The 16 Elements of Ecstasy

This system came to us by way of Mellissa Seaman, founder of the HeartWisdom Temple and our Temple Priestess lineage. It is, simply put, a way of working with energy. We take the symbolism of the four elements—Earth, Air, Water and Fire—and add in more layers of symbolism by dividing them into their light and dark aspects, and again into their masculine and feminine aspects:

Light and dark energy

In this practice, “light” is not equivalent to “good” and “dark” is not equivalent to “evil.” These energies are innately neutral, each has the potential to be good or bad. It all depends on your perspective. “Good” dark might be fertile soil, “bad” light might be televangelists … again, it all depends on your perspective!

An aspect of “dark” is what some call the “shadow side.” We all have a shadow side, parts of ourselves—physical, mental, emotional, etc.—we don’t like. To deny these things exist is denying part of ourselves, not considering the whole. We’re all human, ideally doing our best to be humane. Acknowledging these parts of ourselves, rather than stuffing them down or ignoring them, opens the door to becoming a better person.

Masculine and feminine energy

Distinguished from sex (our biology) or sexual orientation, “masculine” is not equivalent to man and “feminine” is not equivalent to woman, because each of us contain both masculine (giving) and feminine (receiving) energies, to varying degrees of balance.

For most women you could think of us as having an “outer female” and an “inner male,” whereas most men have an “outer male” and “inner female.” Like the Chinese Yin-Yang symbol, each contains a piece of the other, and together they create the infinite circle of life.

Putting it all together

I prefer not to illustrate more specific examples of the 16 Elements because ultimately I want everyone to discover and form their own relationships to them, their own associations, ideas and images, not filtered through my perspective! Many alternative spiritual paths are about having a direct connection to divinity, and I feel this is applicable across the board. The only way to learn about these things is to experience them for yourself.

I’d like to share with you my favorite way of working with these 16 Elements, and it involves dance, of course! It’s a practice by which we dance or move to music evocative of each of the elements, or “flavors” of energy, so that we might discover how we relate to each of them. It’s a practice aimed at gaining awareness around how we all relate to energy, move energy with our bodies, how we run energy, how we channel it.

The feminine way of experiencing energy is through our physical bodies, through embodiment (as opposed to the masculine way of up and out and becoming one with the universe). Many spiritual practices are geared toward the latter, so this is very different for most folks. The experience is different for everyone. And it’s different every time you do it!

Where does the ecstasy part come into it?

When we work with the 16 Elements and begin to understand how we embody them and how they work in our lives, we can begin to work on harmonizing and balancing them within us and around us. When we feel harmonized and balanced and connected to All That Is, that’s a pretty ecstatic state to be in! Ecstasy is our true nature … it’s how we’re supposed to feel all the time.

Tagged as: energy, light and dark energy, masculine and feminine energy, symbolism, The four elements