Copyright (C) 1998 by William Mistele
Introduction Faery Tales and Elemental Beings
When the brothers Grimm in Germany and Yeats in Ireland went
about the countryside gathering fairy tales, their interest was in
preserving folk traditions. By recording faithfully the stories they
were told, they enriched world literature. But there is an
ambivalence in their work. They wished to remain academically
detached so they could not be accused of promoting superstition or
being enamored with occult mysticism.
With the help of subsequent Jungian and transpersonal
psychologists, fairy tales have been set free. We need no longer
justify them as a form of oral literature or repackage them as
children's stories. They can be seen as dreamlike images reflecting
the powers and desires which move us from within. They are not
archaic stories belonging to a naive and simpler time. They are
warnings and signposts indicating the tensions, the dangers, and the
treasures hidden within all of us.
Though I have studied esoteric, oral traditions for twenty years,
these stories and dialogues do not belong to any specific locality,
race, or nationality. These nature spirits are not attached to a holy
well in Ireland, a lake in Scotland, or a mountain over in Bavaria,
China, or Japan. They are not Moslem, Hindu, Jewish, or
Christian. None of these spirits are mentioned in any world religion.
These elemental beings have a global outlook. They watch over
the four elements which encompass and reach right down to the
center of our planet. They embody the beauty of the earth. They
reflect not the wisdom of the past but of what the human race has
yet to attain in its future.
Some will insist that the modern mind requires coherent and
reassuring explanations whenever the gates of perception are opened
to new areas of the psyche or new vistas of experience. I am
responsive to this request. I present four essays on finding the
elemental being within yourself. All of these nature spirits represent
perceptual and spiritual states of awareness which we can awaken
within ourselves in a conscious and safe manner.
It is not necessary to meet a "real" elemental being to undergo a
profound and transforming experience with nature. For example,
the beings who dwell within water are called undines. But we do
not need to perform an occult ritual or attain a mystical rapport in
order to meet these undines. If we gather all of our sensory
experiences with
lakes, rivers, and seas, we can begin to sense the awareness which
undines possess. Water embodies sensual release. Its voice invites
us to let go, to flow, and to be enfolded by nurturing tenderness.
Water is cool, serene, and magnetic.
If we pause and stop thinking for a time, we can
place our awareness in water and enter a realm of pure
feeling. The gate to the realm of undines opens to us
precisely at this point where sensory perception and
feelings amplify each other. Nature revives and renews us
in part because we can put aside our social identities.
We can let go of our daily habits and routines and feel
supported by a natural world which is alive, autonomous,
and self-sustaining. What could threaten reason or
the orthodox frame of mind with an activity like this?
We can even turn this procedure into a game in which we
shape different images in our minds in response to our inquiry.
Consider these questions: If water were conscious
what kind of intelligence would it possess? What charms
would we see if the sea were given personality? If
the beauty in the waters of the world were embodied in
the form of a living woman, what would it be like to know
her, to touch her, to kiss her lips? In this way, we can perform
experiments with our senses or try imagining a nature based
psychology without ever proceeding beyond the boundaries
of our personal feelings and mental imagery.
On the other hand, in our time we are experiencing a spiritual
renaissance. There are many individuals who are willing to speak
out and share their experiences. They have been able to see nature
spirits from their earliest childhood. Or else they meet them in their
groves or talk with them during their walks through the woods.
Even scientists are more open-minded. Instead of
compartmentalizing and segmenting their knowledge, they now
attest to the interconnection of scientific endeavors especially when
it comes to nature. They know that the health of the biosphere is
essential for our survival. It turns out our presence on this planet is
tenuous. We must monitor nature like never before. The
atmosphere is our breath. Our genes and fertility are affected by the
fertilizers we use to grow food and the chemicals we release into
water.
If the plankton die in the sea or the ozone layer is compromised,
then we die also. If the Western shelf of the North Pole melts, if
temperature increases a few degrees, or if the currents in the ocean
change course, an ice age may fall upon us in a few decades.
Science confronts us with the interdependence of all of life and the
necessity of attaining a new level of harmony. Why not, then, tell
fairy tales or enchanting stories which celebrate this new found
wisdom? After all, is not the purpose of running computer
simulations of weather, tsunamis, volcanos, and earthquakes to
enable us to understand the inner workings of nature?
On the other hand, those of a more theological or even occult
bent have a different objection to my work. They ask, By what
right do you speak when the voices of the Brother's Grimm, Yeats,
and in fact the bards of all ages have remained silent? By what
authority do you reveal the magick of spiritual domains which have
been kept hidden from the human race for untold ages?
This objection should be carefully considered and placed in
context. Recall that Christianity as well as some other religions are
not at all comfortable with nature. Let us pause briefly and consider
an ancient text which discusses this conflict.
According to the Gospel of Matthew, Christ walked on water
beside the boat filled with his disciples. Peter, who was in the boat,
asked Christ to bid him to walk on the water also. Christ said,
"Come." According to Matthew's account, Peter then got out of the
boat and walk upon the water. But because Peter's faith wavered,
he began to sink and so he cried out, "Lord, save me." Immediately
Christ grasped him and said, "Oh you of little faith, why did you
doubt?"
In that sea, the entire history of the western world, of theology
and of scientific inquiry, hesitated and then in one moment suffered
a separation of nature from spirit and of empirical inquiry from
inner wisdom. Sure, Peter saw himself surrounded by the
boisterous wind and waves and had doubts about what he was
doing. I contend that those doubts arose because Peter and the
theologians, philosophers, and scholars after him were unable to let
go of their human identities. They could not turn away from the
safe harbors of human reason long enough to observe what was
happening and listen to what their five senses were telling them.
This is because they could not imagine a world in which the
winds, the waves, the trees, the mountains, the seas, and the fires of
the earth respond to the spirit that created them. They have been
unwilling as scientists, scholars, and literary artists to search for and
find the divine within themselves. They have been unwilling to
listen to the still voice within their hearts. They have shied away
from relying upon the powers of spirit to recreate the world through
beauty and love.
The consequence of this act of Peters--of giving into the insecurity
at the core of his being--is that the Church then became obsessed
with ecclesiastical and scriptural authority. And when science finally
came into its own, it too took a distorted view of truth. It declared
that faith, doubts, beliefs, wisdom, intuition, and ethics have nothing
at all to do with its methods.
You see, scientists and theologians share the same weakness.
They shy away from direct perception. What they see with their
eyes, hear with their ears, and, in fact, the sensations of all their
senses are censored and then modified. They do this whenever
nature reveals it is willing to respond to faith, to spiritual power, or
to share treasures which do not conform to reason. What they do
not understand is considered forbidden or as else irrational.
I have many weaknesses but being shy is not one of them. I am
willing to sit for twenty minutes or even an hour without a single
thought passing through my mind while I wait for an undine to
reveal her presence--to place her hand on my skin and, in that
touch, share the mysteries of the sea she has celebrated for countless
ages. When I look around for a theologian or scientist who is
willing to sit beside me and see what I see and feel this beauty, I tell
you I have not found any. The same is true of the other elements of
nature.
I can taste a sylph's zeal for freedom and independence because I
feel what he feels--the atmosphere of our planet is the most
beautiful among a billion worlds. I can consult with a gnome whose
photographic memory recalls every event he has witnessed during
the last five hundred millions years. I feel comfortable with him and
he considers me a companion. This is because I know a trick he has
not yet mastered--in the stillness of the heart, years, ages, eons, and
geologic periods have no meaning--time itself is suspended.
And as for salamanders, the firedrakes, and the spirits who rule
vast lakes of flames and fire upon and beneath the earth? They
share with me their secret dreams and their quests for power. They
do not do this because I strike them as charismatic, because my will
is more dominant, or because I speak fierce and mighty words of
power. They respond to me like a brother because, like them, I
honor and celebrate the forces of creation which have brought our
planet into being.
But now, at the beginning of the third millennium, the separation
between nature and spirit has begun to dissolve on its own. When I
watch the weather report and see the satellite radar and computer
generated animation of weather systems, I think to myself that this is
a approximation of the knowledge sylphs possess of the atmosphere.
The images on TV show three dimensional real time and accelerated
movements of weather systems. They show images in color and
infrared. Computer models look into the future with real ingenuity.
Our knowledge of meteorology is gradually invading the sylphs'
realms of faery and the sylph's knowledge of what moves the
winds.
In a similar way, when it comes to salamanders, I watch
numerous documentaries on volcanos. Some of the scientists are
not just seeking a better understanding of tectonic plate movement
and volcanic activity with the intent of warning others about
eruptions. There are a few scientists whose fascination with fire
borders on obsession. They enter craters to gather samples of lava
in tin cans while hot lava is splashing the ground around them. One
volcanologist, before he was killed in an eruption, spoke of his plan
to one day ride a metal canoe down a stream of molten lava. These
men act like they are apprenticed to a salamander like Pyrhum or
Orudu.
With gnomes like Mentifil, Muscar, or Erami, I think there is a
clear overlap between our science and a gnome's approach to
chemistry and physics. Clearly, it is our intent to know all there is to
know about physical matter and its components. We know more
than gnomes about astrophysics, the origins of the universe, and
subatomic particles which originated with the Big Bang.
I do not think gnomes are aware that a trillion neutrinos pass
through their bodies in every second. We set up procedures for
measuring these things. In fact, if you use telepathy to link to
Steven Hawkin, you will find he has a holographic picture of the
universe inside his mind. He meditates on and inside of black holes
and quasars. His mental images resonate with the universe.
But perhaps we are weakest when it comes to the undines.
When you touch the body of an undine, you can sense all the
oceans of the earth, the silent calmness of the ocean trench, and the
thrilling trill of ice cracking inside a glacier at the North Pole. But
this is not all.
The undine's skill in love is an empathy bordering on divine
omnipresence. Their love reveals the deepest needs and longings of
the heart and visions of how these may be fulfilled. Though
oceanography has become a major scientific endeavor, the study of
empathy and sensitivity of which undines have mastered is still in its
infancy. Undines barely have a presence in the literatures and
mythologies of our world. I intend to correct this situation.
And yet the question remains: Is the human race ready for the
magical knowledge of nature? I believe the question has become
irrelevant. The entire biosphere of the earth is now within our
power to study and to influence, to protect or to destroy. We
already bare this responsibility. My stories are not an attempt to
turn away from the choices we must make. To survive, we must
manage and guard our planet with tenderness and love. My
purpose, therefore, is not solely to create a new psychology or
infuse ecology with a spiritual dimension. I am committed to the
enlightenment of the world.
If you can find the sky, the sea, the mountain, and fire within
yourself, then you can understand any other human being on earth.
If your heart can embrace the beauty and taste the ecstasy of the
four elements in nature, then you will seek to be of service to others.
If you can love and find in yourself the awesome powers of creation
which have shaped and sustain life on our planet, then you will also
create works of beauty, wonder, and art. Every society has the task
of unfolding its own vision of the union of nature, man, and spirit.
This book is my contribution.
Elemental Beings and the Four Elements
The four elements--earth, water, air, and fire--are gates and paths
leading through the intricacies of nature on into the mysteries of
spirit. The elements and the beings who reside within them embody
states of awareness and capabilities which, though perhaps strange
to us and mysterious, are nevertheless inherent in human nature.
We need only open our hearts to the universe around us if we wish
to taste divine bliss and to discover the wisdom that has given birth
to all worlds and all ages. Here is a brief synopsis of the
psychological and spiritual qualities elemental beings possess.
In the air element is found clarity of mind and the attainment of
freedom. The air element is so vast and expansive, so
encompassing, those who are illuminated by its wisdom vanquish all
confusion and overcome all attachment. The beings who reside in
the sky, the sylphs, enter each moment seeking to attain and to abide
in complete harmony.
The modern Czech mage Franz Bardon, though listing the
names and sigils of eight sylphs in his book, The Practice of Magical
Evocation, refrains from describing them individually. He suggests
we go on to the earthzone where the spirits are not so aloof and
unfriendly and can provide us with the same information.
I, however, grew up spending my summers concentrating every
single day on wind flowing through sails as I raced sailboats. Every
nuance of the wind, wind shifts, temperature, pressure, and
humidity became something we learned to observe automatically.
And though perhaps somewhat unfamiliar to Western sages, many
Buddhist masters love imagining their minds are open, clear, and
vast as the sky. So, unlike Bardon, sylphs to me seem friendly.
They provide the most wonderful experiences with being at ease,
seeing with clarity, and expanding your aura to feel distant
influences.
In my opinion, the sylph Cargoste has an immense
comprehension of the biosphere of our planet. For me, Cargoste is
one of the great masters of Dzogchen on earth: in each moment he
retains a clarity of mind, undisturbed and completely free, while
presiding over a vast array of weather conditions.
The sylph Parahim is almost like a dakini--there is a deep
appreciation and support for all those who seek the enlightened
mind. This sylph exudes a majestic and peaceful aura. Being near
her is like watching a sunset over the Himalyan mountains. Another
sylph, Capisi, seems always playful and dancing. She is full of zest
and life.
In the fire element, by contrast, is an exuberant power. The
beings who reside in fire, the salamanders, seize upon each moment
with zeal in order to dissolve the obstacles blocking their path to
fulfillment. Such fiery will destroys all fear and apprehension. For
the salamanders, each moments presents the opportunity to purify,
strengthen, and expand the power of will.
The salamanders exist within a realm of fire and those
uncomfortable with the sensations of intense heat or the imagery of
vast lakes of flames may do well to avoid these beings. But power
too is a divine virtue though religions often choose to avoid
exploring it as a spiritual path. The salamanders are enchanted with
the magick within fire to heal, to purify, to fuse, to refine, to
integrate, to transform, and to electrify according to their individual
inclinations.
Questions salamanders sometimes explore are: what is the one
fire which burns without consuming and which integrates within
itself all other kinds of fire? What is the highest light that exists and
what is the state of mind--the intensity of heat and will--from which
it arises? What is the nature of sovereignty and absolute power--the
ability to command which arises from being one with what it would
control? Salamanders are great to work with if you wish to explore
the nature of will on astral and etheric levels.
At the other extreme is the element of water--something very
easy to relate to as a human being. In water are love and sharing--
the experience of life giving birth to life and of flowing in and
through another. In water is the absolute destruction of loneliness,
separation, and isolation. For the beings who dwell within water,
the undines, each moment is a magnetic sea containing the dreams
and the taste of ecstasy--each moment arises from and resonates
with the love sustaining all life on earth.
In the earth element--through comprehending shape, weight,
density, and the molecular vibration of minerals and elements--is the
wisdom that banishes depression, sadness, and sorrow. The most
powerful gnomes who dwell within the earth perceive time not only
in terms of centuries, eons, and geologic ages. Their perception
penetrates into the processes through which matter is formed and
through which it dissolves.
For gnomes, rocks and mountains do not possess solid and firm
edges. Rather, their boundaries and shapes are fluid and liquid.
For gnomes, anything in physical existence is constantly
transforming, solidifying and dissolving again--in each moment
matter and emptiness are flowing through each other like water
being poured into water. Each moment contains a wonderful
silence and a stillness in which you can hear the stars singing. The
elements of nature which we perceive as solid have been born in the
furnaces of stars and have passed through the emptiness of space.
The greatest of gnomes possess the ability to taste the union of
form and emptiness in every mineral and in everything physical.
When I began meditating with the gnome Mentifil, he took me
through some basic concentration exercises with the various
planetary metals. I noticed after working with him that I no longer
experienced sadness or depression. He took me to that place where
mind begins to probe the roots of matter through the power of
akashic intuition. And this is a place where depression and sadness
can not go--these feelings have no existence when awareness can
penetrate physical being.
I am not going to suggest anyone run out and begin evoking or
meditating with elemental beings unless they are sufficiently
prepared. But when I write about elementals I am always discussing
human nature--what elementals are, all their powers and modes of
perception, exist within us as latent abilities which we can develop.
And the elemental beings, or simply, the etheric and astral energies
over which they preside, are the connecting link between the realm
of mind and that of the physical world. To make our ideals real and
a part of our lives, we do well to learn all we can from their way of
perceiving and the energies which flow through their wills.
There are, of course, many dangers facing those who wish to
work with beings from an evolutionary path distinct from the
sciences and wisdom traditions of human civilization. I was
meditating one time with a partner who said an elemental being had
given her an amulet to wear--something purely of a psychic nature
and not material. But she found she started hallucinating at odd
times during the day when she had it on. I told her to take it off.
There are two problems that arise in working with elemental
beings. The first is that elemental beings do not have human ethics.
If you get a gift for Christmas, you assume the giver of the gift has
your best interest and well-being in mind. But a gift from an
elemental being may be a gift of pure power. For example, as in the
case of the amulet, it accelerates your ability to enter the astral
plane of that elemental. Being pulled into the astral plane is an
astonishing experience especially if it happens when you stop your
car at a red light. When you enter the astral plane of elemental
beings, it is like entering a dream in the mind of a creature from a
different evolution. There are no references to anything pertaining
to your culture or civilization.
The elemental does not worry if his or her gift of power is going
to present you with complications or side-effects. The elemental's
intent is solely to offer you an opportunity to experience its mode of
existence. Whether this is dangerous for you as a human beings is
simply not its concern. Consequently, it is up to you to evaluate at
all times what it is you are doing and whether or not it meets your
objectives. It is your decision as to what extent you wish to modify
or alter the procedures you are following so that you maintain
personal harmony and equilibrium.
Second, it is necessary to comprehend the kingdom in which
these beings reign. The akashic principle which rules the four
elements is itself a divine presence. The elements arise from akasha
and are the substances which enables spirit to express itself. To
work successfully with the elements, as with any difficult or
challenging situation in life, we need to be centered within ourselves
and clear about the spiritual purposes we wish to fulfill.
If your mind is like the sky--a clear expanse free of all
attachment--then the sylph can neither influence nor resist
communicating with you. If in your heart you can evoke the ideal
of being one with all things, then no undine can distract or ensnare
you for you will learn about love and become love without falling
under love's enchantments.
Similarly, if you identify with the light of akasha, with the divine
presence, and understand that the universe is the product of divine
will, then no salamander can pressure you or undermine your will.
And if you can see that matter has no inherent or permanent
existence--matter is itself fluid and undergoing change--and the
physical universe serves the purposes of spirit, then no gnome will
be able to bind or control you with gifts appealing to greed.
In other words, the four divine qualities of spirit--power, love,
wisdom, and consciousness--are ideals we can seek to internalize
within ourselves. By doing so, when we work with the astral and
etheric planes we remain focused on what we wish to accomplish.
I also should note that the elemental beings I describe are well-
acquainted with magicians. Some, like Isaphil, claim to guard
treasures of spirit and hidden destinies which world teachers have
not yet found a way to share with mankind. Some elementals have
incarnated as human beings. Even in the twentieth century, there
are reports of this happening. This usually occurs because the
elemental has temporarily taken a human lover. In other cases,
elementals and magicians have formed extremely close ties. They
have become companions and learned from each other. For some
individuals, this has been beneficial and for others the connection to
the faery realm has been their undoing.
When I write about elementals they sometimes discuss with me
their relations with mages, poets, and sages from historical and
forgotten civilizations. When it comes to myth and legends, it is
somewhat difficult to track down the source of stories handed down
through the generations. Sometimes a poet or bard can not help but
embellish and add entirely new chapters to ancient sagas in order to
convey a message to his own time. It is probably wise, then, to take
with a grain of salt the stories elementals tell. The astral plane is
perhaps even more prone to exaggeration and to the excesses of
imagination than is our own world.
In summary, the difficulty in working with elemental beings is
that they are from a different evolutionary path. The elemental
beings are invisible except to clairvoyants. They do not eat food or
drink water as do we--the energy sustaining them is altogether
different. And they are not subject to human morality--they have
existed for eons before any human religion originated.
When these elemental beings think they do not use the lexical
items in our dictionaries--neither the sounds nor the units of
meaning they use relate to the Indo-European or any other human
language. When a "thought" is placed into your mind by an
elemental, it is your experience which becomes the vehicle for
translating that thought into something familiar you can understand.
If you rush to label your sensory perceptions and connections to
elementals, you lose the depth and the beauty of what is being
shared.
And though the life span of elementals is controversial, it is fair to
say that many live for countless ages and some have been around
for millions if not billions of years. And so, when you enter the
domain of elemental beings, there are no familiar reference points.
Science, history, the arts, culture and the works of mankind--these
beings do not need any of this in order to flourish or to practice their
arts.
A relationship with another person often takes a lot of work.
Working with elemental beings also takes a very deal of effort,
patience, and psychic perception if you are going to get anything out
of it. As in communicating with another human being, there are
times when you need to put off to the side all your beliefs and
expectations if you are going to hear what is being said.
But why connect to nature spirits? For many individuals, the
magical impulse arises form sensing the beauty, awe, and wonder in
nature. Consider water. Water contains a cleansing power which is
not just physical. If you have ever floated in a mountain pool or
played in the ocean surf, you may have sensed a dreamlike serenity,
a thrilling wildness, and a playful exuberance. When a psychic or
magician touches water, it is like the element is alive. It contains an
aura and a magnetic field that beg human perception to taste bliss.
If you immerse your awareness within this magnetic field, then
you have switched out of the customary human mode of perceiving.
You are starting to see and to feel an undine. Would it be
enchanting to meet an undine--to encounter an intelligence
embodying the pure, wild, and primordial delight within the water
element?
Yes. But you are also introduced in the process to a new and vast
dimension of experience which has a little or no practical application
to daily life. The trick is developing the flexibility to move back and
forth between the undine's world and our own so you are
comfortable with both worlds. Then you are free to blend them
together according to your desires.
A Few Introductions
Let us get back to direct experience with elemental beings. I shift
my focus in this moment into the sea. Even as I think to myself the
name "Istiphul" the undine appears to me. It is a little hard to say
precisely where I am. Am I projecting my mind "out there
somewhere" or is she present in my room here and now sitting on
my bed next to my computer?
I have done this so many times I am not sure it matters anymore.
To call her into my room requires I create a field of watery energy
which enables her to appear. If I project into her domain, I must sit
very still and concentrate on being near her. My mind is then freed
from receiving sensory impressions from my room and becomes
active on the inner planes. It seems natural to me to use both
procedures at the same time.
I take Istiphul's hands--her touch is as ancient as the sea and yet
more youthful and free than anyone I have ever known. Being in
her presence is an encounter with the entire magnetism of the
oceans appearing in the form of a woman.. Though we do not use
thoughts as human beings think or speak, we automatically continue
a discussion I have been pursuing with her for years.
Istiphul says to me, "The human race will acquire the love I
possess--the magick and the passions of the sea will find expression
within human beings. Beyond your wildest dreams, love will seize
you and be one with you even as you experience it with me. I
promise you this."
Undines, as you may have guessed, have a remarkable intuition--
they feel a part of you; they flow through you and sense your
longings and your needs. Even as a dolphin can emit a sound which
enables it to see within and determine the health of your physical
body, so too for an undine the astral body of a human being is
completely transparent. They sense your feelings as clearly as they
sense water and the life within it. The empathy of undines like
Istiphul is magical--it is a way of being within and feeling a part of
whoever she is with.
Let us turn out attention to another element. I imagine I am ten
miles up and surrounded by a blue sky. I have practiced mental
projection long enough and used different forms of feedback so that
it is clear to me that part of my awareness is indeed at fifty thousand
feet. I can see the horizon of the earth as one circle beneath me. I
sense the blue light so I feel a part of it and the entire sky an
extension of myself.
Now I speak the name "Cargoste." As Istiphul is to the sea,
Cargoste is to the winds of the earth. All winds fall within the scope
of his mastery. For Cargoste, the trade winds, the storm winds, the
tornado, the hurricane--he has absolute command over them.
Cargoste's power of concentration is astonishing. He is a master of
a clear and open mind.
If you allow your mind to blend with Cargoste's, you get a feel
for his consciousness. It is completely relaxed. You sense that
everything that exists is a part of one matrix of life. There is one
field of energy and within it each being, spirit, and natural
phenomenon is unique and has its own nature. Yet, however dense,
opaque, or inert these may seem, they are all made from light and
this light is one vast, clear stream of awareness. For Cargoste, the
mind is not separate from this spacious and luminous openness.
The mind is joined with it.
When Cargoste is over the Pacific Ocean, he senses the winds of
the North and South poles. He is aware of the trade winds, the
remnants of a hurricane off Baja, the effects caused by El Nino, the
jet stream and the ozone layer. He is aware of the temperature,
humidity, pressure, and electrical activity in the clouds for thousands
of miles. And these many aspects of the atmosphere he is aware of
all at once without relying on thought or having to change his mental
focus from one thing to another.
Cargoste's mind is like the sky itself. It is a piece of art designed
by Divine Providence. It is full of magnificent and awesome beauty.
To meditate with Cargoste is to be free of all personal desire and
need. It is to taste absolute freedom and its works are the changing
of conflict into harmony and discord into music.
Now let us turn out attention to the earth element. I think in my
mind the name "Mentifil" and in an instant he is present in my
room. I can see him standing several feet to my right. To me,
Mentifil is as awesome and mysterious as Istiphul or Cargoste. I
have spent at least eighty hours meditating with Mentifil in the last
two years. He has taught me to meditate on the planetary metals.
These meditations are a prerequisite for working with the electrical
and magnetic fluids used in alchemy and for producing the
philosopher's stone.
Mentifil has the most remarkable light in his aura. In the air
around him shines a brownish black light. It is as if silence has
taken on a color that glows in the air. It is an endurance. It is a
patience. When you look at Mentifil's face, he looks academic like
a scholar. He looks shrewd and clever like an inventor. He is
detached and questioning like a scientist engaged in an endless series
of experiments. But still, the aura remains.
It is as if you could take the essence of a mountain chain and boil it
down, distill, and refine it so that the result is a silent patience and
endurance lasting through the ages. Mentifil's aura is a magical space.
If you get close enough you see the events of thousands of years
flickering before you eyes, passing by in a few moments of time.
I imagine a gnome like this never gets lonely. His interest and
curiosity never dies. Sights and sounds from eons before are still
fresh in his memory as if ancient events happened a few hours
before. But Mentifil does not mourn or feel attached to the past.
And though he is very busy, you can see it in the way he stands--he
looks like he has a lot he has to attend to and is ready to get back to
it the instant we are through. Still, he is, always was, and will
always be captivated by what is happening in the present moment.
His concentration is that total.
There are stone circles I have entered which were set up five
thousand years before. The energy in them is still strong. You can
sense the various rituals which have been practiced in them at
different times in history. But there are also a few stone circles
which do not belong to the past at all. They are carefully designed
for a future time. They await the right person to enter them and say
the right words so that they may be activated and release the
treasures sealed within their granite.
Mentifil's aura is like that. He is an embodiment of great treasures
and mysteries of the earth. And like those stone circles, he is
waiting for that time when a race of beings on this planet will come
forth. And saying the right words, comprehending his mind, and
seeing through his eyes, treasures of wisdom, ancient and unknown,
shall be released to be celebrated through all the world.
The Irish bards of old trained for seven years in darkness. When
they came out of their caves, the darkness and silence remained with
them the rest of their lives. In their eyes and ears, images and
sounds were now wrapped about with enchanting delight. But if
Mentifil's aura were a dark cave of silence which you entered to
practice the bardic arts, seven years of training would barely give
you a taste. No, a different procedure is required. You have to
learn to think like a gnome--to become the solidity and silence of a
mountain, immerse your mind in a precious stone, or join your
consciousness to a element in the periodic table so that there is no
remainder of yourself to be found.
But I will tell you a short cut so you do not get caught up in
practicing austerities involving sensory deprivation and also so you
do not become obsessed with the mastery of occult techniques. You
only need to love the earth. And then the darkness and the silence
become luminous and full of songs of wonder, endless beauty, and
delight. Mentifil will then see in your aura a light more precious
than gems and more valuable than the quintessence of nature's
elixirs. He will make working with you his first priority.
As I sit here next to Mentifil his aura begins to blend with my
own. In a strange way, I feel at home. I have a Virgo moon in my
natal chart. Those with this aspect often have a strong penchant for
being solitary and enjoying silence in spite of the loneliness this may
entail. I think again of the poet who said of his God, "A thousand
years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is passed or as a
watch in the night." I do not mean any disrespect to the psalmist
view of God's qualities when I say--in Mentifil's mind, a thousand
thousand years is but a moment though he can recall it all that he
has seen of it. But modes of perception such as this are best
approached in your own way and in your own time.
There is a philosophy which states there is nothing in human
experience which can not be transformed through an expression of
love. If Mentifil's silence and wisdom were captured in the touch of
lovers, this poem might express the experience:
When the stream falls asleep and dreams of rain
When the mountain forgets its mass and weight
Its cliffs towering
It roots running deep
And walks among the stars
Listening to their songs in the night--
I sit against a redwood tree a thousand years old
The smell of the forest drowsy in my bloodstream
I sit within a circle
My back to a stone placed five thousand years ago
I reach back with my palms
And feel its tough endurance
The lichens clinging to its rough surface
The stone rests so comfortably
Within a quiet peace
Its pulse throbs faintly
To the temperature change of day and night
The seasons, the ages, the eons,
It still holds conversations with other times
I dream with the stream, the mountain, the tree, the stone
Till I awake within your heart to discover--
For this purpose was I created:
To love you
And to celebrate together
The stars giving birth to light
The dark womb giving birth to the stars
I am no longer alone
By your grace
My doubts are vanquished
My illusion dissolves
My confusion is gone.
The gust of wind
Its ebb and flow
Holding its breath and letting go,
The waves of ancient seas
Memories sinking down
Into limestone
Metamorphic and igneous rock
Outcrops twisting and blending,
Driven by the winds of time--
These transformations, as are my own,
Are woven into one Song
In the silence of the night
By the beauty within your heart.
Let us go also into fire. One of the salamander's Bardon mentions is
Itumo and Itumo's interest is in lightning and electrical storms. I
imagine myself within a thunderstorm. And this imagination seems
real enough. It is not so difficult to find a thunderstorm when
thousands of them are raging every moment around the earth.
There are the violent up and down drafts of wind. There is rain
and the churning of clouds. And there is an electrical tension being
stretched and pulled like a strong man bending steel bars with his
hands.
Itumo appears in my room. This is not a solid manifestation. I do
not think anyone else would see him except a psychic or clairvoyant.
But his presence is a brilliant, sparkling light and with it there is an
immense amplification of the energy within my throat chakra.
Itumo's aura is a declaration in and of itself. It says, "If there is
something you need to get gone, I am the conviction and the power
that manifests it" As I mediate a few moments more, it becomes
clear what he is all about. He says, "You can find anything if it is
what you require to accomplish your work in life. To do this, you
only need to comprehend my mind."
I spend a few more moments attuning my mind to his. He says,
"What you see around you--the flashes and explosions of lightning--
all this power is found within you. When you join yourself to a
stillness so complete opposites are united within you then you shall
attain all that you seek. Make no mistake--I exist to remind the
human race that there are will and power enough to alter any fate
and to attain any destiny."
Meditating with Itumo it is easy to see how the most difficult
problems can be solved and the greatest obstacles overcome. To
bring this insight down into the physical world so it actually changes
something takes a lot of work. It requires you learn how to amplify
and sustain the electric and magnetic energies within yourself.
I have given brief examples of what it is like for me to interact
with the beings of the four elements. If there is a single message I
wish to communicate in this book it is that the planet on which we
live is astonishingly beautiful. Nature is not dead. It is neither
threatening us nor is it slowly deteriorating due to pollution. Nature
is full of magnificent treasures of spirit. When we can find these
treasures within our hearts, we shall be transformed.
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