The universe is a sacred mandala
of which each one of us is a part.

Elements
Colors

A message about Magickal Correspondences:
The ancients were expansive thinkers. They believed that everything was alive, that spirits were everywhere and that we interacted with these spirits; with the elements, the earth, the sea, the stars, the trees, the stones, the moon, the sun, the mountains, the valleys, the animals, the clouds, the winds, the rains, the bordered and between places we encountered very day. In other words, we were connected to everything in the universe. These principles inspired a concept of universal connectivity and put forth the possibility of the corresponding metaphysics that witches call magick today. We have an experiential connection to all things that has been described as psychic, spiritual, otherworldly, paranormal and occult. Quantum physics has intimated that every particle in the universe is connected to every other particle. Consciousness, it seems, is woven into the very fabric of creation. And we are redefining what is "normal."

I study all things magickal. But that is not all I study. I study languages, science, history, literature, poetry, archeology, and anthropology; anything that might unlock the voices of my ancestors from within and without. The journey seems disconnected as I pick up a fragment of knowledge from one source that does not connect to another, maybe for years. It is like traveling the path of the labyrinth. At the very beginning my eyes are focused on the prize. If I stand on my tiptoes and strain my eyes, I can see wisdom's radiant glow in the center. It's so close, I want to scale the labyrinth walls and not wait to find the wonder. In my arrogance, I think that I recognize so much about this wisdom, that I wonder why I must travel the long way to my goal.

But I have taken an oath to study, the do the work, to practice what I learn on my path. And I must pay attention to the way before me as the shadows deepen and I am seemingly pulled away from the wisdom's glow. All along the way I learn new things. I come closer to the center again, but over and over I am drawn away. I am compelled to be in the here and now and explore everything I find as I travel the four directions, North, East, South and West, to learn and grow. Along the way I connect one particle of wisdom to another until I find myself before the wisdom prized again, unaware that I now walk the path just next to the one where I began, but now, having gathered all the tools, gifts, treasures and understanding that the four directions have taught me - what I thought I understood in the beginning was only the surface of the wisdom. Now, I understand the depth, height and breadth of the prize for the first time. I now understand my nature, the nature of nature, the nature of the universe, the nature of my kindred, and the nature of the divine.

I found my way to the gods through magick and scholarship; the learning path of my Ancestors.

Elements

The Elements have always played a large part in my training. Wards rather than circles were used for protection. The classical four directions, the four winds, the four corners of the earth were symbols in our personal mythology. Although Grandmother was Irish, she was formally schooled in Greek and Latin literature and philosophy. So my family has adopted the four Elements as symbols and spirits that guard and guide.

My little sister of my heart, Selena, quilted a drape that she meant for me to hang on my wall before my altar. It never made the wall because we use it as the center cloth of our Esbat rituals like a compass that points the way to the directions and marks the four quarters.

The use of the four elements as attributed to Ptolemy.
Element -- Fire -- Earth -- Air -- Water --
Keywords: Action, Practical, Intellectual, Emotional
Jung: Intuitive, Sensation, Thinking, Feeling
Plato: Imagination, Demonstration, Intelligence, Opinion
Paracelsus: Salamander, Gnome, Sylph, Undine
Hippocrates: Choleric(Angry), Melancholic(Sad), Phlegmatic(Apathetic), Sanguine(Optimistic)

Air and East - East is the doorway to birth and new beginnings. As each new day dawns with another chance for life, East influences everything just begun...Spring is the season associated with this direction because Spring is also the time of rebirth. East is the doorway to mental healing, understanding, awareness, memory, connectivity, education both mundane and spiritual, conviction, trust, and strength of will, and all levels of communication and the conscious mind.

Fire and South- South is the doorway to all the possibilities of immortal youth. Nourished by the warmth of the sun, we grow to adulthood believing nothing is beyond our grasp under the watchful Southern eye. South is the place of Summer. South is the place of hope, courage, baptisms of fire, awakenings, intuition, overcoming obstacles, change, playfulness, protection, challenge, impulsiveness, creativity, imagination, inspiration, resurrection, business, physical strength and healing, self sufficiency and the unconscious mind.

Water and West- The West holds the doorway to Harvest of our lives. The West is the culmination of our goals. The West opens the ability to harvesting our talents. It represents the end of life in the form of sustenance to the whole and from which the new born, the newly initiated may draw strength and knowledge. All endings mark new beginnings and thus East and West see each other as kindred. Young and old understanding each other in a special way. West is the place of visions, dreams, divination, quests and distant journeys, emotions, creative arts, feminine compassion, epiphany, plump, spiritual renewal, goals and the subconscious mind.

Earth and North - North is the doorway to the hereafter. North is winter where everything lies in stillness-waiting, fermenting, in a state of anticipation until the veil is thin enough to access the treasure of the Ancients within and without. North is the place of knowledge, physical health, teaching, balance, abundance, sacred wisdom, thankfulness, harvesting inner treasures, empathetic intuition, alchemy and the foreconscious mind.

Celtic colors:
North: color black
East: pale yellow
South: color white
West:  color light gray

Hindu colors:
North: color yellow.
East: color is white
South: color is blue
West:  color red

Buddhist colors:
North: color green
East: color blue
South: color yellow
West:  color red

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"Color is the place where our mind
and the universe meet each other."
-Paul Cezanne

Colors

In the ever expanding attempt to homogenize magickal workings, the color coding of all things magickal is probably the worst idea. Historically every culture has ascribed meaning to different colors. Egyptians ascribed the best good fortune to the color black because that was the color of the soil after the Nile flooded giving them the opportunity to plant and prosper. Yet Christian belief marks all things black as unlucky and dangerous. The sacred color of brides in China is red, and half a century ago for Europeans that sacred color was blue, not the white of today. In a small Catholic church, I once read a sign that ascribed hope to the color blue, and faith to the color green. In Hindu philosophy, the element of water is colored white. In Chinese philosophy water is black and earth is yellow. If green is the perpetual color of good fortune then why is driving a green race car such bad luck?

You can apply color magick to your candle magick, stone magick, placket magick, cord magick, talismanic magick, or just in deciding what color you will wear to work in the morning or surround yourself in your home. Blue is compassionate and has the ability to slow metabolism lower blood pressure and heart rate. Green is environmental, soothing and calming. Red is energizing and raises the blood pressure, pulse and even body temperature. Purple is royal. Yellow is joyous. Unless your hateful Aunt's kitchen was yellow where she forced you to eat liver and onions!

Color work is an wonderful discipline. Study more than one school of thought on what each color represents. And allow for contradictions.

Mixing complementary lights will produce white, as all three primaries will be present. A mixture of complementary pigments will produce black.

PINK: Signifies: Woman. Healing, romantic or emotional love (rather than sexual), marriage, romance, friendship, affections, unselfish emotions, spiritual healing, banishing hatred, honor, morality, gentleness, trust, compassion, binding magick, girls, and flirtation.

ROSE RED: Signifies: The Ancestors. Deep affection of a non-sexual nature. Commitment, grace, familial love, devotion, ancestral devotion, gratitude, motivation, beauty, perfection, optimistic, trustworthiness.

RED: Signifies: Mars, Fire and Tuesday. Masculinity, will, ego, strength, health, vigorous physical healing, vigor, lust, passion, physical energy, danger, heart, courage, protection, shielding, zeal, zealtry, rage, fear, vitality, birth, death, rebirth, long life, boundaries, nobility, importance, celebration, and creativity.

ORANGE: Signifies: Man. Also The Sun. General attraction, energy, assertiveness, endurance, encouragement, to seal a spell, adaptability, stimulation, attraction, flamboyance, plenty, warmth, male energy, self-sufficiency, kindness, and Aurumn.

YELLOW: Signifies: The Sun, Air and Sunday. (Also Mercury) Intellect, communication, eloquence, travel, happiness, success, self esteem, attraction, persuasion, charm, mental healing knowledge, learning, wisdom, concentration, confidence, joy, comfort, sympathy, and Summer.

GREENISH-YELLOW: Signifies: Sickness, jealousy, cowardice, anger, distrust, painfully suspicious, intolerance, having morbid fear of rivalry, weaving worlds within one's head, apprehensive, anxious, and discord.

LIGHT GREEN: Signifies: Venus. Use to improve the weather, environment, new growth, movement, hope, fast luck, immense possibilities, uplifting, a baptism, overcoming fear, grace in one's old age and Spring.

GREEN: Signifies: Venus, Earth (element) and Friday. Prosperity, good fortune, employment, fertility, prolonged physical healing, growth, nurturing love, finance, agriculture, regeneration, success, charity, ambition, counteracts greed and jealousy.

MINT GREEN : Signifies: Financial gain (used w/gold or silver), hospitality, rejuvenation, invigoration, sanitization, to find your voice, clear the air, banish pests, harvest, calm, releasing old patterns, letting go the pressure or pain, conquering impotence.

LIGHT BLUE: The Sky. Signifies: Healing, peace, psychicism, insight, visions, patience, happiness, inner peace, friendship, tranquility, understanding, protection of home, children, boys, protection of new buildings and winter.

BLUE: Signifies: Mercury, Water and Wednesday. Tranquility, understanding, patience, emotional health, truth, idealism, sincerity, honor, aristocracy, loyalty, peace, wisdom, compassion, protection during sleep, astral projection

DARK BLUE: Signifies: The Sea. sociablity, impulsivemess, depression, sadness, changeability, taboos, contemplation, to create confusion (use with white or you will confuse yourself) and the subconscious mind.

INDIGO: Signifies: Fierce healing, deep relaxation, deep restful sleep, heals wounded pride, broken bones, legal affairs, social standing, importance, royalty, nobility, self-worth and perception.

PURPLE: Signifies: Jupiter, Air and Thursday. Calling the power of the Ancient Ones, heredity, royalty, courage, sigils/runes, oaths, luxury, government, pretentious prose, equality, and mourning.

VIOLET: Signifies: Power, sanctity, sentimentality, tension, sadness, amplification of other energies. wisdom, high ideals, spiritual protection and healing, psychic ability, protective energy, healing severe disease, spirituality, meditation, religion, tension, ambition, magickal power, and psychic awareness. Expansion or growth in all forms (love, healing, wealth, etc.), changes, impulsiveness.

SILVER: Signifies: The Goddess. Empathy, dreams, purity, reflection, faith, trust, humanity, art, white gold, magick, treasure, values, female energy, strong confidence, and the unconscious mind.

GOLD: Signifies: The God. (Also Sun) Generosity, prosperity, sun-magick, male energy, wealth, financial wisdom, attracting happiness, activity, intelligence, transformation, transforming the psyche, physical, mental & spiritual perfection, wholeness, wisdom, excellence, majesty and conscious mind.

BLACK: Signifies: Saturn, (all elements) and Saturday. Negation without reflecting, unlocking when stuck, banishing evil or negativity, change, release, reversal, uncrossing, renewal, chaos, night, mystery, death, shadows, magick, confusion, protection, returning to sender, divination and mourning.

WHITE: Signifies: The Moon, Water and Monday. Femininity, Protection, purification, potential, unity, truth, sincerity, precision, consecration, meditation, divination, exorcism, the full moon, healing, peace, spiritual strength, may be substituted for any other color.

GRAY: Signifies: Balance, neutrality, the middle, stability, the mind, identity, loss, like slate or a chalkboard, gray is used in erasing, canceling, neutralizing, a return to the universe without repercussion, a softer shade of mourning, and modesty.

BROWN: Signifies: The Earth (planet). Grounding, trees, health, concentration, telepathy, comfort, security, homeland, centering, hesitation, uncertainty, neutrality, invoking earth powers, finding lost objects, protecting familiars, pets, and animals,

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© 2004-2010 Ardriana Cahill

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