Daskalos on Elementals

The Greek Healer Daskalos on Elementals

From Kyriagos C. Markides: “The Magus of Strovolos”:

The subject of Daskalos’ talk was elementals. At first he summarized many of the ideas he had discussed during previous meetings. It was his pedagogic method to repeat old material on a routine basis until his students had fully digested it.
Elementals, he said, have a life of their own just like any other living form and can have an existence independent of the one who projected them. Any thought and any feeling that an individual projects is an elemental. He then proceeded to explain that there are two kinds of elementals: those that are produced subconsciously, which he called elementals of desires-thoughts,’ and those consciously constructed and called elementals of ‘thoughts-desires.’ An individual, he went on, can vibrate through thoughts and sentiments. The way a person vibrates determines the type and quality of the elementals he creates. When he vibrates primarily through sentiments, he is under the impact of emotions and desires, thought playing a subservient role. These are the elementals of desires-thoughts. When an individual is under the influence of thought, he builds elementals made of noetic substance and becomes a master of the power of visual imagery. A Researcher of Truth should train himself to build powerful but benign elementals made up of strong thoughts within which desire and sentiment play a supportive role. Such elementals of thoughts-desires last longer, are more powerful and tend to accomplish the task for which they were constructed much faster.
Elementals of desires-thoughts are characteristic of ordinary people who lack an understanding of the nature of thought and desire. Consequently they often fall prey to the very elementals they themselves create. It is the law of Nature that once elementals are projected outwards they eventually return to the subconscious of the person who created them. Then they surface from the pool of his memory to the conscious level in order to acquire new energy and withdraw again. The same cycle is repeated until such elementals succeed in staying within the subconscious of the person on a more permanent basis.
They then absorb energy from the etheric-double of the individual and in this manner they extend their life. This is how habits and obsessions such as smoking, gambling and drinking are being formed.
The tendency of elementals to return to their source is what makes the law of Karma possible. An individual sooner or later will be confronted with the elementals that he consciously or subconsciously creates. In a conversation I once had with Daskalos he maintained that elementals of strong desires may return to the person that gave them birth at a time when he least desires them. Daskalos then claimed that in a previous incarnation as an Italian during the Renaissance, he was obsessed with the idea of inventing a printing machine. The end result of that obsession was to spend his present life working as a linotypist in the government printing office.
Our present personalities, Daskalos went on, and the circumstances within which we live, are the sum total of the elementals we have constructed ever since our descent into the three-dimensional world and the beginning of our cycles of incarnation. Elementals are built with the very substance with which personality and the universes in general are built, that is, with etheric matter of the noetic, psychic, and gross material worlds.
‘Let us examine,’ Daskalos continued as the audience of about thirty persons listened attentively, ‘the process by which an elemental is being formed. You will notice that it is not possible for a human being to desire something before he becomes aware of its existence. For example, when I see an object it means that etheric vibrations of light hit its surface and transfer images and forms to my eyes. They cause an irritation on the optic nerve and then on the brain which is imprinted as “seeing.” Suppose now that I see an object which men consider precious, say a diamond necklace. I become aware of the existence of this object through my sight. Suppose that I am a person who has a strong desire for diamond necklaces. What happens then? Psychic matter is gathered around the image of the necklace. Desire is formed. It is precisely psychic matter that makes possible the birth of a desire which is followed by thoughts on how to satisfy it, in this case how to acquire the necklace. Around that object a series of elementals is being formed having as their ultimate goal the acquisition of that object by the person who projected them. An awareness of its existence and desire to know or possess it are not, alone, sufficient. Thoughts about it must follow in order for such an elemental to be created. The individual subconsciously begins the process of visual imagery.
‘Suppose we take this person to a place away from the desired necklace and ask him to bring it to his mind. Most likely he will recreate it in the greatest detail. Someone else who saw the same object but who was not impressed by it will not be able to reconstruct it in his mind so accurately. Therefore, concentration and desire lead us to the construction of images made of noetic matter. This is what thought is all about, the condensation of noetic matter. We begin to see that object through noetic light. Now pay attention. What are real possessions? Are they those objects which ordinary people consider real? Or are they the elementals that we have constructed inside us? Suppose we take a precious object that we own and lock it up in a safe. The elemental of that object is inside us, is part of us. It exists in the pool of our memory and we can bring it to consciousness any time we wish. It is ours. It seems to you, however, that it is not real. And yet if you cannot bring it to your memory, how ean you have knowledge of the material object in the safe? Think about it. Let me put it differendy. Suppose that a very wealthy individual who knows that in aseeret safe he has some very valuable objects suffers from amnesia. Everything within his memory collapses and is dissolved. What value do you think the objects outside his mind will have? None. Therefore, where is the real source af value af things? Pay attention to these points which you need to study.
Otherwise you will not be able to penetrate and understand the nature of Life. What is Life in reality other than receiving impressions and interpreting them. Just think af the world around you. Can you perceive it outside af these elementals?
‘You must realize by now that whether we perceive the world as good or as evil will depend on the kinds of elementals we construet inside us and project outward. Nothing, absolutely nothing, has any value in the world af the three dimensions if it does not also have value within us. It is what has value inside us which bestows value to whatever is outside of us. What, for example, does the phrase “lack of interest” mean? When an object outside af us does not have its counterpart inside us it has no value. So where has this condition come from? From the object or from within us? Everything is inside us.’ Daskalos stopped his talk for a few seconds and then proceeded to elaborate on the physical appearance of elementals, or more precisely on how elementals are perceived by a clairvoyant like himself.
‘When an elemental is created, its image will appear at the base af the nose right on the chakra that lies between the two eyes. A clairvoyant will notice that it appears first in the shape of a needle’s head. The moment it is thrust out of the ethericdouble of the individual, it begins to acquire its natural size and shape. It will then move into the psychic worlds and will make a cyclical movement the size of which will depend on the strength of the desire. Then it will return to the person. At this moment it will enter into his psychic body but not in the same place from which it exited. It will make an entrance through a different center, that which is at the back af the skull.

‘The shape of an elemental will depend on its type. It may be a desired house, a bicycle, or a car, and so on. These are examples of concrete images of desires-thoughts that remain within the subconscious for a relatively short time. They do so because such elementals, as I have said, seek a new lease on life in the same manner that an embryo seeks food. It will surface again at the disc between the two eyes and will seek an exit.
The analogous vibrations in the psychic body of the person will begin again. He will remember it and the desire will become stronger. The elemental will detach itself once more and move on its cyclical trajectory. An ordinary individual does not realize what is happening. The elemental will tend to dominate him. It may become so powerful that he may not be able to control it. In such a case the individual is a slave to his desire which sometimes may be so intense that it could lead him to the asylum. It is possible that such an elemental may absorb so much etheric substance from the individual that it may even enable it to literally materialize itself. Let us not talk about this unfortunate development for the time being.
‘What about morbid conditions that emerge directly as a result of our egotism such as anger, ostentation, hatred, feelings of being hurt, of showing off and the like? These elementals are constructed in the same way as all other elementals. Note that egotism is itself an elemental which is already formed within the self-conscious personality. It is the product of the repetition of many elementals. It is so sensitive that the slightest provocation sets it in motion. Egotism can create a variety of elementals. For example we have noticed from experience that when an individual has evil and malicious thoughts against someone, the elementals he creates have the shape of snakes with various dark colors, usually putrid green. They come out either from the heart or from the base of the nose. They move towards the person against whom we consciously or subconsciously direct them and they tend to stick to the aura of that person. Eventually they return to us. Sometimes such elementals acquire the size of an anaconda and when they return to us we feel our heart tighten.
‘Have you ever considered how many such elementals people create daily? Had they been able to see the form of the elementals they project, they would have been filled with terror.
This is what is commonly called the “evil eye.” I once saw a painting of a man confessing his sins and there were snakes coming out of his mouth. Do not think that they were the fantasies of the artist. A clairvoyant can literally see these snakes. How often do you see such elementals come to you during sleep and frighten you? These elementals are either sent to you by others or they are your own creation. It is also possible that you might have picked them up in your sleep from the pool of elementals floating and wandering in the etheric world. Elementals of desires-thoughts have shape, power and a life of their own. They can become snakes and bears and other animals. Children often see them in their sleep and have nightmares.’ Daskalos then went on to explain that we can close the door of perception of such elementals by making appropriate autosuggestions such as a prayer before going to sleep. ‘We can also calm down by sending thoughts of love even to those who dislike us. By doing so we disarm them. They can no longer send us elementals that haunt us in our sleep. ‘Daskale,’ I interrupted, ‘why do elementals of hate and jealousy look like snakes and not like something else? Is shape inherent in the very nature of the elemental?’ ‘Elementals of hate and jealousy look like snakes because in our culture we have this association. There is nothing inherently evil about snakes or any other animal for that matter. The way an elemental appears depends on the language of the person and the place from which he comes. Elementals are psychonoetic energy charges that can assume any shape depending on who creates them. A clairvoyant can see them in a shape consistent with his background.’ ‘So,’ I continued, ‘a clairvoyant from another culture may see the same elementals in the shape, say, of coyotes rather than snakes.’ ‘Exactly. But both will see the same causal connection between the projected elementals and their effects.’ ‘Daskale,’ a middle-aged man asked, ‘how can we dissolve and neutralize the power of elementals that we ourselves have subconsciously created?’ ‘You must keep in mind,’ Daskalos replied, ‘that the power and form of elementals will not be dissolved until they have accomplished the task for which they have been built. It is for this reason that we must be ready to face the consequenees of our thoughts and actions. An elemental will keep us accountable not only in this life but also in succeeding incarnations.
Therefore the builder of an elemental will have to sooner or later confront the elementals that he himself has construeted.
You may wonder whether we can today avoid the influenece of former conditions. Yes, assuming that we employ equal power with that of the elementals that we have constructed.
But we need wisdom and a desire to redress past errors. We can resist the impact of old elementals or we may succumb to them by creating similar ones and by reinforcing the old elementals.’ ‘How can we fight,’ someone asked, ‘elementals such as smoking or drinking? Is it by avoiding situations where people smoke or drink?’ ‘First of all you must not fight such elementals. The enemy is invisible and is bound to defeat you. By waging an aggressive war against such an elemental you energize it. The way to neutralize its power is to ignore it. Let me give you an example.
In our society today we see a lot of people quarreling fanatically over politics. Political fights are on a daily basis often leading even families to split up. These are terrible things that turn people into fools. I knew someone like that who tried repeatedly to avoid political fights but to no avail. He always managed somehow to get entangled into political quarrels and tremble with rage. “I can’t stand hearing them talk like that,” he told me. You see the elemental of narcissism was very powerful in him. He wanted to show off, to prove that he knew more than others and to impose his views. I explained to him that it was a personal weakness on his part which he could overcome with self-analysis. I advised him not to fight his urge but to consciously try to be indifferent. “Tomorrow,” I suggested, “when you go to your office and they start the political arguments, you will most probably have the desire to join in. At that moment try to remind yourself that you must avoid losing your self-control. The elemental inside you will urge you to intervene in order to show your knowledge and wisdom. Listen carefully, judge. and weigh their arguments, but say nothing.” “But isn’t it better to just leave?” he asked.
“No,” I replied, “you will not gain anything by running away.” ‘Naturally it was hard for him to practice this exercise. At first he could not resist the temptation. But at the end of the day he evaluated his actions. After three or four attempts he mastered his problem. One day he came to me and thanked me for helping him win back his friends.
‘With indifference you extract the power of elementals and you neutralize them. Either they get dissolved or they float in the etheric sphere where they may be picked up by others.
When we advance spiritually we become conscious of our responsibility for the fall of our fellow man as a result of elementals left over by us in the etheric world. Do you understand now why Christ said, “Do not judge lest you be judged”? Because you shall be judged by your own inner self.
You created these elementals regardless of whether you have transcended the condition that led you to the creation of them.
I urge you not to be concerned about how others judge or think of you. Fear only the judgment of your own inner self.
Someone asked me once whether I was afraid of God. I said no, I love God and I try to be worthy of His love. What about, he said, the people around you? No, I said, I don’t judge them and I don’t care about their opinions of me. Aren’t you afraid of anything? I am afraid of myself because I cannot deceive myself. When I sit down to meditate and practice my analysis, my inner self will ask, “What did you say? What did you do?
What should you have done and you failed to do?” When we begin to listen to our inner self we are on the right path. We will no longer create evil elementals which will be floating in the etheric spheres and tormenting those around us. The Researcher of Truth must reach a point where he does not create elementals of desires-thoughts but, rather, elementals consciously constructed that are under his full control. When they leave him he will be able to govern and guide them regardless of how far away they may bee Such elementals of thoughts-desires are more concrete, more effective, and of a greater duration. For this reason we are more responsible for them. The person of benevolent thoughts must be certain that what he constructs receive the blessings of the higher spheres.
No prayer has ever remained unanswered and no curse has remained unpunished. ‘What happens,’ someone in the audience asked, ‘when we send a good thought to a person who is not receptive?’ ‘As I have pointed out to you before, it is the Law that whatever elemental we project will eventually return to us. In the case of evil elementals, whether subconsciously or consciously constructed, the punishment is inherent in them. When they return they acquire more strength and extension of life. The person against whom we project an evil elemental will be affected only to the extent that he, too, vibrates on the same frequency as ourselves. Otherwise it will hit his aura and bounce back to us seven times its original force. These are the types of elementals that a Researcher of Truth must learn how not to create. Jesus called them “spirits mute and deaf” that come out of the human being and, finding no rest, return to the individual, dragging along more of the same kind.
In a similar manner, when we project a benign elemental and the person is not prepared to receive it as yet, it will hit his aura and come back to us. But in such a case the elemental will leave its mark on his aura. That power will be there to benefit that person at any moment when he will be ready to vibrate analogously. Therefore, you must always be aware that good is never lost. And if you love someone who you think does not deserve it, do not give up or despair. Continue sending him elementals of love and goodness. Sooner or later they will have an effect on him either in this or in succeeding incarnations.
Remember what Christ said, “Love thine enemies.” Bear in mind that those we consider as our enemies are in reality persons suffering from ignorance. For us the word “enemy” does not exist. We shall not call the mindless our enemies. Keep in mind that when we love those who love us it is understandable and very human. But when we love those who hate us, it is a divine condition. It uplifts us spiritually. When we hurt those who love us it is satanic. Unfortunately there is too much of that in our society today.’ ‘Does one generate elementals while asleep?’ someone asked.
‘Yes, of course. When we say a person is asleep, it is only his gross material body that is sleeping. But as a self-conscious personality he is using Mind in the form of sentiments and abstract thoughts. He mixes them up and subconsciously creates and projects elementals. Let me add that when a man is asleep he is more under the influence of his own elementals than when he is awake and preoccupied with the affairs of everyday life. You will notice that many things you desire and that you forget while awake will come to you either just before you fall asleep or during sleep. It is when the individual is in these receptive states that he is under the bombardment of his own self, of the elementals he has constructed earlier. It is fOr this reason that one of the promises of the Researcher of Truth is that every night before falling asleep one must spend a few minutes in self-analysis. It is exactly at that point when one begins to open up and become receptive to his own thought and desires. It won’t be difficult to dredge them up from the pool of memory. It is at that moment when it is easier for him to study, know and master them. By learning how to use Mine properly we will discover who we really are and we will begin to distinguish our true selves from the conditions around us that keep us enslaved.
…
‘You must understand that when you create elementals of thoughts-desires you are handling divine substance. You ar not dealing with clay. The acquisition of such powers is a great responsibility. We should experiment but we must be wise enough to create elementals of thoughts-desires which will benefit our fellow man, not to satisfy egotistical desires. Our aim is to become psychotherapists, not black sorceres. May the love of the Most Beloved One be with you and in your homes and with the whole world.’

And from  researchersoftruth.org:

“Do I have to sacrifice my personality? It’s painful but I like it.” You are going to lose nothing, because every incarnation with the virtues and the vices, with the good actions and the wickedness, that total collection of the elementals, is living, is a living form. Behind you, in all your past lives, nothing is lost. There is a living total of all your experiences (elementals) in the Cosmic Memory.

And when you reach that state of “Be ye perfect as perfect is your Heavenly Father,” you will see that in every incarnation you have written, say, a book. You have it in the Cosmic Memory like in a library on its shelves. You are like a writer who is writing books. Who is preventing you to get a volume and go through it again? And reading it, you can enjoy what is enjoyable and what is painful, by the grace of God now, it will not affect you any more, because – you have got rid of those vices.

So, when you reach perfection, you are not going to lose anything. You are not going to lose your Present-Day Personality that is so precious to you now. You will find, inside you, all the volumes you have written in all your past incarnations. In perfection you are gaining, not losing. You are gaining, because, nothing made of the Mind vitality, no thoughts, no emotions, no desires are lost.

When you reach the attunement, you can attune yourself to any one of your incarnations. Can we, by at-one-ment, enter into that living total elemental of our past personality? If you wish to, you can. But, why would you? Is not the attunement seeing and knowing? Anyhow, it’s nothing that I wish to do myself. Attunement is worthwhile with Joshua Emmanuel the Christ and with God and not with past elementals.

From  www.daskalos.org:

Just as the gross material body consists of many cells, organized into a working whole, so our personality consists of a network of interdependent psycho-noetical images. The cells of our personality, as we might call them, are precisely, one by one, the elementals which we create and project as a result of our desires and weaknesses, strengths and virtues.

 With every thought, each glance, idea, distraction or feeling we create elementals. Even as we sleep, we are emitting elementals that will affect us and those around us.

 The elementals are emitted with an intensity corresponding to the strength of the desires which gave birth to them. When they have reached their goal and served their purpose, they return to their creator to be projected once again with ever increasing power. This procedure is repeated many times, creating within our personality, either a terrible environ ment of darkness if the elementals are of low degree, or a strong atmosphere of love if they are good thought-desires

 In the same way we can poison the material body by consuming harmful food, or can cleanse it by improving the way we care for it, so we poison or cleanse our personalities. This is how human character evolves.

But what is character and what is its relationship with our personality? We have said that our material body is some thing which is in constant state of change. Substance enters it and other substance is discarded. Orthodox science tells us that with the passing of every seven years, not a single cell remains from the body of the seven years prior. We have the opportunity to shape our bodies and health in this con stant process of renewal.

The same thing happens with our personality. Substance is taken in and substance is discarded. With the production and reproduction of elementals we build and rebuild our personality. Here, too, we create health or illness, contentment or dissatisfaction, and sow peace or unrest.

…

We can identify various types of elementals. Some spring from inside the personality, others are drawn from the out side environment. We either create elementals with our desire-emotions and thought-emotions; or our personality vibrates at a frequency common to a collection of elementals of a like kind and then attracts these elementals. The latter are the so-called “group elementals” that have been cultivated over the centuries by the perpetuation of common beliefs and actions. They can be either benign or malicious in intent. Our personality, whether weak and ill-natured or strong and compassionate, will activate these group elemen­tals. Once activated they will cling to the host personali ty, affecting emotions, thoughts and actions.

When such group elementals are particularly aggressive they can control our energy centers in a phenomenon similar to possession. Conversely, should they be benign and loving we might experience a sensation of great inspiration or even ecstasy.

The majority of the elementals we house are intelligent and demanding. They can force the personality to act in a cer tain manner which creates the conditions for the elemental to be satisfied and renewed. If we are filled with elementals of greed, envy and hatred, these elementals will dic­tate to our personality actions and behaviors that will lead to great disagreements and brawls, not to mention hellish inner dissatisfaction. If we are compassionate and peaceful in nature, our elementals will lead us into situa tions where we can be of some help and service.

Consequently, in spite of it being accepted that we do not have always full control over the condition of our material body, in the case of our personality the responsibility is ultimately exclusively our own.

If we have constructed a weak personality, we inevitably form centers of attraction which draw to us the corresponding elementals that others have created or are creating around us, which are hovering in the psycho-noetical atmosphere. But, even in this case, it is we who have the responsibility, because we attract and assimilate only those vibrations which resonate with ourselves. We cannot accuse other people, or the conditions which prevail around us, because the acceptance and assimilation of these elementals is purely our own choice and responsibility.

…

On the other hand, someone who is laboring under a particular guilt, can temporarily be helped by an angelic being or through the meditation of other humans who pray for him, or by the expression of Divine Mercy.Prayer is the process of shaping and emitting loving elementals.

This help, however, is relative, for if the person in ques tion has not matured psycho-noetically, the benefit derived will be temporarily. To be helped, the person must use this beneficial intervention as the starting point for right-thinking and development.

Let us not cast blame on our surroundings. There are many elementals around us. There are elementals, for example, of those we call alcoholics, many of whom try to present themselves as victims of society. Such people are respon sible for their sorry state, since they have created or drawn to themselves very strong elementals, which take great will power to dis-energize. Yet the same elementals surround us all.

A common misperception prevails these days in popular psychology. Many psychotherapists believe that in order for a patient to recover he must relive certain emotions and events, venting memories and frustrations that have been plaguing the personality. In this process of “letting the steam out” more often then not the elementals surrounding a memory, rather then being weakened, are revitalized by the attention with which they are served. This method is counterproductive – except in a few cases – to the client’s recovery as it lends only more energy to the problems.

Elementals cannot be destroyed. Once an elemental has been created it will continue to exist in either an active state –when filled with etheric vitality from a personality– or in a dormant state –deprived of thought power, lying in the waiting in the Cosmic Consciousness–. Inasmuch as our personalities are composed both quantitatively and qualitatively of these elementals, in order to rid ourselves of certain elementals we must be prepared to replace elementals which are a nuisance, with more beneficial ones. When one elemental is driven out a vacuum remains which can be occupied by a new elemental of any nature. It is vital, therefore, to fill such voids with elementals that serve a constructive purpose within the personality.

We see why it is difficult for personalities to change too much, too quickly as each personality is composed of a relatively balanced and interdependent network of elementals. Suddenly to remove either large elementals, or a collection of elementals of a like kind, can seriously de-stabilize an individual, leading even to madness. The work of dis-energizing elementals must be slow and steady with much resolve.

Elementals can never be defeated in a direct struggle. We believe that in order to move beyond the chains of the past it is best to recognize their source – using reason – and then work to replace and transcend them. We need to let go of, and not dwell on, past events. In letting go of the past — which is behind us and unchangeable –, we dis-energize the elementals that weigh us down, depriving them of their life-blood. We can then live unfettered in the present. Let today belong to today, and not the pull of yesterday, nor the push of tomorrow.

Other notes

I have a text Chakana – The Incan Cross which looks at these elementals in Incan and other traditions.

And Steiner on Elementals

And The Snake and the Heel in Mythos