A Wiccan Bible - Exploring the Mysteries of the Craft from Birth to Summerland

Liber ab Quattuor (Book of Four)^85

Norse Four Directions—North Europe

Direction Realm/World Element

East Jotunheimr Air

South Muspellsheimr Fire

West Vanaheimr Water

North Niflheimr Ice

Svetovit—Male—Central/North Europe

Slavic god of the four directions. He is depicted as having four separate heads, one

facing each direction and each associated with the four Elements: Air, Fire, Earth, and

Water.

Now we leap ahead in time to the modern Wiccan movement in North America.

Although this is indeed a tremendous leap forward, we see that a standardized view of

the four directions and their association with the Elements has occurred. Today, they

are generally seen as:

Direction Element

East Air

South Fire

West Water

North Earth

Note that while this is how I associate the Four Quarters with the four Elements,

this chart does not reflect how all Wiccans draw the association. Yes, this set of associa-

tions is the most often cited, but there are exceptions, and those exceptions are not

wrong by any stretch of the imagination. As Wicca developed, it looked desperately for

evidence of surviving tribal tradition, practices that were not entirely stamped out by

the destruction of written and oral traditions by the burning of libraries and lives. In

that search, the Wiccans of North America looked to the indigenous people of North

America. There, too, they found cultures that were virtually destroyed, but cultures

and traditions whose last gasps were still audible. One of the many things they discov-

ered was the principle of the four directions and guardians of those directions.

Native American Quarter Associations—North America

It is important to note that the directional associations change with the part of North

America and individual tribe being cited. I believe the following list, which seems to be

most prevalent in Wicca, is a combination of the similar attributes of the Sioux and

Cheyenne with reported influence from Celtic sources. This list varies from tradition

to tradition. The most often seen difference is that Raven is substituted for Elk.

k WB Chap 04.p65 85 7/11/2003, 5:50 PM