Elements

The Origins of the Four Elements

Earth and Water

From ancient civilizations to modern day, the colors and symbols of the four elements have represented the different aspects of nature and the forces of energy in our world. The idea that these four elements—Earth, Water, Air, and Fire—made up all matter was the cornerstone of philosophy, science, and medicine for two-thousand years.

Historians believe that as early as the 8th century BCE, ancient Greek philosophers of the Archaic period began formulating theories of the four classical elements. Although the Greeks believed that the four elements were unchanging in nature, everything was made up of these elements, held together or pushed apart by forces of attraction and repulsion, causing substances to appear to change. This is similar to what really happens with elements and all molecules at an atomic level.

To the ancient Greeks, the four elements described not only physical manifestations of the material world but essential qualities of human nature as well. For instance, the Earth, solid and substantial, was associated with the physical and sensual aspects of life. Water, flowing and ever-changing, denoted emotion and empathy. Air was not only the air we breathe and the atmosphere, but signified the mind, intelligence, and inspiration. Fire meant the Sun and flame; it also indicated creative passion and destructive zeal.

Before digging into the myriad of aspects of how the Four Elements in fact shape and affect our life, this is the back-story of how they originated.

The Birth of Mother Earth

Ten billion years before the Earth was born, the universe started out with only two elements: hydrogen and helium, which formed stars that burned these elements in nuclear fusion reactions. Generations of stars were born in gas clouds and died in explosive novas that produced the heavier elements we have today.

Some 5 billion years ago, a supernova exploded, pushing a lot of its heavy-element wreckage into a cloud of hydrogen gas and interstellar dust. The mixture grew hot and compressed under its own gravity; at its center, a new star began to form, around which swirled a disk of the same material that grew white-hot from the great compressive forces. The new star became our Sun, and the glowing disk gave rise to Earth and its sister planets.

While the Sun grew in size and energy, the hot disk slowly cooled. This took millions of years, during which the components of the disk began to freeze out into small dust-size grains. Iron metal and compounds of silicon, magnesium, aluminum, and oxygen came out first in that fiery setting; bits of these are preserved in chondrite meteorites. Slowly, these grains settled together into clusters, then lumps, then boulders, and finally bodies large enough to exert their own gravity.

As time went by, these bodies grew by collision with other bodies, producing a lot of melting and vaporization. Materials, which we can call rocks and iron metal, began to sort themselves out; the dense iron settled in the center, while lighter rock separated into a mantle around it, in a miniature of Earth and the other inner planets today.

At some point, the Sun ignited; although the Sun was only about two-thirds as bright as it is today, the process of ignition was energetic enough to blow away most of the gaseous part of the protoplanetary disk. The chunks, boulders, and mini-planets left behind continued to collect into large, stable bodies in well-spaced orbits.

At one point early in this process a very large mini-planet struck Earth an off-center blow, spraying much of Earth's rocky mantle into space. The planet got most of it back after a period of time, but some of it collected into a second mini-planet circling Earth, the Moon. Since this theory took center stage in the mid-1980s, it has become everyone's favorite, as geophysicist Don Anderson once explained, “The objection that such an event would be extremely rare is actually a point in its favor, since the Moon is unique”.

The oldest rocks, dated by the uranium-lead method at about 3.96 billion years old, show that there were volcanoes, continents, oceans, crustal plates, and life on Earth in those days. While the eons that followed were full of strange stories and far-reaching changes, the Earth had taken on its basic structure long before.

Where Water Came From

The exact origin of our planet's water, which covers about 70% of Earth's surface, is still a mystery to scientists. Many researchers think that, instead of water forming at the same time as Earth, objects in the outer solar system delivered water to Earth in violent collisions shortly after its formation.

Researchers speculate that any water conglomerating on the surface of the planet as it formed would have most likely been evaporated away by the young, blazing Sun, which means that water probably came here from somewhere else. The inner planets—Mars, Mercury, and Venus—were probably too hot to house water during the Solar System's formation, so our water did not come from them either; on the other hand, outer planetary bodies, such as the moons of Jupiter and comets, were far enough away from the Sun to retain ice.

During a period around 4 billion years ago called the “Late Heavy Bombardment”, massive objects, probably from the outer solar system, hit Earth and the inner planets. It is possible that these objects were filled with water, and that these collisions could have delivered gigantic reservoirs of water that filled Earth.

For a long time, astronomers thought that comets were the likely culprit. However, remote measurements of the water evaporating off of several major existing comets—Halley, Hyakutake, and Hale-Bopp—revealed that their water ice was made of a different type of H2O, containing a heavier isotope of hydrogen than Earth's, suggesting that these comets could not be the source of our water.

With major comets crossed off the list, astronomers began to wonder if clues to our water's past may lie in the asteroid belt. This region of hundreds of thousands of asteroids orbiting between the inner and outer planets was believed by astronomers, to be too close to the Sun to house water, but astronomers found the first evidence of ice on the asteroid 24 Themis.

This discovery and others of ice on asteroids suggest that there might be far more ice in the asteroid belt than originally thought and provide another possibility for the origin of ocean water. Probes sent to explore asteroids, such as the DAWN spacecraft, in the coming years will reveal more about their mysterious water ice, potentially help us understand the beginnings of Earth's water.

On the other hand, evidence that water came to Earth during its formation from cosmic dust, rather than following later in asteroids, has been shown by a group of international scientists. Nora de Leeuw at University College London, UK, and colleagues used molecular-level calculations to prove that when mineral dust particles came together during Earth formation, gas-solid interactions could have resulted in water being adsorbed onto the surface of the dust particles, meaning water could have been part of the Earth from the very beginning.

Air & Fire

From ancient civilizations to modern day, the colors and symbols of the four elements have represented the different aspects of nature and the forces of energy in our world. The idea that these four elements—Earth, Water, Air, and Fire—made up all matter was the cornerstone of philosophy, science, and medicine for two-thousand years.

Historians believe that as early as the 8th century BCE, ancient Greek philosophers of the Archaic period began formulating theories of the four classical elements. Although the Greeks believed that the four elements were unchanging in nature, everything was made up of these elements, held together or pushed apart by forces of attraction and repulsion, causing substances to appear to change. This is similar to what really happens with elements and all molecules at an atomic level.

To the ancient Greeks, the four elements described not only physical manifestations of the material world but essential qualities of human nature as well. For instance, the Earth, solid and substantial, was associated with the physical and sensual aspects of life. Water, flowing and ever-changing, denoted emotion and empathy. Air was not only the air we breathe and the atmosphere, but signified the mind, intelligence, and inspiration. Fire meant the Sun and flame; it also indicated creative passion and destructive zeal.

Before digging into the myriad of aspects of how the Four Elements in fact shape and affect our life, this is the back-story of how they originated.

The Atmosphere, History of

In the first 500 million years of Earth's history, a dense atmosphere emerged from the vapor and gases that were expelled during degassing of the planet's interior. These gases may have consisted of hydrogen (H2), water vapor, methane (CH4), and carbon oxides. Prior to 3.5 billion years ago, the atmosphere probably consisted of carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), water (H2O), nitrogen (N2), and hydrogen (H).

The hydrosphere was formed 4 billion years ago from the condensation of water vapor, resulting in oceans of water in which sedimentation occurred. The most important feature of the ancient environment was the absence of free oxygen. Evidence of such an anaerobic reducing atmosphere is hidden in early rock formations that contain many elements, such as iron and uranium, in their reduced states. Elements in this state are not found in the rocks of mid-Precambrian and younger ages, less than 3 billion years old.

One billion years ago, early aquatic organisms called blue-green algae began using energy from the Sun to split molecules of H2O and CO2, and recombine them into organic compounds and molecular oxygen (O2). This solar energy conversion process is known as photosynthesis. Some of the photosynthetically created oxygen combined with organic carbon to recreate CO2 molecules; the remaining oxygen accumulated in the atmosphere. As oxygen in the atmosphere increased, CO2 decreased.

High in the atmosphere, some oxygen (O2) molecules absorbed energy from the Sun's ultraviolet (UV) rays and split to form single oxygen atoms, which combined with remaining oxygen (O2) to form ozone (O3) molecules that are very effective at absorbing UV rays. The thin layer of ozone that surrounds Earth acts as a shield, protecting the planet from irradiation by UV light.

The amount of ozone required to shield Earth from biologically lethal UV radiation, wavelengths from 200 to 300 nanometers (nm), is believed to have been in existence 600 million years ago. At this time, the oxygen level was approximately 10% of its present atmospheric concentration. Prior to this period, life was restricted to the ocean; the presence of ozone enabled organisms to develop and live on the land. Ozone played a significant role in the evolution of life on Earth, and allows life as we presently know it to exist.

Today, the atmosphere of the Earth may be divided into several distinct layers: troposphere, stratosphere, ozone layer, mesosphere, and ionosphere. The troposphere is where all weather takes place; it is the region of rising and falling packets of air. Above the troposphere is the stratosphere, where air flow is mostly horizontal.

Above the stratosphere is the mesosphere where the temperature drops to about -100°C. Above that is the ionosphere, or thermosphere, where many atoms are ionized. The ionosphere is very thin, but it is where the aurora takes place; it is also responsible for absorbing the most energetic photons from the Sun, and for reflecting radio waves, thereby making long-distance radio communication possible.

And then there was Fire

Logically, we may assume there was once a time when man had no fire; however, very early he must have become acquainted with fire derived from natural sources, and made use of it, for no remains of man's art show him without fire as his companion. Much later in the scheme of things he invented processes for making fire artificially.

The discovery of fire, or more precisely the controlled use of fire, was a necessity. The control of fire by early humans was a turning point in the cultural aspect of human evolution, allowing humans to cook food, as well as obtain warmth and protection. Making fire allowed the expansion of human activity into the colder hours of the night, and provided protection from predators and insects.

Stone Age man used fire to make tools 50,000 years earlier than scientists thought. Early modern humans at 72,000 years ago were using carefully controlled hearths in a complex process, known as heat treatment, to heat stone and change its properties.

With the acquisition of fire came the problem of preserving it; interesting examples of the ingenuity of man were presented. First, the fire was buried; preserved in the ashes of the fire itself. Next, a type of slow-match or fire-stick was developed, and later, when man worked with metals, the curfew, or “fire-cover” was invented.

Symbolic and superstitious uses of fire have been common. At an early period, altar fires were kept sacred; as time went by, the significance gradually lessened. When possible the communal fire was placed in front of a rock shelter or cave; in a place safe and convenient for the use of everyone. The necessity for a screen to protect the early bonfires from the wind may have been the reason for the round form of house thought to be the earliest.

Later, individual fires were built in the center of the family shelters, where the hearth became known as the chimney. The term was then used to include the hole or flue that carried off the smoke of the fire burning in a pit in the center of the floor. History has failed to record the inventor, or to state the place where chimneys as we might recognize them were first used, but they seem to have been common in Venice before the middle of the 14th century, for a number of them were destroyed by an earthquake in 1347.

The principles of the chimney were poorly understood for many years. No matter how perfect they seemed, builders were never sure they would function efficiently. The first recorded effort to study the matter of smoky chimneys on a scientific basis was that of Louis Savot, a French physician, during the 16th century. He failed to find the real trouble, but he improved the form of the fireplace opening by narrowing the width, so that less air could enter on each side of the fire. He also showed that the flue should be smooth to lessen the friction of the ascending smoke.

The four elements are indeed the essence of life. All animals, plants, non-living objects, and energies are combinations of these elements as, of course, are we. Everything has its own unique blend of the four elements in it: everything that has substance has Earth in it; everything that flows and/or has feelings has Water in it; everything that involves sound, thinking, or communication has Air in it; and everything that has energy has Fire in it.

	Spirit	Earth	Air	Fire	Water
DIRECTION	Inside/Outside, All	North	East	South	West
ELEMENTAL	All	Gnomes	Sylphs	Salamanders	Undines
COLOURS	White, Purple, All	Brown, Green or Black	Yellow	Red Or Orange	Blue
WIND	Zephyrus, All	Boreas	Eurius	Notus	Zephyrus
CLIMATE	All	Cold and Dry	Hot and Moist	Hot and Dry	Cold and Moist
TIME	Midnight, Noon, Dawn, Dusk, All	Night	Morning	Noon/Afternoon	Evening
SEASON	All	Winter	Spring	Summer	Autumn
SABBATS	All	Winter Solstice	Vernal Equinox	Summer Solstice	Autumn Equinox
QUALITY	All	Stability	Intelligence	Purity	Emotion
TOOLS	Pentacle	Pentacle	Censer, sometimes Besom and Athame	Candle, sometimes Athame	Cup
GEMS	Quartz, Diamond	Jet	Quartz, Amethyst	Jasper	Moonstone
DEITIES	Pan	Cernunnos, Cailleach, Pan, Pluto/Hades	Athena	Apollo, Lugh, Epona, Haephestus, Mars	Artemis, Neptune
GODDESS	All	Crone	Child	Maiden	Mother
ANIMALS	Boar, Bear, Cat, Unicorn	Boar, Bear, Wolf, Snake, Bull, Raven	Hawk, Cat, Eagle	Horse, Dragon, Lion	Whale, Dolphin, Seal, Fish, Swan
PLANT/FLOWER	Grapes/Vines	Chrysanthemum	Tulips, Daffodils	Roses	Maple Tree/Leaves
SENSES	Thought/6th Sense	Touch, Smell	Hearing	Touch, Taste	Sight, Taste
THE BODY	Brain/Mind	Bones, Skin	Lungs	Muscles	Blood
CHAKRAS	Crown, 3rd Eye	Root	Throat	Sacral, Solar Plexus	Heart
CONSTELLATIONS	Cassiopeia	Big and Little Dippers	Pegasus, Orion	Summer Triangle, Dracos	Plieades, Cygnus
STARS	Vega	Polaris	Sirius	Betelguese	Deneb
PLANETS	Uranus, Moon	Pluto, Saturn	Jupiter, Mercury	Mars	Venus, Neptune, Moon
ASTROLOGICAL CORRESPONDENCE	All	Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn	Gemini, Libra, Aquarius	Ares, Leo, Sagittarius	Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces
BEST MATCHES	All	Water	Fire	Air	Earth
FEARS	Mistrust of the Self	Fear of Desertment	Fear of Not being Heard	Fear of Failure	Fear of Feeling, or Not Feeling
POSITIVE EMOTIONS	Wisdom	Determination	Clarity	Passion	Peace
NEGATIVE EMOTIONS	Self-Destruction	Depression	Too much logic: no compassion	Obsession, Uncontrollable Rage	Deep Sadness
CAREERS	All	Law Enforcement	Technology, Analysis	Management	Counselling
TIME OF LIFE	Before Birth, After Death, All	Death	Birth	Adolescence	Middle Age
PERIODS IN HISTORY	Pre-History, Future, All	Classical, NeoClassical	Baroque, Post-Modern	Modern	Romantic
ALCOHOLIC DRINKS	Wine, All	Beer	Liquors	Hard Liquor	Wine
4 FOOD GROUPS	All	Meat	Grains	Fruits and Veggies	Dairy

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Most recent revision May 25, 2025 04:02:36 PM