The Elemental Tides

A long standing tradition within the Fraternity of the Inner Light has been an
awareness of the flow of Elemental Tides throughout the year. If we are aware of how
these tides flow, and consciously try to work with them, we can find them to be very
real aids to spiritual growth, to say nothing of our feeling of wellbeing within the
world. The human soul in its voyage through the years is rather in the nature of a
small boat. If we want to make real or comfortable progress it helps if we are aware of
the prevailing winds and tides.
The nature of the Tides as used for many years by Dion Fortune, her inner teachers,
and therefore her students has been:
From Vemal Equinox to Summer Solstice - the Fire Tide
From Summer Solstice to Autumnal Equinox - the Earth Tide
From Autumnal Equinox to Winter Solstice - the Air Tide
From Winter Solstice to Vernal Equinox - the Water Tide
This is not the only way of taking account of the many inner tides and currents that
swirl about us. Dane Rudhyar, for example, in his book The Pulse of Life analyses the
passage of the year with an emphasis upon the zodiacal signs. Another way is related
to the phases of the Moon. Or, of course, there are other astrological cycles concerned
with the movement of the planets, such as the thirty year one related to Saturn, which
is more or less the time it takes to move throughout anyone's horoscope to get back to
where it started - a cycle which takes the Moon only twenty eight days. Whilst in The
Cosmic Doctrine the passage of major comets is commented upon, which of course
have a cycle of their own - the famous Halley's Comet for example appearing about
every 78 years. Other astronomical phenomena include the recent sight of Venus
transiting the face of the Sun in something like a 120 year cycle, so that no-one is
likely to experience such occasions twice or even to live through a single cycle whilst
in the flesh, whatever they might portend.
Leaving aside these various astrological options, all of which have their validity at
one level or another, the system we treat of here is in terms of a much more simple
and direct awareness of Elemental and Human interaction, of life on Earth, at any rate
for those who live in a temperate climate in the northern hemisphere.
It is based on the principle of the four qualities of human consciousness and their
particular relevance at various times of the year. Thus the initiatives of new
burgeoning life in the Springtime are of the Spirit, (the equivalent of Fire); the
Summer time calls for a celebration of the well being of the Body (the equivalent of
Earth) not least because it is a time for holidays; the Autumn is a time of review, of
the Mind (the equivalent of Air), focussing on what has been achieved in the
immediate past along with aspirations for the future, a time which sees much
enrolment in educational and vocational courses; whilst the rigours of the Winter
season, hard enough even in our cosseted times, bring reactions of the Emotions (the
equivalent of Water).
The rather mundane examples we have cited as to their application have a greater
depth the more we link them to their correspondence with the Elemental powers.
Indeed the more we realise this connection, the greater will the effect upon us be,
hence they are particularly relevant to the lives of initiates and esoteric students who
are consciously striving to work with the inner forces of life in a practical way.
The four seasons correspond to major points of the solar year of course. The Spring
and Autumnal equinoxes mark the point where the Sun is directly over the Equator,
and thus day and night are equally divided there. The Summer solstice is when the
Sun appears to be at its most northern latitude, to bring us the longest day and shortest
night; whilst the Winter solstice is when it appears to be at its most southern latitude,
bringing us in the northern hemisphere the shortest day and the longest night. This
variation is caused by the tilt of the Earth's axis relevant to its orbit round the Sun, as
despite appearances, it is the movement of the Earth around the Sun that determines
these seasons. If the Earth's axis were completely upright rather than tilted, and its
orbit completely circular rather than eliptical, there would be no seasons.
Each of the four seasons, or quarter of the year, lasts approximately twelve weeks, but
they can helpfully be divided into two periods of six weeks, by recognising a mid-
point in each that is often called a Cross Quarter day. These are generally celebrated
on or about the first or second day of May, June, November and February. They are
not quite so rigidly fixed as the Quarter Days because in origin they are Celtic Fire
festivals, calculated not from the solar year but from the lunar year of 13 equal 28 day
months. Derivations of them may indeed be celebrated at any time up to the 15th of
the month as a result of the change to the Gregorian calendar in 1582 (and
considerably later in the northwest of Europe). But we need not bother ourselves too
much with astronomical calculations, for in practice a certain degree of latitude seems
to have done no harm to their significance or observance. We shall gain all we need
by simply being aware of the prevailing tone of each Tide, regarding the various
festivals from a mix of traditional Christian or pagan feasts, festivals and holy days,
whether solar, lunar or cosmic.
Spring and the Tide of Fire -
midpoint May Day or Beltane
Let us start by considering the Fire
Tide that commences at the Vernal
Equinox. We start with this because to
the initiate, as indeed to all members of
the human race did they but know it,
the Spring Equinox at the beginning of
the third week in March is a
particularly important point in the year.
It is the time when the human spirit
seeks to express whatever it has been
germinating during the Winter period.
The deepest urges and aspirations of
the soul, or higher self, seek expression
at this time of year in the outer world.
The spirit is quickened by a mighty
impulse that works through the whole of nature from the loftiest heights.
It is the time of year when, becoming aware of this stirring of the spirit within, we can
look up to the angelic spheres above and hear all around and within us the winged
body of the spirit soaring in the upper spheres. This is the time when the inner forces
of the Earth stir with great strength, drawn forth by the strong cosmic forces of the
outer regions; and so it is that these forces of activity pass through our being, bringing
the potential for the ecstasy and the joy of creativity on whatever level we are capable
of responding.
All Fools Day on April 1st marks the beginning of the esoteric year, with the
significance of the innocent Fool of the Tarot Trumps, or Parsifal the Grail hero,
going forth in search of experience. It approximates to the moveable feast of Easter,
(which takes its date from the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox), with
particular relevance to the Resurrection on Easter Day followed by the Ascension of
Christ into Heaven and the Descent of the Holy Spirit at Whitsun or Pentecost, forty
days after Easter. All this is foreshadowed by the very first Christian Festival after the
Vernal Equinox, the Annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary on
25th March.
In the midst of the period comes May Day, or the old Celtic festival of Beltain, a feast
of Belenos, the Shining One, when the faery doors of the sidhe were reckoned to
open, with the inspirational manifestation of the poetic powers of Taliesin and
Pryderi. It marked the real beginning of Summer, leaves beginning to show and
flowers making the meadows colourful, when herds were let out into the open fields
from their winter stockades. It was also the time for new ventures. The May Day
festivities saw the erection of the Maypole and dancing round it to decorate it, with
the procession of the May Queen, sometimes represented as the Virgin Mary, whose
month May is. It is also the time of Flora, the spirit of returning summer. Dancing
took place with green branches, and a hobby horse associated with fertility a feature
of the dance, along with characters from Robin Hood and the greenwood legends.
Garlands would be wound round staves, or placed in wreaths at their tops, very often
of cowslips on peeled willow wands. Hoop garlands might have balls tossed through
them or brought together to form a globe. Rising early to wash in the May dew was a
purifying and healing rite and silverware might also be paraded.
Those who are capable of rising to the greater spiritual heights need most particularly
at this time of year to make contact with the natural forces of the Elements, to work
close to nature and the Elemental etheric levels, which can be contacted particularly
strongly between May and the Summer Solstice as this great Fire Tide passes on to
the great Midsummer festival of the triumph of the warmth and light, and also of the
Spirit.
Summer and the Tide of Earth - midpoint Lammas or Lugnasad, Midsummer
Day
In the Christian year the Solstice marks the birth of John the Baptist, the Forerunner,
and as a fitting conclusion to the Fire Tide, it is also an important fire festival, with
bonfires, torch processions and flaming tar barrels or wheels, with blazing gorse
carried around the cattle or driving them between two fires, to protect them from
harm, and dances, involving passing through fire performed. Other customs were the
strewing of hay or rushes, mowing meadows, or decorating wells with floral pictures.
The Summer Solstice is a time when the cosmic powers - some of them from remote
distances - make especial contact esoterically with the inner Earth as well as with
human nature at the commencement of the great Earth Tide. It signifies the
consummation of the Solar Power, bringing through a train of cosmic and elemental
power of many types which contacts the Earth and can contact us, so as to be
grounded and expressed in this great Earth Tide.
The period in July leading up to August and Lammastide can thus be a time of testing
and trial for many people who are sensitive, resulting either in psychic unbalance
through an uprush from the underworld, or a feeling of physical lethargy as the Sun
starts noticeably to descend towards the Autumnal Equinox. The solsticial noon of the
year is past, yet it is a great Earth tide that in the old country year saw the bringing of
the first fruits into the church, either as
first corn of the year or the new bread
made from it. It was in old Celtic
mythology the feast of Lugh Long-
hand, the sun god, celebrated with
games and contests, fairs and the
celebration of marriages.
In the calendar of Our Lady it brings
the great feminine festival of the
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin into
Heaven. when the unique role of the
Virgin Mary is emphasised as first
member of the church and exemplar
and advocate for the human race. That
it is her physical assumption into
heaven that is mooted, is an important
hint to the profound interlinking to be found between heaven and earth, or Kether and
Malkuth, and particularly to be contemplated in this Earth Tide. It is of particular
significance for the divinisation of natural life, a time for the Planetary Being to be
brought into mind. In ancient Egypt it was the time of the inundation of the Nile
which brought life to the land, heralded by the rising of the bright star Sirius, the Dog
Star, of Anubis, Opener of the Ways.
This is in keeping with the ancient Celtic feast of Lughnasadh, the high summer
gathering, the hay harvest in and the corn harvest about to come, a time for arranging
marriages and showing off horses with competitive games, and primordially a feast of
the goddess of sovereignty. Another day of importance in the Christian year is that of
the Transfiguration, on August 6th, when Jesus on the Mount of Illumination
appeared to his three senior disciples in a revelation of heavenly and earthly
conduction, a coded vision of past, present and spiritual future yet to come.
Two other of the most Earthy of spiritual Christian realisations are celebrated during
this Tide, Corpus Christi on 13th June and the Triumph of the Cross on September
14th . And thus the tide proceeds into the Autumnal Equinox and the time of Harvest
Home, marked by a garlanded and loaded hay wain with revellers upon it. Of
particular significance was the last sheaf cut, held to hold the spirit of the corn and
often made into a corn dolly, sometimes shaped like a pyrarnid, and kept throughout
the ensuing year.
Autumn and the Tide of Air -
midpoint Samhain, Halloween, All
Saints, All Souls Day
The first Christian feast after the
Equinox that marks the phase change
from Earth to Air, from outer to inner,
is that of St Michael and all Angels on
29th September, or Michaelmas, with
its association of victory after the final
ingathering of the harvest. It is a time
for bringing former actions and future
ideas to mind. A time when not only
are individual esoteric positions and
functions assessed but the work of the
Hierarchy itself is reviewed in its
functional relation to the greater whole.

Then at the mid point of the season
comes Hallowe'en with All Saints and
All Souls, recognising the human as
well as angelic inhabitants of the
Unseen. In popular belief a time when souls were released from Purgatory for
fortyeight hours and candles lit for them at windows and a little feast set out for them.
A time for remembrance of absent friends and relations, particularly those deceased.
In many Christian countries it is still the time when families make journeys of
considerable distance to lay flowers upon the graves of their loved ones. In the old
agricultural years it was the time when livestock was brought in from the fields, to be
stockaded or killed, an opportunity for feasting, similar to the Jewish passover, when
blood was marked on lintels as a protection for the coming year, or a small carcass
thrown over the roof. The modern celebration of Remembrance Day on November
11th takes the principle to a higher level.
The psychic side of the Tide is shown as the traditional time for trying to read the
future by various spells involving candle and mirror. Dressing up as ghosts with
illuminated hollow turnips and swedes is a lighter aspect of the forces to be reckoned
with. This marked the beginning of winter in the Celtic year, with Samhain under the
influence of the Cailleach, the Hag of Winter for after the plentiful autumn is foreseen
the coming of a barren time. It is the time of the death of the hero Cuchulain.
There is a Christian resonance with this on the 8th December with the Feast of the
Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary which also marks the coming of
Advent, which includes anticipation of the ending of the world as well as the coming
of the Messiah.
Winter and the Tide of Water -
midpoint Oimelc, Festival of Lights,
Candlemas
The Winter Solstice represents the
Midnight Sun and Solar Power
communicating with the human spirit
and its drawing in and concentration
into the heart of each individual, the
incarnation of the spirit, spiritual fire
coming down and making intimate
contact with the Earth.
The spiritual sub-plane of the Earth
Mother is contacted at the Winter
Solstice. This contact brings through
the highest levels from which the Earth
first drew her forces. They include the
Logoidal powers which operate at Christmas and the great Pan force which operates
at the Winter Solstice. The nativity of Mithra as well as of Jesus.
And with the passing of the Winter Solstice comes the great Cleansing or Water tide.
The contact of the Water tide acts upon the emotional body of each one of us. Its
action tends to eliminate all those things which prevent the intensity of the feelings,
for the action of water may bring about a much wider, broader, comprehensive range
of feeling, so that we may learn in time to feel with a blade of grass, with an angel, or
with any of God's creatures. Anything that comes between ourselves and the way of
personal destiny or service may be swept away by the Water Tide. And because it
brings about a gradual expansion of feeling, a broadening of the range of sympathy, it
has tended to become associated with emotional discomfort and pain, hence its former
alternative title of the Tide of Destruction. It is in fact more a spring cleaning of the
soul for the new life to come in at the Vernal Equinox, when a new cycle of life in the
initiate's year can be started.
The half point is Oimelc, loosening of
winter's grip, new lambs born, ewes in
milk, the Feast of Brigit or St. Bride. A
popular game played on a chequered
board saw an old witch armed with a
dragon and a lion doing battle with a
fair maiden armed with a lamb and a
hail storm, representatives of the
Cailleach or Hag of Winter and Brigit
the Spring Maiden, for which reason
she was later credited with being foster
mother of the Christ child. This time
also marks the feast of the Purification
of Blessed Virgin Mary or her
Presentation at the Temple, which took
the place of a very ancient Festival of Isis, when little boats bearing candles were set
forth upon the waters.
In the Christian year the close of this Tide coincides with the period of Lent, a time of
introspection, spiritual preparation, fasting and repentance. The element of renewal is
also marked by the Feast of St Matthias on 24th February, who was the disciple
elected to replace Judas amongst the twelve. All these teachings have application
within the human soul, within ourselves, and so at this time we look to abandon all in
which we have fallen short in the past and to take on the new as we seek to enter upon
another new year in the cycle of the Elemental Tides.
As one of the inner plane adepti responsible for this teaching recorded: "We who are
the Adepts of the Elements and know their actions and work with them, hope and
strive to bring you all to a greater realisation and awareness of the action of the forces.
So that by co-operating with them you can rejoice and be glad, even in the very midst
of conflict and pain. It is a very necessary part of the Aquarian plan. It is not enough
that you should accept the actions of the various phases, but you should be able to
accept them with gladness and not sorrow. There is a very great deal of difference
between acceptance with joy that comes of understanding and the ability to get behind
the action, and the one who accepts in ignorance and is swept along blindly by the
currents of the forces."


The Society of the Inner Light