6074298-Elemental

A: Anything which has a vibration to it naturally enhances the effectiveness of meditation. The Buddhist "Om" works excellently for this, for "Om" is essentially the vibration of the sound of Mem, the Hebrew letter corresponding here to water and deep meditation. In the western cosmogony, Yehovau has a profound impact if repeated as a mantra in meditation.

----Air, none the less, is vital in sustaining the process of life which the actions of fire have put into motion. Until fire is applied the air stands dark, and therein we find two types of the air element: night and day. To night is attributed arid manifestation and mystery, for without the illumination of fire nothing contained within the air can be recognized and understood. It is the cold principle which it has borrowed from water brought into play, and its key sense upon which it operates is that of hearing. To day is attributed realization and understanding, with all secrets having been brought out and recognized by the emanation of fire(light). There is a key here again to this analogy which refers back to the mentioned functions of the mystical Three Mothers. The Water, the deep understanding and emersion, is a mystery until it is sought out in deep meditation induced via proper breathing, where it then shines forth in our contemplation as the fire. Air having not existed before fire, “day� is considered its primordial manifestation, though of its own accord it is dark. Because fire is seen as the animating principle of life, so is the pass from day to night often seen as a symbolic passing from life to death.

Of importance within the air element are the four winds, each with their different attributes, and each to be operated for different reasons as seen appropriate within their qualities.

-Boreas, the northern wind: Fierce, dry, cold; makes the air serene and binds the water -Notus, the southern wind: Cloudy, moist, warm; that which brings rain ] -Zephyrus, the western wind: Soft, cold and moist -Eurus, the eastern wind: Cloudy, ravenous and warm To each of these winds are attributed a ruling archangel, whose names are Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael and Michael respectively.

The principle winds here are Boreas and Eurus, being the polar opposites, and each one with a corresponding wind which borrows attributes from both poles: for example, Zephyrus has the cold of Boreas and moisture of Notus. With the knowledge of the qualities of the winds(more of which may be discerned by the scholar upon contemplation) one may work many interesting operations, as they are the Four Forces, each issuing from one of the Four Towers and commanded by one of the archangels. I could here provide the angelic and demonic correspondences of the winds, but I shall leave that to the studious.