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Elemental Witch: Fire, Air, Water, Earth; Discover Your Natural Affinity
Witches and other seekers are often striving to customize and deepen their spiritual practice. One way to revolutionize your path is through the earth, air, fire, and water.
Are you an Earth Witch or an Air Witch? Beginning with how to identify your personal element, the author outlines the specialties and personality quirks of each kind of elemental Witch. A detailed discussion of folklore and associated deities gives depth and color to each element's unique history. The rest of this practical text is dedicated to working magic with a particular element, while maintaining balance with all four. Magical correspondences are provided for each element, in addition to associated crystals, stones, herbs, colors, creatures, and aspects of nature (rivers, trees, caves, wind, lightning, etc.).
Are you an Earth Witch or an Air Witch? Beginning with how to identify your personal element, the author outlines the specialties and personality quirks of each kind of elemental Witch. A detailed discussion of folklore and associated deities gives depth and color to each element's unique history. The rest of this practical text is dedicated to working magic with a particular element, while maintaining balance with all four. Magical correspondences are provided for each element, in addition to associated crystals, stones, herbs, colors, creatures, and aspects of nature (rivers, trees, caves, wind, lightning, etc.).
240 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 21, 2019
Quite a lot of easy ideas.
April 21, 2015
I was kind of disappointed. The idea behind of the book was supposed to be how an element matches a witch's personality and strongest ability, but it's as though the author didn't know enough about the characteristics of the elements to be able make such matches convincingly. The premise is great, but the book falls far short of its goal.
For example, the personality test provided didn't help clarify personality/element matches. I think it would have helped in the identification process if the questionnaire were multiple-choice rather than open-ended. I answered some of the questions in so many different ways that I could have been any of at least three different elements. With others, I simply didn't know the answer to because the questions were vague. It caused a lot of confusion for me.
The description of the elemental identities themselves was tough for me, not clear on the difference between one personality and another. In places, they seem to run together. Every one of the types have clean tidy homes (Well, who wouldn't want that?) The dark side of each witch sounded similar, if not the same. The comparison between the personality and the element didn't seem to match up without difficulty. According to these descriptions, I could have been almost any of these elements, yet not quite any of them. That was frustrating.
Then there were the correspondences for each element. North for Spring? East for Autumn? Fire's correspondence is taste rather than sight? After all, Fire is light, right? I mean yeah, I got the part where magic is an art form, a person can put correspondences wherever they want, and it may be that there was no room in this book to explain such placements, but the discussion really threw me anyway.
In spite of the setbacks, it remains a useful book nonetheless. There are a few ideas I would have never thought of. Also, except for the section on the Earth Witch, which I found incredibly boring (can you tell I'm probably not an Earth Witch?), the rest of the book did capture my imagination. I enjoyed the stories of most of the elemental gods, goddesses, and nature spirits. It was cool that such ethnic mysticisms as Hoodoo and Native were also included. The Wicca-101-type herb and stone lists and the cookbook-like spells were also included, so newbies won't feel totally lost.
Overall, I would have liked to give this book four stars for simply stirring the creative juices, but there were too many unsettling things I couldn't ignore. But if you can overlook glaring faults, great. I'm looking forward to a book that would give a better treatment of identity/element matchups. It's too much of an exciting and fascinating concept not to be attempted again. :-)
For example, the personality test provided didn't help clarify personality/element matches. I think it would have helped in the identification process if the questionnaire were multiple-choice rather than open-ended. I answered some of the questions in so many different ways that I could have been any of at least three different elements. With others, I simply didn't know the answer to because the questions were vague. It caused a lot of confusion for me.
The description of the elemental identities themselves was tough for me, not clear on the difference between one personality and another. In places, they seem to run together. Every one of the types have clean tidy homes (Well, who wouldn't want that?) The dark side of each witch sounded similar, if not the same. The comparison between the personality and the element didn't seem to match up without difficulty. According to these descriptions, I could have been almost any of these elements, yet not quite any of them. That was frustrating.
Then there were the correspondences for each element. North for Spring? East for Autumn? Fire's correspondence is taste rather than sight? After all, Fire is light, right? I mean yeah, I got the part where magic is an art form, a person can put correspondences wherever they want, and it may be that there was no room in this book to explain such placements, but the discussion really threw me anyway.
In spite of the setbacks, it remains a useful book nonetheless. There are a few ideas I would have never thought of. Also, except for the section on the Earth Witch, which I found incredibly boring (can you tell I'm probably not an Earth Witch?), the rest of the book did capture my imagination. I enjoyed the stories of most of the elemental gods, goddesses, and nature spirits. It was cool that such ethnic mysticisms as Hoodoo and Native were also included. The Wicca-101-type herb and stone lists and the cookbook-like spells were also included, so newbies won't feel totally lost.
Overall, I would have liked to give this book four stars for simply stirring the creative juices, but there were too many unsettling things I couldn't ignore. But if you can overlook glaring faults, great. I'm looking forward to a book that would give a better treatment of identity/element matchups. It's too much of an exciting and fascinating concept not to be attempted again. :-)
March 21, 2013
I really enjoyed reading this book. I had part of it about a year ago, but then it was requested so I returned it to the library since I was in no real hurry, I figured I would get it back quickly and read it again...then other books distracted me. Anyway, some of the information presented in Elemental Witch contradicts what some of the other Pagan/Wiccan/Witch books I've read say. However, I don't see that as a downside. The path of Wicca/Witchcraft/Paganism is one that you can mold to fit your beliefs and what is right for YOU, so this is an excellent book to give you more ideas on what colors, herbs and elements can mean to you as you travel down your path. Tammy Sullivan gives the reader an overall look at each element, some of the better know Gods and Goddesses related to those elements as well as some spells and meditations. She does this very well, without going TOO in detail on one element while only skimming over the others- she treats each element with equal attention. I found this book very interesting and helpful. However, I will mention that in some spots it was a bit dry and hard to get through so I definitely suggest reading this book when you are feeling nice and awake so that you don't miss any of the information.
August 13, 2013
That would be a very generous 2 stars. I should just know that when a book is published by Llewellyn that I am not going to agree with it nor am I going to like it. It started out having potential and like all things from this publishing house it slowly started turning into fluff. I tried and as always, I gave it a chance. I'm just very happy that I borrowed this from a friend and didn't waste one cent of my book buying budget on this book. Ugh, I really wish stuff like this was not out there for people just starting out to read. Thankfully there are tons of books available from other sources.
August 11, 2011
There were some good ideas in this book, but it wasn't really a coherent statement. It was more like someone rambling about their ideas on the four elements. That said, some of the ideas were fresh and ones I hadn't really considered before. The book also had a broad tableau of deities represented, which is not always the case in many of these books. Unfortunately, the book did also have a few moments that left me scratching my head. It could have used a bit more editing and a firmer hand at points, but it's worth reading, in my opinion.
December 2, 2010
An excellent beginner level book with lots of ideas on how to become more familiar with the elements. To me, there is nothing more fundamental and useful than locating yourself in relation to these four everlasting categories. Every single thing I do is done in relation to them. And this very approachable and easily read book was helpful to me even though I'm not a beginner. A good addition to a witch's Shelf of Shadows!
February 3, 2008
This book was ok, mildly interesting, but as with most Llewellyn books, should be taken with a shaker of salt.
July 5, 2008
A good look at how the different elements manifest themselves in your life and your personality. This book helped me to see that I'm more balanced than I thought, which is a good thing.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews