Hermetic Techniques for Neo-Pagans 1: Elemental Work

Neo-Paganism is often envisioned as an earthy, sensual spiritual path, filled with the five senses (and the sixth sense!), celebrating the cycles of the earth, celebrating our bodies, and carousing with the elements. It is a spiritual path focussed on union and sensation. On the other hand, Hermetic magic and its often-linked Pagan religion, Thelema, are viewed as highly cerebral forms of magic and worship. Their rituals are often lengthy, featuring languages that most of us do not speak (Hebrew, Greek, and Enochian to name a few). They are also surrounded by, and enmeshed in, a superbly complicated (yet common-sense) philosophy that has been created over centuries. Compare your average neo-Pagan book with a typical “Hermetic Magic for Beginners” and you will see a huge difference in the approaches. This is why many neo-Pagans steer clear of Hermetic techniques and some Hermetic magicians (though thankfully not all) look down upon neo-Pagans.

But, in my usual style of eclecticism, I wish to look at how these two paths can link together – or, more rightly, how neo-Pagans can use Hermetic magic techniques without compromising their own beliefs, methods, and approaches. As such, this will be a short series of separate articles, the first one looking at what could be considered the building blocks for both a Hermetic and neo-Pagan magical path.

Elemental Work

Many neo-Pagans use the elements in a lot of their magic and spiritual practice – they call upon their aid and protection at the beginning of rituals; they consecrate magical tools and themselves with their energies; they commune with them in nature. It may surprise some to find out that although Hermetic magic is a highly cerebral path, it too has plenty of room for communing with the elements and growing in understanding of them. The following exercises are aimed at providing the magician with a deeper knowledge of the elements and their elemental planes, thereby learning how to use them in magic and in life, and addressing elemental imbalances in their own life/psyche.

Pathworking the Elemental Planes

Beginning with the element closest to our material plane, that of Earth, followed by Water, Air, Fire, and finally Spirit, the magician pathworks (in meditation or trance) each of the elemental planes. The objective is to meet the elemental King of each plane, and ask him/her (although called “Kings” they are essentially genderless) for aid, advice, and wisdom from that element. As with neo-Pagan magic, each elemental plane is associated with an area of the magician’s life or psyche – Earth is related to the material realm, the body, how one acts, manifests, and creates; Water is related to the magician’s emotional life, fears, dreams, and anxieties; Air is related to the magicians mind and their mental state, how they think, logic, and communication; Fire is related to the magician’s will, drive, ambition, and sexual nature; finally, Spirit is the point where these four elements combine.

The four Kings of the planes (because Spirit is not an element in its own right it does not have a ruler) are:

Earth: Ghob (pronounced ‘gob’)

Water: Nichsa (pronounced ‘nik-sa’)

Air: Paralda (pronounced as written)

Fire: Djinn (pronounced ‘gin’)

Each plane has creatures associated with it (elementals): Gnomes, undines, sylphs, and salamanders respectively, and whilst they often appear similarly to each magician they will often vary in size, colour, and shape depending on the individual. As such, I will refrain from describing them or the elemental Kings, let alone the planes themselves.

It is wise to pathwork each of the planes separately and to work with only one until you are completely satisfied that it has taught you what you need to know and you have corrected any elemental imbalance relating to it that you have. This may mean you have to make a few trips on separate occasions to the same plane, and it is a good idea to do each a minimum of three times even if you feel satisfied after the first – better safe than sorry!

A magician will often find that in later meditations, pathworkings, or trances they find themselves back in a familiar landscape of an elemental plane. This is because once you have reached the elemental plane, and created a relationship between you and the elemental King (the essence of the element), it is easier to go back to those places. You have made ‘inner-plane contacts’ and have begun to map and navigate your own psyche.

In order to enter an elemental plane, and test whether the imagery in them is ‘true’ and not just interference from a troubled mind or the events of the day that may still be there, you need to know a few symbols. The first symbol is the Tattwa of each element.

The Tattwas act as doorways or locks on the doorways into the elemental planes. They are activated, opened, or unlocked (whichever your mind imagines them as) when you trace the applicable elemental invoking pentagram over them (though I have tried these techniques without pentagrams, instead using a chant of the element itself). Only then can you enter the plane.

The elemental plane of Earth has a Tattwa called Prithivi which is a yellow square. It can be visualized in the North of your working space/circle, and to activate it you draw an Invoking Earth pentagram:

This starts at the top point (Spirit) and draws the pentagram down to the bottom left point, then to the right point, to the left point, to the bottom right point, and finally back to the top.

The elemental plane of Water has a Tattwa called Apas, which is a silver crescent. It can be visualized in the West of your working space/circle, and is activated by drawing an Invoking Water pentagram:

This starts at the left point and draws the pentagram to the right point, then bottom left, top point, bottom right, and finally back to the left point again.

The elemental plane of Air has a Tattwa called Vayu, which is a blue circle. It can be visualized in the East of your working space/circle, and is activated by drawing an Invoking Air pentagram:

This starts at the right point and draws to the left point, down to the bottom right, up to the top point, down to the bottom left, and finally back to the right point.

The elemental plane of Fire has a Tattwa called Tejas, which is a red equilateral triangle, and is activated by drawing an Invoking Fire pentagram:

This begins at the top point and draws down to the bottom right, then the left point, across to the right point, down to the bottom left, and finally back up to the top point.

During the pathworking these symbols can be used to test the imagery you see – draw them (visualized, of course) over the image you doubt, and if it disappears or changes significantly, it is interference and can be ignored. If, however, it prevails, it is a true image of that plane. Hermetic magicians also use God names to test these images or during the ritual that begins the pathworking, though I have found that these aren’t necessary (especially for those who feel uncomfortable working with Hebrew or Enochian God names.)

The ritual itself is up to you – you may cast a circle, purify your working space, go and find a place where the element you will be working with is strong, perform the Lesser Banishing Ritual, do some breathing exercises, etc. Whatever makes the working space you will be in special, sacred, and safe is a good start to elemental pathworking. However, the pathworking itself should retain a few features no matter what your path:

1. When you are relaxed and in a meditative state (you’ve breathed in and out slowly and deeply a few times, for instance) visualize the relevant Tattwa before you. It may be on its own or on a door.

2. Visualize yourself drawing the relevant Invoking pentagram, and if applicable intoning the relevant Hebrew God name. This activates the Tattwa or opens the door it is on, and you may enter.

3. This is not a guided meditation, so you won’t have anybody telling you what to see. Instead you will find yourself in a landscape of your own making, which expresses the relevant element. (A rule of thumb is that if you are working with, say, Earth, and you find yourself in a fiery landscape you may need to test the vision or try again later.) Your goal is to make contact with the elemental King, and ask him for his aid, wisdom, etc. So you must explore/interact with this landscape and the creatures in it in order to do so. This may involve crossing several boundaries or being confronted with things that make you feel afraid or uncomfortable: this is because within these landscapes you are trying to correct elemental imbalances in your nature, and these will show up. If, for instance, you find Water (emotions) something difficult to deal with or an area of life where you are stuck, you may find yourself getting pulled underwater by creatures or tangling plants; you may have to fight a sea monster; your destination may be a stagnant pool; your reflection in the water may be ugly. It is important that you face and confront these images (after testing them of course) because this is the elemental plane helping you see where your own issues lie. Do not be afraid – you will not drown/burn to death/suffocate in real life! It is also wise not to just ‘joyride’ around the elemental planes, beautiful and fun though they may be (ever wanted to fly? breathe under water? go caving? Here’s your chance!) Always have an objective. Also try not to wreak havoc – it pisses off elementals and the elemental King especially.

4. Meet the Elemental Ruler (test him!) and converse with him. Listen to what he has to say, watch what he does, how he acts, take his blessing.

5. Return back the way you came.

6. Step back through the door and into your body, and don’t forget to lock the door behind you – use a Banishing elemental pentagram (this will be the opposite of the Invoking elemental pentagram).

When the ritual is over, it is a good idea to write everything down immediately, especially with the higher elemental planes since they are extremely abstract and difficult to recall. This kind of working is also good to do in a small group because you can then discuss what you saw and compare notes – you’ll be surprised where peoples’ visions were similar and where they were different!

While in the elemental planes you may come across the sub-elements (Earth of Earth, Water of Earth, Fire of Air, etc.) These show you different aspects of the element itself, and you can explore each sub element on its own in a pathworking at a later stage if you wish. (For those of you interested in Tarot, you may find such working useful for understanding the 16 Court Cards, since they can relate to the 16 sub-elements as well as the four elements themselves.)

Working with the elements in this way is a practice which has been done for centuries, and it allows a magician to understand himself and improve himself. For the neo-Pagan the attraction to the elements is obvious, and elemental pathworking not only gives the benefits of personal growth but also a deeper understanding of the elements which we use so often in our rituals and magic. Once you’ve made contact with the Elemental Kings, you may also find you can call upon them in your rituals and magic as well, or you may find that you can channel the energies of the elements more effectively.

In the next article in the series I will be looking at the most basic Hermetic magic technique, the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, comparing it to a neo-Pagan circle casting, explaining how a neo-Pagan can use it, and also how they might update it to better fit a neo-Pagan philosophy/set of Gods.