Alchemical Symbols, Alchemy, Ancient Languages, Music, Symbology & Symbols

Alchemical Symbols, Alchemy, Ancient Languages, Music, Symbology & Symbols

 

Ancient Sun Symbols from Around the World.
Admiration for the sun, reflected in solar symbolism,
goes back thousands of years.

Each civilization had its own way of representing our star,
and some of them are strikingly beautiful.

Let’s look at the ancient sun symbols from various cultures,
so we can discover what this concept looked like for different people around the world.

1. Brigid’s Cross (Ireland)
2. Three-Legged Raven (China)
3. Daisy Flower (Native American)
4. Ankh (Egypt)
5. Snowflake (Pagan)
6. Chrysanthemum (Japan)
7. Owia Kokroko (Africa)
8. Phoenix (Greece & Egypt)
9. Wheat Ear
10. Saule Symbol (Latvia)
11. Tawa (Hopi)
12. Beaivi (Sami)
13. Triskelion (Celtic)
14. Borjgali (Georgia)
15. Zia Sun (New Mexico)
16. Hittite sun disk
17. Daisy Wheel (hexafoil symbol or six-petal rosette)
18. Dharma chakra (Hinduism)
19. Sudarshan chakra (Hinduism)
20. Pagan wheel of the year (Eight armed sun cross)
21. Akhet (Egyptian)
22. Star of Shamash symbol (Mesopotamian)
23. Aztec sun stone symbol (Central Mexico)
24. Egyptian winged sun (Egyptian)
25. Sun cross (Celtic)
26. Kongo cosmogram (African)
Click on image for full view
https://www.outofstress.com/sun-symbols/

 

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i'd not draw #3 that way

see post #5

 

Elemental Correspondences


Catherine Noble Beyer
Ceremonial occult systems traditionally depend on systems of correspondences: collections of items that are all associated in some way with the desired goal. While the types of correspondences are nearly endless, associations between elements, seasons, time of day, elements, moon phases, and directions have become fairly standardized in the West. These are frequently the basis for additional correspondences.
The Golden Dawn's Elemental/Directional Correspondences

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn codified some of these correspondences in the 19th-century. Most notable here are the cardinal directions.
The Golden Dawn originated in England, and the directional/elemental correspondences reflect a European perspective. To the south are the warmer climates, and thus is associated with fire. The Atlantic Ocean lies to the west. The north is cold and formidable, a land of the earth but sometimes not a lot else.
Occultists practicing in America or elsewhere sometimes do not find these correspondences to work.
Daily, Monthly, and Yearly Cycles

Cycles are important facets of many occult systems. Looking at daily, monthly, and yearly natural cycles, we find periods of growth and dying, of fullness and barrenness.

• Fire is the element of fullness and life, and it is closely associated with the Sun. Therefore, it's unsurprising that noon and summer would be associated with fire. By that same logic, the full moon should also be in the same category.
• Earth is in the opposite direction as fire and therefore corresponds with midnight, winter, and the new moon. While these things might represent barrenness, more often they are representative of potential and transformation; the point where the old gives way to the new; the empty fertility readies to feed new creations.
• Air is the element of new beginnings, youth, increase, and creativity. As such, it is associated with spring, the waxing moon, and sunrise. Things are growing warmer and brighter, while plants and animals give birth to a new generation.
• Water is the element of emotion and wisdom, particularly the wisdom of age. It represents a time past the peak of livelihood, moving toward the end of the cycle.

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Fire


FuatKose/Getty Images
Fire is associated with strength, activity, blood, and life-force. It is also seen as highly purifying and protective, consuming impurities and driving back the darkness.
Fire is traditionally seen as the most rarefied and spiritual of the physical elements because of its masculine properties (which were superior to female properties). It also lacks physical existence, produces light, and has a transformative power when it comes in contact with more physical material.

• Qualities: Warm, Dry
• Gender: Masculine (active)
• Elemental: Salamander (Here referring to a mythological lizard creature which could burst into flames)
• Golden Dawn Direction: South
• Golden Dawn Color: Red
• Magical Tool: Sword, athame, dagger, sometimes wand
• Planets: Sol (Sun), Mars
• Zodiac signs: Aries, Leo, Sagittarius
• Season: Summer
• Time of Day: Noon

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Air


Getty Images/Glow Images
Air is the element of intelligence, creativity, and beginnings. Largely intangible and without permanent form, air is an active, masculine element, superior to the more material elements of water and earth.

• Qualities: Warm, Moist
• Gender: Masculine (active)
• Elemental: Sylphs (Invisible beings)
• Golden Dawn Direction: East
• Golden Dawn Color: Yellow
• Magical Tool: Wand, sometimes sword, dagger or athame
• Planets: Jupiter
• Zodiac Signs: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
• Season: Spring
• Time of Day: Morning, Sunrise

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Water


Getty Images/ CHUYN/DigitalVision Vectors
Water is the element of emotion and the unconscious, as opposed to the conscious intellectualism of air.
Water is one of two elements that have a physical existence that can interact with all of the physical senses. Water is still considered less material (and thus superior) to earth because it possesses more motion and activity than earth.

• Qualities: Cold, Moist
• Gender: Feminine (passive)
• Elemental: Undines (water-based nymphs)
• Golden Dawn Direction: West
• Golden Dawn Color: Blue
• Magical Tool: Cup
• Planets: Moon, Venus
• Zodiac Signs: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces
• Season: Fall
• Time of Day: Sunset

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Earth


Jutta Kuss/Getty Images
Earth is the element of stability, groundedness, fertility, materiality, potential, and stillness. Earth can also be an element of beginnings and endings, or death and rebirth, as life comes from the ground and then decomposes back into the earth after death.
Qualities: Cold, Dry
Gender: Feminine (passive)
Elemental: Gnomes
Golden Dawn Direction: North
Golden Dawn Color: Green
Magical Tool: Pentacle
Planets: Saturn
Zodiac Signs: Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn
Season: Winter
Time of Day: Midnight
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Spirit


Raj Kamal/Getty Images
The element of spirit does not have the same arrangements of correspondences as the physical elements since spirit is not physical. Various systems may associate planets, tools, and so forth to it, but such correspondences are far less standardized than those of the other four elements.
The element of spirit goes by several names. The most common are spirit, ether or aether, and quintessence, which is Latin for "fifth element."
There is also no standard symbol for spirit, although circles are common. Eight-spoked wheels and spirals are also sometimes used to represent spirit.
Spirit is a bridge between the physical and the spiritual. In cosmological models, the spirit is the transitory material between the physical and celestial realms. Within the microcosm, the spirit is the bridge between body and soul.

• Golden Dawn Direction: Above, Below, Within
• Golden Dawn Color: Violet, Orange, White

Cite this Article

• 
  Geometric Shapes and Their Symbolic Meanings
• 
  The Rosy Cross or Rose Cross
• 
  Pentagrams Meaning
• 
  Associating Zodiac Signs With Elements
• 
  Alchemical Sulfur, Mercury and Salt in Western Occultism
• 
  Complicated Polygons and Stars
• 
  Rebis: the Result of the Great Work in Alchemy
• 
  The Symbolism of Squares

• 
  Marriage of the Red King and White Queen in Alchemy
• 
  Ancient Spirals
• 
  Occult Symbols
• 
  The Hexagram's Use in Religion
• 
  Ouroboros
• 
  Deciphering Eliphas Levi's Baphomet: The Goat of Mendes
• 
  What You Should Know About Octagrams - Eight-Pointed Stars
• 
  Vodoun Symbols for Their Gods

 

The Five Element Symbols of Fire,

Water, Air, Earth, Spirit

Learn Religions / Kelly Miller

By
Catherine Beyer
Updated on June 05, 2019
The Greeks proposed the existence of five basic elements. Of these, four were the physical elements—fire, air, water, and earth—of which the entire world is composed. Alchemists eventually associated four triangular symbols to represent these elements.
The fifth element, which goes by a variety of names, is more rarefied than the four physical elements. Some call it Spirit. Others call it Aether or Quintessence (literally "the fifth element" in Latin).
In traditional Western occult theory, the elements are hierarchical: Spirit, fire, air, water, and earth—with the first elements being more spiritual and perfect and the last elements being more material and base. Some modern systems, such as Wicca, view the elements as equal.
Before we examine the elements themselves, it is important to understand the qualities, orientations, and correspondences that are associated with the elements. Each element is connected with aspects in each of these, and it helps correlate their relationship to one another.
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Elemental Qualities


Catherine Beyer