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The change illustrates the difference between the natural THE ELEMENTALS. 207 force cognised by science on the physical plane and the same force in its antecedent astral manifestation. In that manifestation, indeed, the force must not be thought of as having the complete animal conscious- ness and volition, but it is in a measure alive and sus- ceptible to the influence of a higher order of conscious- ness. The degree to which the living elemental force can be controlled by a human will, will of course vary, within limits not alone as great but enormously greater than those within which the power of different human beings on this plane to control a horse will vary. The analogy must not be pushed too far, but the relations on this plane of men and animals are helpful in suggest- ing the relation on the other plane of men, or superior spiritual beings, and elementals. Just as adequate courage and self confidence will enable some men to control savage beasts, though a failure of resolution or courage may lead to a reversal of the parts, so with the elemental agencies. These will turn against human interference if the person who meddles with them is not strong enough for the task he attempts, though to a large extent on the astral plane living elemental force is plastic to the influence of even a very moderately powerful human will—even to human desire hardly expressing itself in a conscious act of volition. It is not to be expected at present that the conditions under which the astral elemental force is made to express on the physical plane the impulses of will imparted to it on the astral, should be rendered fully intelligible, but the experience of occult phenomena 208 THE GROWTH OF THE SOUL. as well as the abstract assurances of occult teaching show that the transition is possible. It would be only when occultly trained that a will impulse impressed on the elemental agency associated with the lump of coal in the above illustration, would be able to set its physical manifestation in activity, but, as I say, the transition would be possible. This is the explanation of well authenticated cases in which fires and lamps have been kindled in an abnormal way in the presence of some peculiar kinds of spiritual mediumship, and occult information leads to the belief that similar phenomena are familiar to the experience of advanced occultists. Another illustration of the connexion between physical plane forces and astral elemental agency may be taken from a department of natural phenomena of which we know even less than of those associated with com- bustion. Let us consider a heavy block of stone. which we wish to raise. The force which bears it down towards the centre of the earth is one which we can measure with great exactitude and call by a familiar name, but we do not know much about its mode of working. We can only control it on the physical plane by so arranging matters that a preponderating volume of itself or some other force counteracts the tendency we wish to overcome. Occult teaching about all physical force, however, is that it is the physical plane mani- festation of some elemental force. There must thus be an astral counterpart of gravity and in its astral manifestation it must be in some measure alive and must come within the influence of a _ higher-plane volition. Here we get a clue to the comprehension of THE ELEMENTALS. 209 the principle on which advanced occult power is known— not merely in former ages of the world but in the present day—to manipulate heavy masses of matter by will power. The thing happens also in the experience of Spiritualism continually. It is another illustration of the translation of force from one plane to another, which is merely a question of controlling elemental agency to an adequate degree. But the mystery of such translation is something apart from the aspect of elemental agency on the astral plane. In reference to the process of translation we must be content for the present to know that the achievement is possible, and to realise in that way the continuity of natural forces—the coherence of the whole scheme of force on different planes—and to foresee the direction in which man’s control of matter on the physical plane may be expected one day to extend. Let us now pass in imagination on to the astral plane altogether and take note of such information as we can gather concerning elemental agency as manifesting there. Every branch of occult teaching will always be found to gear in with others. ‘he natural history of elemental agency in its first and broadest outlines recalls attention to the fundamental principles of planetary evolution. In the beginning of a planet’s life, before the evolution of its mineral body—not to speak of its vegetation and animal life—the nucleus of cosmic activity which is going to be a planet, is the arena of certain elemental evolutions following one another in due order. Before the formation of the mineral king- 210 THE GROWTH OF THE SOUL. dom we have been told, the scheme of things to which we belong provides for the successive evolution of three kingdoms of elementals. The statement at first carried no very definite meaning for uninitiated hearers, but even at first it conveyed, in a grand faint outline, the idea that those kingdoms of nature of which we have cognisance were the outcome of mysterious forces acting on matter of a finer order than that into which it was ultimately kneaded. It now appears that the three kingdoms of elementals which preceded the mineral evolution are in no sense extinct. We are concerned with a later stage of the process but the earlier agencies are still in activity. Cognisable in fact in varying degrees there are three kingdoms of ele- mentals still in touch with the evolution of the planetary chain,—force, that is to say, looking at the matter from another point of view, in three orders of mant- festation. ‘They do not all belong to the astral plane, and the two higher must be thought of as belonging properly to more spiritual planes though mterpene- trating the astral. Remember that the astral plane is a sphere of activity for higher faculties than those which properly belong to it; also that it is sub-divisible into planes as described in the preceding chapter that differ one from another in a marked degree. Remember also that in speaking now of the two “higher” king- doms of elementals we are looking back along the course pursued during the descent of spirit into matter. The higher elemental kingdoms were the earlier in the order of manifestation, the first to emerge from non- manifestation. The lowest of the three is most highly THE ELEMENTALS. 211 developed or organised, the nearest to the still more elaborately evolved, finished, or materially perfected physical plane. The higher kingdoms can only be got at, so to speak, by powers on a level spiritually with that to which they belong. In order to deal with them at all a human being must have passed up the cycle of evolution again till his consciousness and will are in activity once more (plus the experiences of physical incarnation) on the higher planes. The thought will present no difficulty to any one who has grasped the first principles of occult teaching in regard to cosmic evolution, and the bearing of it on the subject in hand tends to simplify rather than to embarrass the inquiry before us. For the present we may ignore the two higher or earlier elemental kingdoms. The third or that nearest to physical manifestation is the one with which human conscious- ness of the ordinary type is most nearly concerned. All varieties of elemental agency visible to explorers of the astral plane who are able to cognise its pheno- mena without being as yet on the more exalted levels of spiritual evolution, belong to the third kingdom, which, however, iS varied to an extent that renders its division into different orders and classes a task of considerable difficulty. Let us attempt to realise some of the principles on which that classification must proceed. The elemental forces, to begin with,—I will endea- vour later or to deal with the subject of elemental beings,—are divisible according to the states or condi- tions of matter with which they have to do in their manifestations on the physical plane. We all know 212 THE GROWTH OF THE SOUL. of the solid, liquid, and gaseous states of matter, and occult students know something of four other states in an ascending series. The corresponding elemental forces are those described in poetical language, as gnomes, undines, sylphs, and salamanders. The gnome does not mean a sub-human dwarf inhabiting mines. This is the caricature of the idea developed by imperfect information grafted on an ill-trained imagination. The gnome or earth elemental is the astral force related to the phenomena of solid matter. So the undine, or water elemental, is not a fairy dancing in a fountain, but a natural force related to liquid matter ; the sylph, or air elemental, is the similar force related to gaseous matter; and the salamander, or fire elemental, to the vibrations of the ether. At this point, however, the classification may seem toe crude to be scientific. There are common attributes in all three states of matter. Weight, for instance, is as much an attribute of hydrogen as of lead ; molecular vibration is going on in the motionless rock as well as in the waves that dash against it. ‘here is no force we can think of which belongs exclusively to either liquid, solid, or gaseous matter. In the same way, however, the various elemental agencies do not act singly and independently of each other, but in infinitely varied alliances.