Basic Wiccan Tools and Symbols – The Buddhist Elements
It’s interesting to compare Wicca elements with other ancient religious and philosophical traditions…
In pre-Socratic Greece the four classical elements were the same: water (Thales), air (Anaximenes), earth (Xenophanes), and fire (Heraclitus). Aristotle added the element of Aether or Quintessence!
Hippocrates developed a theory that the health of the human body depended on the balance of four humors: fire (sanguine-blood), air (choler-yellow bile), water (phlegmatic-phlegm), and earth (melancholic- black bile); and this thought lasted through the Middle Ages.
The earliest Eastern Indian view of the elements included three: fire (red-agni), water (white-ap) and earth (black-prithivi). They were considered the primary forces of nature and the cause of all that happened. Later the elements of air (vâyu) and aether (âkâsha) were added.
In Buddhism, the elements are the same as in Hindu except that the fifth element could be interpreted differently. “Aether” could also mean “sky” or “clear space.”
Here are the Buddhist Elements and Associations in chart form:
ELEMENT |
EARTH |
WATER |
FIRE |
AIR |
VOID |
Concepts |
anutpâda (unborn) | vaktva (word) | raja (dust) | hetva (origin) | kha (void) |
Jewels |
gold | diamond | ruby | emerald | sapphire |
Colors |
yellow | white | red | green | blue |
Direction |
south | east | west | north | center |
Shape |
square | sphere | triangle | crescent | |
Aggregates |
sensation | form | conception/ perception | emotion/ volition | cognition/ consciousness |
Mantra |
tram | hûm | hrîh | âh | om |
Body Parts |
knee | navel | chest | brow | crown |
Organs |
eyes | ears | nose | tongue/body | mind |
Objects |
sights | sounds | smells | tastes/textures | null |
