05/11/2022
Guardians of the Watchtowers
✧༺⛤༻∞⛤∞༺⛤༻✧༺⛤༻∞⛤∞༺⛤༻✧
Before I begin talking about the guardians of the watchtowers in depth, I want to specify some definitions that some people get confused with.
Elements - the actual, tangible elements of earth, air, fire, and water
Elementals - lower-level beings such as undines, sylphs, gnomes, and salamanders that reside on the elemental plane and are rules over by the guardians.
Guardians of the Watchtowers - higher-level beings who rule over the elemental plane.
Quarters - the four cardinal directions, often marked at the edge of a circle by candles or a representation of the corresponding element. Each quarter corresponds with an element.
Air - in the east quarter
Fire - in the south quarter
Water - in the west quarter
Earth - in the north quarter
✧༺⛤༻∞⛤∞༺⛤༻✧
Who Are the Guardians?
✧༺⛤༻∞⛤∞༺⛤༻✧
The guardians of the watchtowers are the guardians and rulers of the elemental plane. Each guardian rules over a watchtower that corresponds with one of the four cardinal directions. Those cardinal directions also correspond with specific elements. During a circle, the witch calls in the guardians, creating portals to their realms at each of the four quarters.
Because the guardians rule over the elemental plane and rule over specific elements, they control the flow of elemental energy within a circle. Calling them in a circle opens a portal to their realm, allowing them to pull energy from the elemental realm into the circle and maintain the flow properly. They also protect the circle, reinforcing its borders and keeping it anchored.
Some traditions view the guardians as archangels. In some ceremonial magick traditions, they are used in extensive and elaborate rituals, evoked to lend immense power and knowledge. Other ceremonial magicians view the archangels and the guardians as two completely separate beings. In other traditions, they are advanced beings who come from other realms or other planets that have evolved beyond the need for a physical form. Some even believe they are souls that have become enlightened after several incarnations and have chosen to guide and guard others instead of joining the Divine source.
[C]✧༺⛤༻∞⛤∞༺⛤༻✧
History
✧༺⛤༻∞⛤∞༺⛤༻✧
In the 16th century, John Dee and Edward Kelly discovered the Enochian magick system by receiving communication from an angel while scrying. Angels, particularly the four archangels Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael, were considered guardians of the four quarters of the "terrestrial sphere," or the earth. Enochian magick works with grids drawn on the tops of tables, and the tables were divided into four quadrants, corresponding with the four quarters. Enochian magicians used these tablets to call upon, invoke, or evoke angels for their aid and protection.
The four guardians of the Watchtowers became what we now know them as in the 19th century through the work of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, primarily through the work of S.L. MacGregor Mathers. Mathers took Dee's work and expanded upon it, adding in the associations of the four directions with the four elements, which was not a part of the original Enochian system. The Golden Dawn also added the guardians of the Watchtowers to circle casting rituals, similar to what is used in Wicca. The Golden Dawn system still used the elaborate tablet systems used in Enochian magick and believed the guardians to be angels.
Gerald Gardner brought the Golden Dawn's system into Wicca, but simplified much of it. He discarded the elaborate tables and grids of Enochian origin, as well as the Enochian names which had basis in Judeo-Christian beliefs. In Wicca, the guardians are not generally believed to be angels, but instead spirits. However, I'm not sure whether that was a change Gardner himself made, or something that changed over time to separate Wicca from the Judeo-Christian elements of 19th century ceremonial magick.
