Kenny
I'm starting this thread up because I feel a way is needed to understand one of the core subjects in The Alchemical Tarot--the Elements--that are not talked about in other places in a whole rather than small bites.
There was an interesting question asked by sapienza to me why I placed the Elements in the order I did, and why I differed from the order Robert M. Place put them in.
I have also seen another order of Elements (on a 17th century picture about energy centres) which places them: Fire, Water, Earth, and Air (upward, downward; downward line, upward line).
There was an interesting question asked by sapienza to me why I placed the Elements in the order I did, and why I differed from the order Robert M. Place put them in.
kenny said:Water is the lowest element and Fire the highest. Between them, and in order, are Earth and Air.
sapienza said:In this deck Place orders the suits Earth, Water, Air then Fire though.
kenny said:He puts them in order of material -> spiritual if I recall correctly; however I'm placing them in a different order.
My reasoning behind my ordering of the elements is based upon the Square of Opposition. As water flows down it is placed at the bottom of the square. Fire rises--or at least its heat does--and so it gets placed at the top.
These two Elements are the 'pure'--or something like that--hence the downward triangle for Water and upward triangle for Fire. Between these two are the 'children'--again not the correct term--and these are Earth and Air. As Earth has the downwards triangle with line I placed that after Water. Air then follows as it has an upward triangle with line.
sapienza said:Thats an interesting way of looking at the elements, thanks for sharing. It makes the symbols (ie. the triangles with and without the lines) make a bit more sense actually.
I have also seen another order of Elements (on a 17th century picture about energy centres) which places them: Fire, Water, Earth, and Air (upward, downward; downward line, upward line).