Theos-Talk Archives (December 2001 Message tt00551)

Sunday, December 30, 2001

Dear Friends


As some inquiries came in recently in regard to the ELEMENTAL
beings in Nature I thought this might be of general interest.

Best wishes,

Dallas

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E L E M E N T A L S
a n d
E L E M E N T A R I E S

===ooOOoo===


ELEMENTALS. Spirits of the Elements. The creatures
evolved in the four Kingdoms or Elements--earth, air, fire, and
water. They are called by the Kabalists. Gnomes (of the earth),
Sylphs (of the air), Salamanders (of the fire), and the Undines
(of the water). Except a few of the higher kind and their
rulers, they are rather forces of nature than ethereal men and
women. These forces, as the servile agents of the Occultists,
may produce various effects; but if employed by "Elementaries"
(see below)--in which case they enslave the mediums--they will
deceive the credulous. All the lower invisible beings generated
on the 5th, 6th, and 7th planes of our terrestrial atmosphere,
are called Elementals: Peris, Devs, Djins, Sylvans, Satyrs,
Fauns, Elves, Dwarfs, Trolls, Kobolds, Brownies, Nixies, Goblins,
Pinkies, Banshees, Moss People, White Ladies, Spooks, Fairies,
etc., etc.
THEOS. GLOSS. 111-12


ELEMENTARIES. Properly the disembodied souls of the
depraved; these souls having at some time prior to death
separated from themselves their divine spirits, and so lost their
chance for immortality; but at the present stage of learning it
has been thought best to apply the term to the spooks or phantoms
of disembodied persons, in general, to those whose temporary
habitation is the Kama Loka. Eliphas Levi and some other
Kabalists make little distinction between elementary spirits who
have been men, and those beings which people the elements, and
are the blind forces of nature. Once divorced from their higher
triads [Atma-Buddhi-Manas] and their bodies, those souls remain
in their Kama-rupic envelopes, and are irresistibly drawn to the
earth amid elements congenial to their gross natures. Their stay
in the Kama Loka varies as to its duration; but ends invariably
in disintegration, dissolving like a column of mist, atom by
atom, in the surrounding elements. THEOS. GLOSS
112


==================================

Some Comments;


The seven-fold range of evolutionary stages may be
visualized; to commence with as H.P.B. presents them in THE
SECRET DOCTRINE.



"...Atma...identical with the universal Spirit, and man
being one with it in his essence, what is then the Monad proper?
It is that homogeneous spark which radiates in millions of rays
from the primeval "Seven;"...the EMANATING spark from the
UNCREATED Ray...Such is the upperward gradation among entities.
Gods, Men, Gandharvas, Pisachas, Asuras, Rakshasas,, all have
been created by Svabhavat (Prakriti, or plastic nature)...not by
any physical cause." SD I 571



"This "central sun" of the Occultists...is simply the
center of Universal life-Electricity...the one attracting, as
also the ever-emitting, life Center." SD II
240


"...the Central Spiritual Sun and...the polar
Sun...radiate on man his Atma...the equatorial Sun cement the
Buddhi to Atman and the higher attributes of Manas [and]...the
spirit of our visible sun endows him with his Manas and its
vehicle--the Kama-rupa, or body of passions and desires, the two
elements of Ahankara which evolve individualized
consciousness--the personal ego. Finally, it is the spirit of
the Earth in it triple unity that builds the physical body,
attracting to it the Spirits of Life and forming the Linga Sarira
[Astral Model Body]." SD II 241


"Who forms the Manu (the Man) and who forms his body ?
The Life and the Lives...Here Manu stands for the spiritual,
heavenly man, the real and non-dying Ego in us, which is the
direct emanation from the "One Life" or the Absolute Deity...As
to our outward physical bodies, the house of the tabernacle of
the Soul...every atom of even mineral dust is a Life, though
beyond our comprehension and perception, because it is outside
the range of the laws known to those who reject Occultism."
SD I 248-249

[Creators and destroyers in Nature at the level of the
Lives: examples SD I 33, 199, 248-250, 261-3 ]

The elementals are called the "nerves of nature," and
they function, exist and work in the electro-magnetic,
super-sensuous material called the "Astral Light." It has a
seven-fold division, and, in this area they are assigned their
work. Their being invisible to our gross physical senses, is
understood, just as the astral realm is not "visible" to us when
we are "awake," and only partly so in our recollection of certain
types of dreams.

A clairvoyant is one who has partially or fully bridged
the gap between the physical and one or more of the layers, or
degrees of the astral planes; and, in addition, may or may not
be able to exercise control over this faculty. If unable, he is
a medium. If he exercises this control, he is an adept or
"mediator."

If he should be a chela under the guidance of his Master,
he is being taught to guide and direct this faculty for
benevolence, and only as necessity allows.

What little visibility elementals show to us has been
described as the shimmering of hot air over a stove, as an eddy
behind a rock in swift-flowing water, or as fiery sparks moving
in seeming random when one looks into the depths of the blue sky
above, focusing ones eyes about 20 feet away.

Most of us cannot transfer our consciousness to even the
grossest aspect of the Astral Plane. Descriptions, such as those
Mr. Judge gives us in his "stories" [LETTERS THAT HAVE HELPED
ME, pp. 207-260] enable us to visualize some aspects of the
action of various kinds of elemental functions and work under the
control of the Adepts.

These manifest as: sensitivity to moral and mental
states; carriers of Karma because of their impressibility, they
become for us, our Skandhas, the carriers of our Karma, when they
are attracted back into our 'sphere' of life and work later in
this life, or in future lives.

Their innate power to influence others of their class, or
of other classes, causes this function to operate and to draw
together the necessary conditions [Karma] so that we are placed
in circumstances and along with individuals and other factors we
formerly had close connection to, in terms of causes we
generated.

The elementals are responsive to the electro-magnetic
impressions our Will generates. This will-force is evoked and
shaped by our desire-motive and it carries these as creative
power fueled by the energy and force of our imagination--moved
by the desire, which proceeds to frame the actualization of those
desires. The impression thus left serves in the infinitely
sensitive karmic justice of Nature to mark (or "flag" so to say)
those aspects of Nature that we have benefited or distorted and
retarded in their evolutionary progress. They are those which
return to us at the most opportune time for our readjustment so
that harmony can be restored and progress resumed for all.

The triple force in Occultism would be: 1. MOTIVE or
resolve, this is the base for desire; 2. WILL, or the power to
plan; and, 3. IMAGINATION, the power of EXECUTION, or that which
brings into being the desire.


Occultism gives us power over the whole of Nature. Hence
the absolute necessity for the purification of our moral nature,
which has to be rendered harmless to all beings before we can be
entrusted with Power. To grasp the magnitude of this task demands
impersonalizing and universalizing our outlook; securing deep
and complete knowledge of Nature and her many departments and
interactions, as well as of our own nature and the "star" or
"hierarchy" to which we naturally belong. This includes the
nature and functions of the life-force and the elementals; the
workings of the ONE consciousness on the seven planes of OUR
being; the pacifying and calming of our kamic nature, thus
making of it a docile and willing assistant in the pilgrimage of
the soul.

One can anticipate the need for controlling our Kamic
nature and discharge or harmonize such of our Karma as may remain
distortedly us earlier, and unbalanced.

Ours could be called the stage of "preparing the molds
for the control of Elementals." This is achieved not only by
purity of motive, but by accuracy, punctuality, and purity in all
matters of daily life. And of course, added to this ha to be a
definite knowledge of the minutest effects that we produce on
living nature, so that we are able to help with the constructive
side of living.

Elementals are in our organism, and they surround and
interpenetrate us in many ways. They are like mirrors, and if
we, instead of using them. allow ourselves to be used, we fall
again under the influence of our own past errors (which are
called "habits.") What we have to learn and apply is to be
deliberate, alert and attentive, as well as concentrate on all
aspects of our work and on all events that arise in our lives.

Metallic elementals go to make up the metals.

But how do elementals come into existence ? The metallic
elemental is a solidification of certain sounds and colors, and
those are expressions of powers and qualities of Nature,
symbolized by the Great Dhyani Buddhas, the Original SEVEN. Just
as water solidifies and becomes ice, so certain combinations of
elementals or devatas produce what we call "minerals."

Elementals are agents used by the Great Adepts for the
performance of some of their works of mercy and of help. All
humans also use elementals, but they do not know how to do this
well, or what happens after their being used, (take the process
of digestion, or of blood circulation, as examples).

Because the Masters have that knowledge of the nature,
functions, and character of various elemental beings, they are
able to use and direct them accurately and with least confusion.

Elementals become skandhas when impressed or used by us.
After being used by us, they are attracted to others who may have
already used them earlier. The impression of our usage then is
submerged in the vast ocean of skandaic memory while the memory
of how the elemental was last used by the new host rises in it
and leads it off to its new/old host.

"Each human being has his own elementals [skandhas ] that
partake of his nature and his thoughts. If you fix your thoughts
upon a person in anger, or in critical, uncharitable judgment,
you attract to yourself a number of those elementals that belong
to, generate, and are generated by this particular fault or
failing, and they precipitate themselves upon you. Hence,
through the injustice of your merely human condemnation, which
cannot know the source and causes of the action of another, you
at once become a sharer of his fault or failing by your own act,
and the spirit expelled returns "with seven devils worse than
himself." Epitome, p. 21

There is to be considered a further factor. Sometimes we
cannot bear the defects of other people. The elemental carries
the power to bring on strain and tension between individuals
because of the consubstantiality in their desire natures; and,
the cause of irritability is within. All ill-feelings towards
one-another are obstructions to our spiritual progress, and are
mostly due to selfishness, isolation and personal self-assertion.
Our disturbed Kamic nature, because and through the emotional
upset, attracts to us, by the law of magnetic attraction and
affinity, the very kind of elementals the manifestation of which
we dislike in others.

What is the remedy? To impersonalize our feelings,
control and purify our Kamic nature, and use the knowledge now
given to us. If a student permits personal feelings to rule him,
he will not be able to assimilate or harmoniously apply the
Esoteric Philosophy. We can adopt different measures. By
turning our vision inwards, and beginning to live by the light of
Buddhi-Manas in us, our lower Manasic mind-soul may clarify
itself so as to receive a greater portion of the light of
Atma-Buddhi, the Wise-Spirit, and thus glimpse the Divine Ideas
that are permanently imprinted in the Akasa.

==========


Thoughts and Elementals



"Every thought of man upon being evolved passes into the
inner world and becomes an active entity by associating itself,
coalescing we might term it, with an elemental. It survives as
an active intelligence--a creature of the mind's begetting--for a
longer or shorter period proportionate with the original
intensity of the cerebral action which generated it. Thus a good
thought is perpetuated as an active beneficent power, an evil one
as a maleficent demon. And so man is constantly peopling his
current in space with a world of his own, crowded with the
offspring of his former desires, impulses, and passions, a
current with reacts upon any sensitive or nervous organization
which comes in contact with it." [ From a Master's letter.]
English Theosophist Vol. 33, # 4, July 1899, p. 69
Theosophical Articles & Notes, p. 293


Human elementals -- Skandhas


"Each human being has his own elementals that partake of
his nature and of his thoughts. If you fix your thoughts upon a
person in anger or in critical, uncharitable judgment, you
attract to yourself a number of those elementals that belong to,
generate, and are generated by this particular fault or failing,
and they precipitate themselves upon you. Hence, through the
injustice of your merely human condemnation, which cannot know
the source and causes of the action of another, you at once
become a sharer of his fault or failing by your own act, and the
spirit expelled returns "with seven devils worse than himself."

This is the origin of the popular saying that "curses
like chickens come home to roost," and has its roots in the laws
governing magnetic affinity...we are hypnotized by the effect of
the immense body of images in the Astral Light, compounded of all
the deeds, thoughts and so forth of our ancestors, whose lives
tended in a material direction. These images influence the inner
man--who is conscious of them--by suggestion. In a brighter age
[than the present Kali Yuga] the influence of such images would
be towards Truth. The effect of the Astral Light, as thus molded
and painted by us, will remain so long as we continue to place
those images there, and it thus becomes our judge and our
executioner...The Astral Light...is the universal register. Its
chief office is that of a vehicle for the operation of the laws
of Karma, or the progress of the principle of life, and it is
thus in a deep spiritual sense a medium or "mediator" between man
and his Deity--his higher spirit."
Epitome of
Theosophy. pp 21-2


Some References to Consult:


ELEMENTALS:


SECRET DOCTRINE I 97 145-6 176 183-4 218 224 461
606

SECRET DOCTRINE II 42 [Scale of Causes]

5 YEARS OF THEOSOPHY 176

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS on OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY RC 62-3 239-40

FRIENDLY PHILOSOPHER 269 292

W Q J ARTICLES I 359 383 405 413

H P B ARTICLES II 127 164

Letters that Have Helped Me. pp. 92-3, 96-7,