Earth Magic
By Arysthae-niru
Over the many years of magic, the stories of elementals are whispered through history. Special witches and wizards who had an affinity for a particular type of magic. The Founders were cited to be elementals. Godric Gryffindor as a Fire Elemental, Salazar Slytherin an Air Elemental, Rowena Ravenclaw, a water elemental and Helga Hufflepuff, an Earth Elemental. But my focus is upon Earthen Elementals and the effect their natural magic has had upon society.
It is said that Helga Hufflepuff created Hogwarts' structure alone by Earth Magic and the others enchanted the building later. Hogwarts has residual magical traces that were diagnosed by the late Albus Dumbledore to be created from raw magic rather than spells or incantations. Hogwarts has affected the lives of many people, become second homes to those whom society has no other place for. Without Helga's Earth magic, well, who knows where we would be? Harry Potter himself said that Hogwarts was his home and if Hogwarts hadn't existed, he would have continued as a Muggle forever and he wouldn't have saved the magical world from Voldemort's evil reign. However, if Hogwarts hadn't existed, Voldemort would have never harnessed his power in the ways that he did. Professor Minerva McGonagall has repeatedly said that he was a disturbed individual, even as a child, but magic and the power magic gave him may have led to the eventual wars. If Hogwarts hadn't existed, maybe Lord Voldemort would never have been created.
There have also been claims from editor of the Quibbler, Xenophilius Lovegood, that the Ancient city of Rome was created by a strong ritual between the two brother's Remus and Romulus, which required a blood sacrifice of Remus's life. The source of this claim gave researchers pause but the Department of Mysteries has recently looked into this claim and has proved it to be true. There are deep traces of the 'Gaian Ritual', a dark ritual involving a virgin's life, an earth elemental, four blood-stained swords and Re'em blood. However, the Unspeakables also noted that the incantation went wrong because the swords were all stained by Remus's blood, and the Re'em blood was corrupted with lemon juice, meaning that the city was built by Earth magic but doomed to fall in blood and carnage, as it did, eventually.
An instance of natural Earth magic that can be proved and is ongoing is the gradual uplifting of the Netherlands by Dutch wizards working behind the scenes. The Earth magic is gradual and is almost un-noticeable by Muggles. They believe the gradual declining sea level is because of their storm and water defences, but really a team of Dutch Earth Elementals are using constant earth magic to lift the earth up by millimetres per year without too much damage to the cities. This is enabled by the magical increase of magma underneath the tectonic plates, increasing the land stature above the sea. This is a positive use of Earth Magic and one that could be more effective if the Statute of Secrecy wasn't in place. The Dutch magicians say that their next project will be Bangladesh when the Netherlands is suitably protected.
Overall, I think that Earth magic is a positive magic that has generally been used for good. However, the negative uses of its power cannot be denied. Earthen Magic has definitely made an impact in history!