I have recently been working with the cross shape. It is such a loaded symbol that I have felt the need to mentally cleanse it of prior meaning. I had been trying to work with the elements for some time now, and frankly had been primarily failing. Finally I worked out why this was – I had been using the orthodox positions for the elements. Not something that ought to cause a problem, but actually it had been foiling my efforts because instinctively it had felt wrong, and so I had been unable to work effectively.
I had received a head start in this respect when I visited The Cheesewring in Cornwall recently. There I had learned that my head was equated to the position of Air, and my feet were the position for Earth. I was less certain about the East – which I felt might be my right hand and equated with Fire, because it was warm despite the wind. My left hand was wet with the driving rain that day on Bodmin Moor and I equated that with Water.
As I am currently undergoing a period of “making magic manifest” this was becoming a problem. I needed to work out what the correct positions should be. It happened one evening as I sat on top of a local sacred hill, looking out over the surrounding countryside in several directions. I was in a meditative state and began to pose the question – what are the correct elements positions for me to fill my cross? Slowly I was lifted up above the land to have a bird’s eye view of the nation – just like using Google Earth.
I looked North and saw the tall mountains of the highlands of Scotland. Over the top of these mountains and through their valleys roared an icy cold North wind. As it streamed towards me I felt its rushing power and knew that North was Air.
Behind me the land settled into a large mass without mountains – the Midlands, the southern counties, the South West – a vast expanse of earth. I realised that this large land mass represented the Earth element in the South.
Living on an island I wondered which side of the land would be representative of Water. Of course, given that I live near to the western coast my vision panned over to the west coast and I knew that the West was Water.
This left the East. Would the vision reveal the traditional sign for Fire in the East? Indeed it did – the Sun rose into my view and I knew that the East was Fire.
Interestingly, I found that this particular arrangement was the same as that posited by Aristotle. Who would have thought it? On a more personal level I realised that this actually matches the geography of where I spend most of my time – my home. For me the big mountains and strong winds are in the north. The sun rises in the east. The most extensive land mass is to the south, and the sea is close by to the west.
This seems to hold true irrespective of where I am – it seems like my elemental cross is effective wherever I am from now on. It has been set by where my own home power centre is – the one that I created for myself. This, it would seem, defines where I am based, and where my elements position themselves around me most comfortably
Gwas.
