Elemental Manipulation (sometimes known as elemental magick), is the power to exercise some control over nature and its elements. Elemental magic is a paradigm through which one uses the will to affect reality. In this paradigm, magick is worked through attuning to the classical elements of Hermetic philosophy.
The process of learning elemental magic involves an initiatory journey where the aspirant seeks to bask in the archetypes and currents representative of each element. Through this process, one becomes empowered with both knowledge and the ability to work magick through symbolic resonance.
In the Western esoteric tradition, there are four classical elements: Fire, Air, Water, and Earth. These can be studied from two principal perspectives:
How Consciousness emanates from non-duality and coalesces dualistic forms, How our Physical reality can be deconstructed into the four elemental archetypes.
This form of magic is innate in all witches, with some of them receiving divine associations to some aspects of nature upon their births. Witches have the common ability to manipulate the weather to some extent and is not unusual that a witch demonstrates control over at least one of the elements.
One of the many gifts that witches have is the ability to influence the behavior of nature and bend its four traditional elements (water, air, fire, and earth) in all of its forms. Elemental magic can be peaceful and benevolent or chaotic and destructive depending on the user and their intentions, and just like any other form of magic, its uses can be practically endless, limited only by the witch’s magical skills. The majority of witches use the most traditional form of elemental control to affect the weather, conjure fire or make plants grow, while others can manipulate more advanced elements like electricity and light and use certain elements as a form of divination.
Types of Elemental Manipulation
Pyrokinesis
Fire is probably the most powerful and deadly of the elements, and some witches can manipulate it with ease. This ability tends to activate when the person experiences a strong and negative emotion, which usually is rage and it manifests with objects bursting into fire. With practice, some witches can not only conjure fire but manipulate it, create heat or help themselves with some basic incantations.
Hydrokinesis
Frequently related to life and calm, water is one of the primordial elements that can be controlled through magic, usually with harmless and benevolent purposes. The ability to manipulate water is known as Hydrokinesis and its uses go beyond water bending; in some rare cases, witches can create water out of nowhere and control the sea life. Just like with any other power, witches that lack this ability can exercise some control over this element with incantations.
Geokinesis
Earth is known as the element of stability and by some witches, life too. Earth is one of the main elements of nature and tends to be associated with goodness and healing, but just like nature itself, it has been proven to be destructive and deadly as well. Witches have a very special connection to the earth as they like to practice their rituals outdoors and cast some of their most powerful spells surrounded by nature. Earth seems to be the most sentient of the elements. Its state depends a lot of the magical energies of the witches; Dark Magic can affect the nature and the earth can absorb negative energy, that later can be channeled by some benevolent witch.
White magic can be used to reverse the effects of Dark Magic, and when it is done properly, the earth responds positively, bringing everything in it back to life, almost as if reaffirming its duality. The earth is a manipulable element and witches can use their powers to perform a myriad of magical deeds, some harmless, like bending the earth to make figures and structures with it, and other more dangerous, like moving the earth to cause shifts. Witches are also capable of controlling everything found on the ground, like plants (they can make them grow, change their appearances and even wither them, some more powerful witches can even make them grow in places without earth) and metals (this is only possible through spells).
Aerokinesis
This is the psychic ability to manipulate, control, or alter air molecules, wind currents, and control air to an extent with the mind. The primary practical application when working with Air is pivotal to the essence of what Air represents: space. Whether that be creating space between you and others, lessening one's idea of space, or transforming how one's idea of space interacts with others' ideas of it. This can also be applied to the space between ideas, habits, and emotions.
One example would be putting one's fear response at a distance from the experience that invokes that fearful response in such a way that significantly mitigates or altogether eliminates that unhelpful, unhealthy response pattern. Working with space/distance between archetypes (whether ideas, habits, or people) is probably my preferred application of Air magic and one that I find most useful as the other two general usages of Air magic have some overlap with Mercurial workings in planetary magick paradigms. I prefer approaches that clear up that ambiguity so as it doesn't muddle my mind when it comes to magick and manifestation especially when working in different paradigms.
Ii-wy em Hotep - Patrick Gaffiero
Comments