Classical element

The classical elements are the basic substances (Greek: στοιχεῖον stoicheion), which - according to the occult tradition - were thought to build up the physical world. Most common in ancient cultures were the four elements fire, air, water and earth. Later they were supplemented by a fifth element, from which the classical four elements were said to have emerged. Aristotle thereby derived the existence of the four elements from four basic properties (dry, moist, warm and cold), with the changes of which the elements also change into each other. The aether (from Greek: αιτηρ aither) or ether as the fifth essence, the so-called quintessence (from Latin: quinta essentia) permeates the four elements as an unchanging and eternal essence, of which the heavenly spheres are also made. According to the Indian Vaisheshika, the ether corresponds to akasha.