Fine Tuning the Planetary Energies through the Elements

I went to the beach with fellow Sorcerer, Ngakpa, and Artist Matt Brownlee to do some meditation and body surfing, so I dont have time for a lengthy post today.

I did however want to share a quick piece of tech that I have been using for years, but which seems to be a new approach to some. Filtering the planetary energies through a specific element.

This came up on the inominandum.com forums because someone had pointed out that Venus might not be the best planet to use for lust, and mercury might have some trickster elements that take hold if you do not define your strategy well enough.

While I agree with Jow that Mars is an excellent planet for men to use for lust - especially when doing inner enchantment on the self - I have used Venus for lust many times, and usually look to the "Fire of Venus".

Common Hermetic Cosmology has the elements as being in the terrestrial realm, lower than the planets which are beyond them.

The way I deal with the elements is a bit different. I see the elements as the higher, more pervasive, and more subtle breakdown than the planets and see all things at every level but the Causal and Perfection level as consisting of the elements. Either view works though, whether you run the planetary energies through the terrestial filter of  the elements or see the planetary forces as having elemental qualities that can be broken down inherently, using the elements is a great way to fine tune the planetary energies.

In the case of needing Venus for Lust, I would invoke the Fire of Venus. On the material level you can do this by building a temple and evocation that aknowleges this for instance, calling upon the Intelligence of Venus to bestow the blessing of Venus as it manifests through the element of Fire. On the energetic level - which is how I mainly work this kind of thing, you would pore breathe fire and attune yourself to that element and than pull in the Chi fromVenus through the gates of the body focusing using the pore breated fire to isolate the fire element within Venus that would be useful for lust. From there, there are a hundred different ways that you could use it.

Any combination has its uses:
Air of Venus can be used as a way to enchant on the intellectual level
Water of Venus could be used as a way to appeal to the emotions and wisdom level
Earth of Venus is a way to ground down flightly feelings and get to the bottom of a relationship dynamic.

What element/planet combos would be useful to you right now?