Just as the name "elementary" has been given indiscriminately by
various writers to any or all of man's possible _post-mortem_
conditions, so this word "elemental" has been used at different times
to mean any or all non-human spirits, from the most godlike of the
Devas down through every variety of nature-spirit to the formless
essence which pervades the kingdoms lying behind the mineral, until
after reading several books the student becomes absolutely bewildered
by the contradictory statements made on the subject. For the purposes
of this treatise it will perhaps simplify matters to restrict its
meaning to the last-mentioned class only, and use it to denote the
three great kingdoms which precede the mineral in the order of our
evolution. It may be remembered that in one of the earlier letters
from an Adept teacher these elemental kingdoms are referred to, and
the statement is made that the first and second cannot readily be
comprehended except by an Initiate. Fortunately this, the most
incomprehensible part of the vast subject, does not come within the
province of this manual, as those first and second elemental kingdoms
exist and function respectively upon the arûpa and rûpa levels of the
devachanic plane. We have consequently to deal for the moment only
with kingdom No. 3--the one next before the mineral; though even that
will be found quite sufficiently complicated, as will be understood
when it is stated that it contains just over two thousand four hundred
perfectly distinct varieties of elemental essence, each of which the
pupil who wishes to attain perfect control of the astral forces must
learn not only to distinguish instantly at sight, but to deal with in
its own special method and no other. Of course phenomena of various
sorts may be, and constantly are, produced by those who are able to
wield only one or two of these forces, but the Adept prefers to take
the additional trouble requisite to understand all of them thoroughly,
and uses in every case precisely the most appropriate force or
combination of forces, so that his object may be attained with
scientific accuracy and with the least possible expenditure of energy.
To speak, as we so often do, of _an_ elemental in connection with the
group we are now considering is somewhat misleading, for strictly
speaking there is no such thing. What we find is a vast store of
elemental essence, wonderfully sensitive to the most fleeting human
thought, responding with inconceivable delicacy in an infinitesimal
fraction of a second to a vibration set up in it even by an entirely
unconscious exercise of human will or desire. But the moment that by
the influence of such thought or exercise of will it is moulded into a
living force--into something that may correctly be described as _an_
elemental--it at once ceases to belong to the category we are
discussing, and becomes a member of the artificial class. Even then
its separate existence is usually of the most evanescent character,
and as soon as its impulse has worked itself out it sinks back into
the undifferentiated mass of that particular subdivision of elemental
essence from which it came. It would be tedious to attempt to
catalogue these subdivisions, and indeed even if a list of them were
made it would be unintelligible except to the practical student who
can call them up before him and compare them. Some idea of the leading
lines of classification can, however, be grasped without much trouble,
and may prove of interest. First comes the broad division which has
given the elementals their name--the classification according to the
kind of matter which they inhabit. Here, as usual, the septenary
character of our evolution shows itself, for there are seven such
chief groups, related respectively to the seven states of physical
matter--to "earth, water, air and fire," or to translate from mediæval
symbolism to modern accuracy of expression, to the solid, liquid,
gaseous and etheric conditions. It has long been the custom to pity
and despise the ignorance of the alchemists of the middle ages,
because they gave the title of "elements" to substances which modern
chemistry has discovered to be compounds; but in speaking of them thus
slightingly we have done them great injustice, for their knowledge on
this subject was really wider, not narrower, than ours. They may or
may not have catalogued all the sixty or seventy substances which we
now call elements; but they certainly did not apply that name to them,
for their occult studies had taught them that in that sense of the
word there was but one element, Âkâsha itself, of which these and all
other forms of matter were but modifications--a truth which some of
the greatest chemists of the present day are just beginning to
suspect.
The fact is that in this particular case our despised forefathers'
analysis went several steps deeper than our own. They understood and
were able to observe the ether, which modern science can only
postulate as a necessity for its theories; they were aware that it
consists of physical matter in four entirely distinct states above the
gaseous--a fact which has not yet been re-discovered. They knew that
all physical objects consisted of matter in one or other of these
seven states, and that into the composition of every organic body all
seven entered in a greater or lesser degree; hence all their talk of
fiery and watery humours, or "elements," which seems so grotesque to
us. It is obvious that they used the latter word simply as a synonym
for "constituent parts," without in the least degree intending it to
connote the idea of substances which could not be further reduced.
They knew also that each of these orders of matter served as an Upâdhi
or basis of manifestation for a great class of evolving monadic
essence, and so they christened the essence "elemental".
What we have to try to realize, then, is that in every particle of
solid matter, so long as it remains in that condition, there resides,
to use the picturesque phraseology of mediæval students, an earth
elemental--that is, a certain amount of the living elemental essence
appropriate to it, while equally in every particle of matter in the
liquid, gaseous, or etheric states, the water, air, and fire
"elementals" respectively inhere. It will be observed that this first
broad division of the third of the elemental kingdoms is, so to speak,
a horizontal one--that is to say, its respective classes stand in the
relation of steps, each somewhat less material than the one below it,
which ascends into it by almost imperceptible degrees; and it is easy
to understand how each of these classes may again be divided
horizontally into seven, since there are obviously many degrees of
density among solids, liquids and gases. There is, however, what may
be described as a perpendicular division also, and this is somewhat
more difficult to comprehend, especially as great reserve is always
maintained by occultists as to some of the facts which would be
involved in a fuller explanation of it. Perhaps the clearest way to
put what it is permissible to say on the subject will be to state that
in each of the horizontal classes and subclasses will be found seven
perfectly distinct types of elemental, the difference between them
being no longer a question of degree of materiality, but rather of
character and affinities. Each of these types so reacts upon the
others that, though it is impossible for them ever to interchange
their essence, in each of them seven sub-types will be found to exist,
distinguished by the colouring given to their original peculiarity by
the influence which sways them most readily. It will at once be seen
that this perpendicular division and subdivision differs entirely in
its character from the horizontal, in that it is far more permanent
and fundamental; for while it is the evolution of the elemental
kingdom to pass with almost infinite slowness through its various
horizontal classes and subclasses in succession, and thus to belong to
them all in turn, this is not so with regard to the types and
sub-types, which remain unchangeable all the way through. A point
which must never be lost sight of in endeavouring to understand this
elemental evolution is that it is taking place on what is sometimes
called the downward curve of the arc; that is to say, it is
progressing _towards_ the complete entanglement in matter which we
witness in the mineral kingdom, instead of _away_ from it, as is most
other evolution of which we know anything; and this fact sometimes
gives it a curiously inverted appearance in our eyes until we
thoroughly grasp its object.
In spite of these manifold subdivisions, there are certain properties
which are possessed in common by all varieties of this strange living
essence; but even these are so entirely different from any with which
we are familiar on the physical plane that it is exceedingly difficult
to explain them to those who cannot themselves see it in action. Let
it be premised, then, that when any portion of this essence remains
for a few moments entirely unaffected by any outside influence (a
condition, by the way, which is hardly ever realized) it is absolutely
without any definite form of its own, though even then its motion is
rapid and ceaseless; but on the slightest disturbance, set up perhaps
by some passing thought-current, it flashes into a bewildering
confusion of restless, ever-changing shapes, which form, rush about,
and disappear with the rapidity of the bubbles on the surface of
boiling water. These evanescent shapes, though generally those of
living creatures of some sort, human or otherwise, no more express the
existence of separate entities in the essence than do the equally
changeful and multiform waves raised in a few moments on a previously
smooth lake by a sudden squall. They seem to be mere reflections from
the vast storehouse of the astral light, yet they have usually a
certain appropriateness to the character of the thought-stream which
calls them into existence, though nearly always with some grotesque
distortion, some terrifying or unpleasant aspect about them. A
question naturally arises in the mind here as to what intelligence it
is that is exerted in the selection of an appropriate shape or its
distortion when selected. We are not dealing with the more powerful
and longer-lived artificial elemental created by a strong definite
thought, but simply with the result produced by the stream of
half-conscious, involuntary thoughts which the majority of mankind
allow to flow idly through their brains, so that the intelligence is
obviously not derived from the mind of the thinker; and we certainly
cannot credit the elemental essence itself, which belongs to a kingdom
further from individualization even than the mineral, with any sort of
awakening of the mânasic quality. Yet it does possess a marvellous
adaptability which often seems to come very near it, and it is no
doubt this property that caused elementals to be described in one of
our early books as "the semi-intelligent creatures of the astral
light". We shall find further evidence of this power when we come to
consider the case of the artificial class. When we read of a good or
evil elemental, it must always be either an artificial entity or one
of the many varieties of nature spirits that is meant, for the
elemental kingdoms proper do not admit of any such conceptions as good
and evil, though there is undoubtedly a sort of bias or tendency
permeating nearly all their subdivisions which operates to render them
rather hostile than friendly towards man, as every neophyte knows, for
in most cases his very first impression of the astral plane is of the
presence all around him of vast hosts of Protean spectres who advance
upon him in threatening guise, but always retire or dissipate
harmlessly if boldly faced. It is to this curious tendency that the
distorted or unpleasant aspect above mentioned must be referred, and
mediæval writers tell us that man has only himself to thank for its
existence. In the golden age before this Kaliyuga men were on the
whole less selfish and more spiritual, and then the "elementals" were
friendly, though now they are no longer so because of man's
indifference to, and want of sympathy with, other living beings. From
the wonderful delicacy with which the essence responds to the
faintest action of our minds or desires it seems clear that this
elemental kingdom as a whole is very much what the collective thought
of humanity makes it. Any one who will think for a moment how far from
elevating the action of that collective thought is likely to be at the
present time will see little reason to wonder that we reap as we have
sown, and that this essence, which has no power of perception, but
only blindly receives and reflects what is projected upon it, should
usually exhibit unfriendly characteristics. There can be no doubt that
in later races or rounds, when mankind as a whole has evolved to a
much higher level, the elemental kingdoms will be influenced by the
changed thought which continually impinges upon them, and we shall
find them no longer hostile, but docile and helpful, as we are told
that the animal kingdom will also be. Whatever may have happened in
the past, it is evident that we may look forward to a very passable
"golden age" in the future, if we can arrive at a time when the
majority of men will be noble and unselfish, and the forces of nature
will co-operate willingly with them.
The fact that we are so readily able to influence the elemental
kingdoms at once shows us that we have a responsibility towards them
for the manner in which we use that influence; indeed, when we
consider the conditions under which they exist, it is obvious that the
effect produced upon them by the thoughts and desires of all
intelligent creatures inhabiting the same world with them must have
been calculated upon in the scheme of our system as a factor in their
evolution. In spite of the consistent teaching of all the great
religions, the mass of mankind is still utterly regardless of its
responsibility on the thought-plane; if a man can flatter himself that
his words and deeds have been harmless to others, he believes that he
has done all that can be required of him, quite oblivious of the fact
that he may for years have been exercising a narrowing and debasing
influence on the minds of those about him, and filling surrounding
space with the unlovely creations of a sordid mind. A still more
serious aspect of this question will come before us when we discuss
the artificial elemental; but in regard to the essence it will be
sufficient to state that we undoubtedly have the power to accelerate
or delay its evolution according to the use which consciously or
unconsciously we are continually making of it.
It would be hopeless within the limits of such a treatise as this to
attempt to explain the different uses to which the forces inherent in
the manifold varieties of this elemental essence can be put by one who
has been trained in their management. The vast majority of magical
ceremonies depend almost entirely upon its manipulation, either
directly by the will of the magician, or by some more definite astral
entity evoked by him for that purpose. By its means nearly all the
physical phenomena of the _séance_-room are produced, and it is also
the agent in most cases of stone-throwing or bell-ringing in haunted
houses, such results as these latter being brought about either by
blundering efforts to attract attention made by some earth-bound human
entity, or by the mere mischievous pranks of some of the minor
nature-spirits belonging to our third class. But the "elemental" must
never be thought of as itself a prime mover; it is simply a latent
force, which needs an external power to set it in motion. It may be
noted that although all classes of the essence have the power of
reflecting images from the astral light as described above, there are
varieties which receive certain impressions much more readily than
others--which have, as it were, favourite forms of their own into
which upon disturbance they would naturally flow unless absolutely
forced into some other, and such shapes tend to be a trifle less
evanescent than usual.
Before leaving this branch of the subject it may be well to warn the
student against the confusion of thought into which some have fallen
through failing to distinguish this elemental essence which we have
been considering from the monadic essence manifesting through the
mineral kingdom. It must be borne in mind that monadic essence at one
stage of its evolution towards humanity manifests through the
elemental kingdom, while at a later stage it manifests through the
mineral kingdom: but the fact that two bodies of monadic essence at
these different stages are in manifestation at the same moment, and
that one of these manifestations (the earth elemental) occupies the
same space as and inhabits the other (say a rock), in no way
interferes with the evolution either of one or the other, nor does it
imply any relation between the bodies of monadic essence lying within
both. The rock will also be permeated by its appropriate variety of
the omnipresent Jîva or life principle, but that of course is again
totally distinct from either of the essences above mentioned.