Elements and Pentagram
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The elements are arranged so that the pentagrammaton Yod Heh Shin Vav Heh is spelled around the perimeter. These are arranged so that Spirit (Shin) is the top point, and the others fall as they will.
This is employed in numerous things. One early example is in the writings of John Dee - the final versions of the Enochian tablets have the four elements distributed exactly as on the pentagram (that is, spelling YHVH from lower right and going counter-clockwise).
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These are also the positions of the "fixed" or "cherubic" signs Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius, and Taurus, as a horoscope is normally drawn.
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@Acronus said
"Jim Eshelman, thanks a lot. Pentagrammaton! Of course, it's quite obvious.
@Jim Eshelman said
"These are arranged so that Spirit (Shin) is the top point, and the others fall as they will."
Well, generally speaking we can start from lower left and going clockwise. So we get the pentagrammaton YHShVH with Shin in the top point also. What are the advantages of the counter-clockwise scheme in comparison with clockwise?"
Not sure. It's been the pattern for half a millennium that I can document, and so is deeply ingrained in the fabric of the astral.
Though one might think that the origin is the astrological pattern mentioned above, that is too recent a development. It made a great arguement in the late 19th Century in Golden Dawn papers, but even 50 years earlier would not have been recognized, because the ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman pattern of showing the zodiacal signs with Libra rising had persisted through the Middle Ages and still appeared in major astrological references of the early 19th Century.