The elemental order:
What appealed most to me about elemental systems is how the idea is possibly as old as storytelling itself, and fortunately, the Five Rings helped my story come together to make a whole lot more sense.
Analyzing the pseudoscience, I started to wonder if there was any significance to the order of the elements; it seemed like there was virtually no consistency to what order the elements were presented in as I did research.
But, with a little more research in that direction, I found that various sub-cultures had at least attempted to make sense of the elemental order.
The astrologists seem to think it’s Fire first, then Earth, then Air, and finally, Water.
Fire = Aries, Leo, & Sagittarius.
Earth = Taurus, Virgo, & Capricorn.
Air = Gemini, Libra, & Aquarius.
Water = Cancer, Scorpio, & Pisces.
Interestingly, most astrologists still feel the classic elements are necessary to properly interpret an astrological chart.
There are mysterious problems I see with this setup, though. Like why is Aquarius, the water carrier, associated to Air?
According to Tarot readers, it’s Water, Air, Fire, and Earth, corresponding respectively to Cups, Swords, Wands, and Pentacles. Frankly, I’m not sure what ‘Air’ has to do with ‘Swords’, etc. And I can find no explanation as to why this elemental order was chosen over another. If anyone can enlighten me, please do.
The Japanese, Greek, and Hindu beliefs assign cardinal directions to the four elements.
Air = North
Earth = South
Water = West
Fire = East
This ordering makes a bit more sense, but assumes the four classic elements are equivalent, outclassed only by the fifth.
Opposing elements lay on opposite sides in this structure (The idea that Water quenches Fire, etc.). In the center lay a fifth element, (commonly referred to in the modern era as the ‘Ideal’) representing life and death, or the afterlife.
For the Japanese, it is ‘Void’.
For the Greek, it is ‘Hieron’.
For the Hindu, it is ‘Aether’.
In order to invent a new logic to place the elements in what I would call a proper order, I started to think about how the world works; about natural energy conservation. The world has to make use of the energy it is given. Heat is energy. (Actually, that can be kind of a hard concept to wrap the mind around… Energy doesn’t come from heat. And heat doesn’t come from energy. Heat is –literally– energy.) ‘Heat is energy’ is exactly why the farther away from the equator you get, the less life there tends to be.
Ever wonder why a water droplet is shaped the way it is?
Water particles automatically form into the most energy-efficient shape: the shape of a tear drop. Isn’t that odd? Examples can be observed everywhere you look that lend to the idea that nature itself must be somewhat interested in preserving energy.
Energy spent on ‘natural disasters’ like earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes are ways the planet cleanses itself, and are investments in the billion-year rock cycle that turns broken down rock and debris back into large, solid rock, going down to the thermodynamic molten iron core, which is the planet’s other source of energy; the source of raw power behind the shifting ocean floors and flowing tectonic plates.
The deeper into the earth you dig, the hotter things get. In fact, nobody has ever broken through the crust to the mantle, due to the extreme heat (although both the United States and Russia has tried … Russia got a little bit deeper, btw). If you heat air, it rises … it escapes the heat into the colder winds at higher altitudes. hmmm…
*stops with the scientific stuff before alienating entire readership*
With many thoughts like these in mind, I came up with this order for the classic elements:
First comes Fire, then Earth, then Water, then Air, and finally, ‘Ideal’.
Can you begin to see why?
Prev: The Five Rings system -part 2- | Next: Intermission!
P.S.: There are audio recordings of sounds many of the people involved with the Russian dig in Siberia claim to have heard, which frightened them enough to abandon the project. The sound recordings can be found online and represent either an excellent hoax, or a terrifying possibility. (Sorry, no link here. If you are interested, you’ll find it yourself.) *evil laugh*
