My recent post on Elementals generated some critiques from people who pushed for a more traditional model of elemental magic. I could appreciate where they were coming from, especially when they cited Quabalistic perspectives on the elements, but my definition of elementals is different and I thought it worthwhile to include that here.
When I define an elemental I define it as a representative of a primal force that effects all of us. It's something that defines us in some ways, even as we define it. There's a symbiotic relationship of sorts. So the four traditional elements certainly fit that definition, but when I look at the emotion of love I don't associate it with fire. That's an arbitrary association. So instead I associate the experience of love with the Element of Love. I associate the experience of emptiness with the Element of Emptiness.
It's just as arbitrary as associating emotions and behavioral characteristics with a traditional element. The difference, in my opinion, is that I'm treating those emotions as separate elements in their own right, so that I can develop a deeper relationship with them. This isn't to say that using a more traditional approach to elements doesn't work, because clearly it does, but rather to point out that there can be viable alternatives and that they work. It's all arbitrary in the end, because its all defined by people for their own purposes of categorizing and explaining something they are working with.
Book Review: The Little Book of Odes and Invocation by Auntie Matter
This is an enjoyable book with invocations that have been developed by the author and shared with readers. But perhaps the greatest I got from this book was the value of developing your own personalized invocations. When I read Invocation to Raise Power, it made me really pay attention to the words and how the author put everything together to raise power through the words and the phrasing. I highly recommend this booklet as something that will inspire your own invocations as well for what is offered in the invocations the author has written.