Howdy. I'm a newer member of this group and I wanted to open up a discussion on the...occult!

Now, I have recently wrote this fic, that contains a sort of over analysis of the EoH and draws parallels between them and actual real world mystical and magical models. All this can be found in my fic "Occultis Modis Harmoniae" however this is not about self promotion.

This is about magic.

I will attempt to break down and condense my head cannon on the elements the best I can, and then I want your feedback, whether it be negative, positive, or skeptical. If you have your own distinctly different theory on how the elements work, I would LOVE to hear it.

Piecing it Together:

Now we know the Elements of Harmony and most of us probably have it in our head cannon that they are distinct from the Regalia of Harmony. The Elements themselves, in this theory, are defined as the collective unconscious idea of harmony, expressed and made manifest through the Thaumic Field.

Now in the occult there is a common theme of the existence of a magical force. You got everything from "The Force", the Aether, and really esoteric stuff like The Akashic Records. So really, this is nothing new. Probably part of your head cannon already.

But there was something that called out to me when I was first introduced to the EoH. I get why Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, and Kindness are common elements. They're all virtues. Magic and Laughter however stood out. On the surface, there isn't anything virtuous about Magic and Laughter, technically speaking. We have four elements that are without a doubt virtues, but two that are in separate categories. I felt that there was something significant about that.

The more I thought about it the more sense it started to make though. I had to wonder if Lauren Faust ever read Peter J Carroll's books on chaos magic theory: Liber Null and Liber Kaos

Laughter is a fun tool in chaos magic!

Oh my stars and garters I could go on and on about it, but I'll just quote what I already wrote.

To paraphrase Corral, what makes a joke funny, is when it either shatters your expectations, or forges a new connection between two ideas, like in a pun. Laughter is the release of the conceptualization of new ideas, and deconceptualization of old ones.

Direct quote from Peter J Carroll (or Pleven J. Corral, as I ponified him):

The ecstatic laughter of divine madness is the sweeping up of every perception into a vortex of surprise at its very existence. Everything is suddenly and amazingly not as it was. Yet simultaneously it seems more exactly as it was than before!? Conceptualization and deconceptualization occur simultaneously. Language descends inevitably to the paradoxical as one is swept up into the ecstacy.

Ecstacy, as in a form of Gnosis, which in chaos magic is a mystical state.

Thus Laughter and Magic came to be understood in my mind as an alignment of sorts. Out of the other four I created two other alignments.

Honesty + Loyalty = Honor
Kindness + Generosity = Compassion

It makes sense doesn't it?

Laughter + Magic = Wonder

Now I carried this in my head for a long time without going anywhere with it. I wasn't even writing fanfiction at the time, though I played with the idea and how to incorporate it into a fic for a long time. Eventually, when I did start writing, I wanted to do an essay based on this and I started re-examine my model and draw parallels.

The first parallel that came to mind was the Kabbalah's Tree of Life.

The Tree has three branches. As it turns out, the left one is associated with love, expansion, mercy, and that sort of thing. The right has to deal with strength, rigidity, etc, etc. Basic duality sort of thing, yin yang, male and female.

Honor and Compassion fit right in. Masculine virtue complementing Feminine virtues.

Which left the middle branch that combines both. Wonder fits in right with it and if you follow that branch to the near top, you'll find yourself in an empty space, right below Kether, the top sephirot. There is a hidden sephirot here called Da'at.

Now as it turns out, Da'at is hidden! Ring any bells?

The Element of Freaking Magic

I'm not the only one who has made this association, either.
http://mlpforums.com/topic/45643-symbolism-in-mlpfim-and-hidden-knowledge/

SasQ's thread is amazing! He figured it out just by looking at the stained glass window, but It took me nearly a year of watching the show before it finally clicked. I had to know if anyone else made the connection and google led me right to him. Read that thread!...after you read mine. Or before! It doesn't really matter.

So I started to form a magical model in my own head. The Four Core Elements, the virtues, complement each other, and since they are ideas expressed in the thaumic field, they are subject to the flow of conceptualization and conceptualization that all ideas are prone to. This is what creates the Element of Laughter! It's in a sense the Laughter of the Four Core, themselves, and since the Elements are such positive things, especially in concord with each other, Laughter, though not a virtue in of itself, behaves as a virtue. Specifically the virtue of optimism. This in turn enriches the Elements.

Another quote from Occultus:

The Element of Magic doesn’t ‘power up’ the elements. It does what it does, through lack of power. The Elements unify within me, creating the real power of Magic. The Laughter of the Elements acts as a catalyst, releasing the powers of Harmony through my Element.

Da'at is not a 'true' sephirot, it's often considered a psudo-sephirot, where the others unify together. The Kabbalah is a complex mysticism, but this much of it I understand. It echos Daoist sympathies that the things that lack substance are, paradoxically, the most powerful of all. The empty space of a open doorway is what makes it useful.

I started thinking more on the Four Core in of themselves and I made a parallel.

No. I did not just slap four of the EoH over the classical four elements on a whim. There is a reason for it.

The four classical elements each have two of four different values. Hot, Cold, Dry, Wet.

Basic occult textbook knowledge.....:( I may be the only one in this small town who says things like that.)

But the Four Core can also be attributed two of four different values: Compassion, Honor, Active, Passive. The values synchronize with each other quite nicely.

Hononsty and Kindess are passives and the other two are actives. These values aren't arbitrary or contrived to make them fit into the Classical Model either, they make a fair amount of sense.

One can be passively honest about anything, but Loyalty must actively prove and reaffirm itself.

Kindness is empathy. Generosity is empathy in action. Passive, Active.

Bam. Synchronization.

Honor, Passive = Honesty/Earth = Dry, Cold

Honor, Active = Loyalty/Fire = Dry, Hot

Compassion, Passive = Kindness/Water = Wet, Cold

Compassion, Active = Generosity/Wind = Wet, Hot

This was nice and all, but what happens if you add the fifth? I started to look eastward and I tried to draw a parallel with the Wu Xing, or Chinese elements, but it didn't make sense, considering the dynamic those five have within their occult model.

But then I remembered the Japanese Godai, and after thinking about the order, something made sense.

Order of the Godai, bottom to top: Earth,Water,Wind,Fire,Sky

Applied to the Elements with their attributes corresponding to the classical four: Honesty, Kindness, Generosity, Loyalty...and the only thing to end it with is Laughter.

Now...I know that on a purely scientific level this is all bullshit and Author Clark's famous quote, that I won't repeat, is often over used, even abused. However, I'm heavily influenced by chaos magician philosophy so my beliefs are rather adjustable, at least in short spurts, so this is...this is...

Ooh...

Look at the graph! Note the alternation of attributes. The word that comes to mind is Alternating Current, however I'm not sure about the usage of that word in my fic and may have to change it. My specialty isn't in electrical physics.

In any case, could this be the way the Elements most efficiently power up, before Laughter catalyzes the rainbow explosion of Magic!?

In my head it is.

That's how the Elements work to me.

Questions, critical thoughts, analysis?

3162384
This is pretty interesting, and seems well reasoned. Unfortunately, you really couldn't have chosen a worse time or place. I'm sorry to say that this group is mostly inactive, and the hour of posting didn't help. Not to mention that whole "no group notifications" thing.

3162470

well...*looks down at feet*

damn.

Hrm...any active groups i could post this too?

3162473
I don't think there are any groups about magic discussion in particular. Maybe someone should make one?

Anyway, I'd say your best bets are probably the Perpetual Discussion Group and the Headcanon Discussion Group

3162486

hrmm...make a group? I dunno. i'll look at the other two though. Thnx!

Read my fic if you get a chance, btw

3162490
I'll give it a looksee.

Perpetual Discussion Group's not much more active. Have to say, the 'no groups notification' thing really did a number on the smaller, more specialized groups.

Wow. The post was really amazing. I can't pretend to understand a lot of it, though (and this is somebody who's dabbled slightly in the Chinese occult, geomancy and all that)

3162473
You could make a blog about it and submit it to the FIMfiction editorial.

Also Writer's Group would support this, I think.

3162570
3162510
3162486

Posted in the Writer's Group. Might make a blog, later.

3163614

and to the Head Cannon Discussion group...i don't know if that against the rules though, so I'm having second thoughts.

3163642

I think that I'll delete those threads and just keep the information on my blog and submit to fimfiction editorial instead.