Last month, I finished reading Practical Elemental Magick by Sorita d’Este and David Rankine. There were some interesting facts in there, and this is a topic that I love to explore because when you look into the different beliefs that were held in the past you find a great amount of variety. I can't stand shallow books that tell you rather dogmatically "this is how it is" without suggesting that there may be other ways of looking at things. I drew the following diagram to show how I see the classical elements. To me, the elements represent the four fundamental states of matter. At the top of the scale, we have fire, which represents the plasma state of matter. Other examples of matter in a plasma state are lightning, electric sparks, fluorescent lights, neon lights, plasma televisions, and the Sun. When a plasma is deionised, it becomes gas, which is represented by the element of air. The air we breathe is formed of several types of gases, such as nitrogen, oxygen...

Kenneth Mackenzie (1833-1886) defined magic as, "a psychological branch of science, dealing with the sympathetic effects of stones, drugs, herbs, and living substances upon the imaginative and reflective faculties".  Magic is understood as a course of action taken for emotional (psychological) purposes, according to the symbolic action theory. For example, sometimes when a couple end their romantic relationship, acts of magic will take place, such as gathering old photos and burning them. This symbolic act is intended to release the person from their emotional connection to the past relationship. It is a simple magical act that has psychological effects and allows the individual to move on. Magic can serve as a form of psychotherapy. Every time you perform a magic spell, you're engaging in experimental psychology. Psychology is the study of the mental processes and behavior. The term psychology comes from the Greek word psyche meaning "breath, spirit, soul...