How do you represent the elements?

[Michie]

I started a thread asking for alternatives to using incense, as my roommate is very allergic to it. So many people had so many wonderful ideas, that I thought it would be interesting to see what everyone was using to represent the other elements too! I love reading about all of the wonderful, imaginative, creative ideas! :floating:

[Aidron]

Well, here is but a very small fraction (literally) of things I have come up with over the years to represent the elements upon my altar and in my room/house. These are entirely 'alternative' methods, so you won't find traditional things here (or typically traditional anyway) such as altar tools, candles for fire, etc. Keep in mind, all colors, directions, and elemental associations are taken from my own experiences so you will most definitely want to adjust them to your own standards/path.


Fire:

Pick up one of those plastic candles powered by electricity. This is great for people who are afraid of fire, overly cautious, or worst, blind. (Can you imagine fumbling around over your altar blind? Oops, there goes the curtains... and my bed... and well, my house.)

You could pick up just one and leave it white or a soft creamy white (the colors they usually come in) or paint them. Perhaps paint one blue for healing and water associations, yellow for air and communication, green for prosperity and earth. You could set each one up on your altar this way at the four corners, or around your room. Paint one gold and silver for the god and goddess, or just leave them white and carve (lightly now) sigils/symbols into them. Best of all, the light bulb will become warm as all do, so for the visually impaired this is a great way to 'feel' fire while being safer on average than with a candle. A draw back is you need to be more careful with water, since electricity and water don't mix. (That's right, you heard it FIRST from me! :lol: )

Use things that evoke a feeling of fire to you. For me, fire is a fierce, wild element. It cannot be tamed, only soothed. Things with spikes upon them, or rough, jagged stones. Statues of lizards, snakes, and dragons.

Use oils, incenses and things that correspond to the element of fire. Inhale and focus on connecting with the element of fire.

Heat stones up in boiling water, the microwave, or simply 'use' warm water. It's safe, but by touch alone you are feeling what fire is, which is warmth without worrying about a catastrophe coming about. Granted, you would need to be careful and make sure the water or whatever you have heated up is not too hot, given that even hot water can cause serious burn injuries.

Try decoupaging flames you have drawn and cut out onto your altar. May take a bit of research in terms of looking into decoupaging, but it's a fun way to recycle things or create entirely new stuff. You could smere the drawings with ash from a previous ritual, or just smere a southern corner/edge of your altar regularly with ash.


Earth:

Wherever you wish earth to be symbolized, place stones you have gathered from your own property or places of importance to you. Perhaps traditional, but I've seen so many people overlook this then whine about having nothing to represent earth since they cannot afford these pricey crystals and gemstones. Get over it people, the stones from your own property or a place you connect with will work more often with you than the $159.99 quartz crystal ball you purchased on E-bay, trust me.

If you live near a place where your relatives were buried, collect a bit of dirt from their grave, returning it each full moon and gathering more. This way you are not just taking and taking, but 'recycling'. You aren't removing the dirt for good, only for one moon cycle. Place it in a small dish and set it upon your altar. This is excellent if you work with your ancestors, or to bring a bit of 'love and light' (if you got along with this family member, and it not pee on their grave and move on! :lol: ) to your circle, as well as representing earth.

Purchase a small, inexpensive plant and sit it upon your altar. African violets are usually cheap (I got one for $0.99) and often represent spirituality to many people. Tend to it lovingly and speak to it often.

Try collecting leaves from your property and decoupaging a corner or even your entire altar with it. A corner or side that faces north would be best. If leaves won't work (as I'm not very experienced in decoupaging, but I hear you can do it with almost anything) draw those lil' boogers and cut them out, then decoupage 'em.


Water:


Space permitting, set up a small bowl with a gold fish upon your altar. On the corner directed west or on the western side. Gold fish require little maintenance (amazingly, I can't keep them alive, but go figure) and a small bowl is usually sufficient without a lavish acquarium.

In keeping with the decoupage theme (don't ya just love it?) try drawing things you associate with water and decoupage them onto your altar. Such as water drops, fish, sea shells (or even actual sea shells!). You could even do it with broken bits of a mirror, if you like me associate water with the element of beauty, reflections (all kinds), and illusions.

If you live near the beach sea weed is readily available to you. Try drying some and hanging it near the western side/corner of your altar, or laying it out upon your altar. Besides, who says shells get to have all the glory, hmm? Better yet, if you have no qualms about dried sea life such as sea horses which they often sell in gift shops, pick up one of those. If you have an acquatic totem animal/spirit this would be twice as potent for you if you could acquire it and it is physically reasonable. (Don't come whining to me when you try to drag a great white shark onto your altar and it breaks!)

Try keeping a small bowl of ice on the western side or in the western corner of your altar. Ice is after all only frozen water, and some even consider it a sub-element combined of earth (representing its solidity) and water (what it consists of).


Air:

Depending upon where you live, you may have soil rich in mica. My sister lives in such as place. You don't often find whole pieces, but what you will see is that your entire yard is covered in a glittery substance. Collect a bit of the dirt, place it in a bowl and set it where you wish to represent air. Mica is a stone often associated with the element of air.

Go to a pet shop, any pet shop so long as they sell birds. I personally don't agree with caging birds ever, and one of the main reasons why is they never keep the bloody cages clean. So, take advantage of that and pick up a few stray feathers to place on your altar. It's best to befriend the bird first, making a few trips and asking permission as if the bird is not too keen on you, it will cause all sorts negative vibrations to be released from the feather due merely to its ill will toward you. Most I have found truly don't care if you take them or not. Besides, few people are as fortunate as I was to find an injured owl on the road, try to get it to the vet only to have it die, then recieve a blessing to remove a feather from it before burying it so you have to make do with what's available.

Decoupage (here it is again!) clouds you have drawn and cut out, or birds, or whatever you wish, even the feathers you have collected.

Keep a small hand-held fan where you wish to represent air. It's great for ritual work as these things are readily available during the summer, small, and a neat way to make technology work for your in a magical sense. Failing that, get a small fan that runs on electricity and keep it nearby. Many people have altars next to their night stands and even more have fans placed on these night stands with breathing problems. A simple directional change toward your altar is all it would take.

[Calzaer]

Fire: Candles, now that I'm off-campus. Otherwise, those little fake Christmas candle lights are cool and funny. And as a faux-discordian I gravitate towards funny things.

Air: A bell, and my wand.

Water: A glass of water. I now have a little bowl for the water, which is nice, but I used to just use a glass (or a dixie cup).

Earth: A dish with some white sand from Hawai'i in it. I'll probably just use salt once I run out of sand. Actually, I'm not sure I could find my sand at the moment... hold on... blast. It is as I feared: the sand got lost during the major reorganization. I still have some sand, but it's not HAWAI'I sand, blast it. Now I'll have to go back to Hawai'i. Just as well, I guess - I need more runewood from the monkeyfinger trees. Best. wood. ever. It's bark thick enough to carve into, but flakes off the trees naturally in sheets just the right size, so you can wander around and pick them up from the ground at the roots. (If I don't do that, I'm going to have to swallow my pride and go to Michaels to get some of those little bitty blank wooden scrabble-tile things... my runes are getting old and some have broken a little).

[Michie]

Thanks for all of your ideas, Raven! But um, are you obsessed with decoupage, or did you just somehow know that I don't have an alter yet and I was thinking of buying some shelves or a table and was thinking of decoupaging it for an alter? Weird.

Calzaer - thank you for your ideas too. I also gravitate toward amusing things. :)

[Aidron]

Thanks for all of your ideas, Raven! But um, are you obsessed with decoupage, or did you just somehow know that I don't have an alter yet and I was thinking of buying some shelves or a table and was thinking of decoupaging it for an alter? Weird.

Calzaer - thank you for your ideas too. I also gravitate toward amusing things. :)


Actually, I've never performed decoupaging in any traditional sense that I've come across. I've made tons of collages over the years, but that's about it.

As with most things, the idea simply came to me here and now and I posted it. ;)

[Michie]

Actually, I've never performed decoupaging in any traditional sense that I've come across. I've made tons of collages over the years, but that's about it.

As with most things, the idea simply came to me here and now and I posted it. ;)

Very interesting, seeing as I've been interested in decoupage before, and have just been "reintroduced" to it recently, and have thought I'd like to make something this way!

[zakzekezedd]

Let's see....;) does anyone know what element cat hair represents? In all seriousness, I'm afraid I keep things pretty "traditional"...Air--my wand and incense, fire-candles, water--my conch shell and a piece of rose quartz or blue calcite, and a little bowl of water, and earth--my little agate bowls of stones, crystals and salt.

[BrightStar]

Hi all!
Generally,I use something like these,but in some circumstances they can change.

For fire,I generally use a red candle.But I have used volcanic rock before.

Air,usually incense,but feathers too

Water,sometimes my cauldron,sometimes a bowl of water,and sometimes a blue candle.Also,sea shells.

Earth,a green candle,or a bit of soil.Sometimes a house plant.

Peace and Love
BrightStar

[Flappersquirrel]

Raven Windsong: I love the idea of using grave yard dirt! That would add a nice little something to an ancestral shrine!

As for me, well, like I mentioned previously I have my mason jar of multi colored feathers for air, though I just bought a really nice blue glass atomizer from Wal Mart today. I can make my own sea mist! :yayhawaii
For earth I have a nice slab of river rock, just big enough for a dish and cup to sit on and some hemp and stone jewlery I tie in knots and leave on the altar.
And water, well, that's every where. My altar cloth was once a blue beach mumu type thing with dophins and spirals on it. I have a blue vase filled with water and shells, my coral wand, (mixing elements and tools I know but it works!) and more shells for good measure.
My altar is just a wee bit biased, I think. hee :fishtank:

Edited to add: I don't really deal much with fire as an element, but if I do need to add a little heat for some reason I have a gas heater nearby. Convienent, no?

And I love the volcanic rock idea! 90% of all the volcano's in the world are in the ocean after all...*eg*

[Aidron]

Cat hair? That depends on many things. First off, you would need to define the cat as a spiritual being. What does it represent to you?

Let's say it represents to you agility, curiousity, ingenuity, and grace. I associate all of those with the element of air.

Now, let's look at the specific cat or cats. What element do you feel they most closely associate with? Talk with them in a meditative state and find out.


And just for fun, I'll list what I use for elemental representations, as the above are merely ideas to the alternative. My altar hasn't been up in awhile, what with home repairs and re-decorating.

(Please note, not everything listed I intentionally use to associate or represent with elements. Many things I use for other reasons, but I am relating them to their elemental correspondence for the sake of this thread.)

Earth:

A small silver dish in the shape of an oak leaf that cups up slightly filled with various things from time to time. Sometimes salt, dirt from my property (rarely dirt from anywhere else), stones based on what I am working toward or with, etc. It's absolutely gorgeous, and best of all, I got it at Wal-Mart.

My pentacle, or the pentacle I currently use. I'm considering crafting my own once I feel inspired enough. It's made of wood with the pentacle carved into it.

My (new) altar. Odd, but you have to look past the obvious in the craft I believe. It is constructed of wood entirely (oak or willow, I'm not sure).

Various stones, such as quartz mostly, along with stones I have an affinity for.

My new altar has sigils I wood burned and painted on it. In corner that faces due north in relation to my altar is the alchemical sigil for earth along with the earth tattwa that I burned into the wood. I painted them green and yellow respectively.


Air:

A feather from an owl laid on the eastern corner of my altar.

A dyed yellow feather that I have upon occassion used as a quill laid on the eastern corner of my altar.

My incense burner (I have around 10, but only one I keep on my altar) which is made of stone with crescent moons and stars cut into the top. It's small and circular and you need only lift the top off. It holds sticks and cones if you turn the top upside down and place it in the bottom, or self-igniting charcoal in the bottom.

My new wand, which I haven't quite finished. (Slacker me.)

In the corner that faces due east in relation to my altar is the alchemical sigil for air along with the air tattwa that I burned into the wood. I painted them yellow and pale blue respectively.


Water:

Bits of coral and sea shells.

My chalice.

Holy water.

A bowl.

In the corner that faces due west in relation to my altar is the alchemical sigil for water along with the water tattwa that I burned into the wood. I painted them dark blue and silver respectively.


Fire:

A red candle, held within a dragon candle holder.

Bits of volcanic rock that came from my two very large pieces of volcanic rock.

My athame.

In the corner that faces due south in relation to my altar is the alchemical sigil for fire along with the fire tattwa that I burned into the wood. I painted them red and orange respectively. (Anyone who has studied these will realize they should both be red, but I prefer orange for many reasons.)

[Theres]

i use a hawk feather for East, lava stone for South (sorry, but volcanoes are fire regardless of where they occur), a scallop shell for West, and wolf fur for North. all of these are items that the Dragonfly and i have gathered ourselves.

i do have other things that we have collected over the years... some storebought, some not. but those are the main one's i have in use right now.

[Aidron]

i use a hawk feather for East, lava stone for South (sorry, but volcanoes are fire regardless of where they occur), a scallop shell for West, and wolf fur for North. all of these are items that the Dragonfly and i have gathered ourselves.

i do have other things that we have collected over the years... some storebought, some not. but those are the main one's i have in use right now.


No one said it wasn't. The fact remains though that there are more volcanoes (active or not) below sea level than upon land. That doesn't make them innately representative of water, however.

[CalliopeHellice]

On my altar I have:

Earth:
Altar Paten (which is a pentacle painted on a stone)
Sea Salt in a brass bowl
Slice of of agate with pewter sun/moon on it

Water:
Moon water in a silver bowl (right now in brass, until Ostara, when the silver comes out)
Chalice (right now blue glass with moon/sun design, and again, after Ostara the silver comes back out)
Sea shell my dad got me from the Irish sea this summer

Air:
Censer with incense
Smudge stick
Bell
Gong
Wand

Fire:
Fire candle (among my god/dess candles, and source candle)
Athame and boline

For my friend's Handsal (engagement) ritual we're having an altar in each Quarter of the Circle. Here's what they contain:

East/Air:
yellow altar cloth
Yellow candle
Incense in a censer
dream catcher
little fake butterfly

West/Water:
blue altar cloth
blue candle
water in a bowl
glass dolphin statue
sea shell

South/fire:
red altar cloth
red candle
red votive candle
dragon statue
volcanic rock

North/earth:
green altar cloth
green candle
salt in a bowl
stag painted on a rock
wolf statue

[amandabruner]

Hey, cool suggesstions! Where do you get those electric candle things? I'm always paranoid about candles getting knocked over, that is, if I can get it lit. Lol. Using those would be cool!

[amandabruner]

I have my altar arranged in an interesting fashion. Most of them, I made myself, either with Sculpy (the answer to everything!) or collage type things.

Earth

My Demeter representation; a cornucopia
My pentacle with a smooth stone in the middle
My Herne representation; sculpy stag antlers
My Lugh representation; sculpy ear of corn
I also have my Goddess statue,which I didn’t make, in this area, and I’ll put the God one there as well, just because the idea of them being at the bottom of the altar is just not okay. For the record, I have my earth facing the theoretical north, meaning it’s facing away from me when I’m in front of it, since my boyfriend’s altar is on the real north wall and it might get a bit crowded.

Air

My Athena rep; an owl
My first wand, not used but kept for sentimental reasons
A collage I made of a wood block with a bouquet of feathers in a little stand on it with a couple fake butterflies on the sides of the block

Fire

My first athame, kept for the same reason as the wand
A lion statue; one ear fel backward while it was firing, but I figure fire can be aggressive as well as tame
My Brigid rep; a piece of wood with a clay candle and spear on it
My Hestia rep; a little wooden house miniature I made with a chimney

Water

A ceramic chalice I made
My Hecate rep; a snake
My Artemis rep; a clay bow and arrow
A piece of wood with four seashells on it

Well, that’s mine. It’s pretty interesting, I think, especially with Sabbat decorations and all that.

[Aidron]

Hey, cool suggesstions! Where do you get those electric candle things? I'm always paranoid about candles getting knocked over, that is, if I can get it lit. Lol. Using those would be cool!


Just about anywhere. I normally see shelves loaded down with them around Christmas. Haven't really paid attention to them beyond that.

[Mysterious]

Well I live with Christians so I have to be really sneaky. Little beknowst to them the "odds and ends" collected on my jewelry box are very deliberately placed.

For fire I'm currently using a little chunk of lava rock from Maui. For air I have a bluish feather I found at a local wild life preserve. For earth I'm using a very nice green striped stone, I still have yet to positiviely identify what it is. For water I'm using a scallop shaped seashell.

[TornadoAli]

I started a thread asking for alternatives to using incense, as my roommate is very allergic to it. So many people had so many wonderful ideas, that I thought it would be interesting to see what everyone was using to represent the other elements too! I love reading about all of the wonderful, imaginative, creative ideas! :floating:

where is your thread for alternatives to incense?

*looks*

I'm allergic too, and was going to ask the same question!

[blueiris]

i have a lot of things, but the main things are for when i'm doing a ritual are:
Water - saltwater from a lake at our vacation house. very cool.
Earth - either salt or this funky fossil i found in our backyard
Fire - candle (duh)
Air - incense
i also have a hawk (air) and dolphin (water) as well as a brown candle for earth, blue one for water, and a white one for air. i also have a chalice but i don't use it very often. and of course i have tons of candles - i'm addicted! :lol:

[Mòrag Elasaid Ní Dhòmhnaill]

Here's the thread about incense alternatives Abhainn: http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?t=40991&highlight=incense+alternative

[Michie]

Saoirse Aiyana - thanks for posting the incense thread - I was just about to do that. :)

[Mau]

On my altar I use 'my' candle to represent fire, rocks I found outside that I was drawn to and a small pine cone represent earth. A feather to represent air, and a chalice that I fill with fresh snow (I love winter :lol: ) or moon water represents water.
I also help balance the elements within myself by always having earth, air and fire represented in a specific form on me at all times (no need for water, as that's all I am to begin with!)...how do you do that? I'm a smoker....LMAO (Hey..of all the ways to rationalize smoking..I think it's pretty damn inventive!)

[SylverStar]

On my alter. I have a stone to represent each element as well as the tools.

[Michie]

Bump!

[banondraig]

Let's see....;) does anyone know what element cat hair represents?

:hehehehe: mine shed too. what element is a cat?

[mothwench]

well, it's most definately not water. :lol:

[Flappersquirrel]

Heh, I don't know about all cats, but mine is totally fire. Random's a crazy orange pyro tabby. Even as a kitten I had to pry him off the gas heater before he set himself of fire. He's singed off his whiskers twice, singed the tip of his tale a few times on the outdoor citronella candles, likes to bat at flames, and I won't even go into the birthday cake incident. :raining:

[whiteowl]

I started a thread asking for alternatives to using incense, as my roommate is very allergic to it. So many people had so many wonderful ideas, that I thought it would be interesting to see what everyone was using to represent the other elements too! I love reading about all of the wonderful, imaginative, creative ideas! :floating:

I think this is a great idea!
I use feathers for air when I can't /don't want to use incense, and I have them attached togehter and sewn(strongly) to a pretty piece of cotton, which is attached to a dowel I can stick in the ground (imagine a sort of flag) so they can move in the wind. I live on top of a large hill/small mountain, and it can be very windy sometimes when I want to do outdoor rituals, which makes candles and incense tricky.
On my permanent altar, I do have incense for air. Candles for fire. A shell filled with water. And for earth, I have various small rocks and crystals that I have collected over the years. I change the rocks on my altar occasionally to the ones whose energy feels right to me for the season or the magick I am performing.

[Michie]

BUMP!

[scaerie faerie]

The stuff I use personally:
* Earth: A chunk of rough rose quartz crystal
* Air: My ritual dagger (some people consider this a fire symbol, it varies between practitioners)
* Fire: A candle (I have a candleholder permanently on my altar)
* Water: My glass goblet, filled with some drinkable fluid or other; usually plain water.

There's also the microcosmic way of doing it; floating a scented (air) candle (fire) in a bowl of salted (earth) water (water, obviously! :) ).


I don't know about all cats, but mine is totally fire. Random's a crazy orange pyro tabby

I consider cats as a species to be a fire symbol, too - although my cat Rosie is a typical Capricorn, so she's very earthy! :)

[Faeawyn]

Earth: I have a soapstone box filled with seasalt, and some crystals
Water: a chalice filled with spring water and seashells
Fire: a candle and lava rock
Air: my incense and a feather
Spirit: my pentacle tile with an amethyst cluster on it :)

[Kaylara]

It depends on what I'm doing, where I am, etc.

If you are allergic to incense, perhaps try using different colored candles as representations...

[Morr]

Earth - bowl with salt & a green candle.
Air - incense & a yellow candle.
Fire - red candle.
Water - bowl with water & a dark blue candle.

[Dusk]

For traveling:

I picked up for wooded triangles from the craft store (Michael's) for $.25 each. I also got some paint in yellow, red, green and blue.

I burned the symbol of the element into the the triangle and then painted the inside the appropriate color.

[scaerie faerie]

I burned the symbol of the element into the the triangle

Before this little guy - :fofftopic - pops up, I know I'm going off on a tangent here, but what did you use to burn the symbols in, and how did you get it to do it in reasonable detail so it didn't just look like a charred blob?

Sorry folks; back to scheduled programming now. :D

[Dusk]

Before this little guy - :fofftopic - pops up, I know I'm going off on a tangent here, but what did you use to burn the symbols in, and how did you get it to do it in reasonable detail so it didn't just look like a charred blob?

Sorry folks; back to scheduled programming now. :D

The triangle' edges are about 2-3"

I have a wood burning tool (also from Michael's). I lightly drew lines on the wood with a pencil and ruler and burned a line over them.

However, before doing this, I bought a cheaper block of wood and practiced with the different tips. It gave me a good idea what to expect.

They are not perfect, but they are good enough for me.

[CaitrionaMorgaine]

Other than the traditional tool correspondences, I use the following items:

Earth: Dish of salt
Air: Feather
Water: Seashell
Fire: Red stone (bloodstone) or a candle

Blessings, ~Rhiannon

[scaerie faerie]

The triangle' edges are about 2-3"

I have a wood burning tool (also from Michael's). I lightly drew lines on the wood with a pencil and ruler and burned a line over them.

However, before doing this, I bought a cheaper block of wood and practiced with the different tips. It gave me a good idea what to expect.

They are not perfect, but they are good enough for me.

Thanks! :)

[argento_occhi]

as a kemetic pagan, i don't represent the elements, and don't really work with them now, but when i was wiccan, quite some time ago, i used a candle for fire, a feather for air, a sea shell for water and a wooden bead bracelet for earth. my altar looked markedly different back then. Now there's cats and statues of deities everywhere, as well as other small trinkets especially valuable to me.

bright blessings,
argent

[MoonAnu]

Fire is usually represented, for me, by something that evokes the feeling of fire in me. You can do it in a literal sense, for instance a candle, or in a less literal sense. Dragons are perfect to represent fire. A statue of a dragon, a chalice with a dragon on it, an athame with a dragon on it. Actually athame's can be used to represent fire in general, because of the blade and it's "dangerous" nature I suppose.

Air; I've always found incense works really well. A winged creature in a statue, an angelic symbol, like an angelic censer or sigil. An owl, a bird, any winged creature could represent air. Even a feather would be appropriate.

Water; Obviously water in a bowl or chalice would be excellent. A chalice period works fine for me. A bowl of water with rose petals, or your chosen flowers. Salt can also be used for water to represent salt water of course. Statues of selkie, mermaids, other water creatures would be appropriate, even pictures of such said creatures would work fine.

Earth; Earth is probably the easiest in my opinion to think of things to represent it. Rocks, stones, even grass, flowers, dirt, an image of Gaia, an image of any nice glen or forest, a twig, a staff, any of these things would be great.

Hope that helped. :)

[HerbGurl]

I also have heavy allergies and asthmas, so incense is not an option for me. I use the following when I have an altar set up:

For Fire:
An unlit red candle (the type you can get at Catholic stores in glass)

For Air:
A folding fan

For Water:
A seashell

For earth:
a rock

I haven't cast a circle in ages, so I am not sure what I would use there. Probably rocks that corresponded with the Elemental Quarters

H.G.

[morrigan]

could you use essential oils in an oil burner instead or would this effect your room mate too. I find incense to strong at times so oils have always been my preference Blessed Be ~Morrigan~

[Michie]

My roommate is allergic to the essential oils as well, but thanks for the idea.

I love reading about all the unique ideas everyone has used for the elements. I'd love to see all of your alters. I bet they are all beautiful. :)