! Taking a bath or floating in a pool and meditating on/with the water energy around you is a great option too. Again, I recommend documenting your experiences. Especially with this reflection element!
Earth
Earth's direction is the North. It is the element of grounding, stability and fertility. You can familiarize yourself with it by caring for a garden or plants. House plants are a great way to bring the earth element indoors if you don't have access to a big yard space or nature on a regular basis! Meditate with the plants, feeling its' energy - touching soil is a great way to connect. Another way is to go "earthing" if possible. Earthing is a practice where you go outside barefoot and feel the ground underneath you. This way you can feel the earth, feel the stable energy beneath your feet.
Spirit
Some people count spirit as an element and some don't. That will be up to your preference! Just to cover all the bases, let's talk about spirit as an element energy and what that means. Working with spirit energy can also range meaning from working with your own spirit energy to working with outside spirit energies such as ancestral spirit or deity spirit. I'll break both of them down below:
Raising your spirit energy
A common, easy way raise and familiarize yourself with your spirit energy is music. Putting on music (or playing an instrument, if that's your thing!), specifically music that brings you joy can raise energy. If your music is danceable, dance to it. You will physically feel your energy being raised! Do things that make you feel a buzz of happiness and then recognize it.
A note (with caution): Yes, you can technically raise other types of energy. For example, can you remember a time when you were so angry you felt like your body was vibrating? Energy *can* be raised in many ways, and some will choose to work with them. That said, many believe in and abide by the threefold law or "rule of three," or some variant with a similar idea. This is the concept that whatever energy you put out there, be it positive or negative, will come back to you (times three, if we're referring to threefold belief). So before you decide to work with anything, research these ideas and figure out what will work best for you. Some may press the subject but again, not every witch believes in or abides by the rule of three. I mention it because it is up to each individual to research for yourself and determine what you believe and what works best for you.
Ancestral or deity spirit energy
Familiarizing yourself with these types of energies will greatly vary depending on where it is coming from. Working with ancestral energy will vary from culture to culture, and deity energy will also vary culturally as well as individually with each deity. I recommend starting familiarizing yourself by researching what that may mean for you. If it's ancestral, where is your ancestry from? Are there any cultural or familial practices that you can do? If it's deity, are there cultural or specific traditions for that deity? After you've done the research and know what method you want to use, raising your own energy beforehand is like calling upon outside spirit energy with a megaphone: your energy is more likely to be heard.
Grounding excess element energy
Just as important (if not more important) than raising energy is grounding it when you're finished. When I was newer to the craft, I experienced many sleepless nights because my body was still holding extra energy it no longer needed from magickal work! Over time I learned to recognize it and ground when needed. Like everything, everyone has their preferred methods of grounding. For me, I like to sit comfortably, preferably on the ground, and notice my physical connection to earth. Feel the weight on the ground, recognize the gravitational pull. Then I will rub my hands together and place them on the ground, visualizing and feeling the excess energy going back into the earth.
Another common way is the rooting method, which requires a bit more visualization. In this method you sit and visualize roots (like tree roots) growing from your body where it connects to the ground rooting into the earth's core. Then you will visualize the energy going down into those roots and back into earth.
After you've familiarized with each element energy
Whether you're making mental or physical notes, compare how each of the elements felt different from one another. Make both physical and energetic comparisons! Some will feel a much stronger connection to one element over the others. You may always feel drawn to work with this one over the others, or you may shift your strengths with time. If you do feel a hierarchy of connection to each element, I highly recommend regularly doing one of these easy familiarization practices with your weakest link element. For me, that was (and still often is) the element of air. You may never feel as strong of a connection with it as your strongest, and that is normal! But working on strengthening your connection to it will bring a better balance to your practice.
What element energy do you feel the strongest connection to? Let me know in the comments of this post or in the comments of my YouTube video on this!
