Elementals?

[Pegusta]

One aspect of the paranormal that’s got a special place in my heart is elemental encounters, especially modern day ones. There is in my opinion something profoundly intriguing with modern day people crossing paths with leprechauns, gnomes, fairies, elves and what have you. Nothing peaks my interest like hearing recounts of credible people having seen a good old grumpy “tomte” or some such being.

Needless to say it made my day when I listened to a woman recounting the time when she was out in the woods picking blueberries, and almost stumbled upon a little group of little people who were jumping up and down waving their tiny arms in apparent distress. She said she got the impression that they wanted to have the blueberries in this particular spot to themselves, so subsequently she carefully backed away, and a bit shaken went on with her berry picking in other parts of the forest.

One might easily presume, upon hearing this little story, that she was also picking peculiar mushrooms, and having just sampled a specimen prior to her encounter hallucinated the whole episode. I can however assure you that such an assumption would be wrong, as she clearly were not the hippie type.

Some pass off these types of phenomena as folklore – a remnant from the not so distant past when people sat in their candlelit houses telling fanciful stories after a hard day’s work in the field. A time when superstitious belief in the supernatural was a perfectly natural part in one’s daily life. After all with people living so close to nature and being so dependent on it for survival, maybe it’s perfectly natural for them to develop a relationship in which one “animates” the environment?

Some furthermore argue that it was a time when people were simpleminded, albeit hardworking farmers, not yet having had the grace of being illuminated by the scientific way of viewing the surrounding world. Some go on to say it was inevitable that these simple folk were bound to conjure up all manner of exciting fantasies and encounters just to pass the time and simultaneously making sense of perfectly natural phenomena.

I guess this way of describing early encounters of elemental- type beings has its merits. True to a certain extent at least, but at the same time also a terrible underestimation of our forefathers, and their handle on reality. Doing both them and us a great disservice in the process. And besides, people report seeing these types of beings to this day. In essence a phenomenon that can’t readily be dismissed as old stories.

Today this topic seems to me to be even more of a laughing matter than ufo encounters, not to say the least among ufologists. Naturally (and thankfully) there are great exceptions, with independent and creative thinking theorists like Vallee, Keel, O’Brien and others that have been willing to take the phenomenon seriously and also at the same time be willing to interpret and incorporate it within a wider perspective of the paranormal.

So what is your take on the elemental type encounters, past and contemporary?

Are they no more than the results of vivid imaginations? Or are they archetypal manifestations of our subconscious? Different life forms living alongside us hidden from our sight? Aliens (ET) in disguise? Interdimensionals? Ultraterrestrials? Or is it perhaps the trickster’s manifestations? Perhaps some type of manifestations of the natural world (earth) itself?

 

[Randall]

Hey, they're no more bizarre than some MIB stories ( including mine ), so who's to say that people haven't actually seen these things? What I would caution us on is unfounded extrapolation into beliefs about entire mythological worlds. We don't always know the real reason these phenomena manifest themselves or what they really are. But I don't doubt for a second that strange things do happen. The most responsible course of action is to record the experiences as objectively as possible and study them without drawing any unsubstantiated conclusions.

 

[Tyger]

One aspect of the paranormal that’s got a special place in my heart is elemental encounters, especially modern day ones. There is in my opinion something profoundly intriguing with modern day people crossing paths with leprechauns, gnomes, fairies, elves and what have you. Nothing peaks my interest like hearing recounts of credible people having seen a good old grumpy “tomte” or some such being.

Needless to say it made my day when I listened to a woman recounting the time when she was out in the woods picking blueberries, and almost stumbled upon a little group of little people who were jumping up and down waving their tiny arms in apparent distress. She said she got the impression that they wanted to have the blueberries in this particular spot to themselves, so subsequently she carefully backed away, and a bit shaken went on with her berry picking in other parts of the forest.

One might easily presume, upon hearing this little story, that she was also picking peculiar mushrooms, and having just sampled a specimen prior to her encounter hallucinated the whole episode. I can however assure you that such an assumption would be wrong, as she clearly were not the hippie type.

Refreshing post. Thank you.

Elemental beings are most definitely real and have been seen and recognized for thousands of years. I mentioned them on another thread - particularly in reference to atavistic clairvoyance - which will see the etheric forces as elemental beings or, in other words, as anthropomorphized beings. I have friends who study in this realm and feel that the abductee experience is an etheric experience, with elemental beings - how this would work out, I don't know, but I find it an intriguing explanation/possibility.

When I saw 'elementals' in the thread title I had such a twinkling of recognition. It's a rather fun area - I think. IMO elemental beings are lots of fun (or can be) - as their reputation attests. Though because they are forces they are also humorless. A force is a force of course becorse.....

Some pass off these types of phenomena as folklore – a remnant from the not so distant past when people sat in their candlelit houses telling fanciful stories after a hard day’s work in the field. A time when superstitious belief in the supernatural was a perfectly natural part in one’s daily life. After all with people living so close to nature and being so dependent on it for survival, maybe it’s perfectly natural for them to develop a relationship in which one “animates” the environment?

Folklore is important - not to be dismissed. All the evidence is that people in the past were not 'fanciful' as we are. They were pretty literal minded - and for them their literal worlds were alive with meaning and significance that we have lost in our way of being. They saw beings that we cannot see anymore. The evidence is in the stories they told - and of course some can still see into that realm.

Evidence of these 'little beings' - of many varieties - are spoken of across the world - from Ireland's 'little people' to Tibet where they talk of the 'manikens', the 'little men' that dwell in the trees. Again, these are the life forces that are being seen with clairvoyant vision. Without clairvoyance, our mind's eye 'sees' the forces of that world.

Some furthermore argue that it was a time when people were simpleminded, albeit hardworking farmers, not yet having had the grace of being illuminated by the scientific way of viewing the surrounding world. Some go on to say it was inevitable that these simple folk were bound to conjure up all manner of exciting fantasies and encounters just to pass the time and simultaneously making sense of perfectly natural phenomena.

They did not have the capacity to 'imagine' the way we do. It is only with the advent of the ability to think abstractly that 'fantasies' emerge. The ability to think 'scientifically' - causes people to see the world 'cold'. This is the danger of abstraction - but not anything we are condemned to. We are indeed saved by our imaginations - but plagued by our fantasies.

I guess this way of describing early encounters of elemental- type beings has its merits. True to a certain extent at least, but at the same time also a terrible underestimation of our forefathers, and their handle on reality. Doing both them and us a great disservice in the process. And besides, people report seeing these types of beings to this day. In essence a phenomenon that can’t readily be dismissed as old stories.

Totally agree. I have observed that the evidence of the past - and current witnesses to these phenomenon - are given far less credence than newer constructs around events like ufos and the paranormal. I've also seen people go to great lengths to explain phenomenon using only the ideas of cutting-edge physics - as though only couched in 'scientific' terms can anything be seen as 'correct'. It's a bit startling. I am unsure what to make of the very unscientific attitude towards all evidence and all ideas about the world, but it appears to be so.

Today this topic seems to me to be even more of a laughing matter than ufo encounters, not to say the least among ufologists.

Totally agree and it's odd. The most questionable paranoid ideas can be voiced - the most simplistic (and harrowing) renderings of 'ghosts' can be explored - and yet something as significant and life-affirming as elemental beings is sneered at. It's as though if the idea is old - it's suspect - not 'scientific', and therefore cannot be 'true'.

Naturally (and thankfully) there are great exceptions, with independent and creative thinking theorists like Vallee, Keel, O’Brien and others that have been willing to take the phenomenon seriously and also at the same time be willing to interpret and incorporate it within a wider perspective of the paranormal.

Vallee I have just heard of - I will look into the others at some point. Thank you.

So what is your take on the elemental type encounters, past and contemporary?

IMO they are real - the elemental world is real - interpreted in every age according to the capacities of those perceiving.

Are they no more than the results of vivid imaginations? Or are they archetypal manifestations of our subconscious? Different life forms living alongside us hidden from our sight? Aliens (ET) in disguise? Interdimensionals? Ultraterrestrials? Or is it perhaps the trickster’s manifestations? Perhaps some type of manifestations of the natural world (earth) itself?

A lot in this paragraph and I have to go now - but just to say quickly that there is a lot layered into this paragraph. In my understanding (and this is through my filters) the elemental world is not the trickster realm - that is the astral realm. We can misconstrue what we 'see' etherically (I have found that such terminology - very ancient - causes unease on this site for some) but that realm is pretty distinct. It is the astral realm that is mutable and a place that requires great caution.

I love the possibilities inherent within your last sentence.