The concept of “Rotation of the Elements” was important to ancient natural philosophy and to pre-scientific alchemical studies. The four classical elements (Fire, Air, Water, and Earth) were thought to be impossible to be mixed together at once, because some were direct opposites of each other (like Fire and Water, or even Air and Earth). It was proposed that they must first be combined into two pairs of more compatible opposites before they can be merged into a final, unified four-fold state.
By Aristotle’s philosophy, the four classical elements each had two of the four qualities of Hot, Dry, Cold, and Wet, as follows: Fire was Dry and Hot, Air was Hot and Wet, Water was Wet and Cold, and Earth was Cold and Dry. Thus Air and Fire could be combined into something Hot (or even Hotness), Fire and Earth could be combined into something Dry, Earth and Water could be combined into something Cold, and Water and Air could be combined into something Wet.
The pairs chosen most often to combine were Fire with Air and Water with Earth (as Hot and Cold were considered active principles.) Combining Fire with Earth and Water with Air were not as important (as Dry and Wet were considered passive principles.) (Or, as another theory went, Cold was passive, and so where did that leave Dry and Wet? Ahh, Metaphysics!) Once pairs were combined properly, then those pairs could be combined further in some fashion.
As I have shown in the diagram above, adjacent pairs of elements have the four qualities (Hot, Dry, Cold, and Wet) in common, and so one can see a rotation of sorts in the combining schema. However this alchemical plan was hypothesized, this further combining was called the Great Conjunction or the Chemical Wedding and led to a form called variously the Quintessence (Quinta Essentia), the Rebis, the Philosopher’s Stone, or Magnum Opus.
Fortunately, all this fiddling of matter eventually led to individuals who began to understand what proper scientific chemical investigation should be. Much later, these alchemical themes were used in psychology by Karl Jung and others as a metaphor of an individual’s growth and harmony. Even today, many find these ancient concepts worth their time to understand and explore; for example, I have several posts that borrow and utilize these themes.
As a bonus, here are two other diagrams to consider:
Further Reading:
https://ann.skea.com/PQChaper8.html
https://digitaljung.substack.com/p/the-stages-of-the-alchemical-opus
https://equivalentexchange.blog/category/alchemy/
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