The Qabalistic Cross

Even Mad Aleister pointed out that directions alter every few minutes owing to the earths and the galactic rotation. Quibbbles over which quarter to ascribe the elements to are arbitrary nonsuch. I invoked water in the east in Chicago, where the lake is; water in the west in Albuquerque,where the river is west; etcetera ad nauseum.Spirits only live in those quarters because we tell them to. Never thirst Soror Ad Astra per Aspera aka Molly the whore of babylon'

] Even Mad Aleister pointed out that directions alter every few minutes ] owing to the earths and the galactic rotation. Quibbbles over which ] quarter to ascribe the elements to are arbitrary nonsuch. I invoked water ] in the east in Chicago, where the lake is; water in the west in ] Albuquerque,where the river is west; etcetera ad nauseum.Spirits only live ] in those quarters because we tell them to. ] Never thirst ] Soror Ad Astra per Aspera ] aka Molly the whore of babylon'

Greetings Molly,

Welcome to alt.occult.kabbalah.golden-dawn.

I agree that directions should be treated with caution but I don't know if I would discard them altogether. It is my view that they are principally symbolic. When using the elements, the directions (South for Fire etc) are taken from the natures of the winds coming from the quarters. However. I have also used the same attributions when in the Southern hemisphere (where fire ought on this basis to reside in the North) without any perceptible difference. So the directions appear to be relative to the initiate and not dependant upon any external factor other than the symbolism. When using the zodiac, East is the home of Fire because the sign Aries is traditionally shown at the Eastern horizon on a zodiacal chart. Again it is symbolic because as you rightly say, the position of any point on the Earth relative to the heavens is constantly changing. In the Temple, the East if the position of the Dais because that is symbolically the place of the dawning sun (light), however if it is not possible to align a Temple West to east, there is an invocation which is traditionally done as a part of the opening of the Temple which bestows the attributes of the East upon whichever quarter the Dais is facing.

Since the directions are largely symbolic, one might fairly ask why observe them at all? Well, it is a widely held belief that certain traditions in Magic develop a power of their own from repeated or customary use. This is the reason why I would always stay with the traditional attributes.