We discussed Nature Spirits in the last presentation—time to get down to the nitty-gritty. There is no sex among nature spirits, no disease, and no struggle for existence. They have keen affections and can form close and lasting friendships. Jealousy and anger are possible to them but seem quickly to fade away before the overwhelming delight in all the operations of nature, which is their most prominent characteristic. Ironically, there are images of Satyrs from Roman times that depict them as sexual creatures. By the way, the main difference between a faun and a satyr lies in their physical attributes and characteristics. Fauns, originating from Roman mythology, have the hind legs of a goat and the torso of a man, symbolising peace and fertility.
On the other hand, in Greek mythology, satyrs have human legs and are depicted as stocky, hairy creatures with horse-like ears and tails. Satyrs are known for their wild and inebriated nature, often associated with wine and revelry. While fauns are more peaceful and harmonious, satyrs are typically lustful and sly. Additionally, fauns are linked to Roman deities Faunus and Fauna, while satyrs commonly follow Dionysus. These distinctions highlight the unique characteristics and roles of these mythological creatures.
Back to their bodies, which have no internal structure, so they cannot be torn asunder or injured; neither has heat or cold any effect upon them. They appear to be entirely free from fear. Though tricky and mischievous, they are rarely malicious unless seriously provoked. As a body, they distrust Humanity and generally resent the appearance of a newcomer on the emotional plane, so they usually meet them in an unpleasant or terrifying form. If humans decline to be frightened by them, they soon accept them as a necessary evil and take no further notice, while some may even become friendly. One of their keenest delights is to play with and to entertain, in a hundred different ways, children on the emotional plane who are what we call “dead”.
Some less childlike and more dignified nature spirits have sometimes been revered as forest or local village gods. These would appreciate the flattery paid to them and would no doubt be willing to do any small service they could in return.
The Adept knows how to use the services of the nature spirits and frequently entrusts them with pieces of work, but the ordinary magician can do so only by invocation, that is, by humbly attracting their attention and making some bargain with them or by evocation, that is, by compelling their obedience. Both methods are highly undesirable: evocation is also exceedingly dangerous, as the operator would arouse hostility, which might prove fatal. No pupil of a Master would ever be permitted to attempt anything of the kind. Controlling Nature Spirits is the preserve of the devas. Please leave it to them. Only black magicians attempt to rouse this kingdom of nature.
The highest type of nature spirits consists of the sylphs or the spirits of the air, with the emotional body as their lowest vehicle. They have intelligence equal to that of the average human. The standard method for them to attain individualisation is to associate with and love the members of the next stage above them — the emotional angels or devas. A nature spirit who desires experience of human life may obsess a person living in the physical world. There have been times when a particular class of nature spirits have physically materialised themselves and, in this manner, entered into undesirable relationships with men and women. Perhaps from this fact have come the stories of fauns and satyrs, though these sometimes also refer to quite a different sub-human evolution.
In passing, it is worth noting that although the kingdom of the nature spirits is radically dissimilar from the human — being without sex, fear, or the struggle for existence — the eventual result of its unfoldment is equal to that attained by Humanity.
We finally come to the cohort of entities that you know well, 4. The Devas.—The beings called by the Hindus devas are elsewhere spoken of as angels, sons of God, and other names besides. They belong to an evolution distinct from that of Humanity, an evolution in which they may be regarded as a kingdom next above Humanity. In Oriental literature, the word deva is also used vaguely to mean any non-human entity. It is used here in the restricted sense already stated. They will never be human because most are already beyond that stage, but some have been human beings in the past. Fools.
The bodies of devas are more fluid-like than those of humans, the texture of the aura being looser; they are capable of far more significant expansion and contraction and have a certain fiery quality, which is clearly distinguishable from that of an ordinary human being. The form inside the aura of a deva, which is nearly always human-like, is much less defined than in a human: the deva lives more in the circumference, more all over their aura than a human does. Devas usually appear as human beings of gigantic size. They have a colour language, which is not as definite as our speech, though, in specific ways, it may express more. Devas are often near at hand and willing to present and exemplify subjects along their own line of expertise to any human being sufficiently developed to appreciate them.
Though connected with the Earth, the devas evolve through a grand system of seven chains, the whole of our seven worlds being as one world to them. Very few in our Humanity have reached the level at which it is possible to join the deva evolution. Most of the Deva Kingdom recruits have been derived from other humanities in the solar system, some lower and some higher than ours.
The deva evolution aims to raise their prominent ranks to a much higher level than that intended for Humanity in the corresponding period. The three lower great divisions of the devas are:
(1) Kamadevas, whose lowest body is the emotional:
(2) Rupadevas, whose lowest body is the lower mental:
(3) Arupadevas, whose lowest body is the higher mental or causal.
For Rupadevas and Arupadevas to manifest on the emotional plane is at least as rare as for an emotional entity to materialise on the physical plane. Above these classes are four other great divisions, and above and beyond the deva kingdom are the great hosts of the Planetary Spirits. We are principally concerned with the Kamadevas here. The general average level of development among the devas is much higher than among us, for all that evil was long ago eliminated from them. They differ widely in qualities; a spiritual person may stand higher in evolution than some.
Their attention can be attracted by particular magical evocations, but the only human will which can dominate theirs is that of a specific high class of Adepts. As a rule, they seem scarcely conscious of our physical world, though occasionally, one may render assistance, much as any of us would help an animal in trouble. They understand, however, that at the present stage, any interference with human affairs is likely to do far more harm than good.
It is helpful to mention the four Devarajas here, though they do not strictly belong to any of our classes. These four devas have passed through an evolution, which is undoubtedly not anything corresponding to our Humanity. They are called the Regents of the Earth, the Angels of the four Cardinal Points, or the Chatur Maharajas. They rule, not over devas, but over the four “elements” of Earth, water, air and fire, with their indwelling nature spirits and essences. Other items of information concerning them are presented in this table.
They are the agents of Humanity’s Karma during our Earth life, and they thus play an essential part in human destiny. The great Karmic deities of the Cosmos, the Lipika Lords, weigh the deeds of each personality when the final separation of the principles takes place at the end of its emotional life and give, as it were, the mould of an etheric double exactly suitable to its Karma for the person’s next birth. But it is the Devarajas, who, having command of the “elements” of which that etheric double must be composed, arrange their proportions to accurately fulfil the Lipika’s intention. The term etheric double, in this case, does not refer to the “principle” etheric, which is part of the incarnating monad’s series of envelopes, but to the template that the devas responsible for building the body a monad incarnates into. So, the Lipika Lords determine the body’s blueprint and how it will look and function. The Devarajas built it, controlling the host of “elementals” we discussed.
All through life, the Devarajas constantly counterbalance the changes introduced into a person’s body and environment by that person’s own free will and that of those around the person. In this manner, Karma is accurately and justly worked out. They can take human material forms at will, and cases are recorded where they have done so. All the higher nature spirits and hosts of artificial elementals act as their agents in their stupendous work, but all the threads are in their own hands, and they assume the whole responsibility. They seldom manifest on the emotional plane, but they are certainly the most remarkable of its non-human inhabitants when they do. Why do we have four Devarajas instead of the usual seven of everything we seem to find in our Universe? There are seven, but outside the circle of Initiates, little is known, and even less may be said concerning the higher three.
In the next presentation, we will conclude our exploration of the inhabitants of the Emotional World by examining artificial emotional entities.