Common Errors in the Elemental Implements

A variety of popular books, and the advent of the internet, have created and perpetuated a number of errors in the Elemental Implements, which are being unwittingly copied and promulgated by a new generation of occult students.

Firstly, Robert Wang's The Secret Temple gave the wrong Divine Names for the Elemental Implements, adopting the Sephirothic names instead of the Elemental ones (that we see in the Supreme Ritual of the Pentagram). His errors were duplicated and popularised by Donald Michael Kraig's Modern Magick.

Wang and Kraig give the following:

Fire Wand: YHVH Tzabaoth

Water Cup: Elohim Tzabaoth

Air Dagger: Shaddai El Chai

Earth Pantacle: Adonai ha-Aretz

The correct names are:

Fire Wand: Elohim

Water Cup: El

Air Dagger: YHVH

Earth Pantacle: Adonai

Further, most depictions of the Earth Pantacle are missing a name: Aphar (עפר). This is another name for earth, often translated as "dry earth" or "dust". It goes between Tzaphon and Aretz.

Another common error is the spelling of Madim, the Hebrew name for Mars, which is employed with the Magical Sword. The spelling is often given as מדים, but it should actually be spelled מאדים (with an Aleph). I was informed of this error by a native Hebrew speaker, and I initially thought it was a mistake made by the original Order (as some papers have the missing Aleph), until I found instances in original papers where it was, in fact, spelled correctly.

This error also changes the shape of the sigil drawn from the Rose, and thus is quite significant.

The above is confirmed by numerous extant copies of Ritual G, the expanded consecration instructions by Westcott, notes made by original Order members (George Pollexfen, Yeats' uncle, made lists of all the appropriate names in English and Hebrew, with their sigil from the Rose), and surviving implements (such as Yeats' and Ayton's Earth Pantacles).

Of course, it is important to consider that errors can and will happen. Making mistakes is not necessarily the issue (none of us are perfect). Ignoring or continuing to make those mistakes is a different matter entirely, and I hope the above helps some students avoid these common errors.