The four primary elements of existence are fire, earth, air and water, according to western philosophy. They have been rich symbols for at least 2500 and throughout there has been a fascination with their meaning, their attributes and their relationship to the fundamental aspects of existence. Our ancient ancestry based their religions on the earth mother, and her accompanying elements. In cultures across the world belief was strongly based around the view that harmony and balance would only come if these elements were in equilibrium and many of our oldest traditions and rituals are based around appeasing the elements.

Building on the foundations of the ancient Greek & Egyptians belief systems around the elements, alchemists in the middle ages ascribed the four main elements to internal and external parts of the anatomy, personality traits, astrological signs, planets and constellations, animal and plants, shapes and colour, believing that as well as being base components of life on earth, they were the symbols of man's connection with the universe.

As such elements are an integral aspect of all esoteric practices for example within tarot, magic, astrology and each element's individual traits, and significance is explored in more detail in each section, however it is worth mentioning their relationship with each other.

The four main elements, fire, earth, water and air relate to each other in a cyclical rotation where earth becomes water, water becomes air, air becomes fire and fire becomes earth. This constant cycle is akin to the seasons (spring into summer into autumn into winter into spring..) the rise and fall of the wheel of fortune, and of course the cycle of life and death, these are just a few examples.

In the Eastern tradition there are five elements, earth, metal, fire, wood and water, and these are deemed to have a cyclical relationship, just as the western system does, with wood creating fire, fire becoming earth, earth creating metal, metal melting to water and water creating wood. In addition within the eastern system there is a destructive cycle where wood diminishes the earth, earth pollutes water, water quenches fire, fire melts metal and metal destroys wood. These form the basis of the workings of Feng Shui.

Lastly we have spirit, an element which is not part of either the western or eastern systems, but an element which is within us all