Elementals

[High Priestess Maxine Dietrich]

Here is a lesson on elementals. Like I mentioned before, the author
is of the enemy. There is no need to coerce elementals. We can
befriend them and they can teach us the magick of the spheres and
sometimes do things for us. Guardian Demons are excellent for astral
travel in showing us these kingdoms. Remember one rule if you ever
visit these kingdonms, never speak until you are spoken to first!

**


The first task that the magician is facing in the tenth step is to
win his way to the knowledge of the sphere
of the elements. With his mental body he will visit the different
spheres of the elements, transfer himself
to the kingdom of the gnomes, or earth-sprites, afterward to the
kingdom of the water nymphs. He gets
to know the kingdom of the fairies and finally that of the
salamanders, the so-called kingdom of fire. To a
non-magician all this will be rubbish and he will regard it as a
utopian idea. But neither fairy tales nor
sagas exist for the true adept, because they are to be understood as
a sort of symbolism concealing many
deep truths. It is the same thing with all the gnomes, nymphs,
fairies and salamanders.

Based on his own
observations, the magician can convince himself that beings like
these really do exist. On the other hand, a
magically untrained person whose senses are thoroughly undeveloped
is of course subject to the vibrations
of the material world only and will never be able to form a mental
picture of the existence of any other
kind of beings, to say nothing of being convinced of this fact. Most
people are preoccupied by the
material mode of life to such a degree that they will not understand
anything higher and subtler outside
our physical world and least of all will they perceive it. It is
quite otherwise with a magician who is
developing his senses purposefully and therefore will see and
perceive far more, convincing himself very
soon of the existence of higher powers, planes and beings. Properly
speaking, it is the goal of our training
to qualify the learner to perceive and to master not only the
physical world but the higher spheres equally.
But let us stick to the practice and consider what can be done to
reach the world of the elements.

In the previous chapters we learned that there is a kingdom of
elements populated not only by the
element itself, but by the corresponding beings too. Then what is
the difference between a human being
and an elemental being? The human being consists of four and five
elements respectively, and is ruled by
them, whereas an elemental being is composed of the purest element
to which it belongs. According to
our estimation of time, the duration of life of such a being
probably is longer, but it has no immortal spirit.
As a rule such a being is resolved into its element again. Let us
disregard the description of details for a
while, because the magician will learn everything by practical
experiences. He will be able to do so by
transference of his spirit. The magician is bound to understand how
to transfer himself to the kingdom of
the elements to contact the beings there.

First of all, the magician has to realize that the kingdom of the
elements has nothing to do with our
material world and that consequently he cannot transfer himself
there without being qualified to do so.
On the other hand, an elemental being can come to an understanding
only with a congener, a fact that
ought to be considered most carefully. A bird is well matched only
with another bird. In the same way,
an elemental being will have an understanding only with a congeneric
being, i.e., a being of the same
element. Provided it should like to come in contact with another
being, it would be bound to adopt a
human form and human qualities to approach man in the form of man.
At this point the magician will
realize why he had to perform transmutation exercises in the
previous steps.

A gnome will never
understand a human being, and vice versa. When operating in this
way, either the magician has to become
a gnome, or the gnome has to be transmuted into a human being.
Consequently wishing to enter the
kingdom of the earth-sprites, the magician will have to take the
shape of a gnome.

If he can't imagine what a gnome looks like, he must use his faculty
of clairvoyance in a trance or with the
help of a magic mirror. He will notice that gnomes are very tiny
sprites, similar to the brownies described
in fairy tales. Generally they are portrayed as dwarfs with long
beards and caps, with long hair, bright eyes
and garbed in little cowls.

Such and similar will be the appearance of the gnome the magician
will see in his magic mirror. He will
also notice that every sprite is carrying a little lamp of different
luminous force in order to find his way in
the subterranean kingdom. If the magician has convinced himself of
the gnomes' shape, he only has to
mentally take the shape of a gnome. Moreover, he must identify
himself with the earth element, i.e., load
his whole shape with the earth element without any accumulation. Now
the magician has to imagine
nothing else but to sink down into the subterranean realm of the
earth. Suddenly he will feel deep
darkness surrounding him everywhere. Is imagination forms a lamp
illuminating the darkness with its
bright light. At first he will not discern very much, but by
repeating this experiment several times his eyes
will become accustomed to this dimness so that he will discriminate
beings in his own shape wishing to
contact him. After a lot of attempts he will see the sprite folk
more distinctly; he will even have the
opportunity of seeing them diligent in their business.

But be on your guard against speaking to them. Do
not ask a question before any of the sprites has addressed you. It
may happen that in the course of their
work the magician has watched something that he might be tempted to
criticize. He may be cautioned
against doing so, for the earth-sprites would overpower him instead
of his bringing them under his control,
which ought to be the purpose of this experiment.

In such an occurrence it might happen that by their
various magical tricks the gnomes could captivate him by means of
the element so that he would become
a gnome himself, unable to return to his own body. Then after a
certain time the mental bond between
the astral and the physical body would break asunder, which would
mean the physical death. In such a
case a medical expert would find out death from heart attack and
nothing more.

But the magician who
has obtained the necessary control in the course of his magical
training and considers this law has nothing
to fear. On the contrary, as soon as the gnomes begin to talk, they
see in him a being higher in rank and
superior to them and will try to make friends with him. This law
forbidding you to address gnomes first is
meant only for the first visits; later on, if the sprites are
convinced of the magician's superiority in
willpower and intelligence, they will enjoy it and become his most
obedient servants.

The earth sprites are nearest to man and like to serve him,
especially if they recognize his superiority.
Visits to the kingdom of the gnomes would be repeated as often as
there is something new to be seen. He
can learn a great deal from the gnomes and not one book in the whole
wide world can reveal so many
secrets about the subterranean kingdom to him as he can hear in the
world of gnomes. For example, the
magician can get a great deal of knowledge about the power and the
effect of different herbs, he can learn
how to achieve a magical spell on certain stones, he can be informed
about hidden treasures and other
strange things. He will be witness of everything that happens ad
exists below the surface of the earth such
as springs, coal, minerals, etc. The magician may learn several
magic tricks that can be exploited through
the earth element. In the course of time the magician will notice
that there are different groups of
intelligences among the earth sprites in the world of the gnomes. He
will meet gnomes who are able to
give him a lecture on alchemy.

When at last the magician feels quite at home in the kingdom of
gnomes,
and when he has made all the experiments that these beings were able
to teach him, then he is allowed to
visit the kingdom next to it, namely that of the water sprites or
nymphs.

In the very same way he may
look for a water sprite in his magic mirror, and he will find that
there exists a significant likeness to a
human being. There is hardly any difference to be noticed in shape
or size. Usually the water sprites,
called nixies, mermaids, or nymphs, are very attractive females
although there are male water sprites or
mermen too. As for visits to the kingdom of water, it is not
absolutely necessary to adopt the shape of a
woman; it is entirely up to the magician to transmute himself
imaginatively into a mermaid.

There is an
advantage here: he will not be molested so much by the mermaids,
because they are not only fascinating
and dashingly beautiful, but also very obtrusive and sexy.
Providing the magician is mentally prepared so that he has
impregnated his spirit with water, he may
transfer himself to a big lake or ocean, wherever he likes, and
submerge down to the bottom of the water.
Here as well he will not meet water sprites at once, but by
repeating the experiment many times and
according to his vivid desire to communicate with these beings, he
will finally attract them. At first he
will see only female beings moving about in the same free attitude
as human beings do. He will hardly
meet an unpleasant mermaid; in spite of the fact that all mermaids
are very beautiful, he might indeed
happen to meet the more intelligent ones, the so-called royal
leaders, since a very peculiar classconsciousness
exists here. The magician will notice that they do not dance all the
time as they are
generally supposed to do, but that they do a certain amount of work
too.

It's no use to write more about
this theme, since the magician will convince himself. Here as well
the rule goes that nobody must ever
address one of the mermaids first, but he has to wait until the
being starts talking or asking him questions
about something. From the intelligent leaders the magician can learn
such a lot about the water element
that he could write books himself. He gets information about the
life of fish, about the different water
plants, the stones below the water and about other magic tricks
related to the water element. But beware
of the beauty of these beings! The magician is seriously warned not
to fall madly in love with a mermaid
and not to lose his balance. A love like this could become fateful
to him. That does not exactly mean
that he is not allowed to have fun with the mermaids. He must keep
the motto in mind: love is the law,
but love under a strong will. A mermaid is quite able to fascinate
the magician with her incredible beauty,
charm and intoxicating eroticism so much that he is in serious
danger of becoming one of the kind, a fact
that undoubtedly would cause his physical death. How many magicians
have been wrecked by an
unhappy love! Therefore the magician should remain firm in command
of his passions, because it is this
kingdom in the sphere of elements that is the most attractive and if
the magician gave way to his passions,
he would fall into the hands of the mermaids for good.
As soon as the magician can manage to visit the kingdom of the water
sprites as often as he likes and if he
has learned whatever concerns the knowledge of magic, he can pay his
attention to the kingdom next to it,
that of the aerial spirits.

In contrast to the water kingdom whose inhabitants like very much to
communicate with human beings,
the air-sprites are very shy and unsociable. Similar to the water
sprites, they have beautiful, dashing
figures and though male beings may be seen, most of them are
females. Here the magician does not have
to adopt a shape suitable for the air spirits; he can impregnate his
own spirit with the air element and
transfer himself imaginatively into the region of the air, wishing
for the air spirits to contact him. He
ought not to lose patience if he does not succeed for a while, but
he has to keep his mind constantly on his
desire to see the air spirits at any price. He will notice at first
that the beings avoid meeting him, a fact
that ought not to discourage him. Finally he will se the most
beautiful beings with a gorgeous etheric
body, soft and supple. The magician must mentally imitate the air
spirits by moving about as if floating in
the air. Not long from now, the air spirits will address him. Here
likewise the magician is cautioned
against addressing any of the beings first, lest the same ill fate
should befall him as previously described. If
after repeated experiments the contact with the air sprites has been
established, they will inform the
magician about whatever concerns the air element. He will be taught
many magic secrets and practices of
which no man living would have the least inkling.

Being fully acquainted with the air element and its beings, and
mastering the magic technique, the
magician may proceed to the spirits of the fire element which he
will now have to contact. These beings
have a certain likeness to human beings, but they are rather odd in
some ways, and it is therefore advisable
for the magician to get an impression of these beings with the help
of a magic mirror. He will notice that
the fire spirits have a much smaller face than men and an
extraordinarily long and thin neck. He will
therefore transfer himself imaginatively into the shape of a fire
sprite, loading it with the pure fire
element, and off he goes to the spirits' sphere in a crater of a
volcano, the most remarkable homestead of
the fire spirits. The magician will notice that the fire sprites
which are everywhere are roaming, nervous
and fidgety as the element they belong to. The magician should
remember not to talk first to any of the
beings. Here too there are different groups of intelligences, and
the "high-brows" among these fire spirits
are those whose outer appearance is more beautiful. The highest
ranks of these organisms are the most
similar to man, and it is obvious that the magician will try to come
into contact with the most intelligent
of them. As for the practice of magic, he will learn a great deal
about what can be accomplished with the
fire-element. If the magician is now sufficiently acquainted with
the fire spirits and their leaders in the
crates, so that they taught him all he wanted to know, he may be
allowed to visit those fire organisms that
live in the deepest center of the earth and have a more profound
knowledge.

Not before having exhausted all possible sources of information
about the fire element may the magician
regard himself as sovereign of all the elements.
There is one conviction that the magician will win while visiting
all the element organism, namely that
however great the intelligence and knowledge of these sprites may
be, they are still composed of one
single element, whereas Man represents all four elements plus the
fifth, akasa.

This is the reason for the discontent of all the elemental organisms
at the sight of Man's
immortality, toward which all of them feel envy. It is
understandable that each elemental being seeks to
obtain immortality, and that the magician is in a position to bestow
such an opportunity on them.
Unfortunately it is not possible for the time being to particularize
how all this is brought about, but by
now it can be taken for granted that the magician will intuitively
find out all by himself.

It is obvious that the magician will transfer all the experiences
made through his contact with other
creatures into his memory, into the physical body, and he will be
able to use these experiences in practice
on the material plane as well. A magician like this will be able to
execute the most astounding
performances of the magic of nature.