The Elements Correspondences

[TheDeadlyEntity]

I have found many different relations to the position of earth, air, water and earth. is there any real differance to the directions you invoke these eliments?

I have been charting them from many different sourses and I personaly like the layout of
north - air
east - fire
south - earth
west - water

however im not 100% sure were I found this layout. could anyone help or at least give me a direction to look into? I have a strange feeling its celtic but im unsure and cant seem to find the info online.

Why do you suppose we place the elements at the quarters we do?
Do the elements even need to be placed at the quarters?

Thanks for any help
stephen

[Draconis]

i normally quarter the elments, but when im actually casting i may invoke the the elments within a pentagram with spirit at the top (where i place my alter) usually if i do this i invoke a certain element that will help my aims

[fatalism]

The original east-air, south-fire, west-water, north-earth pairing was used, apparently, by the Celts. About.com asserts that maybe the directional correspondences were related to geographical features relating to the position of Britain. As they have listed:

West - The west is associated with water, as well as with changes, emotions, and healing. For Pagans living in the Celtic Isles, the Atlantic Ocean was a rather prominent landmark that lay to the west.

South - Fire was linked to the south for simple reasons that would apply to anyone living in the Northern Hemisphere: the weather gets warmer as you head south. Fire is associated with passion, strength and energy.

East - As I looked into this whole historical view of things, I found a few variations to why air and east might have been paired together. The sun rises in the east, which could be an association with air. Also thought is that weather patterns in the area brought many winds from the east. Qualities that go with East and Air are communication, imagination and travel.

North - The northern areas were more mountainous than the southern areas of the region. The craggy hills most certainly would invoke a feeling of 'Earth' to anyone who sees them. Earth represents nature, fertility and grounding.

Other things to note: Crowley flipped the original east-air and south-fire correspondences in his Thoth tarot deck because he believed the Age of Aquarius would have an effect on this (details of which I'm not 100% sure of).

[TheDeadlyEntity]

Thank you both for the information, I do know the origenal directions. but Im loss as to were I found the others. I have them noted down but I seem to of lost my source.

I didnt know that about Crowley, I have read many things about the bloke however I'm under the impression that a lot (not all though) of his "magical" work never worked anyway! and im not a big follower even though I do have a lot of information about the bloke to get through.

I do consider everyones views though even his