Intimations of Immortality

By

William R. Mistele

Preface
This essay speculates on attaining astral and physical immortality. I
observe individuals who have astral immortality. I then reverse engineer
their abilities by exploring meditations that produce what they have.
The basic meditation is to imagine a vast space filled with one of the
five elements. Add to this a study of this element in all aspects as it
appears in nature on earth. In other words, you identify with being a vast
space filled with an element and then slowly work through different
images and aspects of that element.
This is not a “let us improve ourselves in this really neat and easy
way.” It is instead part of a solid curriculum for embodying within
oneself the creative powers of the universe. I like neat and easy but I am
required to master fundamental and primordial creative powers. The
primary reason for pursuing this is to enable an individual to solve
problems that no one else can solve.

Astral Immortality

When one of the four elements—earth, air, fire, water--becomes so

much a part of you that the energy in your aura has the same vibration as
that element in nature you have attained astral immortality--at any age in
this life or in any future incarnation, your astral body remains forever
new, fresh, life giving, and pure. For this woman, it is like the stillness
of the sun blazing in clear ice--the present moment shines brighter and
more full of beauty than anything else the mind can think of or
contemplate in life.

The Astral Plane

The astral plane is like a realm of dreams. The energy is thick and rich.
Every feeling you can feel, every dream that can be made real,
everything that comes to be—first it must pass through this place before
it can manifest.
Magic is in the air—like in a lucid dream, think of something and it
instantly appears. Any attraction or repulsion you can imagine is
instantly expressed through concrete situations wrapped in vivid colors,
images, and dynamic interactions.
Souls are here. Some are departed and some are not yet born. There is
a vast array of creatures and spirits in every form. And the beings of the
four elements dwell here as well. They have many things to teach us and
so many stories to tell.
Being here feels exactly like being in the physical world except there
are few limitations. There is no time and so there is no history that
restricts or binds. You are not forced to learn things in order to survive.
Busy or idle, playful or sober, you can pick any mood, express any
feeling you want, taste any bliss, make ecstasy your dish. You are free
except you are indeed limited by your soul’s vibration—which is to say
your imagination is inscribe with its own karma—heavy or light,
dwelling in darkness or the light—it is you yourself that illuminates your
own path here on the Other Side.
Human beings often have little awareness of the astral plane. For this
reason they are overly dependent on external experiences and
interactions in order to maintain the feeling of being alive and to
stimulate their emotions. Others wake up each night not only inside
lucid dreams. They are free to range about in our world or meet any
being on the astral plane. You could say such individuals are actually
within both worlds at once—the physical world we know and the astral
realm where any feeling can be focused on at will and an entire kingdom
created that reflects its life and essence.
 I often give this exercise. Hold one wrist with your other wrist. Notice
all the physical sensations you can—the texture, the temperature,
moisture, the presence of skin, muscle, tendon, bone, and blood flow.
Now without moving your hand in any way simply focus into the palm
that holds your other wrist one feelings such as “I love you with all my
heart, soul, mind, and spirit.”
You can probably feel the difference—there is another kind of
warmth, a penetrating awareness, a feeling of connection, a healing, a
bonding, etc. This set of feelings and sensations are the astral plane that
is always around and within us. As in this example, you can focus
completely on that one feeling and create it so it is tangible and real.
The astral plane, then, is different from the physical world in this way.
You can easily create kingdoms in which imagination and heart join
together to celebrate whatever light, love, and vibration you want.

Letters to Mermaids: Is not the astral plane lower?

Response

The astral body is in the shape of the physical body but is made of a
subtler substance. The astral body expresses our feelings and emotions.
It is receptive and impressionable. It gives a sense of being connected to
others. It enables us to respond with appreciation and sensitivity to the
specific situations that we enter. Our astral body in combination with
sensory impressions enables us to feel fully alive.
The astral plane surrounds and penetrates our physical world.
Sometimes referred to as the “other side,” the “world beyond,” or “the
next world,” the astral plane pertains to the realm of the soul. Mermaids
and many other conscious entities exist on the astral plane. Sometimes
we enter this realm in our dreams. The astral plane often presents itself
to us as being a dream like recreation of the situations, sensations, and
feelings we encounter in the real world
For many spiritual traditions, contact with the astral plane—the realm
of feeling and emotions--appears to be an obstacle or “the enemy.”
Religion and society consider it dubious at best when individuals
become distracted or fascinated by astral dream like visions and
experiences.
At the same time, the astral body mediates between the mind and the
physical body. If you are upset or angry, do not drive a car. Your
perception of the road and your ability to make snap decisions are
greatly impaired. Strong emotions actually interfere with an individual’s
ability to think. And the perceptions of the five senses are no longer as
clear.
But the astral plane and emotional life of the individual are not just a
realm of illusion, distraction, and selfish desires. It is also the realm of
inspiration and motivation that moves people to action and inspires them
to put forth their best efforts.
A coach talking to his team during half time or a commander speaking
to his troops before a battle—these men do not rely on ideas of the
mental plane and they no longer have time to engage in physical
training. What they do is transmit to those under their authority their
own sense of fearlessness, courage, conviction, and the ability to give all
of oneself without holding back to what one loves. What they are
communicating is pure astral energy. It is force of emotion. Use it well
and in a positive manner and you not only connect easily to others. You
can transform the world.
The original nature of the astral plane is revealed through refining and
combining one or more of the five elements so as to attain astral
immortality. Accomplish this and your very presence offers to others
direct experience with electrifying courage, endless wonder and
curiosity, down to earth and practical perseverance, and pure love.

Astral and Physical Immortality—The Water Element

“When I'm in the ocean, this world and all that I am in it goes away and
then I am myself again. It is effortless and a relief. For the time that I
am in the ocean I am home and I am my true self. There is nothing
hidden and nothing to worry about. I am surrounded by strength, love,
pureness, and I am at the core of my original being. There are peace and
serenity in my heart-- I find myself not wanting to regain my human self
again; I just want to live in that moment forever.
“If I were to try to get someone else to understand what I feel in the
ocean, I would have them hold my hand and float in the ocean letting go
of all of their worries. I would place my hand on their forehead and let
them feel how I am one with the water. I would have them use every
sense to feel what the ocean is. I believe others can feel what I feel as I
hold them in the water--that I flow through them as the water flows
around them. They may not understand it but they will feel it.”

Mermaids are united to nature at the core of their being. In effect,

mermaids are motivated to love because they never exist without a sense
of wonder, beauty, ecstasy, bliss, love, peace, and happiness. They can
love because love is endlessly overflowing through themselves like
streams of living water.
 Water in nature for mermaids is not just a lake, a stream, a waterfall, or
an ocean. Water in nature has an inner vibration that embodies the
essence of love. The human race as of yet does not sense the energy
underlying the element of water in nature.
A mermaid is not encumbered by a human ego--she is not dependent,
needy, worrying, defensive, cautious, or wounded. She may of course
acquire these emotions growing up as a young woman, but they are not a
part of the nature of who she is. What is she?
She is an immortal being--her emotional life is not subject to
deterioration but rather is forever new. She is continually young and she
never loses her innocence--she never stops giving of herself regardless
of how much she may have been abused or hurt in the past.
How do you acquire astral immortality like a mermaid? Again, the
mermaid perceives herself to be joined to the energies underlying nature.
Her personal identity, then, is not fragile and vulnerable. She is united to
a vast sea of love that encompasses the planet.
This awareness has nothing to do with human religions or theologies.
Nature is embedded in her very core and so she does not rely on a need
to think with concepts or use beliefs. She has direct perception of
energy, of the auras of those she meets, and of love. When you are in the
presence of a mermaid woman you are in the presence of an immortal
spirit from the astral plane who embodies the vibrations of love. The
essence of her realm within nature is the ecstasy of bliss, happiness, and
love.
It is small wonder that these women have had to disguise themselves
when they live among us. Their very existence shatters all human
systems of cognition and philosophy and offers a peace and hope the
great mystics of the earth have rarely tasted.
You will notice when you are developing astral and physical
immortality of the water element within yourself. You make, for
example, the realm of mermaids a second home. The mermaids treat you
as one of their own.
Your experience of time becomes multidimensional. On one level time
stops not because the hand no longer moves on the clock but because
your consciousness is focused on the astral plane. Here time is not
measured by the motion of the sun or by the electronic vibration of
atoms. And perhaps because you can easily access a kingdom of delight
and happiness--time in the outer world no longer seems so important or
even real.
You notice you can find within yourself a bliss that is ten times
sweeter than the sweetest bliss of lovers when they unite, kiss, or meet.
Maybe the difference is that lovers in coming together can give birth to
new life whereas the water element inherently gives birth to all life on
earth. You sense not just the life within you that you need or can
produce. Instead you sense all of life in whatever form it takes.
You feel an intense magnetic field around yourself that is so receptive
and giving that it animates and makes fully alive whatever comes in
contact with it. Even the dead when near you feel revived to the extent
they begin to think they must not have died. And the living who
normally feel half dead because they have not yet learned how to create
at will any feeling within themselves—they suddenly feel fully alive as
if life itself has anointed them with its beauty.
And this magnetism has another quality. It unites you to all the waters
of the earth so you feel the seas, rivers, lakes, and streams are right here
vibrating inside of you.
And the gravity of the moon that raises the tides and the entire
magnetosphere of the earth flow through your soul. Magnets have North
and South poles because that is the nature of iron. Astral and physical
immortality have the nature of reflecting and embodying the magnetism
of the entire planet.
So because you are not always in linear time, because you are so
receptive to making things alive, and because reflected in you is the one
magnetic field encircling the world, you can sense the place where
desires originate, the motivation and inspiration that awaken within the
soul, and the way life unfolds—sometimes the waters of life are like a
river that flows through a valley; sometimes calm and peaceful it moves
in quiet pools; sometimes like a flashflood, a rapids, or in high falls;
sometimes hidden underground or on the mirror like surface of a lake it
perfectly reflects whatever is around.
You perceive the curves and turns, the wild and the calm—the entire
river or stream is for you one dream—you see the beginnings and the
ends all at once. You can perceive the entire flow of life here in this
moment right now. This is the nature of water—it is all-encompassing.
A dream is not just a dream. A dream encompasses the desire and the
need and also the realization, the manifestation, and the fulfillment of
life in every conceivable way. This is not done using ideas, thoughts, or
analysis. It is accomplished through direct perception. You perceive
images filled with energy, fully alive, and completely real to you as if
you are there right now inside of them.
You will notice also that everything that water touches on earth is
somehow within your field of vision. Water in nature is a medium that
extends the range of your nervous system. This is not a third eye or
psychic action or a siddhi. This is the natural capacity of the human
body when it is receptive to faint impressions and vibrations.
Those who are united to nature from within have nature embedded in
the core of their being. The seas are then a backup energy system. They
do not just draw energy into themselves through eating, drinking, and
breathing. Water is like a dialysis machine that revives, purifies, and
energizes them. Jump into the sea or draw from that invisible, vaporous
energy that abides on the surface of water and you feel revived.
You will notice you acquire a vast range of emotional responses that
appear according to each situation you enter and with each person you
are with. Like water you adapt to each situation flowing and
experiencing itself in endless new ways. Ever in the present moment
whether calm and still, wild and surging, deep and serene, or daring and
courageous. As gentle as a ripple on a pond or as forceful as a tsunami
that extends around the world. Yet amid all this change you are the
same—receptive, responsive, embracing, and giving.
Basically then when you look inside yourself you find neither a
solitary soul seeking enlightenment nor is there a dark night you must
journey through to find love out there and perhaps somewhere a human
or divine union. Instead you find all the oceans, lakes, rivers, and
streams, and the icy poles too vibrating and reflected inside of you. It is
as if there is no longer a distinction between the inner and the outer
worlds. Nature is embedded in your very core. You are part of the planet
and far more.
All of these descriptions of water I have just given have been hidden
from the human race for various reasons. But now all of that has
changed. The human race does not yet know what it is that it seeks.
Being united from within to the beauty and wonder of this planet is a
possibility to consider. An entire realm of beings exist to celebrate this
union.

The Realm of Mermaids

The sensation is watery but lighter than water. The energy is vast and
continuously flowing. Love is everywhere. It is unbelievable innocent—
that is, it is completely open and receptive, new, self-renewing, and self-
purifying: it never loses its willingness to give all of itself in every
moment. That is what I call innocence.
And it is healing and tender. It is sweet, kind, and then the sensuality
kicks in—the bliss begins running through your nerves saturating them.
Here there are no inhibitions—what is deepest inside of you naturally
and without effort flows through what is deepest within another. The
exchange of energy is total and continuous.
And the peace and the serenity seem so vast they encompass the
universe.
If I imagine the mermaid queen Istiphul, her mind and mine
immediately join. The vibration of her mind is a nurturing, ecstatic love.
It is embracing, healing, creating oneness, fulfilling satisfying, releasing,
and strengthening whoever she interacts with.
Istiphul embodies a vast, watery expanse of love as pure astral energy
and this energy flows into and through anyone she wishes. This is one
embodiment of the water element in its full power and beauty.
As long as my mind is joined to hers, it feels completely natural for me
to do what she does—to embrace, flow through, become one with, and
seek to fulfill anyone I think about. My energy is within the other person
seeking to make them whole.
You will not find this energy among human beings as a pure, sensual,
perceptual energy exchange on this level. But without this awareness the
human race, for all its vast technological achievements now and more so
in the future, can become less evolved than it was fifty thousand years
ago. To be precise, without the astral water element flowing through
their souls, the human race faces this great danger--their technology may
continue to advance but their ability to care for anything living will
slowly diminish.

Note: See also my textbook, Undines: Lessons from the Realm of the
Water Spirits and my forthcoming book, Mermaid Tales.

Astral and Physical Immortality—the Air Element

The first thing I notice in meditating on embodying the immortality of

the air element is that I feel I am aware of the entire atmosphere of the
earth. I see it surrounding me and I feel it inside of me. The atmosphere
has its own currents, tides, streams, winds, and storms. As I sense these
things I do not feel separate from them. They feel like they are a part of
me.
This implies also an awareness of the gas and mineral exchanging
going on in plants, animals, rivers, and the sea—carbon dioxide, oxygen,
methane, etc.
This is similar to the default mental state of mermaids. If one of them
focuses on you it is fully present with you. But it if relaxes it takes on
the vibration of the sea. Similarly, as I relax during this meditation I feel
I have become the atmosphere itself. I no longer am aware of a me
sitting here. In effect, you feel united to the sky.
Since your awareness is open like the sky, your body feels also very
open like air. The body feels that air currents pass through it with great
ease.
There is a sensitivity to impressions like an artist. There is no conflict,
discord, or tension but these things are seen as part of a larger fabric or
tapestry that displays beauty, wisdom, and enlightenment. There is a
hero’s quest, a journey, or a method of ascending into higher
consciousness.
You can see this at family get-togethers. If there is an argument the
artist who is present and has a flair for the air element will sit there
memorizing every nuance of how each person is engaging the other. A
sylph, an air spirit, sees a storm like a like a Beethoven’s 7th Symphony.
An artist sees human experience as a great drama. Shakespeare could
have written with equal ease about peasants or bakers. Stories about
nobility and men of power just happen to sell more tickets to his theater.
Similar to mermaids, there is an extreme empathy. But with air it is for
the faintest changes and disturbances in air over large distances. Unlike
the mermaids, the focus is not on love and healing, but on harmony and
freedom. Detachment is always present even when there is extreme
sensitivity.
Breathing itself, as with an inhalation, is like eating a gourmet meal.
You feel the texture, vitality, energy, and the life force animating,
renewing, and rejuvenating in each breath. You actually feel you have
the body of a sylph with its acute sensitivity to the air element.
 There is an extraordinary and perhaps an individual’s greatest
experience of relaxation. There is a floating sensation of feeling free of
all gravity, weightless. And so you are also free of tension and also of
anxiety. There is no sense of worrying about the future. No constriction
within one’s lungs when some disturbing emotion passes through the
body.
You will notice that sylphs love those with an enlightened mind. This
is a mind that is open, clear, embodying freedom and that radiates
boundless light. For sylphs, such a mind expresses the essence of the
sky.
Add to this what is called Dzogchen which some of the sylphs embody
in its perfection. They are aware of all things going on at once and all
aspects of the larger and smaller situations and interactions without the
faintest reference to or reliance on thoughts. The sylph Cargoste is aware
of the entire atmosphere of the earth and how it is unfolding without
having to process any thoughts.
There is an awareness of electrical and magnetic charges in a clear sky,
in clouds, in the earth, and in energies like lightning discharging and
recharging. It is part of the dynamics of the clouds, sky, and weather.
You have the sylph’s clair-feeling—because you can sense the faintest
disturbances and changes in the atmosphere you can also sense how
people breathe and the breath within their lungs. Aware of the energy
within their chests, you can tell what it is like to be that person—that
individuals’ sense of freedom, how they approach the future, and the
way their consciousness is focused.

The background context for these meditations are drawn from Franz
Bardon’s book, Initiation into Hermetics, chapter III on the astral level--

“Let us now pass on to the exercises concerning the air element. Take up
the same comfortable position, close your eyes, and imagine yourself to
be in the middle of a mass of air that is filling the whole universe. You
must not perceive anything of your surroundings, and nothing should
exist for you but the air-filled space embracing the whole universe. You
are inhaling the air element into your empty vessel of the soul, and the
material body thorough the whole-body breathing (with the lungs and
pores). Every breath is filling the whole body to an increasing extent and
with more air.
“You have got to hold fast the imagination of your body being filled
with air by each breath in such a way that is resembles a balloon.
“Combine it at the same time with the imagination that your body is
becoming lighter, as light as air itself. The sensation of lightness should
be so intense that finally you do not feel your body at all.
“In the same way you did begin with the fire element, start now also
with seven inhalations and exhalations. With this exercise done, you
should again have the positive feeling that not the smallest particle of the
air element remains in your body, and consequently you should feel in
the same normal condition as before.
“By constant practice of this experiment, adepts will succeed in
producing phenomena of levitation such as walking on the surface of
water, floating in the air, displacement of the body and many more,
especially if one concentrates on one element only. But magician is not
satisfied with one-sided phenomena, because this would not agree with
his aims.”

The difference between the above practice and my own is that I do not
use Bardon’s suggestion regarding breathing. Energy just appears to me.
Breathing it in and out is redundant and actually inappropriate for my
nervous system.
Also, instead of an empty vessel embracing the whole universe I am
focused on the actual air element within nature on this planet, namely,
on the atmosphere. The elemental beings themselves are virtually
immortal. What I am after is that kind of immortality—as I have
mentioned, if you find nature inside yourself then your astral and
physical bodies do not deteriorate.
Of course you do not have to learn from nature but then again why
would you incarnate on this planet without learning from what is already
here surrounding you?

Bardon goes on:

“The magician visits each of the elemental kingdoms as often as he likes
and in each he learns whatever concerns the knowledge of magic. Going
into the air element, he will see the most beautiful beings with a
gorgeous, etheric body, soft and supple.
“The magician must mentally imitate the air spirits by moving about as
if floating in the air. Not long from now, the air spirits will address him.
“Here likewise the magician is cautioned against addressing any of the
beings first, lest the same ill fate should befall him as previously
described. If after repeated experiments the contact with the air sprites
has been established, they will inform the magician about whatever
concerns the air element. He will be taught many magic secrets and
practices of which no man living would have the least inkling.”

For me, if you think, perceive, feel, act like, and have the sense of
harmony of sylphs, then you are a sylph. And at this point the sylphs
will certainly consider you to be one of their own regardless of whatever
else you may do or be. To the extent you feel you are in a realm of
freedom and harmony, you are within the realm of the sylphs.

The Realm of Sylphs

Now then, I place my awareness in the realm of sylphs. I instantly feel I

am high in the sky on a clear day. The horizon of the earth circles
beneath me. I feel free. I am full of dancing energy. Nothing weighs me
down. There are no fences, no limits, and no boundaries.
Because my nervous system can sense any wind, storm, or weather
condition, I feel free of restrictions. The sky is my mind. It is open,
clear, luminous, and free of attachment or anything that would bind.
Like the atmosphere itself, I love harmony and balance. There is
constant give and take and negotiations taking place between opposites--
hot and cold, moist and dry, highs and lows, fire/light/electricity and
water/feeling/magnetism.
 But to be as one who dwells here most of all I love the enlightened
mind because it is totally free and I love the artistic imagination because
it is witness to every nuance in each moment unfolding.
If I imagine Cargoste, a sylph of astonishing ability, I can join my mind
with his as easily as I did with the mermaid queen Istiphul. As a sylph,
Cargoste is highly empathic as are sylph women. He is aware of the
faintest mental vibration. He is the perfect Libra—he embodies harmony
finding the perfect balance between himself and another person or spirit
or himself and a wind or the entire atmosphere of the earth.
Cargoste embodies wisdom—he is aware of the past, present, and
future of a person or of the atmosphere of the earth. He can perfectly
read another’s mind to the extent that he can speak to the person’s with
the individual’s own inner voice.
The difference between the mermaid queen and the sylph Cargoste is
that he is not after oneness and love. He is after balance and harmony.
Detachment is never a problem for him because seeing through the
other’s eyes and thinking the thoughts in the other’s mind is part of his
perception.
Translating this into human terms, the sylph wisdom includes the
power of voice, sounds, intonations, and language. What if you could
not just feel another’s needs and want to heal them? Not only sense what
they feel and want to help them?
What if you could speak with the precise words that persuade others to
take care of themselves? What if when you talked to another you made
perfect sense to that person and because of the way you speak, the
familiarity and understanding in your words, the person would rely on
you advice and follow through with your suggestions?
That is the power of the air element. It is not the active empathy that
makes another feel what it wants them to feel. This is directly interfacing
with the other’s mind so that person feels you totally understand them
with your mind. That is one aspect of the wisdom of air.
If you want to persuade and move others to action to pursue a good
end, then this might be one of the reasons you would learn to embody air
within yourself. This is an ability you can master through practice just
like training to become a pilot of a jumbo jet like one mermaid woman I
know.

See also my numerous posts on sylphs, for example, on each of the eight
sylphs described by Franz Bardon somewhere under my Notes on
facebook. I will put all of this into a short book on sylphs soon.

Intimations of Immortality—the Earth Element

If you think like a gnome, perceive like a gnome, feel like a gnome, act
like a gnome, and have the inner silence of a gnome, then you are a
gnome. The earth welcomes you home.

Astral and Physical Immortality and the Earth Element

You will notice as the earth element becomes a part of you

consciousness--
1. Your astral consciousness is independent of the external world. You
feel you are within your own time frame. Whatever you are doing or
focused on defines the passage of time for you. And this inner,
customized sense of time feels comfortable, grounded, and very
satisfying.

2. The vibration of the earth element is very cohesive and enduring. It

keeps track of everything it has done and experienced. It does not suffer
from forgetfulness. It is diligent, circumspect, thorough, and
accountable.

3. You feel rock solid like sandstone, limestone, minerals like lead, tin,
or gold or a rock a billion years old. Again, external time does not define
your inner nature. You can still act in the immediate moment if there is
something you need to do or if there is an emergency. But you never feel
impatient. You are independent of time.
You can synchronize with the electronic and atomic vibration of
elements. A carpenter building a house, a jeweler cutting a diamond, or a
sculptor working with bronze or clay may come close to immersing his
mind in vibration of physical matter. But basically gnome consciousness
like this is outside the range of all human endeavors.

4. Inner silence. There is no need to speak, communicate, or interact

with others in order to feel “normal,” to validate, or affirm oneself.
There is no insecurity as if you are in danger of losing something or as if
you need to play a role in society to maintain some status quo.
This kind of silence of elementals means they do not need to use
thoughts to think. They do not need to define or articulate their
intentions or purposes. They are aware and alert without needing to use
the cognitive layer of consciousness to analyze, evaluate, or make
decisions.
It can be said that the basic initiation of all magical traditions is the
ability to perceive without thoughts intervening. What is it like for
example to be another person? The earth element will place its
awareness directly within the other person’s body, feel the sensations of
what it is like to be that person, and so know directly the other person
rather than having to think or label using abstractions, concepts, or
indirect modes of knowledge.

5. Silence then is present in terms of having no thoughts, reduced or no

mental activity, and no need to reference the external world. As darkness
is to light and as a mirror reflects clearly the image that is before it,
silence is to sound. You “listen” to the extent you perceive without
distorting what is heard. Or, as is sometimes said, “Listen so well that
Divine Providence considers you part of itself.” The earth element has
that degree of receptivity, purity, and clarity of perception to hear what
things are most important to work on and to get done.
You will know when you possess gnome silence. When you relax and
focus on the present moment you will feel a quiet ecstasy inside. You
are always close to the things you care about and your dreams are
always near at hand.

6. If you perceive like a gnome, think like a gnome, act like a gnome,
feel like a gnome, and have the inner silence of a gnome, then you are a
gnome. The planet earth welcomes you home.
If you go to a Quaker silence meditation, a Catholic Centering Prayer
meditation, a Vipassana, Mahayana, or Vajrayana retreat you are still
practicing silence with and through a human personality.
Perhaps shaman who directly interact with plants and herbs or the
traditional Celtic druids who spend seven years in darkness enter the
domains of the gnomes in regard to silence.
Think of putting your personality off to the side, of putting ten thousand
years of human civilization off to the side, and then directly perceiving
the vibrations of plants, flowers, trees, rocks, mountains, minerals, etc.
Now you are home. Now you are within the space of silence that unites
you to the universe from within.

The Realm of Gnomes

 Intro the realms of gnomes
Into the realms of stones
Into the realms of bones
Some millions of years old
Into the realms of gems
Just because we can
Into the realms of gems
Here we go my friends
Into the hardwood trees
Into evergreens
Into flowers and seeds
Gnomes are busy as bees
Into the realms of gnomes
Gnomes are never alone
The earth is our home
The earth is our home

Here beneath the ground silence reigns. It is deep and still; I am where
ages and eons have no meaning. All the same the essence of my being is
to take matter in hand and make it something more than it was before.
I love chemistry and study endlessly how molecules bind. And I love
atomic vibrations. Every element is constantly singing of the joy of
creation, of having come into being.
Trees, shrubs, flowers and plants—I love to watch them grow. Their
inner essence I go out of my way to make my own. Precious stones
enchant me—I am drawn to them like a moth to a flame. But unlike the
moth, I go right inside of them and there amid a crystal palace I sit and
meditate.
Crystals I am sure as you must already know can contain the light of
planets, stars, and constellations. I listen so well I hear those songs and I
sing along. When I leave a crystal, the song I sung within it continues to
be heard as long as the gem exists in physical form.
There are palaces and kingdoms, temples and forgotten pathways of
spirit hidden within silence. And when you are very good, having
traveled the world beneath the ground, having researched and discovered
new things relentlessly, when you open your hand the philosopher’s
stone appears—the quintessence of nature perfected. Because I know the
ways through the darkest places, spirit reveals to me its greatest secrets
concerning matter and its transformations.
The earth is my home; I am never alone; I am cloaked in the beauty of
the universe.
If I think of a gnome like the gnome King Mentifil, his mind and my
mind instantly join. I can do this with human beings too. Consider the
former Prime Minister Noda of Japan.
He loves the status quo. It is jokingly said of the British that they try to
get through life without being embarrassed. You could say then of Prime
Minster Noda that he wishes to live his life so that he and those around
him save face, so that everything remains normal, comfortable, familiar,
and in harmony with tradition.
In other words, this man is totally incapable of responding in a crisis,
understanding a disaster, or dealing with something new that is not
familiar. He will try to fix a problem first by ignoring it and second by
ignoring it more.
If I ask him in my mind what would you do about the Fukushima
reactors and cooling pool, his thought is that he would talk to TEPCO’s
CEO face to face over tea and ask, What do we do to solve the
problem? What actually happens though when the Prime Minister of
Japan talks to TEPCO’s CEO is he asks, How should we handle this in
terms of explaining it to the public so they remain calm and know as
little as possible?
When I turn to Mentifil, I have an instant awareness of what a gnome
senses about the human body—he is aware of the electro-magnetic
waves of the brain, the biochemistry of the metabolism, the electrolytes
in your blood stream and the blood circulation through your legs and
different parts of your body, the functioning of your lungs and your renal
system. He is aware of what enhances, sustains, and detracts from the
health of your body.
Mentifil you could say is the go-to guy or gnome if you want to work
on longevity or to develop in yourself the philosopher’s stone which
eventually would lead to immortality. He is a gnome king. He knows
things.
It is a little like the Taoist master who was walking by while a woman
was doing reflexology on my feet. We were sitting by the lake during a
break at the Omega Institute in New York. And he simply came up to
me and reached down and felt the pulses in my wrist and then started
complaining in Chinese about the lack of balance in the acupuncture
meridians in my body.
Like certain Taoist masters, he knew nothing at all about feelings,
mind, or spirit but the health of the body he could tell just by looking at
it. A gnome like Mentifil can look at someone and feel how every body
organ is functioning and what herbs and remedies could be used to make
them healthier.
In practical terms, then, the gnome awareness allows you to feel one
hundred per cent part of the physical world. You will notice that
mermaid women so far rarely build anything. At the time of this writing,
there are no mermaid training systems, no mermaid correspondence
courses, no mermaid seminars run by mermaids, no mermaid institutes,
no mermaid on-line classes, no mermaid dance and song training
programs, no mermaid magic classes, no mermaid tours to the astral
plane, no mermaid spirit guide readings (a mermaid Tarot deck is not
quite enough to cut it), no mermaid story tellers though there are a lot of
human story tellers publishing new books about mermaids every week.
In other words, with the earth element you build something that
endures and enriches the world when you are gone. There is one
mermaid who is an exception but she is here on a divine mission that I
do not think the human race is ready to understand.
For gnomes, there is step by step procedure and gradual development.
There is embodying something that makes individuals stronger over time
and that remains with them. And as I like to point out, for a gnome time
only exists in terms of what you are working on. When you are finished
then you can say, “I finished what I began—that is the unit I use to
measure time.”

(From Mermaids, Sylphs, Gnomes, and Salamanders)

For the gnome Mentifil, physical matter is not heavy. It feels light and
free. When a gnome meditates on metals, his consciousness does not feel
cramped or restricted. He feels at ease like light moving through empty
space—he does not feel any hindrances.
The first effect I noticed after meditating with Mentifil was that I
stopped getting depressed. If I can state it this way, it is as if depression
became afraid of me. It is no longer willing to come near me.
From a psychological view, depression is energy being drawn out of
consciousness down into the unconscious. It is suffering a loss of feeling
restrained by the weight of circumstances. In some therapeutic methods,
you follow the energy to discover where it is leading you. The energy is
still a part of yourself. To be whole, you need to discover the feelings
and insights hidden in those depths where the energy flows. This is like
going on a spiritual quest to recapture or renew part of the spirit you
have lost.
But more may be required. What if you need to go beyond an
understanding of your personality and your life circumstances? A
magician does not seek personal happiness so much as being in harmony
with the universe. The gnomes have a great deal to offer in this quest. In
the realm of gnomes, it is possible to place your mind within the densest
substance and discover freedom and boundless light. The universe is
then seen as one interconnected field of energy.
The goal is learning to say to the mysterious energies that move within
us, “I know you well. I have already met you. I know your magical
name. Your spell which diminishes hope and tears the soul can find no
hold upon my heart. I can take all that you are and turn it into something
wonderful because I celebrate the beauty of life.”
Mentifil’s procedure is to meditate on the planetary metals one by one
spending some time on each until I could see where the metal’s
molecular and atomic vibrations dissolve into the pure light of akasha.
Mentifil has a very developed power of concentration. It is hard for me
to imagine a human master in any religious tradition having Mentifil's
ability to concentrate with such intensity.
Still, the reason Mentifil insists on mastering a wide spectrum of
metallic energies relates to Jungian psychology. To upgrade the quality
of the life force within your body, you have to gather all aspects of your
psyche. No significant part of the self can be left out of the process of
refinement. Otherwise, at some point your concentration will weaken
and the energy you are trying to refine will become contaminated. A
gnome alchemist seeks to embody within himself a miniature version
and a reflection of the larger solar system.

An Example of Meditation on a Planetary Metal

Silver—the Metal of the Moon. Silver contains a serenity—a letting go

into the inner flow of life. Silver is a magic mirror reflecting the
unfolding of time, the rhythms of change, and the forces which give
birth to all living beings. The light in silver reveals each of us in our
totality so that nothing is hidden.
Within silver, then, is a remarkable feeling. Like the moon sliding in
the sky, movement is gentle, slow, and indescribably peaceful. Even in
a smallest gesture of affection, you can see the light of eternity—you
sense that all the good that will ever come to you is already shining
within you. Your life is blessed by a wholeness in which you feel an
intimacy with all the beauty and treasures life can bestow.
The sage who says, ‘Contentment is the greatest wealth there is,’ tastes
the light hidden in silver when he meditates. Such a man is not
distracted by cravings for pleasure or the need for reassurance. He does
not forget the part of himself which is transcendent even amid the
struggles and conflicts of life.
In silver, there is no tension between desire and satisfaction, between
need and fulfillment. You see how they arise together and cannot exist
without each other. Desire can only appear because the pleasure it seeks
is hidden within it. The sage who says, `To everything there is a time
and a season,' has found this wisdom. He sees how the past and the
future are joined to each other.
Take any personal need that exerts an influence over you. Then enter
a dream. This is not the ordinary dream you have each night. This is a
dream on the level of an archetype, that is, a dream full of power.
Now, within the dream, imagine you have an entire lifetime to live in a
way which satisfies all your desires and needs. Silver is this vision in
which you perceive with perfect clarity when, where, and how life will
grant you fulfillment. Yet as you dream you find there is no gulf of time
separating who you are now from what you desire. In silver, you feel
other lifetimes alive within you. This feeling of completion is as real as
the world of waking reality.
I am told that there is a civilization on a planet in another solar system
where everyone has attained enlightenment. The race that dwells there
has discovered that the light of consciousness is an ecstasy that dances in
harmony with the universe. On that planet, there is no need to seek
wisdom through prolonged or solitary quests. You only need to sit still
and open your heart and you become overwhelmed with bliss. But the
light in silver already contains all the wisdom and bliss those
enlightened masters have ever found. Silver is that profound.
When you meditate in silver, the minds of great masters from other
stars are no longer distant or hidden. The reason is that the ecstasy they
use to attain liberation is woven into silver's atomic vibration. Nuclear
and theoretical physicists will not tell you this. They study the
universe—space, time, matter, and energy—as external phenomena.
But for a magician nature has innumerable gates opening to the paths
of spirit. Silver is the gate of serenity in which time is
suspended. Through the vibration of silver, you see the specific
conditions governing each thing's existence and you also perceive the
oneness underlying the universe.

Intimations of Immortality—the Fire Element

This contemplation with fire is a free association in which, in a relaxed
manner, you explore all the different kinds of fire in nature—
bonfires, wood or coal fires, a candle, a forest fire, a cinder cone, magma
chambers fifty to two hundred miles long beneath the ground, volcano
calderas ten by fifteen miles wide, pyroclastic flows, mountains
exploding, the molten core of the earth, the surface of the sun at five
thousand degrees and the sun’s center running around fifty million
degrees. And do not forget the photosynthesis in leaves in which
sunlight is put to work releasing oxygen into the breeze.
The secret of contemplation? Relax, make it fun and interesting, enter a
dreamlike state, and free associate. And then become what you are
gazing upon.
In the end, imagine the energy you may have created dissolving again
so you are returned to normal. In this way you build resistance and
resiliency and avoid becoming overly intense and self-hypnotized.

1. You acquire a sense of originality. If I imagine a vast, boundless sea

of fire surrounding me, I start thinking like “I am the source of light. I
illuminate whatever I gaze upon.” That is not an idea. It is what wells up
from deep inside of me.
Now in the modern world if an individual has the faintest air of being
sovereign or regal this is right away taken as an insult. We overthrew
kings and those who thought they had divine rights hundreds of years
ago. But this sense of originality and seeing clearly is not a matter of
ruling over others. It is an internal sense in which you can measure
different levels of intuition and perception. And when you compare what
you see normally to what you see when you are animated by the pure
elemental fire element you sense that you are at the top of list—you have
the highest and clearest perception compared to whatever else you have
experienced.
At least then in regard to yourself, you feel you have a nearly divine
sense of authority. But this is not controlling or domineering. Instead
you feel that now you are in a better position to articulate and define
priorities and purposes—what needs to get done. Fire is that way—it
evaluates, measures, and then acquires the energy necessary to do
something.
2. Power—The vibration of fire is like possessing an expansive force
and quality that takes over any space it enters and aligns all things to its
actions and activities. There are bullies, obnoxious people, and rude
people of course who push themselves on others.
But fiery energy does not do that. What I am describing is the kind of
person who communicates his enthusiasm and energy to others so they
feel energized and excited. Elemental energy is not in one’s head. It is
thick in the air and yet oftentimes subliminal. You feel its effect without
necessarily understanding how it is acting on you.
“They shall beat their swords into plowshares ….” People will not stop
waging war because they become more reasonable and respectful of
each other out of the goodness of their hearts. No. They will create peace
and justice because there is a power present that “encourages, inspires,
or requires” them to end war. People will align themselves with this
power of peace because it is in their interest to do so.
This kind of fire/power will be more intense, commanding, and
inspiring than the kind of power that encourages war. You have to find
that kind of power inside yourself. Having faith or hoping that it will
appear is not enough in itself.
Franz Bardon imagines a saint whose light is so bright in his aura that
if he visualizes something it will manifest. What he sees comes to be. I
can imagine someone visualizing the dazzling light of the sun in a ball in
the air in front of him. And he puts into that fiery ball a picture of what
he sees accomplished. Others then begin to see this same vision in their
dreams and it takes over their hearts and imagination. This happens
because they wish to play a part in bringing this vision into being.
Inspiration takes hold of them.
You could use the opposite principle of love and empathy by joining
yourself to another so that the two of you are one. Then what you feel
the other feels. The water energy is effective because it saturates another
person with affection and love so that there is a desire to stay as close to
the other in every way possible. Of course, working with both fire and
water gets better results.
3. There is a personal will we use to meet our needs and to get what we
want. There is a larger charismatic and dynamic will that men such as
Churchill, Roosevelt, and General Patton use to lead nations and to
overcome great obstacles. Then there is a divine level of will through
which we feel the creative power of the universe being channeled
through us. With it you solve problems and overcome difficulties that
others lack the determination and resolve to confront.
When you mediate with the elemental fire and its imagery you
experience all three levels of fire inside yourself. You can write about
religion and be a theologian but if you touch the energy within what you
are writing about you become a prophet. Someone can with devotion
and good will meditate on the divine but if you find the divine within
yourself you establish justice, fair play, and freedom throughout the
world.
4. Working directly with the will and power within elemental fire gives
you the ability to sense the will and power, that is, the presence of this
energy within others. You can sense others’ qualities and strengths as
well as their weaknesses and vulnerabilities.
Some people have a primal force and others have a pure, dazzling light.
Some are full of conviction and others have genuine authority derived
from the amount of experience they have acquired. Some believe their
ideas are right with great vehemence and others are daring, fearless, and
courageous.
 Some have great strength physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual and
others have a will of iron, steel, or diamond. Some are extroverts who
want to take direct action as soon as possible and some are introverts
who may have a laser like will of concentration that burns away and
dissolves the obstacles before them without having to engage in
direction confrontation. Fire gives you the ability to measure others—to
see and to sense the qualities and amount of power within them.
5. Again, with fire, you transmit your energy and enthusiasm to others.
You charge them up, inspire them, electrify them, engage them, direct
them, encourage them, and communicate faith, conviction, daring, and
courage to them. Fire requires fuel to burn bright but it also immediately
transforms and radiates outward that source to others in a new form.
6. If you do acquire the will and power of Divine Providence setting off
to the side your ego and selfishness and also your personal and historical
bias, then the world will align itself to your purposes without you
needing to be a Churchill, a Roosevelt, or a General Patton. Such
individuals may remain for the most part invisible and unknown to their
own generation.
A man I studied within the martial arts said that one time someone
came into a restaurant where his father was eating intending to challenge
him to mortal combat. Seeing the man’s intentions, his father slowly
folded a cloth napkin and placed it on his wrist. And then with an almost
imperceptible motion, the napkin flew across the room and hit the wall.
Seeing this the other martial artist left the restaurant without saying a
word. There was no need to fight. The outcome was already known to
both parties. Or to quote Sun Tzu, “The supreme art of war is winning
without having to fight.”
And that is fire. Get to know it well and you shine like the sun, the
moon, and the stars. Or like the spirits of the sphere of Mars—they take
some aspect of nature, something that embodies the creative powers of
the universe, and channel it through themselves both to attain greater
self-mastery and to fulfill divine missions.
Over the last two hundred years our world has acquired immense
power through its mastery of electricity and fire in various forms. But
this is external power. It is still rare to encounter leaders of nations or
men of wealth and influence who have the elemental power of fire
within themselves.
This makes it easy for someone who does have a degree of elemental
fire to bedazzle, charm, and hypnotize others with their eyes, voice, and
body language. But even these individuals are still extraordinarily weak
compared to the quality and amount of elemental fire—will and
power—that Franz Bardon expects his students to master.
The study of elemental fire is then a study of military, political, and
economic history. It is a study of wealth, power, and influence. And it is
a study of mystical illumination and self-transformation. It is a study of
the mysterious purposes of Divine Providence as they manifest through
ideals, dreams, and visions and also as real time plans of actions to
transform our world.
I call this essay, Intimations of Immortality, because if you unite with
the one or more of the four elements in nature they become forever a
part of you. They do not weaken or deteriorate. You yourself are now a
part of nature and part of an enduring, four billion year old planet.

The Realm of Salamanders

These beings reside for example within great calderas of flaming magma
burning with tectonic rage--ready to explode having waited ages and
eons to gain freedom.
Speaking with the voice of salamanders: It is not that I am not content
just to be or that I have forgotten that in each moment my inner spirit is
already free. Rather, I burn with such intensity that I know in my heart
every boundary and obstacle will in the end yield to me. This is because
it is the nature of my will and power to grow stronger.
Others may like harmony, perfecting nature and transforming matter, or
embodying a love that nurtures. But in me you see a volcano that
explodes, a pyroclastic flow, and lava lighting up the night and making
new islands in the sea. Without fire, how can there be life? Without fire,
there would be no visible light.
The planet earth is alive because I am inside. My turning and churning
creates a magnetosphere and protects the earth from solar flares. I move
continents and enrich the chemistry of the biosphere.
I am fire. Hidden in me is the secret of being free of all need—refined
and perfected I too am divine—I burn with such purity I no longer need
fuel or outer support in order to shine.

If I focus on the great salamander Pyrhum again his mind appears within
the open space of my mind. Almost immediately a great variety of
different fires upon this planet flash through my mind—the volcano, the
cinder cone, lava tube, mountain exploding, pyroclastic flow, calderas of
lava, magma chambers beneath the ground, the magma beneath tectonic
plates as well lightning in thunderstorms and wild forest fires.
But Pryhum also looks beyond this planet. He envies the fires of the
sun and with that nuclear fire within his dreams he is one. Pyrhum seems
to speak within my mind, that is, his thoughts appear within my mind. “I
keep the planet alive. I diversify nature and bring it to life. I destroy
what needs to be destroyed and new civilizations shall be born by
drawing upon my light.”
He goes on, “Give me a mission no one else can accomplish and I will
do what needs to be done so that the problem is solved and all obstacles
overcome.”
 If the mermaid queen Istiphul is nurturing and ecstatic love, then
Pyrhum is the ecstasy of will and power.
A mermaid feels that just by her presence her love flows to whoever is
around her. Her love by itself accomplishes all that needs to be done.
Water is that way—it just flows and it is totally complete, fulfilled, and
at peace in each moment of time.
Pyrhum is the extreme opposite in nature that is the balancing element
to water. Pyrhum puts it this way: “Fire pushes itself to its limit and then
beyond. United with the powers of creation, it recreates itself going
beyond what it was.
“How can I explain the rapture, joy, and the bliss that is the essence of
my being? To unite with nature from the depths of yourself, to be part of
what transforms the world, and to create new wonders never before
seen—one day in an advanced civilization I shall incarnate as one of
them after their own form. I shall walk among them and they shall
behold the light of the sun standing before them. And then they shall
finally understand what their bodies, nervous systems, brains, and minds
are capable of. The enlightened mind is not just a mirror perfectly clear
and receptive. In you the stars appear not just as dazzling light but as the
power unfolding the universe.
“I totally grasp the love that is within water. But this love is finally
fulfilled when it is joined to power. Creation will settle for nothing less
than the union of everything that exists.”

In water and in the oceans of the earth is a love that perhaps the human
race itself will never grasp or learn. But it is the destiny of this planet for
a race to appear what does fulfill the planet’s purposes. Each person can
choose to align themselves with the greater purpose according to their
own path.
But in the end we shall not only learn to become one with another but
our love will become so deep and vast it joins with the universe itself.
Perhaps in that day mermaids shall not just be the sea in human form
when they incarnate and live among us. But they shall reach further and
become a oneness that embraces everything without limitation or
boundaries.
 I must say that the beauty and gifts of each of these four elemental
kingdoms are each astonishing and full of wonder. We each begin with
where we are. How and where we proceed is a matter of personal choice
and also of the destiny that has captured our hearts and imaginations.

The Fifth Element of Akasha

Along with earth, air, fire, and water there is a fifth element we can call
akasha. This fifth element takes on a specific vibration when we are
pursuing astral and physical immortality. It is a formless awareness, an
omnipresence, that is everywhere and within everything. It is vast and it
penetrates through space and time.
1. Because it is formless and everywhere it is one with the four
elements in all aspect and expressions on the astral and physical planes.
We can say that it resonates with everything that exists.
 It is an awareness of the void from which the universe and all beings
were created. As the void your awareness penetrates and encompasses
all things.
2. The fifth element appears as absolute faith, certainty, and
conviction. It is like a coach who tells his player “You can do this—
make a supreme effort and put forth all your will and you will succeed in
accomplishing your goals.”
It is the authority of someone like General Eisenhower when on D Day
the generals come to him and say, “We await your orders.” He is in
command. Everything moves according to the decisions he makes and,
whether good or bad, he is responsible for the results. Authority is
derived from experience and understanding all aspects of the area under
consideration.
3. You see the best choices and options. You overcome obstacles
because you understand all aspects of what opposes you as if these
things are a part of you. You are so much a part of others that they
perceive that what you want is what they themselves have always
wanted. The sylph that oversees a hurricane responds to your will
because it senses your will is its own desire.
For example--

The Realm of Salamanders: salamanders see your conviction and

certainty as the perfection of will and power. You understand how fire is
their source of their energy, the way they use fire, their desire to expand
and to overcome all boundaries.
In their realm, you are absolute sovereign. There is nothing a
salamander can do and no where it can go that you are not already there
or a part of it. When he looks inside of himself the salamander finds you
are already there and in charge.
The Realm of Sylphs: when the sylphs look at you they perceive the
perfection of freedom, for your consciousness is everywhere and in
everything. You are the wisdom behind the seasons, the rhythms, and
changes of time. You give definition to all things designating their
purposes according to their form and identities. You can take any
conflict and create harmony.

The Realm of Mermaids: Mermaids perceive in you that which

overcomes all boundaries so that separation is eliminated and only
oneness remains. You are the source, the creator, and the perfection of
love, for in you is an awareness that embraces everything.
Mermaids are so receptive, innocent, and giving that for them each
moment is a new opportunity to share love in which they give all of their
being to another. But you can take anything and recreate it so it becomes
new and fulfills the highest purpose that resides within it.
Every feeling that a mermaid feels, every dream of love that she
embodies, and every vibration and aspect of water in nature is a part of
you.
You will notice that when you appear to mermaids in this way they will
assist you in all that you do and some of them will choose to study with
you in order to embody the perfection of love they perceive and
experience through you.

The Realm of Gnomes. Gnomes see in you the embodiment of their

inner silence. You are alert and perceptive but free of mental activity.
Gnomes are comfortable with you because they see in you the
consciousness from which form, density, matter, and solidity originate.
The electronic vibration of gold, lead, tin, minerals, and substances
arises from the nothingness that you are.
 All recipes, formulas, and configurations of matter’s transformations
are reflected in you. The elixir of life and the philosopher’s stone are
your awareness in material from. You are formless time and the mystery
from which all purpose and destinies are assigned. When a gnome looks
into your eyes he sees the void from which the stars arise and the fusion
of matter through which the stars shine.

The Realm of Spirit on the Astral Plane: (Note: For Franz Bardon,
akasha exists on each plane in a different aspect.)
If I enter the fifth element of akasha on the astral plane, a vast space
opens around me. I see through all of space and time. I see each being,
spirit, and creature in its original nature. I see its transitions and
transformations one after the other. I see the beginning and the final end.
The entire journey stands clear before me as if it has already happened
even though the individual soul still experiences each moment as it
unfolds.
Though I am without form, I am the womb that receives the seed of
spirit that gives birth to each element. Though I am without substance,
as empty as the space that holds the stars in its embrace, I maintain the
harmony of all things. I assign each element its task to fulfill. I am the
one who created silence, intelligence, love, and will.
I am within breath. DNA was my plan and design. I caused the
conditions and situations that brought it into being.
Though I am well hidden, very hard to find, there is a reason. My joy is
infinite. And though my light is invisible to mortal eyes, as I have
already said: I see everything. I feel every feeling. Every thought rings
with a faint echo of my vibration. I am celebration. And in the end there
is nothing I will not join and unite with filling it with beauty. You will
then see what I have designed: love shall triumph over all the limitations
and restrictions of space and time.

Conclusion
Franz Bardon describes a number of higher spirits from various
planetary spheres that teach healing, health, and astral and physical
immortality. With certain cosmic letters also he mentions that in
practicing them you stop growing old.
What I am doing is simply studying these elemental beings both in
their own realms and when some of them are here inside of human
bodies. They all seem to possess astral immortality even when they are
here in human form. Their astral bodies remain the same incarnation
after incarnation without deteriorating and needing to be reformatted
again at birth with a new set of elemental combinations. They learn new
things but they also are what they are—united to nature from within.
This magical traditions do not seems to grasp—that if you unite with
nature from within you acquire the astral immorality of these being. The
physical immortality appears to happen when you unite your
consciousness to all of that element in nature—for mermaids, all water
on earth or for sylphs—the entire atmosphere.
We do not get this kind of immortality because human beings do not
strive for it or practice it. Yet Bardon suggests making these realms a
second home and learning all you can about them.
It seems to go like this: the kings and queens of the four elements in
nature are so advanced and skilled in their elements they are free to
materialize in physical form when and where they want. Their energy is
supported by that one element as it exists throughout the entire planet
earth.

Appendix

On the Fifth Element

In regard to the book, The Practice of the True Kaballah: In comparison

to the cosmic letter U (shiny black in color and without space or time),
the cosmic letter E (dark ultra violet and penetrating through space and
time) is aware of everything that already exists. It sees the future in
terms of what is most likely to be or what it is focused on creating.
The letter U, by contrast, is an awareness of non-existence, that is, it
perceives quantum realities—all that might be or that is possible.
In any act of creation, other possibilities are set off to the side so that
something real, concrete, and specific can come into existence. The U
maintains an awareness of the origins of what has been created as well
as all alternate realities that might have been or that can be.
The letter U has an advantage in dissolving obstacles so that the
original nature and highest path of something can be followed. The letter
E has the advantage in mastering what already exists and in manifesting
what it wishes to bring into being. We could say that the letter U is the
source from which everything arises and the letter E is the omnipresent
awareness of everything once it is brought into being.
In terms of astral and physical immortality, the dark ultra violet letter E
encompasses and penetrates through the other four elements overseeing
them and maintaining their balance. The letter U comes into play if you
are manifesting something previously not revealed.
If I want to master the four elements I work with letter E. If I want to
do something utterly new and without precedent--like joining the
mermaid and the human realms or eliminating war on earth--I can work
with the U. The letter U can reveal and assign new purposes when new
purposes are required and it can dissolve the obstacles that oppose those
purposes. But the consciousness in the letter E will take you more
quickly into acquiring an in-depth experience with each of the four
elements.

The Cosmic Letter U as Akasha or the Void

Because there are no barriers, boundaries, restrictions, limitations, or

separation of any kind in the void, there is only oneness and so perfect
love.
Because there is no attachment and nothing to be attached to, nothing
to lay hold of and nothing to lose, no one who attacks and no one who
can be harmed and so no fear, the void is perfect enlightenment. Like a
mirror it perceives with perfect clarity. Like the sky, it remains open,
vast, and relaxed regardless of the storms of life that pass by.
Because the void is the source from which all things arise, overseeing
their transformations, guiding, inspiring, refining, freeing them from
what holds them back, restoring them to their path to perfection,
revealing their original nature, their highest purposes, their final ends,
and all that may be attained and accomplished in any cycle of time, the
void is perfect wisdom.
Because the void brings all things into existence granting them form,
perception, and self-awareness and because the void is aware of
everything that sustains the existence of anything, because it provides
the environment, circumstances, and situations through which beings
may grow and thrive and because it dissolve their forms again in the
fullness of time when they have attained perfect enlightenment and
absolute freedom, the void is perfect sovereignty and absolute,
omnipotent power.
Because these four—oneness, enlightenment, wisdom, and power flow
in and through each other the void is also ecstasy. It is a great
celebration in which all things are continuously joining.
Those who study the void shall gain the ability to dissolve any
negativity. They shall overcome all obstacles, solve all problems,
resolve all conflicts, and heal all illness and wounds.
They shall create love where love does not exist and in the process
replace conflict and discord with harmony. They shall create peace
where there is war. They shall be the friends of all beings meeting them
in their place of greatest darkness and time of deepest need and walking
beside them back into the light.
He who studies the void is neither bound by self-image nor limited by
any form or tradition. Rather perceiving the original nature of anything
he takes whatever life sets before him and recreates it restoring it to its
highest path and surrounding it with inconceivable wonders.
Indeed, it is the very nature of the void to offer these gifts so that all
things may be accomplished and the world filled with justice, love, and
beauty.

From Franz Bardon Chapter Six, Initiation into Hermetics

Take up your usual position (asana) and close your eyes. Imagine that
you are in the center of an unlimited space. There is no above or below
or sideways. This unlimited space is filled with the finest energetic
matter, the universal ether. Ether is colorless, but to our senses it
appears to be of ultra-violet, near black-violet color, and this is the color
in which we imagine the etheric matter. You are inhaling this etheric
matter and conveying it deliberately through pulmonary breathing to the
blood. If you have achieved a certain skill in doing so, execute the same
operation by breathing through the lungs and pores as you did in the
accumulation of vital power, but with the difference that you inhale the
colored ether and fill your whole body with it instead of with the vital
power.
In performing this exercise you have to retain the feeling of being
united to the entire infinite space. You have to be as it were completely
secluded from the world. It is necessary to become acquainted with this
unusual state of mind. In any case you ought to avoid losing
consciousness and falling asleep. Supposing that you do feel tired, break
off the exercise immediately and choose another time when you are
more fit. After some successful exercises in the whole-body pore-
breathing with akasha, you can go ahead.
We have heard that akasja is the primary source, the sphere of all
causes. Any deliberate cause, such as a wish, a thought, any imagination
created in this sphere together with the dynamic conviction is bound to
be realized with the help of the elements, regardless of the level or
sphere on which the realization necessarily has to be performed. This is
one of the greatest magic mysteries and a universal key for the magician,
who will understand its range only later on in the course of his
development. The scholar should always keep his mind on his own
ethical development, which will certainly help him to do only good and
noble deeds.
Our next exercise will be to win absolute control of the elements with
the help of the akasha principle in all the three realms. The exercise is as
follows: You are sitting in your usual position inhaling a stream of
akasha through the lungs and pores and filling the whole body with it. At
this point I would like to mention that akasa cannot be accumulated in
the same way as vital power. At the very inhaling you must imagine that
you are starting the control of the four elements. Consider that you have
already got the faculty of mastering the elements and that they will
fulfill everything you are ordering or wishing for, no matter on which
plane the realization of your desires has to happen. With every breath
you ought to feel your mastery of the elements. The faith and the
confidence in your control of the elements has to be unshakeable and
imperturbable. You must not allow yourself the faintest doubt.
Anyone who is working scrupulously through all these exercises will
gain the absolute control of the elements after more or less exercising. A
magician who has established the magical balance in himself with
respect to the elements, having ennobled his character and having
acquired the highest virtues and ideals, will very soon attain this power.
He will feel his faith becoming as firm as a rock and will be absolutely
sure of his conviction, which excludes any doubt at all. On the other
hand, any person who has not been working scrupulously enough, or
scholars who skipped any steps and neglected exercises will feel
doubtful about one problem or another, and the influence of one element
that is keeping him in check most of the time will not tolerate to be
mastered. Here and now the scholar will realize why such a high value is
set on scrupulousness and endurance in the execution of the
exercises. There is no gap allowed to spring up in the process of
development; otherwise the scholar will fall behind and some of the
problems could only be set right under the greatest difficulties.