Hey Lucifall,
I've been writing and researching quite a lot about this topic, so I'm always interested to test the ideas.
The trouble you're having stems from the fact that the Golden Dawn (with limited sources) was pretty rocky when it came to astrological research. A lot of material wasn't available/popular in the esoteric circles of the late 19th century, and as Theosophy transformed astrology it lopped off great bleeding chunks of the underlying muscle of the Queen of the Sciences.
So whatever elemental associations the Golden Dawn halfheartely credited to the 7 planets are more vestigial than purposive in their system... they're holdovers from older books/astrologers who knew quite a bit more about the logic behind the attributions than the GD knew what to do with.
Your attributions were:
lucifall said:
Mercury Air
Luna Water
Venus Earth
Jupiter Water
Mars Fire
Sol Fire
Saturn Earth
The important thing to remember is that element is an expresion of the four conditions: Hot / Cold / Dry / Wet... Expressed as cominations in each element:
Fire = Hot and Dry (which as it mostens transitions to...)
Air = Hot and Wet (which cools to become...)
Water = Cold and Wet (which dries to become...)
Earth = Cold and Dry (which as it heats up becomes...)
Also, each quality was expressive of a mode of behavior... Heat is active; cold is passive. Wetness connects things and dryness divides things.
There's a cyclical balamnced quality to them, a blending. So it's not cookie cutter assignable though sunsign astrology would have it so. For best results, look to people who earned their livings predicting things.
Lilly, last and arguably greatest of the 17th century astrologers would have characterized the planets thus:
SATURN: Cold and Dry (being far removed from the heat of the Sun) and moyst Vapours, Melancholick, Earthly, Masculine, the greater Infortune... (But also note that he rules the Airy triplicity by Day)
JUPITER: Temperately Hot and Moyst, Aiery, Sanguine, the greater Fortune (But he rules the Fiery Triplicity by night)
MARS: in nature Hot and Dry, cholerick and fiery, the lesser Infortune (But he "governeth wholly the Watry Triplicity" day and night although there is a lot of debate about this)
SUN: naturally Hot, Dry, but more temperate then Mars (and rules the Fiery Triplicity by Day)
VENUS: Feminine Planet, temperately Cold and Moyst, Nocturnal, the lesser Fortune (but rules Earthly Triplicity by day... and later authors mark her sanguine/airy in humour)
MERCURY: We may not call him either Masculine or Feminine, for he is either the one or other as joyned to any Planet; for if in Conjunction with a Masculine Planet, he becomes Masculine; if with a Feminine, then Feminine, but of his own nature he is cold and dry, and therefore Melancholly; with the good he is good, with the evil Planets ill. (but he rules Aery triplicity by night)
MOON: Cold, Moyst and Flegmatique (but rules Earthly Triplicity by night)
Your list is close to the old model for about half of them... For classical astrology (which is the astrology the Golden Dawn was trying to use), Jupiter is Airy, Mercury is Earthy (with some wateriness), and Venus is either Airy or Watery (depending on the millenium), but definitely wet.
And of course, there is dissension over the 1000s of years that Astrology evolved. Fundamental character of the planets seems to have boiled down to the following...
SATURN: Cold/dry ( but mostly COLD, because he ends things... so not just earth but the chilly side of it because he's far from the Sun)
JUPITER: Hot/Wet (but mostly HOT, so this is the active part of air)
MARS: Hot/Dry (but mostly DRY, because Mars divides things)
SUN: Hot/Dry (but mostly HOT, because he is the active invigorating part of fire)
VENUS: Hot/Wet for later astrologers or in Renaissance: moderately Cold/Wet (but in either case mostly WET, because she connects things)
MERCURY: he is Watery… but considered Cold/Dry?! (and NO dominant characteristic: he's a total chameleon)
MOON: Cold/Wet (but mostly COLD because she's passive)
So it's not just that each planet has an elemental characteristic, but rather that they fall along a spectrum of qualities which they share with elements. But then again, they have their own natures AND they rule over certain domains which in turn have THEIR own characteristics (the triplicities, signs, etc).
The planets are more like characters with foibles than pegs for slots. Trying to boil the planet down simply and directly to a single element doesn't actually depict the planet or the element with any degree of clarity or coherence. (which is why Fire works for both Sun and Mars but is Hot in the 1st and dry in the 2nd). The ways in which those elemental characteristics of the 7 wanderers works inside the decans is even more complicated for just those reasons... because blend of qualities becomes exponentially complex.
In any case, I hope you'll find some of this helpful in navigating.
Scion
