This is my diagram of the "wheel of the year" based on the data for my location. This is something I recommend everyone does - find out the meteorological data for where you live. I have written down the average temperature, rainfall, and sunshine for each month of the year.This has me thinking about the wheel of the year in Elemental terms. It was Aristotle that proposed that each of the Elements has two qualities each. Earth is cold and dry, because it represents molecules moving at their slowest, locked into a solid position. As the molecules warm up, they become more fluid. Water is cold and wet because it represents the liquid state. Air is hot and wet because it represents the water molecules evaporating upwards as they are heated. Fire is hot and dry because it represents the molecules in their ionised state. So, looking at the wheel of the year we can see the hot, cold, dry and wet quarters, which can indicate the Elemental symbolism of the seasons. We are current...

Through our daily earthbound life, we recognise the sun rising in the east (northeast in the summer and southeast in the winter) and mounting the sky. The sun rarely passes directly overhead, and rather we see it moving toward the south, if you're in the northern hemisphere. The sun will then set toward the west (southwest in the winter and northwest in the summer). This all changes if you're in the southern hemisphere, where the sun will appear to travel through the north, rising in the southeast at winter and the northeast at summer, and rising in the southwest in summer and northwest in winter. The following diagram shows the perceived passage of the sun for each hemisphere. For this reason, I would place my altar in the South and draw the circle anti-clockwise if I were in the southern hemisphere. Whether we are in the southern or northern hemisphere, the altar is placed in the darkest quarter of the circle, where the sun is perceived to travel under the earth. Psychol...

Putting elemental associations behind, let us look at some Indo-European mythology concerning the directions. I hope this will be not just interesting but helpful too. East: This word comes from the proto-Indo-European (PIE) for "shine red". This is the direction of the equinox sunrise. The wind that blows from the East, toward the West, was personified as Eurus by the ancient Greeks. He is the bringer of warmth and rain. His symbol was an inverted vase, spilling water. His Roman equivalent is Vulturnus. The Germanic name is Ostroni. In Hinduism the Guardians of the East are Indra and his consort Sachi. They are the Lord and Lady of war and thunderstorms. Their weapon is the thunderbolt and their "planet" is the Sun. Southeast: This is the direction of the winter sunrise. This wind was personified as Apeliotus by the ancient Greeks. He was thought to cause a refreshing rain particularly beneficial to farmers, and was often depicted wearing gumboots and ...

I've finished reading Wicca Covens by Judy Harrow and am in the middle of reading Witchcraft for Tomorrow by Doreen Valiente. Judy Harrow pointed out in her book that the correspondence of directions to elements is purely symbolic, and not something we should take literally. The elements are not literally found in different directions, because they are of course all around us. Harrow tells us that although most Wiccan covens follow the correspondence of North: Earth, East: Air, South: Fire, and West: Water, not all covens practice in the same way. It is important that we all practice in a way that makes sense to us. Doreen Valiente explains why the common Wiccan correspondence of directions to elements is used. She suggests that it is adapted to the British climate, as opposed to the Greek climate which Aristotle describes. Here we may see Valiente's correspondence in contrast to Aristotle's: I can see why she would describe Earth as "cold and wet" because ...

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...

I don't have a lot of gadgets in my life, all I have is my camera and laptop. Last night when I went to visit my boyfriend's parents, Daddy Evans was keen to show off his new iphone. He had this new app which shows you the stars and planets. All you do is hold the phone up to the sky, or point it in any direction you like, and it will show you exactly which stars and planets are in that direction. This is such a useful tool! When we got home, my boyfriend downloaded a similar app for his android and we had fun walking around the flat, plotting the zodiac around us. It was a cloudy night, not even the moon was visible to the naked eye, so having this app gave us a clear picture of what exactly was around us. I'm grateful to my boyfriend's dad, he always has some neat information to teach me as he's a keen naturalist. He used to be a diver, before health problems got in the way, and he was able to teach me about the tides. I had read about neap tides and spring tide...