21-016
Plato and Aristotle were amongst those in the the ancient Greek world who believed in the concept of basic elements. The 4 basic elements in Western alchemy are fire, earth, air and water by which nature is defined. The transformation between these elements is natural.
In Plato’s ”Timaeus”, the author understands nature in terms of the four elements. Fire, earth, air and water are linked to both the universe and the human body, and these four elements comprise nature and man.
Aristotle uses the example of a burning tree to illustrate the transition from one state (element) to another... When wood burns, the fire appears and the air disappears as smoke, and the water also disappears from the burning tree until only earth, in the form of ash, remains.
The alchemistic symbols for the four elements are variations of triangular shapes.
21-016
Plato and Aristotle were amongst those in the the ancient Greek world who believed in the concept of basic elements. The 4 basic elements in Western alchemy are fire, earth, air and water by which nature is defined. The transformation between these elements is natural.
In Plato’s ”Timaeus”, the author understands nature in terms of the four elements. Fire, earth, air and water are linked to both the universe and the human body, and these four elements comprise nature and man.
Aristotle uses the example of a burning tree to illustrate the transition from one state (element) to another... When wood burns, the fire appears and the air disappears as smoke, and the water also disappears from the burning tree until only earth, in the form of ash, remains.
The alchemistic symbols for the four elements are variations of triangular shapes.