Can be found in the house (or right by one, at least) of a practitioner. The moon and the sun kami balance each other out fire and water earth and netherworld (place of living vs. All of the kami has an opposite that balances it out. They balance each other out, as their children do with one another. The former is the passive (yin) essence and the latter is the active (yang) essence. Izanami is a female kami whereas Izanagi is male. They are also the parents of multiple kami (who rule over those aspects listed below). Izanami and Izanagi are the two most famous kami because they are seen as the creators of the Earth. They do not exist outside of it as some deities do. They can influence the course of natural forces and human events, either to answer the prayer or because the kami wishes to do so. –Essences (or spirits) that exist in and influence the world around us. Shintoism simply focuses on discovering ways of communicating with kami.īecause the focus of Shintoism is on the ritual of offering to the kami and communicating with it, the people who practice is (mainly the Japanese) view Shintoism as a part of their culture and way of life more than as a religion. It also does not try to explain how the world works. It is thus not concerned with instructing one on how to live in the world. Nor does it provide a moral code as most other religions do. Kami can be elements of the landscapes or forces of nature (sometimes these forces are personified as they were in Ancient Greece and Rome, but the personifications are not seen as deities). The different elemental properties have been associated with behavioral attributes and personalities of individuals persons born under a particular zodiac are believed to have characteristics similar to that of the elements governing the sign.Shintoism is based on a belief in, and worship of, kami. The four elements are believed to rule the 12 zodiac signs.
Both of these elements have a masculine archetype and symbolize the thinking function, the active state and the Yang attributes. On the other hand, the Air is above the Water & Earth and has a natural upward movement, while the fiery Sun, stars, and heavens are above even the Air. These two elements are related to the symbolism of the Mother Earth. Therefore, they came to represent the feminine archetype, the intuitive function, the passive state and the Chinese Yin attributes.
The Earth and the Water are the heavier elements and have a downwards direction. The symbolic representation of Fire is a triangle pointing upwards.Įarth Element Pendant The Masculine and Feminine symbolism of the Four Elements It is associated with the Summer season and its corresponding direction is South. The element symbolizes incredible energy, activity, creativity, passion, freedom, power, love, vision, anger, strength, will, assertiveness, courage, and dynamism. In the spiritual plane, Fire stands for Light and in the physical plane, it is the Sun or Flame. It can give warmth and enable life, and it can also burn and destroy. Fire is attributed to transformational and purifying powers. This element is considered to be the first element that was born when the universe was created. Furthermore, these four elements combined to create life, but only together with the quintessential fifth element, the life force, the ‘aether’, ‘spirit’ or ‘prana’.Īlmost all cultures across the World accorded great importance to the 4 elements and the elements came to acquire powerful symbolism. A combination of hot and dry produced Fire, hot and wet resulted in Air, cold and dry gave Earth, and cold and wet combined to produce Water. Maintaining a balance between these elements was advocated to ensure physical as well as psychological well-being.Įverything in the physical World was observed to have a combination of four principal qualities – hot, cold, dry and moist. Therefore, the human beings were seen to be made of and governed by the four elements. All of these elements are integral parts of matter or the physical universe, and the human body is a physical creation existing in the material realm. These were considered the critical energy forces that sustained life.
The ancients believed the World to be composed of 4 basic elements – Fire, Water, Air, and Earth.
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