The Element of Earth

Earth / Overview & Correspondences

Historically, Plato associated the element of Earth with darkness, thickness and quietness. The Earth is our Base Element. It is the foundation of all the other elements such as the Root Chakra is our Base Chakra that is the foundation of the other 6 Chakras.

Crafters view the Element of Earth as the source and provider of all our needs. It is Mother Earth: a cradle of life, for all life. From the heart of the Earth all living are born, from the littlest bacteria to all greater forms of life. As all elements have their own special purpose, the purpose of earth is to give a place for living, to be a growing place for living things and shelter all life in our world. 

It is the realm of abundance, prosperity, and wealth (not always monetary either). When we walk, sit, stand, crawl, eat, sleep, work, dance, balance our checkbooks, etc., it is the element of the Earth that we are working with.
Earth is slow moving, calm and understanding. It holds great wisdom, and if ever you need its assistance, it will be here to help you find the answers. The element of Earth relates to stable foundations and rules health, wealth, prosperity, employment and fertility. It is often evoked for stone, crystal and knot magic and spells related to the hearth and home, to gaining material things including money and employment and to general security and family matters.

Earth is often evoked from the North in the form of spirit creatures associated with Earth, including Gnomes, Fauns, Goblins, Satyrs, Dryads or Sylvestres or by calling upon divinities or other spirits associated with Earth and Gods and Goddesses of Earth such as Demeter, Ceres, the Horae, Persephone, Proserpina, Hades, and Pluto.

When creating sacred space or purifying areas, objects or individuals for ritual, Earth may be employed in the form of salt or ochre sprinkled around the area or used to make a mark.

Earth may be represented on an altar by stones or crystals, a bowl of salt or soil. Colors used to represent air include dark earthy colors, such and brown and black and green. The element may also be represented by statues of animals associated with the element of Earth, such as the bull, the stag, the dragon, the wolf, the owl, the cat and the sphinx.

It represents sensations, decay, patience, stability, strength, health, warmth and comfort, animals and animal instincts, farming and physical labor. 

Its feeling is dry and cold, its season is Winter (though often associated with late summer and autumn because that’s when the Earth gives up its bounty), its colors are Browns, Blacks, Purples and some Greens. Its symbol can be the Pentacle or Rice, Salt or grain in a brass or terra cotta bowl or a Stone. Its Moon phase is the Fourth Quarter and its favored time is Midnight. A high Earth person seems a practical sort and quite "down to earth"—a hard worker, stable and a good provider, but s/he can be a little too stubborn sometimes however. A low Earth person can seem confused, insecure and alone, unable to feel wanted and the work may be affected. 

Earth Magick can involve the use of herbs and plants. Using the correct herb to attain your desire along with the other tools can be very effective. Burying something and making some offerings to the Earth such as planting trees is a form of Earth Magick. Using your gems or crystals and burying them in the Earth under the appropriate tree while making your wish is also effective. 

Another type which is considered Earth Magick is any type of routine magick. Anything you do on a routine basis can be used as a magickal vehicle. While performing something you do at the same time every day, prepare yourself and use this period for clarity on a subject, figure the best course of action in a situation or to find just where you are in the course of your life.

As Earth represents nature, we should remember to respect it as well as possible, because without it we would not be here, and if we treat her badly, she will abandon us.

Correspondences
Healing Magic: In ancient Greek medicine, the element of Earth is associated with the humor black bile. Earth and black bile are cold and dry. An excess of black bile causes melancholy.
In Alchemy: The alchemical symbol for Earth is a downward pointing triangle bisected by a line. Earth is cold and dry and represented by salt.
Earth Plants: All grains, ivy, red poppy, thrift plant.
Earth Stones: Onyx, jade, halite, amethyst and flourite are all associated with the element of Earth although any stone can represent Earth in a pinch. A dish of soil can also represent the element of Earth.
Metals: lead
Planetary Correspondences: The element of Earth is associated with the Venus, the Saturn and of course the Earth
In Astrology: The element of Earth is associated with the zodiac signs Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn.
Tarot: Earth is associated with the Pentacles and the Universe card.
Earth elementals: gnomes, sphinxes, the sidh
Direction: North 
Tools: Pentacle, Drum 
Time: Midnight 
Season: Winter 
Colors: Greens & Browns 
Concepts: Body, Strength, Stillness, Endurance, Mystery, Power, Healing, Skill, Touch 
Qualities (+): Strength, Steadfastness, Stability, Sensuality, Humility, Selflessness, Patience, Responsibility, Persistence, Realization, Tolerance 
Qualities (-): Laziness, Stubbornness, Greed, Attention-Seeking, Inertia, Domineering, Depression, Melancholy 
Archangel: Uriel
Totems: Stag, bear, snake
Time: Midnight
Spells: Money, Fertility, rock magick
Symbols: Grain, globe, orb, stones, acorns, soil, sand
Incense: Benzoin, fumitory, storax
Invoke: Sit with your palms on the Earth

Bonus (not on exam!): THE SEASON OF EARTH
Once summer has reached its height, the year's cycle begins its inevitable decline into the season of late summer to autumn to winter- the season of Earth.
To us, late summer seems a welcome relief from the intense heat and brightness of summer. From the Chinese perspective, it is a season unto itself with a unique energy and function in the cycle of the year. The Chinese associated the power of "decrease" with late summer and, at the same time, referred to it as the period of abundance. With the coming of late summer, nature returns the fruits it has made, which are ripe and ready to be picked. A good harvest fills the larder. It means autumn and winter can be survived without scarcity, and that energy can be conserved during the cold period when outer growth ceases.

As it is for the seasons of the year, so it is for life’s seasons. The work done on ourselves during the earlier part of our lives - the growth and strengthening of the body, cultivating meaningful relationships, challenging and developing the intellect, spiritual practice - all determine the quality of the harvest we reap - and what we have to share with others. Whether at the breast of the physical mother or the breast of Mother Nature, the earth and the archetype of Mother have always been connected - survival would be impossible without the nourishment both freely give. Though most of us today may not grow our own food, we ought to keep sight of the fact that prior to being put in packets and stacked in supermarkets, the food we consume is nonetheless a gift from the earth. Despite the abuse it has to endure, the earth is forgiving and continues to feed and provide for us.

In our spiritual lives, the Earth element grants us the ability to internalize the mother by learning to nourish and care for ourselves. Imagine a child who hasn't experienced the security derived from being properly loved and cared for; an imbalance in the Earth element may well be a result of this lack of mothering. The infant nursing at the breast, receiving the milk and (as importantly) the love of its mother, is the very perfection of Earth.

But mothering does not stop in infancy. The patience and compassion that come from the mother are needed for years, as we grow and learn how to care for ourselves. What if this essential teaching and nourishment are missing? A preoccupation and search develops for the mother that we lacked. If we have had no nurturing, there is a feeling of being deprived and misunderstood. We are in continual need, seeking from the external that which is lacked internally. Unless the imbalance caused by this trauma to the Earth element is resolved, a search for mothering may continue right through life.

The emotion associated with the Earth element is sympathy, an important emotion when expressed in appropriate circumstances. Compassion and empathy arise spontaneously when the moment is right.

As well as the ability to express sympathy toward others, however, we must be able to receive it, too. It is necessary that others understand how and when we hurt, that others know what we are going through. When a child is in pain, it calls immediately for its mother, the source for sympathy and understanding. But with an Earth imbalance, the need for sympathy can become excessive and insatiable; or, in its opposite manifestation, sympathy may be completely absent. We all know people from whom we can expect no compassion, regardless of circumstance. And there are also those who cannot receive sympathy or help at all - the sort who say, "No, I can do it myself."

An identical imbalance can be created by over-mothering, which can stunt a child’s capacity to care for itself and to learn from its own experience. In either extreme, rather than expressing real needs, a person develops manipulative ways of relating to others - exaggerating, over-complaining, whining to attract sympathy, or keeping silent and denying real needs, distrusting other people’s motives, and feeling that no one understands.

In our bodies, the earth is represented by the stomach and spleen, the organs that receive food and enable us to be nourished by its essence. As the process of digestion begins in the mouth, food should be chewed thoroughly and mixed with saliva, the bodily secretion of the Earth element. Icy cold foods and drink should generally be avoided, as extreme cold strains our Fire element (whose job it is to maintain a normal body temperature). The period between 7 and 9 a.m. is the time in which nature gives the stomach a measure of extra energy, so that this is the optimum time to take in nourishment. Yes, breakfast is the most important meal of the day - we should instinctively begin the day as we did when we were infants, with fuel in the tank.

It is appropriate for us, too, to acknowledge stages of our own life cycle. From the harvest of our experience, we develop a natural inclination to share and serve others. Well-nourished ourselves, we can recognize where needs exist and how best to fill them. Exercising our compassion, we can become caretakers of the earth.

Suggestions for living in harmony with the Earth season
• Enjoy the abundance of fruits and fresh vegetables; Be aware of their special qualities, each succulence different from the next. Carrots are crisp, cucumbers cool, tomatoes luscious, peaches sweet. Look at the seeds, and reflect on the fact that within each harvest lie the seeds of the next.
• Be thoughtful of how you can nourish others. In this season when nature gives her bounty, we also rejoice in giving, with attention to the special needs of others. You need not wait until you can give a "great gift." A word, a courtesy, a thoughtfulness - given today - is a great gift.
• Be conscious of the harvest of your life. Think about yourself, your relationships, and your work. What parts of your life are bearing fruit? Where is the harvest rich? Where do you find it stunted?
• Consider what you need to do to make ready for the letting go of autumn. Holding your harvest in mind, ask what is overgrown or unneeded. What distracts you from your dearest concerns? What might you wish to simplify in yourself or in your life?

Activity:

If you have an altar, what item(s) do you currently use to represent Earth? If you do not yet have an altar or a representative for Earth on that altar, think about three possibilities. What three things might you use to represent the element of Earth on your altar?