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Holistic Living
Mystical Building Blocks:
The Elements and Spiritual Foundation
by Dr. Craig Martin
If we want to create, build, and manifest something, whether a skyscraper or a Bundt cake, we need the right ingredients. Conveniently, those ingredients are all around us as the natural elements. They make up the world we live in, creating everything we see, touch, and imagine.
The natural elements of fire, air, water, and earth work together to form all life on all planes of existence. Most people are focused on making things happen on the physical plane, but manifestation takes shape on all levels, each one represented by an element.
Fire is the creative force, the will, or the idea. This potent energy is the starting place for the creation of both substance and thoughts. Before we can bake the Bundt cake we must first decide to bake something. That desire or passion for the idea of baking is generated by the element of fire. Fire is the well of enthusiasm that resides within us and tapping into that well is the force of creation.
Air is the mental force, the thinking mind, or the concept. The energy of the air element is the place where creativity takes on an identity. Now, we are not only excited about baking something, but we can call it a Bundt cake. Air takes fire and applies words and thought. This gives the idea specificity.
Water is the emotional force, the feelings, or the intuition. The role of the water element is to sense what might need changing. Perhaps you were thinking of making a vanilla Bundt cake, but on consideration, you realize that the right cake is the chocolate one. This might occur to you after you’ve considered to whom you are serving the cake. Water brings sensation to the idea and transforms it into something that feels right.
Finally, earth is the tangible force, the structure, or the form. Earth element energy is solid, providing the framework for the cake to actually exist on the kitchen counter! The earth element is matter. Atoms, molecules, and the very practical things that make up the world are the earth element: the stove, the baking pan, the flour, and ultimately, the cake itself.
While there is an external nature to the elements—the fire that bakes the cake, the water in the mix, the air pockets that make it moist, and the flour of the earth—it is the internal working of the elements that makes our end product possible.
The manifestation principle of the universe is a trans-elemental process that operates through the elements. As working parts of our internal makeup, each of the elements is necessary as an ingredient in the unfolding of creativity.
We touch our internal fire whenever we desire to bring forth our vision. As we decide what to name our vision, we encounter our internal air. When we modify our ideas and allow for a course correction, we are working with internal water. Only then are we able to see how our idea will actually work in the world, and review it with our internal earth.
As we take a closer look at the building blocks of our spiritual nature, we soon discover how essential each one is for the creation of the life we want to live. How can we operate without a passionate, thinking, feeling, or practical nature? We can’t! We need all four, and yet, the development of our elemental completeness is not an easy task.
We all would need every ingredient in the cake recipe in order to make our delicious dessert. Likewise, a strong, internal presence of the elements is important so that we can create and make our reality visible. If one or more of the elemental qualities needs a bit of support, then that’s an ideal place for you to nurture yourself. You wouldn’t make a very good Bundt cake with no ingredients, or bad ingredients. If you needed to get better ingredients you would do just that!
Nurturing elemental fire is done in a creative environment. Art of any kind is an excellent place to start. Finding your enthusiasm in anything that inspires or excites will build your internal fire.
Elemental air can be encouraged by reading, writing, or listening to material that you are not entirely familiar with. All intellectual experiences are air, including museums and even crossword puzzles. Check out some mind-stimulating activities when you want to enhance your personal elemental air.
The water element is best developed with an imagination. The movies or theatre are great places to start, and elemental earth is grown by something as simple as planting flowers, waxing the car, or organizing the closet.
Being elementally well-rounded is ideal because it gives you complete power to create what you want—but the first and foremost creative project is you. By bringing all of the elemental qualities inside you to their peak potential, you have all the ingredients necessary to be who you are in the world.
This makes you the most exciting creative experience of your life. As you develop and gain a full understanding of your elemental truth, you will discover the possibilities that exist in your hands. They are endless and they emerge from the very idea you have of yourself and your spiritual being. How will you envision and build yourself? As a skyscraper? A Bundt cake? The choices are limitless, and the right ingredients are already within you.
Dr. Craig Martin is an astrologer, interfaith minister, and couples counselor. He lives in Los Angeles and practices in both New York City and California. He is the author of the upcoming, Elemental Love Styles: Creating a Lasting Relationship through Meeting Your Deeper Needs. He can be reached at drcraig@doctorcraig.com or through his website at www.LAHealer.com.