CHAPTER I—THE CHILDREN OF THE ELEMENTS

The ancient philosophers peopled the elements of Nature with races and species unheard of by the average individual. The wise men of all ages claimed that Nature works through intelligent forces, and not through mechanical laws. Upon this hypothesis has been built the doctrine of the Nature Spirits and elemental larvae. Paracelsus, called the Swiss Hermes and the first great physician of modern times, has given us the most complete analysis of these strange creatures who live, move, and have their being unseen and unrealized by mortal man. Though daily we see their works, we have never learned to know the workers who, day and night, function through Nature’s finer forces.

These elemental spirits may be divided into three groups: (1) The elementals of the four elements or ethers, which we commonly know as the Nature Spirits. (2) The man created elementals of the astral and mental planes. (3) The Dweller on the Threshold, or the individual elemental.