---
title: "Gaining the Senses of an Elemental, by André Consciência"
url: https://staging13.perseusarcaneacademy.com/post/gaining-the-senses-of-an-elemental-by-andre-consciencia/
date: 2024-10-01
modified: 2026-07-03
lang: en
author: "Perseus Arcane Academy"
description: "Introduction I have written before about the elementals, from the mythological, psychological and cultural point of view, traversing different traditions in time and space and reuniting, as hermeticism requires, the..."
categories:
  - "Franz Bardon"
  - "Guest Post"
tags:
  - "Elementals"
  - "Franz Bardon"
image: https://staging13.perseusarcaneacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/7766595d-34b0-4e94-90b3-35900cacde6b.jpg
word_count: 3748
---

# Gaining the Senses of an Elemental, by André Consciência

## Introduction

I have written before about the elementals, from the mythological, psychological and cultural point of view, traversing different traditions in time and space and reuniting, as hermeticism requires, the various traces in a universal stance, from there and from the influence of the grimoires deriving the magical applications. I have written from research and personal experience and experimentation, philosophically, in what a grimoire is concerned, and in fable, from which I recommend [Duende – Dreams of a Kingdom Under the Earth](https://www.amazon.com/Duende-Dreams-Kingdom-Under-Earth/dp/B0CN5CTHYD#:~:text=Duende:%20Dreams%20of%20a%20Kingdom%20Under%20the%20Earth%20Paperback%20%E2%80%93) (Star Lore Publishing) and [A Magical Study Series vol I – A Guide to the Elementals](https://courses.perseusarcaneacademy.com/b/aKPsI). Because of my previous writings, this article will not be introducing the concept itself, and will jump directly to the heart of the matter I have in mind: obtaining the senses of a sprite.

## Background  

Franz Bardon, in Initiation Into Hermetics, writes:

> “Neither fairy tales nor sagas exist for the true adept, because they are to be understood as a sort of symbolism concealing many deep truths. It is the same thing with all the gnomes, nymphs, fairies and salamanders. Based on his own observations, the magician can convince himself that beings like these really do exist. On the other hand, a magically untrained person whose senses are thoroughly undeveloped is of course subject to the vibrations of the material world only and will never be able to form a mental picture of the existence of any other kind of beings, to say nothing of being convinced of this fact. Most people are preoccupied by the material mode of life to such a degree that they will not understand anything higher and subtler outside our physical world and least of all will they perceive it. It is quite otherwise with a magician who is developing his senses purposefully and therefore will see and perceive far more.”

Yet, when it comes to obtaining the senses of an elemental, Bardon works only with the substance of the elemental (i.e. the magician loads himself with the Earth element in order to become a gnome) and the shape of the elemental, that Bardon recommends be sought on the magic mirror or through clairvoyant trance. In other words, shape and substance are involved, but not the senses. Surely enough and to Bardon’s defense, he does mention consciousness transference, hinting that the magician should perform it.

> “An elemental being can come to an understanding only with a congener, a fact that ought to be considered most carefully. A bird is well matched only with another bird. In the same way, an elemental being will have an understanding only with a congeneric being, i.e., a being of the same element. Provided it should like to come in contact with another being, it would be bound to adopt a human form and human qualities to approach man in the form of man. At this point the magician will realize why he had to perform transmutation exercises in the previous steps.”

But when it comes down to practice, what is given is:

> “If the magician has convinced himself of the gnomes’ shape, he only has to mentally take the shape of a gnome. Moreover, he must identify himself with the earth element, i.e., load his whole shape with the earth element without any accumulation. Now the magician has to imagine nothing else but to sink down into the subterranean realm of the earth.”

Because most readers read even occult texts at the surface level (and rest assured a good grimoire has about ten layers of depth and meaning), transference of consciousness will unlikely be practiced beforehand. 

Even it being practiced, at the earlier stage in which the now formed magician is, capturing the senses of an elemental in their totality and with clarity will pose a great challenge. 

Still, Franz Bardon gives us more than usual. Before I had come to the point where we work with the elementals and the elemental realms in Initiation Into Hermetics, I had tried the methods of Papus with the magic mirror, who writes in the “Traite Méthodique De La Magie Pratique”

> “The magic mirrors are essentially organs [instruments, vehicles] of condensation of the astral light, so that coal, crystal, glass and metals can be used in their construction, in their manufacture (...) ... the simplest of magic mirrors is a crystal glass filled with pure water. It should be placed on a white napkin with a light placed behind. (…)  all these mirrors have the sole purpose of producing the effect of concentrating in one point, in a portion of the astral light and to put the life of an individual, the individual conscience, in a direct relation with the universal memory field conservative of all things, all facts, all forms.”

He proceeds to say the eye will feel stings when fixing the mirror but, with prevalence, the hues will start to change and the shapes to appear. There is a folkloric consecration of the mirror and a prayer to Anael. Added, are some prayers to the elemental kings taken from Eliphas Levi, whose methods, Levi having inspired Papus, are sensibly the same as Papus. Concerning evocation, an interesting explanation of the tools is given, and we proceed to inscribe on them kabbalistic formulas and names. No explanation is given about why these names should be any special beyond their conceptual meaning, or even how the formulas work. 

I had some vague impressions on the mirror, enough to understand there was an interference and that such interference was different from element to element.

I had also reached the point in the Golden Dawn system where we travel to the tatwas, which is to say, to the elemental realms.  We relax and enter a meditative state, concentrate on a specific Tattva symbol, visualize the symbol as a doorway to the ether, and we penetrate that doorway with our subtle body.

There is no loading us with the element (focusing on the tattwa symbol does it but too subtly and almost by accident, since there is no instruction) and no transforming our shape. Most of what I got were distant fading translations, human mental specters of what the elemental powers are at their very root. This took place from 2002 to 2003 and I still have the magical journals, the records meaning more presently than at the time, since analogy was at place. 

Be that as it may, these experiences were extremely incomplete and poor when compared to the experiences brought about by Initiation Into Hermetics. So, did Bardon work for me? It did, to the point where I can now write this article. You may find it is difficult at first, traveling to the elemental realms and engaging. Your senses are diminished you are dispersed and the elementals you will find are dim and dispersed as well. For instance, if you look at a fire, it keeps flickering. It is hard to engage with a tongue of fire as it keeps moving, appearing and disappearing. The kind of salamanders you may find at the beginning are like that. But as you deepen your efforts, you deepen yourself as a salamander, and you find your kin: if you stop looking at the surface of the fire, the root of the fire is stable and sovereign. 

Another thing that is not mentioned is you need to start being able to perceive the elementals through the material world, since the material world, and not a tattwa symbol, is the best window to understand the operations of the elementals. 

This being a matter for another time, I shall proceed and give my instructions on how best to develop those elemental senses, so you do not start with your senses diminished and your perception scattered, finding relevant experiences and encounters much sooner.

## The Appearance and Subtle Senses  

### Gnomes

![](https://staging13.perseusarcaneacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/72ae47e0-206d-4f55-8d16-1cdb0cd7a2df-627x1024.jpg)

In A Guide to the Elementals, while describing the gnomes, I include the following elements:

*Mental Body/Neurological System*

*They have a shining crystal at the top of their heads capable of lighting the dark interior paths of the earth, their eyes are almost blind and they sense with the light. Their heads are mostly empty. The crystal above their heads is analogous to their intellects and brains, and in a way, it is very similar to the crystalline that the magician has properly enlivened and activated in order to peer into the invisible world and communicate with it as well as to bring the astral sources to density. Gnome’s heads are empty, as are their lower minds. They perceive through the electromagnetic volt of silence and light.*

*Astral Body/Nervous System*

*There are two organs similar to glands, located in the armpits, responsible for perception of gravity and pressure in gnomes, so that their feelings and actions on the astral level occur mostly through magnetic gravity and electric pressure. Forming a downward triangle with these two, at the region of the stomach, there is a sensor responsible for organising pressure and gravity into the notion of space and structure. In the midst of their silence gnomes receive this input and shine their crystal light upon it.*

*Etheric Body/Endocrine System*

*At the umbilical region, they turn structure into meaning and they sense mystery: their awareness of these things is mostly physical, while ours is predominantly intellectual at the present time. Four glands below it, in our region of the bladder and intestines, are responsible for segregating etheric fluid condensers based on meaning and altering the energy of etheric objects. These are similar to the four elements in men.*

This is one of those fairy tales that is no fairy tale for an adept. Yet, it but indicates or illustrates a method, not being it. 

The same can be said for:

“We can explain the natural formation of gnomes by a conjunction of electric fluid concentrations surrounded by spheres of magnetic fluid encased by the elemental fluid of the earth element. These come to be inhabited by astral larvae ignited by solar sparks that are, in turn, imbued with the divine principle of the radiation of the mind.”

This passage indicates that you might further prolong your explorations and better sustain yourself in the shape of the elemental if you, having gone so far as to master the electromagnetic volt, perform the same in yourself and impregnate it with the corresponding element with the wish that it feeds on the universal Sun to maintain itself, no matter the plane regarded. Also start breathing as the elemental (gnomes produce magnetic fluid out of the electric fluid; sylphs produce the electric fluid out of the principle of light; undines produce the magnetic fluid out of the cold; and Salamanders “inhale Light from the Akasha and exhale back Air. At the same time, they inhale Light from Air and exhale back the Akasha.” This way, the elementals will no longer see you as a ghost or mirage, but as bone and flesh, so to speak, and will see the semblance of a saint among them. It was known since the Ancient Egyptians, as can be derived from The Book of the Dead, that the subtle body not only breathes, but feeds, if it wishes to be stabilized. 

Regarding the first passage, here is what must be done:

1. Perform vacancy of mind until that diamond hard or impenetrable light starts to build or segregate in your psyche and inside your skull. Let it build to the point of saturation and open it up to the space surrounding you. Be with the light and in the light.

2. Through the light, you might be tainted to try and feel the space around you as you usually do, imprinting in the light, from out of memory, your other usual senses. Don’t. Instead, begin to perceive only in terms of pressure and gravitation: that is, the vibration of the objects towards themselves and the vibration between them. Let this be your only sense of structure and distance for now.

3. As you stay with this notion of the space around you, you will begin to understand it as a whole and your light will automatically start to infuse this “mandala” and intensify its oscillation. 

4. Choose a particular part of the room, and the same will begin to happen in a more localized manner. While you are fixed in this part of the room or on one of the room’s objects, begin to project a new vibration that comes from your imagination: this mixing of vibrations is called a trajectory in terms of how the gnome moves. 

In the most physical way possible, this is how a gnome works. The appearance of the elementals can vary greatly depending on the plane we are looking at or from. On the subtler planes they appear to work in a more graceful and loose manner to the human eye, yet the basic mechanism portrayed is still at play. For instance, if I look at an undine from the most material angle possible, the undine will almost always look horrible, dark gray and smell of rot and fetidness, due to the melancholic, fermenting and dissecting aspects of the water element. This is the reason why Meister Gregorius of the Fraternitas Saturni has described the elementals as devoid of light:

> “Very often, all sorts of strange formations become visible at the edge of the circle, most of them of grotesque appearance. They need not be paid attention to. These are so-called elemental beings, which look dark gray and lack any radiation.”
>
>
>
>
>
> *The Esoteric Light Ritual, 1950*

However, when you look at that same undine through the astral light or the mental plane, she often shows herself as extremely beautiful and pleasurable to see and feel, exhaling those aspects of nurturing love and healing eternity we know. This is why, also, you are to take that shape of the elemental that comes from the mental matrix and forms the astral shape, easily captured on the mirror, more than the one that comes from the astral matrix to the ridges of solid matter, since this will give you malleability and intellect and not restrict you solely to the elemental sensory organs. Nevertheless, without those sensory organs firmly placed, you will likely remain unrooted and drift.

### Sylphs

![](https://staging13.perseusarcaneacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/aca02fe6-d65e-43b8-ba3a-86c9ca852904-710x1024.jpg)

*Mental Body/Neuro system*

*If you strip down all the adornments that decorate, personify and animate them, sylphs can usually be perceived as a Y shape made out of seven spheres of light, the first three forming a downward triangle between them. It is this triangle and the sphere below it that form the mental body. In the two points at the top of the downward triangle, there are organs of memory and free association, radiating or being processed in the sphere below, which is an organ of savouring whose activities translate as wisdom. Below that sphere, in turn, there is the sphere organ of intuition, which has six lateral rays or filaments, one to perceive in the mental plane, one to perceive in the astral plane, one to perceive in the physical plane, one to capture impressions of the past, one to capture impressions of the present and finally one to look at the future.*

*Astral Body/Nervous System*

*Under the spheres mentioned above, there stands the climatic sensor, it has two rays, each one threefold. The ray on the left is the sensory organ for measuring temperature, humidity levels, and weightlessness. On the right, the nervous filaments can measure electricity, electromagnetism and magnetism.*

*Etheric Body/Endocrine System*

*Under the sphere that functions as a climatic sensor, there stands a sphere that digests the fluid of the air element in its lighter solar aspect.*

*Physical Sensors/Limbs*

*Right below the digestive organ, there stands the defective sphere or organ, which at one end uses the solar light to produce oxygen and on the other, uses it to produce further thermal polarisation and cause winds.*

Observe your thoughts until you relax into it then start inserting thoughts and memories, allowing your mind to answer them by itself. You will realize to this state of mind everything is a question to be answered, even that which has no question mark, and it answers not by reason but by free association. Keep observing these associations, how some are related to the present, some relate to the past, some to the future and how some connect these different points. How some are ideas, some are emotions, some are sensations and some connect these different aspects as well. As you prolong the observation with enough detachment, not answering the questions yourself but allowing the mind to move according to them, you will start to feel a sense of enlightenment. This is how a sylph thinks: he does not block the wind.

Now expand your mind to include the sky, and you will immediately realize the same mechanics apply to the weather: its causes and effects, play of electromagnetic charges, temperature, humidity and intensity seem to work by macrocosmic passive memory and free association. Observe the weather, which now moves inside you as well, in this way, and you will soon notice you are automatically breathing the air element and the light within it. After several repetitions, as this becomes second nature, a magical control of the air element will start to occur. This is the basic sensory structure or mode of being of a Sylph.   

### Undines

![](https://staging13.perseusarcaneacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/d3fae01c-d826-4714-8b7a-91a9d9599332-768x1024.jpg)

*Mental Body/Neuro system*

*If you see undines through an x-ray, they can usually be perceived as a curved line with seven centres and seven radiations, topped by a tail with a sphere close to it, and a head on the bottom that is crowned by a halo. It is the sphere close to the tail, the head and the halo that constitute the mental organs. The energy circles from the sphere down to the head, sublimating as the halo. This sphere is similar to a magician’s crystal bowl, but at the same time, an intrinsic part of the undine and not more separate from her than a human’s crown chakra is separate from the human. Through such a sphere, the mermaid perceives with extrasensory abilities and is able to impregnate space. The sphere is electromagnetic in nature while the head is of an electric nature and is the organ of thought. The halo is magnetic and symbolises the ecstatic state of grace of the being.*

*Astral Body/Nervous System*

*The spine or curved line with seven centres and seven rays is the astral body with the nervous organs of the undine. The seven rays represent her auric body and are emitted from the seven centres. The top centre, near the tail, represents conception, after which comes the centre of emotion into which conception develops, then the centre of expansion of that emotion, the centre of wonderment and processing or crystallization of such expansion, the centre that magnetises the feeling, the centre that directs it and finally the centre of secretion of the whole line into a dream-like ambience. The rays have the colours of the rainbow.*

*Etheric Body/Endocrine System *

*This part of an undine’s structure corresponds to the tail, which gives the undine movement through swimming the magnetic currents.*

*Physical Sensors/Limbs*

*Together with the seven rays there come seven dark emissions of some sort of anti-matter. While the light waves of the seven rays capture the dark particles, the seven dark emissions dissolve them into oblivion, which seems to magnetise the physical presence of the undine.*

Enter clairvoyant trance and look long at your heart center. You will see and sense a variety of visions and sensations. When you have relaxed into it and are flowing naturally with the stream of vision, try and insert a thought into it, and another. This is how an undine thinks. You will see this thought reflected back but transmuted by the heart, and this is the grace of the undine. This process of transmutation is described in the seven rays, whether they are in the positive or negative pole. 

As you become increasingly conscious of this automatic process of transmutation, you can start to influence it intentionally, learning how an undine navigates the magnetic fluid. 

### Salamanders

![](https://staging13.perseusarcaneacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/ae1331da-0b69-423a-ba97-df8e16678699.jpg)

*Upper Body*

*The upper body is enveloped by something similar to a hood. This casing seems to preserve the proper conditions of void darkness to cause the secretion of light. Inside it there are the arms of the 'Y' with two spheres or eyes in each edge. While one sphere captures, emits and perceives the magnetic fluid, the other does the same for the electric fluid. The arms function as limbs that cause the circulation of both fluids in the structure or body.*

*Middle Body*

*The middle body, the stalk of the 'Y', functions as both an antenna and a lightning rod. It conducts the electric and magnetic fluids and filters it into the mental, the astral and the etheric planes in accordance with the three horizontal lines. Around it there seems to be a violet cloak, suggesting wings that function as organs responsible for the ingestion of the air element.*

*Lower Body*

*The two arms of the inverted 'Y' work in a similar fashion to the upward 'Y', but the spheres or eyes at their edges capture, perceive and transmit movement and time, backwards and past, forward and future. The sharp line that descends from the middle pierces all concepts of duality and obliterates them. It is this organ or limb that, curiously, attaches the salamander to the physical plane.*

Again, practice vacancy of mind until from out of the emptiness a sense of light starts to build. Careful not to form any thoughts (meaning thoughts that have form, not meaning intention), look clairvoyantly into this uncorrupted and supreme light that manifests through the extension of your vacancy. Hold it until you see the light start to refract, likely first between silver-white and golden-white, then maybe red and blue hues. Study how they function, what they capture and what they transmit. Impregnate both hues with the desire to see all things and start breathing them simultaneously through your mental body, astral body and physical body. As you continue, the gift of prophecy is endowed upon you: seeing proportionally in all directions, your word, your vision, is carved in fire upon the fabric of existence. This sums up the skeletal structure of how a Salamander perceives and moves often automatically or unconsciously. 

![](https://staging13.perseusarcaneacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/462567a2-6d36-4c6d-9ada-e16483caaedd-461x1024.jpg)

---

## Learn with Andre

[Journey to the Spirit World: Exploring Neo-Shamanism](https://courses.perseusarcaneacademy.com/b/journey-to-the-spirit-world-exploring-neo-shamanism:-levels-1-5)

[Ceremonial Magick and the Franz Bardon Tradition (Levels 1-3)](https://courses.perseusarcaneacademy.com/b/ceremonial-magic-and-the-bardon-tradition-levels-1-to-3)

[Magic and Mystical Introspection](https://courses.perseusarcaneacademy.com/b/pJtvd)

[Andre Consciencia and his Training Curriculum](https://staging13.perseusarcaneacademy.com/post/andre-consciencia-and-his-training-curriculum/)