We spent a whole presentation looking at one class of non-human entities, the elementals. They are important because they comprise the bulk of monads on the emotional plane and are its functioning matrix. There are, however, three further classes of entities, and we will start today by looking at:-
2. The Emotional Bodies of Animals are an extensive class. Yet, it does not occupy a critical position on the emotional plane since its members usually stay there for a very short time. The vast majority of animals have yet to be individualised. When one of them dies, the monadic essence, manifesting through it, flows back again into the group soul from where it originated, bearing with it whatever advancement or experience it had been able to attain during earth life. It is not, however, able to do this immediately; the emotional body of the animal rearranges itself just as in a human’s case. The animal has an actual existence on the emotional plane, the length of which, though never great, varies according to its developed intelligence. In most cases, it does not seem more than dreamily conscious but appears perfectly happy.
The comparatively few domestic animals, who have already attained individuality and will therefore no longer reincarnate as animals, have a much longer and more vivid life on the emotional plane than their less advanced compatriots. Such an individualised animal usually remains near their earthly home and in close touch with its special friend and protector. This period will be followed by a still happier period of what has been called dozing consciousness, which will last until, in some future world, the transitions from the 3rd to the 4th Kingdom and a human form is assumed. During all that time, the animal monad was in a condition analogous to that of a human being in the mental world, though at a somewhat lower level.
One interesting sub-division of this class consists of the emotional bodies of those anthropoid apes mentioned in The Secret Doctrine. These apes are already individualised and will be ready to take human incarnation in the next round, or perhaps some of them even sooner. Remember, you usually move up a kingdom per chain, not per round. These apes are an exception due to how they came into being in the first place. This is a topic we have already covered.
It is sad to realise that in what we would term “developed” countries, animal emotional bodies add significantly to the general feeling of hostility on the emotional plane because the organised butchery of animals in slaughterhouses and for “sport” sends millions into the emotional world, full of horror, terror and shrinking from Humanity. These feelings have been intensified by the practice of vivisection.
We now come to a fascinating order of entities, 3. Nature-Spirits of all Kinds.—This class is so large and so varied that it is only possible to give a limited idea of the common characteristics. Nature spirits are one of those parallel evolutions I often speak about. Consequently, they have an evolutionary pathway quite distinct from our own. Their only connection with us is that we temporarily occupy the same planet. They appear to correspond, in an evolutionary sense, to the animals. They are divided into seven great classes, inhabiting the same seven states of matter permeated by the corresponding varieties of elemental essence. Thus, there are nature- spirits of the earth, water, air, fire and ether — they are definite, intelligent, emotional entities residing and functioning in each media. Only the members of the air class typically reside in the emotional world, but their numbers are so prodigious that they are everywhere.
In mediaeval literature, earth-spirits are often called gnomes, water-spirits undines, air-spirits sylphs, and ether-spirits salamanders. In popular language, they have been variously called fairies, pixies, elves, brownies, peris, djinns, trolls, satyrs, fauns, kobolds, imps, goblins, good people, and the list goes on. Their forms are many and varied, but most frequently, they look human in shape and are diminutive in size. Like almost all emotional entities, they can assume any appearance at will. However, they undoubtedly have favourite forms, which they wear when they have no reason to take any other. Usually, they are invisible to physical sight, but they have the power to make themselves visible by materialisation when they wish to be seen.
At the head of these classes is a great Being, the directing and guiding intelligence of the whole department of nature, which is administered and energised by the class of entities under its control. These great devas are known by the Hindus as:
Indra, lord of the Akasha, or ether.
Agni, Lord of Fire.
Pavana, Lord of Air.
Varuna, Lord of Water.
Kshiti, Lord of Earth.
As already stated, the vast Kingdom of Nature spirits is, in the main, an emotional kingdom, though a large section of it relates to the etheric levels of the physical plane. There is an immense number of sub-divisions or races among them, individuals varying in intelligence and disposition just as human beings do. Most of them avoid humans altogether: our habits and emanations are distasteful to them, and the constant rush of emotional currents set up by our restless, ill-regulated desires disturbs and annoys them. Occasionally, however, they will make friends with human beings and even help them. A helpful attitude is rare: in most cases, they exhibit indifference, dislike, or mischievous delight in deceiving and tricking us. Many instances may be found in lonely mountainous districts and the séance room.
They are greatly assisted in their tricks by the mesmerising power of glamour, the ability to create illusions that they possess so that their victims see and hear only what these fairies impress upon them, precisely as with mesmerised subjects. Nature spirits, however, cannot dominate the human will, except in the case of weak-minded people or those who allow terror to paralyse their will. They can deceive the senses only, and they have been known to cast their illusory spells on a considerable number of people at the same time. Some of the most impressive feats of Indian jugglers are performed by invoking their aid in producing collective hallucination.
They usually have little sense of responsibility, and their will is generally less developed than the average person’s. They can, therefore, readily be dominated hypnotically and employed to carry out the magician’s will. They may be utilised for many purposes and will carry out tasks within their power faithfully and accurately. In certain mountainous regions, they are also responsible for spinning an illusion over a lost and confused traveller so that the traveller sees, for example, houses and people where they know none exist. These delusions are frequently not merely momentary but may be maintained for quite a considerable time, the person going through -quite a long series of imaginary but striking adventures and then suddenly finding that all their brilliant surroundings have vanished and that they are left standing in a lonely valley or on a wind-swept plain. This reminds me of the song by Genesis, “A Trick of the Tail”. Listen to it, and you will see what I mean.
To cultivate their acquaintance and friendship, a person must be free from physical emanations which they detest, such as those of meat, alcohol, tobacco, and general uncleanliness, as well as from lust, anger, envy, jealousy, avarice and depression, i.e., the person must be clean and unobjectionable both physically and emotionally; good luck finding that person. High and pure feelings, which burn steadily and without wild oscillations, create an atmosphere where nature spirits delight in bathing. Almost all nature spirits also delight in music: they may even enter a house to enjoy it, soaking in the sound waves, pulsating and swaying in harmony with them.
Nature spirits must also be attributed to many “physical phenomena” at spiritualistic séances. Indeed, many a séance has been given entirely by these mischievous creatures. They can answer questions, deliver random messages by raps or tilts of an object on an Ouija board, exhibit “spirit” lights, materialise objects from a distance, read thoughts in the mind of any person present and precipitation of writing and drawings. They could, of course, also employ their power of glamour to supplement their other tricks. These nature spirits do not set out deliberately to harm or deceive but naively rejoice in their success in playing their part and in the awe-stricken devotion and affection lavished upon them as “dear spirits” and “angel-helpers”. They share the delight of the sitters at a séance and feel themselves doing good work in comforting the afflicted.
They will also sometimes masquerade in thought forms that humans have made and think it a great joke to flourish horns, lash a forked tail, and breathe out flames as they rush about. Occasionally, an impressionable child may be terrified by such appearances. Still, in fairness to the nature-spirit, it must be remembered that they are incapable of fear and do not understand the gravity of the result, probably thinking that the child’s terror is simulated and a part of the game.
None of the nature spirits possess a permanent reincarnating individuality. In their evolution, a much more significant proportion of intelligence is developed before individualisation occurs. What do they individualise into? Devas. The life periods of the different classes vary greatly, some being short, others much longer than our human lifetime. Their existence, on the whole, appears to be simple, joyous, and irresponsible, such as a party of happy children frolicking in a park.
On that happy note, let us leave it for today and resume to complete our look at nature spirits and finish off with the devas, rounding out our look at the non-human entities in the Emotional World.