The Five Elements in Western Occult Use

The five tattvas used in Western occult practice, prithvi (earth), apas (water), tejas (fire), vayu (air) and akasha (spirit or ether), are each given a coloured geometric symbol: a yellow square, a silver crescent, a red triangle, a blue circle and a black or indigo egg. These symbols are used for scrying and meditation, the practitioner gazing at or visualising a tattva to enter the corresponding state or realm.

The five-fold scheme and the coloured symbols entered Western magic through the Theosophical Society and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in the late nineteenth century, drawing on Indian sources.