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And in truth that view of the matter rather than the tale of our sorely tried heroine represents the normal course of events, An absolutely normal experience for her, even, would have been unconsciousness on the astral, such happiness on devachanic levels as her nature was capable of assimilating, and a return to life with her character no further developed than at the period of her death. But it may sometimes happen where powerful intervention is possible in the interest of a particular entity, that life on the astral plane may be specially directed with an end in view. The story just told really indicates the activity on behalf of the soul concerned, of beings powerful enough to guide it through THE ASTRAL PLANE. 201 a course which however painful at the time was in the truest sense of the phrase a blessing in disguise, averting calamities in future lives which would have been infin- itely more terrible in the long run. Had the soul con- cerned returned to earth life at some future date without having undergone the astral training described, it would infallibly have misused the opportunities of that life more terribly than ever, and would have launched itself on a long career of miserable incarnations that would incidentally have been fraught with consequences on other planes as well, beside which the temporary suffer- ing imposed as a purifying process would have been insignificant. But exhaustive speculation along these lines would constitute a protracted essay on the mysteries of karma, with which as a general rule the -life of incarnation has certainly more to do than that of the astral plane. ; I have made some reference already to the vast varieties of non-huinan existence by which all the regions of the astral plane are more or less saturated. With these, however, the normal entity after death has not much to do, and this branch of the subject may be more conveniently considered by itself. 202 THE GROWTH OF THE SOUL. CHAPTER VIII. THE ELEMENTALS. FEW subjects connected with occult research present greater embarrassment to the student than those which attend an inquiry into the nature of the Elementals. The term is vaguely understood to apply to beings of a superphysical order, and except for the broad state- ment that they are non-human, but subject to the control of human will, while varying in their nature over an enormous range of characteristics, the informa- tion available until considerable progress had been made with theosophical teaching—until the publication, indeed, of Mr. C. W. Leadbeater’s wonderful treatise on “ The Astral Plane ’’—clouded, more perhaps than it elucidated, the mysteries connected with their place and functions in evolution. In the beginning of that teaching out of which our present Theosophical know- ledge has been developed, information concerning the elementals was avowedly withheld on the ground that it was all but impossible to be explicit on the subject without revealing secrets that related to the exercise of occult power. It was by the intermediation of the elementals, we were told, that the physical plane phenomena of occultism were brought about; as also those which in a sporadic and unscientific fashion took THE ELEMENTALS. 203 the shape of marvellous occurrences at some Spiritual- istic seances. In various Theosophical books reference was made to elementals of earth, air, fire, and water, to gnomes, sylphs, salamanders, and undines,—following the nomenclature of some medizval writers on occult mysteries,—but every statement of this kind darkened the whole subject instead of clearing it up, and left the mind of cultivated students disturbed by a feeling that the statements in question were not merely unin- telligible, but designed rather to put a veil over, than to elucidate the subject. Step by step, however, it has been possible for some of us to make a little progress in the comprehension of the deeply intricate mystery in question. As the number of modern Theosophical students qualified to transfer their consciousness to the astral plane, and to retain in their normal consciousness a recollection of what they learn there, gradually increases, it becomes possible for others to push their inquiries nearer and nearer to the impassable barriers that separate the knowledge of the outer world from that of initiated occultists. And we thus know something more about the elementals now, than at the outset of the Theo- sophical movement. We can at any rate begin to dis- entangle scientific truth from poetical imagery, and to formulate conceptions concerning elemental agency which harmonise, as far as they go, with definite physical knowledge, and suggest a line of thought calculated to link on that knowledge with the deeper mysteries of Nature. Without plunging into the middle of the subject 204 THE GROWTH OF THE SOUT. by endeavouring to comprehend the elemental agency to be observed in activity on the astral plane, a better beginning may be made by the ordinary thinker if he starts with the consideration of the natural forces in observed action around us, realising that an inquiry into the nature of occult elemental agency, is actually concerned with tracing back these natural forces on to the other plane where they are presented to view in a more refined, or, in one sense, a more primitive mani- festation. Let us consider a lump of coal subject to heat to an extent that effects its combustion. If we endeavour to trace out the process fully, we shall not find theories of physical science entirely established even within their own domain. It may be argued that as heat increases the activity of the molecules of free oxygen hammering in their vibrations against the molecules of carbon (disregarding for a moment the other elements in the coal), their vibration becomes enhanced until they interlace, and thus engender molecules of carbonic oxide. If this view is held to be insufficient, as not accounting for the development of fresh heat, we may perhaps think of the initial heat as first of all breaking up the chemical union previously existing amongst the atoms of the various elements entering into the com- position of the molecules of the coal. We may assume that by intensifying their vibration it causes these atoms to burst the bonds of attraction which held them in the organisation of the molecules, as the sun of the solar system on a larger scale holds together the planets in a definite scheme of organisation. Vibrating THE ELEMENTALS. 205 then in contact with atoms of free oxygen, the atoms of gas or carbon liberated from the coal find the same energy of movement which dissociated them from the former molecular arrangement, conducive to their adoption of a new one. The adoption of the new one is in turn productive of a shock to the surrounding ether which sets up in that medium the phenomena of heat and light. This interpretation of what takes place is rough, but is probably defective rather in what it omits than in what it asserts. At all events force has undergone a metamorphosis. The force that held the atoms of the coal molecule together has been converted into the force holding together the molecules of the new compounds, plus the sensible heat vibrations of the ether. For the moment let us pay attention to these last only. They constitute a force plainly called into being by the combustion of the coal. In a certain sense they were latent in the coal before it was burned. But we know from the concurrent testimony of every- one who can intelligently observe the phenomena of the astral plane that all physical objects have their astral counterparts on that plane—the lump of coal as well as everything else. ‘Then it is intelligible that there should be, as we are assured there is, an astral counterpart of any force inherent or latent in that lump of coal. Here we get to the humblest conception that can be formed of the elementals. The astral counterpart of the force in the coal capable of being, under certain circumstances, converted into sensible heat vibrations of the ether, is what in very loose and inappropriate 206 THE GROWTH OF THE SOUL. ( phraseology might be spoken of as “‘ an elemental,’’— but somewhat more accurately as elemental essence. Its individualisation as an elemental would be due to a misconception of the matter. The elemental force in the astral lump of coal is as much part of an ocean of such force as the heat vibrations on this plane are merged in the ocean of ether. But the astral counter- part of the force—as soon as we are in a position to observe that-——is found at once to present one character- istic which differentiates it widely from its manifesta- tion on the physical plane. It is amenable—in a way which is not the case with its physical plane manifesta- tion—to the influence of the human will. That is a force of a higher order by which it can be controlled. On this plane it might be symbolised by an animal, say a horse, entirely without senses or nerves of sensa- tion. You cannot get him to move either by speaking to him or by prodding him. But if you shove him forward forcibly enough he will begin to walk to avoid tumbling down and will even pull a cart if it is fastened to him. To stop him you must build a wall in his way strong enough to arrest his progress. How very different a creature does the same horse become as soon as we endow him with the usual senses! His consciousness, such as it is, is then capable of receiving impulses from the consciousness of a human master. We can set him in motion or stop him by a touch or a word. His strength becomes something we can direct, his volition, guided by an imperfect intelligence, something on which we can impress our will.