Working with the Elements and Elementals
Part 2: Fire

By Nikki Dorakis

FIRE
Ignis penetrabilis est

Translated the opening statement reads “Fire is all-pervading”.

As magical workers we view Elemental Fire in a number of ways. Mostly our views are quite narrow.

We call upon the Spirits of Fire as part of our Quarter Calling and often seem content to leave our involvement there, but it is not that simple.

The Spirits of Fire are the Aethnici. These are igneous spirits who live in the “Realm of Fire”. They appear in various modes and manners, like burning fires, live circular coals, or fiery globes; they are also seen amidst the sulphurous eruptions of volcanoes. They can also be seen in the smoke and flames of “Azrael’s Fire” – a divinatory flame made from Juniper, Cedar and Sandalwood.

The most invoked members of the Aethnici are the Salamanders; spirits, supposedly, of Passion and Creation and also of regeneration. The Salamander lizard is the main source of this image. The salamander can secrete a chemical which burns on contact. This is a survival mechanism. Also salamanders, like many reptiles can regenerate severed limbs. This consolidates their connection with Elemental Fire and its regenerative and transmutational power.

So, does our magical involvement with Elemental Fire stop at the invocation of the Southern Quarter? Does its influence in our lives end when the ritual finishes? Of course it does not. “Ignis penetrabilis est.” Elemental Fire is present in every aspect of creation, whether it is felt in the heat of a hearth or witnessed in the presence of the sun.

Fire is the Prime Mover of the creative process; without it there would be no movement in matter there would be nothing to generate light necessary for life and no warmth to allow water to flow or winds to blow.

The process of metabolism in our bodies relies on and generates heat as certain nutrients and oxygen are transmuted into energy and yet other substances are converted into materials to repair damaged cells or replace failed ones.

Elemental Fire powers the cycle of creation and change. We see this in the change of the seasons just as we can trace its power back to the moment the world and our universe was born.

In the cycle of the seasons we can see the beginnings of all things.

For this we start at Winter when all lies cold and still. Winter was the time of the beginning of the Universe; we can see this demonstrated most elegantly in the laws of physics. As matter is compressed the natural movement or vibration of the atoms as they are forced against each other generates friction which in turn produces heat. The heat will build until it causes molecular bonds to shatter and the cooling process produces the elements of the Periodic Table as the atoms recombine as like attracts like. Similarly the compounds form as elements merge and bond.

Yet how do we see this process as magical? How does this reflect the wonder that his the God and Goddess?

We return to Winter when the God and Goddess are sleeping, She in the embrace of the Wintertide King and Helios in the embrace of the Darksome Queen. At this time the strength of the Sun King is low.

But the Earth turns as it moves around the sun. The Spring comes and the power of the God begins to be felt. The heat of the sun melts ice allowing the water to carry on its work to deliver the nutrients to slumbering seed. The soil itself warms under the sun and with the warming water the seed begin to grow.

As the power of Helios increases towards Summer the Great Mother draws in His strength and the Earth gives forth with burgeoning growth. The power of Fire increases and so then does the transformation of matter that is growth.

And then comes the Autumn. Elemental Fire has reached its culmination and the final fruits of growth are harvested as the Great Father prepares once more to enter the darkness of winter.

In this time we seen the transmutational process and all that was created is “burned down”. Leaves drop from the trees and rot into the earth to return their nutritious elements back to The Mother. This process of composting also gives off heat.

This may be seen as the earth giving up its heat as it cools in preparation for the repose that is Winter.

And yet even as winter envelopes the northern hemisphere the southern hemisphere moves into its Spring as Helios’ attention moves to the south.

The element of Fire is never absent, even in the depths of the cold of Winter. This can be witnessed in the evergreens of the forest and the fact that even on the coldest days steam can be seen to rise from leaf mould and other compost as Fire continues its transmutational work of breaking that which was created back down to its components ready to start the cycle again.

So far we have looked at the work Fire does, but what of its Nature?

It is only when it acts upon the other Elements that the primal Will of Fire gains purpose. The rationality of Air and Compassion of Water mingled with the mutability of Earth gives Primal Will direction while the fifth Element, Spirit, ensures that the process of creation unfolds as it should.

Without Fire there is nothing but stasis. Yet it is important to remember as we travel on our magical path that though we may feel more aligned to a certain element than we do to others each element is only part of the path. If we forget this then we will fall prey to the idealism that leads to the path of the fanatic who believes that only the path of The God or Goddess or the Shaman is Truth. This is precisely the narrow view that has led to the various religious pogroms throughout the history or Humankind.

We must remember that without The God the Great Mother cannot give birth, without The Goddess the Great Father has nowhere to sow his seed. Thus without Air the Fire will die out, consumed in its own chaos. Without Earth it has nothing to act upon, no fuel – it will die. Without Water to modify its passion again it will consume uncontrolled until it destroys itself. Without Spirit it will never come to fulfil its Nature.

Alexander the Great is known to have observed that “The God is Knowledge and Power.” To which his mother replied, “Ah yes. But She is what he knows.”