Reference · Elements
Fire
Fire is dry and hot and contrary to Water. Agrippa, quoting Hermes, calls it the active one of the pair.
Its two qualities, and who says so
- Dry
- Oxford translation by H. H. Joachim, Book II, chapter 3, 330a30–331a6
- Hot
- Oxford translation by H. H. Joachim, Book II, chapter 3, 330a30–331a6
- Contrary to
- Water — the one element it shares no quality with, which is what makes them contrary rather than merely different.
There are two things (saith Hermes) viz. Fire and Earth, which are sufficient for the operation of all wonderfull things: the former is active, the latter passive.
In plain English Quoting Hermes, Agrippa reduces the four to a working pair: Fire acts and Earth is acted upon. This is the root of the active/passive division the later orders put on the wand and cup against the dagger and pentacle.
Its letter, where it has one
Sefer Yetzirah makes Shin one of the three Mother letters and gives it to Fire.
- Westcott translation, 3rd edition, 1911 (first published 1887) — Chapter II, section 1
- Westcott translation, 3rd edition, 1911 (first published 1887) — Chapter III, section 5
Its triplicity: three signs of the zodiac
The zodiac divides into four groups of three, one per element, and each of the three takes it in a different mode — cardinal, fixed or mutable. Ptolemy gives the scheme in the Tetrabiblos; this study seeds his reading and Lilly's locator beside it.
Its suit: fourteen cards
The Golden Dawn gave each suit of the minor arcana an element, and this study carries the attribution on all fourteen cards of each rather than on the suit as a label, so a single card's page can name its own source.
Fire is the Wands, and all 14 cards of the suit carry the attribution.
Its weapon
Fire Wand — The Golden Dawn consecration manuscript names this the Fire implement in its four-weapon set. This assignment belongs to that set; it does not make every firelike object in every grimoire equivalent.
Four of the listed implements carry an elemental assignment in the Golden Dawn material. The other implements come from sources that do not assign them to this four-element set.