Elementals are spirits connected with the four elements of ancient philosophy and traditional Western magic. The ancient Greeks and Romans thought that everything in the world was composed of a mixture of four fundamental qualities, which they called Fire, Water, Air and Earth. Magicians assigned a class of elemental spirits to each of these elements. An elemental spirit partakes of the nature of its element, and is able to control the forces associated with its element. For example the elemental spirit of Air is airy and controls the forces of the wind.

Do not confuse the elements with the physical materials fire, water, air and earth. These substances merely express in their natures the qualities of the elements whose names they bear. They are a good way of understanding the elements. If you consider the qualities of earth, you will gain an idea of the element Earth. Material soil is heavy, relatively dry in its natural state, cool to the touch, and tends to clump together or be found in clods. The element Earth is present not only in soil, but in all things heavy, dry and cool. Metals embody the Earth element. So do crystals. So does wood, although wood also contains latent within it the element Fire. No natural substance is a pure element. No heavy, cool, dry matter is composed solely of Earth, with none of the other three elements added in. The four elements are perfect, but no physical substance is perfect.

Fire is hot and dry.
Air is hot and moist.
Water is cool and moist.
Earth is cool and dry.

Fire and Air tend to rise upward, Water and Earth tend to fall downward. Fire and Water are opposites and are antagonistic, as are Air and Earth. Fire and Air are friendly to each other, as are Water and Earth.

Elementals are called by various names, but the set of four names applied to them by the German magician Paracelsus is most commonly used today. Paracelsus called the Fire elementals Salamanders, the Water elementals Undines, the Air elementals Sylphs, and the Earth elementals Gnomes.

Salamanders are explosive and quick in their movements, very bright, with extreme and unstable emotions. They can assume many forms, but their forms usually reflect the appearance of a flame. They favor the male form. For example, were a Salamander to put on the appearance of a man, its hair would be wavy and red, its complexion flushed, its eyes like embers, its body slender and active, its touch hot and dry. Since Fire is associated with the Will, Salamanders tend to be very forceful and opinionated. They want their own way. They can best be employed in matters that involve the exercise of will power, such as conflicts with others, tests of courage, battles, warfare. It can be dangerous to evoke Salamanders since random fires may begin burning in various parts of the building where the evocation takes place. Salamanders are extremely difficult to control and deal with, and should only be employed by a magician who knows exactly what he or she is doing.

Undines are sensual, mobile, graceful in their movements, somewhat dark, with very strong and persistent emotions. They favor the female form, and are found living in streams, natural springs, ponds and lakes. For many centuries it was believed that Undines would appear to traveling men in the forms of beautiful, naked young women, and while charming the men would pull them to their deaths beneath the surface of the water. There is some truth in this tale. Undines are the most human and seductive of the four elemental types. They tend to be sympathetic and loving. In appearance they most often assume a human shape with long dark hair, dark eyes, very pale white or bluish skin, slender bodies, very graceful hands. They are always extremely beautiful, but may be at the same time strange or otherworldly. Their touch is moist and cool, and their hair appears damp and clinging. Undines are useful in matters dealing with love and friendship, bonds of emotional intensity, desire and lust. The only danger in evoking Undines is falling in love with them, which can happen very easily. Their prolonged presence in a house tends to make it damp and unhealthy.

Sylphs are active, energetic, quick of movement and of speech, subtle, clever, intelligent, persuasive, but at times mocking and superficial. They are light complexioned, with light brown or dark blond hair, usually. Their eyes tend to be blue or grey. They may come in either male or female form, but have a slight preference for the male body. They usually appear in bodies that are only partially formed and transparent, but when they assume human shape they are thin, not muscular, with long arms and legs, deep chests, usually short hair. Their touch feels very human and normal. Their faces tend to be angular. They can be beautiful, but are not so sensual as Undines, and by nature are more aloof and detached. Sylphs are helpful when trying to accomplish matters that involve the intellect or products of the intellect, such as works of art, letters, books, ideas, religious dogmas, political manifestos, or the persuasion of others through ideas. There is little danger in evoking Sylphs, but they have a mild contempt for human beings and will lie very convincingly when it suits their purposes. Be vigilant against deception when dealing with them.

Gnomes are not like the funny little men in the pointed hats that go under this name in popular folklore, but they are by nature more substantial than the other classes of elementals. They dwell in holes, mines, crevices and caverns in the ground. The best place to communicate with them is in a cave or cellar. They are the most fallibly human in their personalities, and are prey to all the weaknesses in human nature. They take the male and female form about equally as often. When they manifest in human form, they tend to have dark hair, dark brown eyes, olive complexions or sometimes darker skin, short and heavyset bodies, short arms and legs, powerful hands, a wide mouth, a deep voice and ringing laughter. Usually when you deal with a Gnome, or any other elemental, it will not assume a fully human form but will remain somewhat elusive to the senses -- you may be able to feel and hear it, for example, but not see it clearly.

The four classes of elemental spirits are the work horses of modern magic. Any purpose a magician may have can be placed under one or the other of the four elements, and in this way recommends itself to a specific class of elemental. Elementals are summoned and banished through the use of the pentagram, which may be drawn in a variety of ways. There are five general ways to draw the pentagram, linked to the four elements and to the fifth element of Spirit or Light, also known as the quintessence. Elemental Light does not have its own class of elementals. Each form of the pentagram linked with one of the four lower elements may be traced in two ways, to evoke or banish. For example, the pentagram of Air, which controls the Sylphs, may be drawn in one manner to invoke or call the spirit, and in another manner to banish or send away the spirit.

I want to make this clear about the pentagram -- there is only one pentagram, which is a star with five points and interlocking lines. It is traced by a single, continuous line that returns to itself. Which element the pentagram belongs to is determined by which of the five points begins this line. Whether the pentagram invokes or banishes is determined by which direction, sunwise (clockwise) or widdershins (counterclockwise), the pentagram is traced. The elemental association of the pentagram, and whether it invokes or banishes, can only be determined by observing the actual process of its formation, unless the finished pentagram is marked in some way to distinguish it.

The number of spirits in each of these four elemental classes is beyond counting. They are obedient to the will of the magician if the magician is serious and in complete control of his own emotions, and knows what he wishes to accomplish. If the magician is weak or uncertain, Salamanders will be angry, contemptuous, and may become violent; Sylphs will be mocking, uncooperative, and may attempt to deceive; Undines will be beguiling, and attempt to seduce and manipulate; Gnomes will be surly, stubborn, and may commit acts of vandalism. If the magician is very uncertain of his art, or treats the matter as a joke, the elementals will usually refuse to appear or manifest themselves at all.

Historically, Gnomes were the most popular type of elemental because magicians used them to locate lost objects, to find rich deposits of ore in the ground, and to reveal the locations of buried treasures. In the centuries before reliable banks, when wealth consisted of gold or silver coins, it was not uncommon for individuals to conceal their savings under the ground. It is the Gnomes, by the way, who control the response of the dowsing wand, not the Undines, as you might expect -- dowsing is used to locate minerals and metals just as often as it is used to find water. The original dowsers were German miners, who employed the dowsing rod to find new veins of ore.

Undines were most often employed for sexual purposes. They make excellent lovers, and when treated with kindness and respect, will remain faithful to the magician for years. Some might find their chilly embrace unappealing at first, but it is surprising how quickly you become accustomed to it. They have the ability to provoke intense physical arousal in a man or woman at will, and to sustain it for as long as they wish. It is possible for a man to remain erect for five or six hours, even longer, when stimulated by an Undine, with no loss of intensity. This may not be believed by those who have no experience with this type of love-making, but it is assuredly so. The sensation of an Undine's caress is indescribably sweet, quite beyond any physical caress. It can only be compared to the sensation of a narcotic coursing through the blood. Physical exhaustion on the magician's part is the only limit to this type of love play.

Sylphs are most often employed in searching out occult knowledge by magicians. These spirits have access not only to the libraries that physically exist, but also those that were destroyed in past ages but continue to survive in the astral realm, and also to libraries of an inhuman type that never had a material existence in our world. Dealing with Sylphs is seldom an intimate or emotional experience, as can be the case when dealing with Gnomes or Undines. Sylphs are emotionally detached from human desires and motives. It is easy to love an Undine, or feel fondness for a Gnome, but difficult to interact with a Sylph.

Salamanders are best left uncalled. On those occasions when you wish to cause destruction to a specific place or person, a Salamander may be sent, but there is always the danger of backlash. Salamanders do not like being told what to do, and must be compelled with words of power and the sigils of superior spirits. They resent this control. I should emphasize this point: Salamanders are dangerous! Leave them alone, and they will leave you alone.