Earth is one of the classical elements, in some systems being one of the four along with

air The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing f ...

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames a ...

, and

water Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...

European tradition

Earth is one of the four classical elements in ancient

Greek philosophy Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC, marking the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Greek philosophy continued throughout the Hellenistic period and the period in which Greece and most Greek-inhabited lands were part of the Roman Empi ...

and science. It was commonly associated with qualities of heaviness, matter and the terrestrial world. Due to the

hero cult Hero cults were one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion. In Homeric Greek, "hero" (, ) refers to the mortal offspring of a human and a god. By the historical period, however, the word came to mean specifically a ''dead'' ma ...

s, and chthonic

underworld deities The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwor ...

, the element of ''earth'' is also associated with the sensual aspects of both life and death in later occultism.

Empedocles Empedocles (; grc-gre, Ἐμπεδοκλῆς; , 444–443 BC) was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a native citizen of Akragas, a Greek city in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is best known for originating the cosmogonic theory of the ...

of Acragas proposed four '' archai'' by which to understand the

cosmos The cosmos (, ) is another name for the Universe. Using the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity. The cosmos, and understandings of the reasons for its existence and significance, are studied in ...

: ''

'',''

'', ''

'', and ''earth''.

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

(427–347 BCE) believed the elements were geometric forms (the

platonic solid In geometry, a Platonic solid is a convex, regular polyhedron in three-dimensional Euclidean space. Being a regular polyhedron means that the faces are congruent (identical in shape and size) regular polygons (all angles congruent and all e ...

s) and he assigned the cube to the element of ''earth'' in his dialogue ''

Timaeus Timaeus (or Timaios) is a Greek name. It may refer to: * ''Timaeus'' (dialogue), a Socratic dialogue by Plato *Timaeus of Locri, 5th-century BC Pythagorean philosopher, appearing in Plato's dialogue *Timaeus (historian) (c. 345 BC-c. 250 BC), Greek ...

''.

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

(384–322 BCE) believed ''earth'' was the heaviest element, and his theory of '' natural place'' suggested that any ''earth–laden'' substances, would fall quickly, straight down, towards the center of the ''cosmos''. In Classical

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

myth, various goddesses represented the Earth, seasons, crops and fertility, including Demeter and

Persephone In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Persephone ( ; gr, Περσεφόνη, Persephónē), also called Kore or Cora ( ; gr, Κόρη, Kórē, the maiden), is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the underworld after ...

;

Ceres Ceres most commonly refers to: * Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid * Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture Ceres may also refer to: Places Brazil * Ceres, Goiás, Brazil * Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...

; the

Horae In Greek mythology the Horae () or Horai () or Hours ( grc-gre, Ὧραι, Hōrai, , "Seasons") were the goddesses of the seasons and the natural portions of time. Etymology The term ''horae'' comes from the Proto-Indo-European ("year"). F ...

(goddesses of the seasons), and

Proserpina Proserpina ( , ) or Proserpine ( ) is an ancient Roman goddess whose iconography, functions and myths are virtually identical to those of Greek Persephone. Proserpina replaced or was combined with the ancient Roman fertility goddess Libera, whose ...

; and Hades (

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest ...

) who ruled the souls of dead in the

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwor ...

. In ancient Greek medicine, each of the

four humours Humorism, the humoral theory, or humoralism, was a system of medicine detailing a supposed makeup and workings of the human body, adopted by Ancient Greek and Roman physicians and philosophers. Humorism began to fall out of favor in the 1850s ...

became associated with an element.

Black bile Melancholia or melancholy (from el, µέλαινα χολή ',Burton, Bk. I, p. 147 meaning black bile) is a concept found throughout ancient, medieval and premodern medicine in Europe that describes a condition characterized by markedly dep ...

was the humor identified with earth, since both were cold and dry. Other things associated with earth and black bile in ancient and medieval medicine included the season of fall, since it increased the qualities of cold and aridity; the melancholic temperament (of a person dominated by the black bile humour); the feminine; and the southern point of the compass. In

alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

, earth was believed to be primarily dry, and secondarily cold, (as per Aristotle). Beyond those classical attributes, the chemical substance

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...

, was associated with earth and its

alchemical symbol Alchemical symbols, originally devised as part of alchemy, were used to denote some elements and some compounds until the 18th century. Although notation like this was mostly standardized, style and symbol varied between alchemists, so this pag ...

was a downward-pointing triangle, bisected by a horizontal line.

Indian tradition

Prithvi (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

: ', also ') is the

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

''earth'' and mother goddess. According to one such tradition, she is the personification of the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

itself; according to another, its actual

mother ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...

, being '' Prithvi, Prithvi Tattwa'', the essence of the element earth. As '' Prithvi Mata'', or " Mother Earth", she contrasts with ''

Dyaus Pita Dyaus ( ), or Dyauspitar (Devanagari द्यौष्पितृ, ), is the Ṛigvedic sky deity. His consort is Prithvi, the earth goddess, and together they are the archetypal parents in the Rigveda. Nomenclature stems from Proto-Indo ...

'', " father sky". In the

Rigveda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts ('' śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one ...

, ''earth'' and sky are frequently addressed as a duality, often indicated by the idea of two complementary "half-shells." In addition, the element Earth is associated with

Budha Budha ( sa, बुध) is a Sanskrit word that connotes the planet Mercury. Budha, in Hindu legends, is also a deity. He is also known as Soumya (Sanskrit: सौम्य, lit. ''son of Moon''), Rauhineya and Tunga and is the Nakshatra lo ...

or Mercury who represents communication, business, mathematics and other practical matters.

Ceremonial magic

Earth and the other Greek classical elements were incorporated into the Golden Dawn system. Zelator is the elemental grade attributed to earth; this grade is also attributed to the Qabbalistic sphere

Malkuth Modern: ''Malḵūt'' , Tiberian: ''Malḵūṯ'' , Ashkenazi: ''Malḵūs'' , 'kingdom'), Malkhut Malkhuth or Malchus is the tenth of the sephirot in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. It sits at the bottom of the Tree, below Yesod. This sephira ...

. The elemental weapon of earth is the

Pentacle A pentacle (also spelled and pronounced as ''pantacle'' in Thelema, following Aleister Crowley, though that spelling ultimately derived from Éliphas Lévi) "The Pantacle of Frater V. I. O." is a talisman that is used in magical evocation, and ...

. Each of the elements has several associated spiritual beings. The archangel of earth is

Uriel Uriel or Auriel ( he, אוּרִיאֵל ''ʾŪrīʾēl'', " El/God is my flame"; el, Οὐριήλ ''Oúriēl''; cop, ⲟⲩⲣⲓⲏⲗ ''Ouriēl''; it, Uriele; Geʽez and Amharic: or ) is the name of one of the archangels who is menti ...

, the angel is Phorlakh, the ruler is Kerub, the king is Ghob, and the earth

elemental An elemental is a mythic being that is described in occult and alchemical works from around the time of the European Renaissance, and particularly elaborated in the 16th century works of Paracelsus. According to Paracelsus and his subsequent fo ...

s (following Paracelsus) are called gnomes. Earth is considered to be passive; it is represented by the symbol for

Taurus Taurus is Latin for 'bull' and may refer to: * Taurus (astrology), the astrological sign * Taurus (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac * Taurus (mythology), one of two Greek mythological characters named Taurus * '' Bos tauru ...

, and it is referred to the lower left point of the pentagram in the Supreme Invoking Ritual of the Pentagram. Many of these associations have since spread throughout the occult community. It is sometimes represented by its

Tattva According to various Indian schools of philosophy, ''tattvas'' () are the Classical element, elements or aspects of reality that constitute human experience. In some traditions, they are conceived as an aspect of deity. Although the number of ' ...

or by a downward pointing triangle with a horizontal line through it.

Modern witchcraft

Earth is one of the five elements that appear in most

Wicca Wicca () is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religion categorise it as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and w ...

n and Pagan traditions.

in particular was influenced by the Golden Dawn system of

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

, and

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

's mysticism which was in turn inspired by the Golden Dawn.Hutton, pp. 216-23; Valiente, witchcraft for tomorrow, p. 17.

Other traditions

''Earth'' is represented in the

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...

religion by a house; to the

s, a lotus; to the

Scythians The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern * : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Centra ...

, a plough; to the

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

, a wheel; and in Christian iconography; bulls and birds.

Notes

External links

Different versions of the classical elements
{{DEFAULTSORT:Earth (Classical Element) Earth in religion Classical elements Numerology Esoteric cosmology History of astrology Technical factors of astrology