The Elementals
Sources
- Manly P Hall - “The Children of the Elements," "Invisible Creatures of the Five Elements"
- A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on the Other Spirits (Latin: Ex Libro de Nymphis, Sylvanis, Pygmaeis, Salamandris et Gigantibus, etc) Paracelsus
- "The Secret Teachings of All Ages."
PARACLESUS
A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on the Other Spirits (Latin: Ex Libro de Nymphis, Sylvanis, Pygmaeis, Salamandris et Gigantibus, etc) is a treatise by the Swiss lay theologian and philosopher Paracelsus, published posthumously in 1566. It is about elemental beings and their place in a Christian cosmology.
The descriptions of elemental beings are based on various ancient and traditional sources, which the author adapted and reinterpreted.[2]
He wrote the book to "describe the creatures that are outside the cognizance of the light of nature, how they are to be understood, what marvellous works God has created". He states that there is more bliss in describing these "divine objects" than in describing fencing, court etiquette, cavalry, and other worldly pursuits.[3] The following is his archetypal being for each of the four elements:[4]
- Gnome, being of earth
- Undine, being of water
- Sylph, being of air
- Salamander, being of fire
The concept of elementals seems to have been conceived by Paracelsus in the 16th century, though he did not in fact use the term "elemental" or a German equivalent.[5] He regarded them not so much as spirits but as beings between creatures and spirits, generally being invisible to mankind but having physical and commonly humanoid bodies, as well as eating, sleeping, and wearing clothes like humans. Paracelsus gave common names for the elemental types, as well as correct names, which he seems to have considered somewhat more proper, "recht namen". He also referred to them by purely German terms which are roughly equivalent to "water people," "mountain people," and so on, using all the different forms interchangeably. His fundamental classification scheme on the first page of Tractatus II of the Book on Nymphs is based on where the elementals live, and he gives the following names:
He noted that undines are similar to humans in size, while sylphs are rougher, coarser, longer, and stronger. Gnomes are short, while salamanders are long, narrow, and lean. The elementals are said to be able to move through their own elements as human beings move through air. Gnomes, for example, can move through rocks, walls, and soil. Sylphs are the closest to humans in his conception because they move through air like we do, while in fire they burn, in water they drown, and in earth, they get stuck. Paracelsus states that each one stays healthy in its particular "chaos," as he terms it, but dies in the others.
Paracelsus conceived human beings to be composed of three parts, an elemental body, a sidereal spirit, and an immortal divine soul. Elementals lacked this last part, the immortal soul. However, by marriage with a human being, the elemental and its offspring could gain a soul.[
"The elemental spirits are creatures that are outside the cognizance of the light of nature, how they are to be understood, what marvellous works God has created."
"They are significant parts of God's creation, and studies them like he studied the rest of the natural world."
"The natural world contains many strange things, including elemental beings corresponding to the four classical elements: undines (water), sylphs (air), gnomes (earth) and salamanders (fire)."
AGRIPPA
In his influential De Occulta Philosophia, published in 1531–33,[8] several decades before the publication of Paracelsus' Philosophia Magna, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa also wrote of four classes of spirits corresponding to the four elements. However, he did not give special names for the classes: "In like manner they distribute these into more orders, so as some are fiery, some watery, some aerial, some terrestrial."
The Rosicrucians claimed to be able to see such elemental spirits. To be admitted to their society, it was previously necessary for the eyes to be purged with the Panacea or "Universal Medicine," a legendary alchemical substance with miraculous curative powers. As well, glass globes would be prepared with one of the four elements and for one month exposed to beams of sunlight. With these steps the initiated would see innumerable beings immediately. These beings, known as elementals, were said to be longer lived than man but ceased to exist upon death. However, if the elemental were to wed a mortal, they would become immortal. This exception seemed to work in reverse when it came to immortals, though, for if an elemental were to wed an immortal being, the immortal would gain the mortality of the elemental. One of the conditions of joining the Rosicrucians however, was a vow of chastity in hopes of marrying an elemental.
the symbolic representation of elementals in alchemical texts and their association with transformation processes