Five Elements
The Five Elements wall hangings are designed to flow together in harmony when placed in a grouping as shown, each plaque is itself a compelling work of art. They are made of cold cast bronze.
Water, Air, fire and Earth were identified by ancient peopes all over the world as the essential building blocks of physical existence.
Water – Healing. Peace. Love. Joy
Water is depicted here in a lively female form emerging from the primordial sea, toasting the moon with her goblet. She leaps joyfully in the waves of emotion beneath the creasent moon, a chalice of healing elixir clasped in her upraised hand. She flows gracefully from one current of feeling to another, at peace with her inner life.
Air – Change. Wisdom. Movement. Song.
Air is imagined as a winged male form, at one with the currents of the wind, cutting through the clouds like the sound of his pan pipes will cut through silence.
Fire – Creation. Challenge. Cleansing. Passion
Fire is pictured as a youthful male form rising from flames, empowered by the sun to transform and energize with his both of lightening. Fire dances passionately in the heat of the flame and the noon day sun. Grasping the lightening spark of creative inspiration, he is ready to overcome the cleansing challenge of loss that accompanies dramatic change.
Earth – Contentment. Nurturing. Family. Abundance.
Earth is potrayed in a pregnant female form, part of the rolling landscape, providing shelter and bringing forth vegetation. Earth luxuriates in the fulfillment of abundance, growth, and fertility. Content, she basks in the glow of moonlight, her loving family of human, animal, and plant life nestled in her nurturing embrace.
Spirit – All Life emerges from the Center
As in many traditions there is a fifth element: the Divine Origin, an intangible that defies depiction. Here it is central to the others; symbolized by a simple egg-shape, like the most ancient Hindu representation of the formless aspect of God, it spins forth, the four tangible elements we know so well. Spirit emerges from the swirling vortex of four elements; a seed, a Shiva lingam, an omphalos (ancient Greek sacred stone), a world, a galaxy, a soul, the divine. Life, death, rebirth, all life, all creation, all time are symbolized here.
(descriptions by Ann Zeleny)
