I’ve done a lot of research into the four elements (earth, air, fire water) in Paganism, Greek philosophy, and other ancient perspectives the world over. In some cases, people have taken the elements to be the basic building blocks of the physical world (rather like the modern elements that you’d find on the periodic table). Obviously, as moderns, we can no longer endorse such a perspective. However, many Pagans seem to keep the validity of the elements by saying that they represent the states of matter. This is fine and good, but it seems a bit ad hoc. There is a third way to interpret the elements, and that is as symbolizing phenomenological properties. This was always my favored approach. I was happy to find the following in Kalupahana’s “A History of Buddhist Philosophy”:
While it is true that the first four dhātu represent the basic material elements (mahābhūta), to which is added space, there is here no attempt to deal with them as purely objective phenomena; they are almost always defined in relation to human experience. Thus earth represents the experience of solidity, roughness, and so on; water stands for fluidity; fire refers to the caloric; and air implies viscosity. (p.73)
Of course, Pagans can add to this the experience of certain emotional states, both as felt from the first- and third-person perspectives, and the experience of various other correspondences. The elements, then, become a powerful symbol set of a phenomenological language. They are ambiguous enough (owed to their vast associations) that, when used in a ritual context, they speak to non-rational, purely experiential mind. They summon ‘feelings of feelings’, rather than explicit and well-defined concepts.
