Copyright 2013 by William R.

Mistele

The Four Elemental Realms on the Astral Plane

Gnomes, Sylphs, Salamanders, and Mermaids and the
Fifth Element of Akasha
Note: This essay is part of a book called, The Perfection of Wisdom.

The Realm of Gnomes

Introductionpreviously, I have described the minds of gnomes, sylphs,
salamanders, mermaids, and the fifth element. Those descriptions pertain
to the mental plane and how such beings think. The mental plane relates
to plans, procedures, and methods for pursuing ones goals, how you
organize your resources, and the framework in which you operate.
The astral plane, by contrast, relates to perception, feelings,
personality, and what these beings actually do with themselves. The
mental plane is about the quality and range of their brain waves. The
astral plane is the feeling of being around them and what it would feel
like to be one of them.
The Realm of the Gnomes
Psychometry occurs, for example, when you touch something and sense
its history. If you hold a watch you may feel what each person was like
that ever wore it. Gnomes look at anything physical and with their gift of
psychometry pursue its beginnings, changes, and transformations until it
became what it is now.
Gnomes also observe construction and building activities of human
beings such as our houses and cities, the use of wood, stone, bricks, and
iron, stadiums, temples, wells and mines. They examine the structures in
regard to function, endurance, and integrity of design.
Gnomes also wander around under and on top of the ground and notice
anything unusual that stands out. They may remain for indefinite periods
of time in a specific location because it feels right to be there. They want
to soak in and internalize the vibration.
I am now down in the ground not just with my mind but with my astral
senses as well. Ah, there is a gnome now. He has a pick axe and he is
pounding to extract silver from a vein that runs through the rocks.
I am on the astral plane but all the same maybe minerals have astral
vibrations that you can work with and fashion in a way similar to
physical matter. I am just telling you what I am seeing.

Being in an elemental realm is like sharing the dream of a being that

does not use any of the cultural reference points that belong to human
civilization. They do not use any of the lexical items or words from our
dictionaries to think. They do not use any of the doctrines or rituals from
our religions to define or to pursue their goals. Nature has been around a
long time before human beings showed up on the scene.
Elemental beings have their own kinds of evolution. Their
consciousness develops and expands. And for them human beings at best
are engaged in pursuits that are dangerous, destructive, and full of highly
questionable goals.
But for me being here as an observer it is the way the gnome perceives
silver that is interesting. For the gnome, the mineral of silver is feminine.
It is receptive and responsive. It stores dreams so that any feeling you
place within it remains fully alive ready to download and be relived
anytime.
Through the eyes and feelings of this gnome, silver is lunar, soothing,
and serene. It shines with its own inner light that is timeless being. For
the gnome you can touch silver and time stops. There are no thoughts,
only an absolute contentment so rich and encompassing, so multifaceted,
so captivating and attracting it is as if nothing else exists.
For the gnome silver is like an elixirit is nurturing and rejuvenating.
And memories are herethere is good cheer that materializes as if right
here and now your best friends are sitting around offering toasts and
singing songs that echo down gnome halls underground. Silver contains
magical secrets and vibrations. It takes the greatest of gnome magicians
ages and eons to decipher them.
Interesting. When I was writing previously on the mind of sylphs I
received an email from a woman who said, I am a sylph. I am the
wind.
And as I was writing the little piece above on gnomes I received an
email from an individual who I described in this way:
I am a very merry and mellow fellow. I am here to interface between
nature and humanity. I would like to see our relationship grow.

I would like to see flowers and blossoms unfold. I would like more
stories of tree dryads and gnomes, wood fairies and elves speaking on
their own. I would like to hear more songs of roots and leaves, fruits and
seeds and how the earth nurtures all things.
I am a very merry and mellow fellow. I would like to see our
relationship grow. And I have many seeds of joy and happiness to sow.
A gnome may wander around underground and find buried pirate
treasures. There was once a map but the map is lost or shredded. Silver
and eight, diamonds and emeralds locked in a box far from mens
hungry fingers. It may be fate but love or hate will have to wait before
this treasure they take.
The gnome holds a lamp that illuminates his path beneath the ground.
He looks around. He listens. Far away he hears a cry--Free me. Free me.
A voice like a trumpet as big as a tuba calls out. He goes over and finds
the bones of a Mastodon caught in sinking mud a hundred thousand
years ago that would not let go. For a gnome, though creatures no longer
eat or drink, their bones still speak. A gnome sees not fossils but living
things that swim in the sea, birds that fly in the air, and creatures that
once lived here.
Some gnomes have favorite stones. Some rocks need not knock. They
step right inside your mind and share with you their dreams of times
long gone by. Some gnomes like semi-precious stones and jewels. What
can you do with a quartz crystal? The Atlanteans knew. They had gnome
perception and gnome wisdom. Some Atlanteans studied with gnome
magicians.
When you were a child did you ever spy out of the corner of your eye a
gnome hiding behind a stone as you walked by? Have you noticed? A
gnome who occupies a human body and lives among us is usually shy
and often suspicious. The reason why? They like to keep their secrets
from prying eyes.
You have no doubt heard it said, If you think like a gnome, perceive
like a gnome, act like a gnome, feel like a gnome, and have the inner
silence of a gnome, then you are gnome. Welcome home!

How does a gnome think? I have already saidhe looks at anything

physical and tracks its changes from beginning to end. How does a
gnome perceive? He gazes upon something without any thoughts
arising. He observes without any mental activity. There is a direct mind
to matter connection. You will often find in a gnome the delta brain
waves of deep, dreamless sleep because being attuned to the vibration of
physical matter is the gnome mode of perception.
How does a gnome act? He finds something that captures his attention
and busies himself working on it to reshape it and make it more valuable
such as by raising its vibration. How does a gnome feel? He feels a quiet
ecstasy inside because he is always doing what he loves mostwhat he
dreams of accomplishing is right here before him as he works on it with
his hands and mind.
What is the silence of a gnome? It is as silent as a stone. But since
there are many kinds of stones gnome silence has many qualities and
varieties. You find the silence that for you fits the best.
And if you do these things well will they turn you into a gnome? If
you love the earth, trees, and mountains and making things of value that
endure, then you have gnome mentality. But to really be a gnome so
they call you one of their own? Well, sitting in a Zen monastery and
stopping all thoughts so your mind is completely silent will not even
pass the sniff test.
To be a gnome so the earth is your home you have to dream the dreams
of the land. The dust beneath your feetwas it once the mud in a stream
or the rocks eroding from a mountain now long gone, or sand from
dunes of Africa iron and phosphorus rich blown by high winds across
the Atlantic to the Amazon forest, then silt on the stream bed carried
down to the delta by the sea? The dirt, the topsoil, the trees are filled
with dreams.
To be a gnome is not only to talk to trees. You can slip inside them
like a person who goes to a special location for a vacation. To be a
gnome is to take a walk in a forest and remember the sounds and sights
and play that memory back ten thousand years later. But gnomes are not
librarians with rows and rows of memories gathering dust on shelves
cataloged A to Z. No. A gnome is always in the now. And the now is--

what work can I get done that is both fun and that contributes in a small
way, in a gnome way, to the beauty of the world?

The Realm of the SylphsThe Air Spirits

Introduction
They did not teach me about sylphs in high school physics nor in Sunday
school class alas. Magicians often fail to learn their names since magic is
considered to be a more serious game. Bardon says sylphs do not at all
like men. But I am not completely stupid.
Take a breath and feel air like wind toss and turn as it winds through
the caverns and ravines and the mountain peaks within your lungs. Feel
all the winds of the earth gathering into your breath as you breathe in.
Is there any real reason to learn about sylphs? Not really. Unless,
unless you an artist, a musician, a poet, a performing artist who works
with the spoken word or a negotiator who must find the right word,
perhaps someone interested in enlightenment, a weatherman, a storm
chaser, an ecologist, a climatologist whose concern is the onset of the
next ice age, a sky diver, a glider pilot, a hang glider, a farmer, a sailor
or ship captain, and you might be worried about rain and droughts,
preventing hurricanes from hitting major cities or the tornadoes that run
about, and there is pranayama, and breathing in yoga, and then again you
might be Elijah who has returnedhe was a master weather controller,
far better than the Dalai Lamas. Or perhaps you are one of those who
seeks to attain astral or physical immortality in which case the sylphs
realm is part of your trade.
The Realm of Sylphs

You could say that if you think like a sylph, perceive like a sylph, act
like a sylph, feel like a sylph, and have the harmony of a sylph then you
are a sylph.
What is it to think like a sylph? Imagine the blue sky is your mind. To
perceive like a sylph? Wind, air, and atmosphere are an extension of
your body. You are so sensitive you can sense the faintest touch of wind
as it moves among the leaves of a tree or arm and arm you stroll with the
scent of a flower over a hill yonder. Sylphs are very perceptive beings.
How does a sylph act? They often move rapidly about in the air ready
to go anywhere. It is their sense of freedomif you have it why not use
it? But what do sylphs actually do? In a minute Ill take a look at one or
two.
How does a sylph feel? In your body you feel relaxed almost beyond
human understanding. Imagine floating weightless and the entire
atmosphere is your habitat. But as for feelings themselves? There are
many kinds of sylphs. Some need a twisting tornado to let go and feel
the full exhilaration flow. Some need the hurricane to guide like the
captain on the bridge of a ship. He stand watch, charts a course, and
faithfully delivers a cargo of wind, rain, storm surge, whatever is
required to balance hot and cold, wet and dry, low and high.
Some sylphs simply wander about in the sky where they sense anything
disturbingdead air there or too much rain in that valley yonder. And
then they drop down and set things in motion so that the disturbance
vanishes into thin air. Sylphs have as many feelings as there are winds
and weather conditions.
What is it to have a sylphs sense of harmony? What is that inner
quality? Why did Beethoven compose the Ninth Symphony or Schiller
the Ode to Joy? Why did Shakespeare write The Tempest or Isadora
Duncan dance? Overcoming and transcending limitations; taking
conflict like taking the darkness of the night and changing the

perspective by adding Dawns first light; or seizing the injustice, the

unfairness, or something out of balance and restoring it to its original
purposeso every need is met and every desire reaches a new height
where it breaks free in release finally attaining oneness with beauty.
And so if you think, perceive, act, feel, and have the harmony of a
sylph and their sense of freedom too, have you now made the sky your
home?
If for a gnome you dream the dreams of the land, what is the deepest
dreams the sylphs know? I described it once in a poem:
My mind is the sky, pure, clear, and open.
Its air flows through my chest.
Its winds are my breath.
Now then, let us try wandering about in the air as a sylph. There is a
sylph now. He races by me. I follow behind. He goes a ways and then
stops and sniffs the air. Did I ever mentiondo not smoke cigarettes a
month or two before you contact sylphs or mermaids. It is like kissing a
woman and having bad breath.
The sylph I am watching catches the scent of eucalyptus from far
below in a forest. It could be this sylph has a flair for aroma therapy. The
right scent suppresses certain symptoms and awakens greater harmony.
The scent of eucalyptus for this sylph is like two lovers who discover
what is hidden in each others hearts. Can you feel what this sylph feels?
There is an inner connection to another in which you are so attuned that
you do not even have to claim the others body to express your joy.
How about another sylph? There is one hovering over the rim of a
deep canyon. He is right there where the wind rises from far below and
rolls over the edge and then sails across a plateau. What is he doing?

The wind for this sylph is filled with passion. It craves a hunt where
satiation derives from stalking and then invading low pressure zones.
The wind twists, splits, and divides. This wind is to a desert valley what
a flashflood is to a stream. It crashes against hillsides and pounds against
whatever blocks its movement awakening dust devils to stumble about
as it passes by.
The sylph is fascinated as he watches. The wind is so orderly as it rises
from the canyon here and then so wild and unpredictable as it journeys
there. It is a lot more than a woman letting down her hair. This sylph
enjoys the show. The dissonance in the air flow strikes an emotional
chord inside the soul of the sylph that he wants to get to know.
The Sylph Parahim
Orif, my patron, says to me, When it comes to this air spirit named
Parahim you must move very carefully. Imagine the blue sky way up
high. Nothing exists but the enlightened mind. The only sensation is
weightlessness. And there is a great stillness and an even greater longing
to achieve harmony.
Now match your aura with hers so that when she looks at you she sees
herself in another form. The clouds, the winds, and the storm are your
outer form, like a cloak you wear, but you are the life underneath and
animating these natural things. You are the unfolding of all the desires of
the winds.
She is so sensitive she feels the fingers of ice spreading across the
surface of a pond, the breath of frost forming on a window at dawn, the
icicle dripping, the leaf falling, the trail of eddies from the birds wing,
and the rippling in the air when the birds sing. For her, air is a harp and a
violin.

Ah, you have reached the point where her thoughts are yoursyou see
through her eyes and hear with her ears. You feel with her body. If
lovers knew how to do this just seeing each other would create bliss.
In the sky above the clouds there are kingdoms of the soul where men
may go to banish every sorrow. Here there is no fear. To breathe this air
is to feel freedom everywhere. And the law here is harmony. Every
conflict is resolved because the mind is so open, vast, and clear it
encompasses the entire world below.
The air is a harp and a violin. If you listen carefully you can hear them
playing in the wind and the song is the heart of Parahim singing.
Parahim says, There was once a woman who played a harp. And when
she played it was my fingers, my voice, and my art.
The wind that glides through the forest, hides among the elms, sits on
the shoulders of the Oaks, jumps down and twirls leaves on the ground,
then races off to the sea where white caps dance free, the spray flying in
the air like the hair of a woman in a breeze.
There was once a woman who play a harp and those who heard that
voice sing, for a few moments or hours, put off their mortality and
stepped into the future and walked among their deepest dreams.
See also The Sylph. For more on elemental beings see my book,
Mermaids, Sylphs, Gnomes, and Salamanders.

The Realm of the Salamanders

Note 1: This continues my exploration of the four elemental realms on
the astral plane.

Note 2: Some may want to become familiar first with the other realms
before working with salamanders. If you have the power of the
salamanders, you can accomplish your purposes. If you have the balance
and freedom of the sylphs, your accomplishments are harmonious.
If you have the love and innocence of the mermaids, what you do is
healing and nurturing. If you have the inner silence and appreciation of
work as do the gnomes, you produce work of enduring value. And if you
have the oversight and divine purposes of the fifth element, your work
endures through all ages of the world.
The Realm of the Salamanders
There are different ways to enter the realm of the salamanders. First you
get a feeling for fire. You could gaze upon and contemplate a candle or a
log fire in a fireplace. Someone like Franz Bardon has you do some
preliminary exercises and then you imagine you are inside of a sphere of
fire as large as the universe.
I work through a few images of fire in nature and then I imagine fire
everywhere around me. Then I place my awareness in the realm of the
salamanders on the astral plane. Immediately I sense the force of fire in
its primal state.
There are different ways we might describe these sensations. We could
say that this fire has a single-minded determination to grow stronger. We
might say the universe is unfolding itself through this power. Or we
could describe a gut reaction and say, The fire in this realm is a
consuming rage, an insatiable desire and ravenous hunger to expand and
to take command. If you take away the desire, hunger, and rage what is
left is a vast reservoir of very hot fire almost always seeking to expand if
not in power, strength, and size then in the strength of the light it emits.

We might say that the energy in the realm of salamanders is like an

explosion waiting to happen. The gigantic chamber of magma just needs
the right crevice to break free to the surface. The C4 just needs a blasting
cap. A stick of dynamite a wick. A bomb the right fuse. The U 235 the
right design and electrical trigger. A missile in a silo the right code and
two keys and it is ready to go. Salamander energy is all about intensity,
being ever ready, and seizing an opportunity.
If you take a look at the images within the collective unconscious that
manifest in religions and mythology, we have gods like Vulcan, Thor
with his hammer, Zeus hurling lightning from his hands, and Agni, the
fire god, in India. All the same, perhaps religions have portrayed these
gods as a little too tame. There is nothing tame or that a ritual can bind
when you enter the realm of salamanders. It is more like Vulcan, Zeus,
and Agni come here to the realm of salamanders to recharge themselves
when their fire grows dim or burns out.
If you look carefully, we might see salamander energy in human
beings. Some people have this rage to expand and to overcome obstacles
the way a flashflood in a stream surges down a canyon and runs over a
beaver dam. Some people have the rage of a gasoline fire. Put a match to
it, put them in the right situation, and they flair up and even explode but
then the fuel is used up. Their energy and force of emotion are gone.
But the real stuff, the magma in huge chambers beneath the ground, is
well contained. And the molten core of the earth is huge. It is not going
to burn out anytime soon.
Similarly, we see that the power of the salamander when it is in human
beings is carefully contained and often hidden. It is held in check by
great discipline, cloaked in tradition, or directed and controlled by an
institution. General Patton accomplish as much as any general in
military history. Alfred Nobel invents dynamite. Oppenheimer gives to
mankind a new kind of fire that will either destroy or transform the

world. But if you look inside the eyes of these men, behind the research
in chemistry, the mathematics of nuclear physics and the engineering of
a weapon, and the classic military strategy, you will see the consuming
rage flickering though otherwise well hidden.
A consuming rage seeking to expand and to take commandcan you
sense this same rage is in a candle flame and also in a star? For
salamanders there is a continuum between one and the other with a few
minor quantum leaps thrown in. The salamander who once could not
even make a spark leap becomes the lord of all lightning on earth. He
looks back and says, The intention and knowledge that I am power was
the same there in the beginning and now at the end.
The prophet Elijah was a salamander man. He could create fire out of
thin air. When Arjuna asks Krishna to reveal his true self, Krishna opens
his mouth and tons of fire pours out. And John in his Book of Revelation
speaks of two who will appear that destroy their enemies by emitting fire
from their mouths.
The salamander man emits lighting from his hands, speaks with a
tongue of flames, and a voice of thunder. We do not meet such men in
modern times that possess these elemental powers. But we do meet the
equivalent in artificial form--in politicians whose charisma electrifies a
people and then leads them down a road to destruction. We see it in
institutions governed by CEOs, boards of directors, and major investors
whose inner rage for power is always ready to consume the beauty of the
earth and exchange it for toxic wastes. We see it in our technology that
fills the air everywhere we go with radio waves and electronic
transmissions.
The realm of salamandersthrough its direct connection to the
elemental power unfolding the universe--helps us put things back in
perspective. We are asked by the universe to be wise. We are not asked
to be shy about seeing that justice and harmony fill the earth.

In the realm of mermaids, love is everywhere. In the realm of

salamanders, will and power are everywhere. Lava tubeblasting
furnace; mountain exploding with pyroclastic flownuclear weapon
setting the night aglow. Where is the wisdom that understands the power
in nature and the power controlled by men exist not to destroy but to
preserve the life of the land?
Can you look inside yourself and find a salamander man--fire
extending as far as the imagination? Can you look inside and find a
nuclear manlike the sun, from the core of your being light radiates to
the ends of the universe?
Let us look around and see if a salamander can be found? There is a
salamander hovering within a cinder cone. I go over. He says to me, My
awareness is in these gasses exploding into the air, lava splattering, a
vermillion and orange ribbon of lava flowing to the sea, lava tubes
forming, smoldering back rocks cooling and solidifyingI am within all
of these things. They are who I am. This is my identity.
To be in the body of a sylph is to feel you are a part of the atmosphere
and to feel relaxed almost beyond human understanding. To be in the
body of a salamander is to feel the power at the center of the earth is
alive within you and flowing through you without end.
What is the power at the center of the earth? Let us drop down and take
a look. Nothing can replace first-hand experience. The earth core speaks
to me. It says, I wrestle. I flex my muscles. I press and stretch. The
weight of the earth is upon me yet I have the strength to shift tectonic
plates and raise mountains up. Super volcanoes explode. To the entire
atmosphere they lay hold. Sometimes for thousands of years the lava
flows.
This planet is alive because it does not sleep inside. Its heart is not
cold. I am immense. Continents I bring together and divide.

A second salamander appears before me and speaks as if continuing

where the voice of the earth left off. He says, I am the awareness of the
core of the earth. It is what I am. What is my purpose other than to be a
force of nature? Do I dream? Do I have plans that involve man?
Every act of will, every exercise of power on earth I comprehend. I
understand human intentions. I perceive the roots of every desire. I
appraise and evaluate plans of action. How could I not know these
things? We are power. We generate the magnetosphere. We protect and
nurture the earth.
Do I dream? Like you one day I shall shine so pure and bright I shall
be a being of light that flies between the stars. Matter shall no longer
contain me. The forces of nature shall no longer bind me. I shall shine
with the light of the sun. And I shall create new worlds and guide
civilizations to attain perfection as an expression of the joy I have found
within. This is what is hidden within firethe power to fulfill any
purpose and to manifest what the heart dreams.

The Realm of the Mermaids

6/11/2013
I spend a few moments imagining myself surrounded by cool, blue green
water. I imagine the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. I spend a few
minutes feeling that energy. Then I shift my awareness onto the astral
plane and into the realm of mermaids.
The feeling here is incredibly innocent. There is no harm, no injury.
There is no selfishness, no greed, no insecurity. There has never been
anything mean.
The energy everywhere is pure and healing. They give all of
themselves without holding back. Love is the only intent. It is the reason
they exist. They embody it.

And as this realm is a sea of love and as this love is everywhere, those
who are here have this energy flowing through them constantly,
endlessly. For this reason each individual in her own way is one with the
sea and one with each other. The experiences of separation, loneliness,
and isolation they cannot conceive.
And so if I relax here and fill myself with this vibration my perception
is that linear time no longer exists. There is no movement forward or
backward. Memories of the past are as real as experiences in the present.
And the future fulfillment of any dream or need is already accomplished.
If you visit here you will notice there are no ideas or concepts, no
doctrines or theologies, no philosophies, theories, or ontologies. Not
even any causes. Love is the cause and effect. It is the prime directive
and overriding purpose of everything that exists.
Love is only weak or in need of wisdom or will when the individual
perceives from the point of view of an ego. Mermaids have no egos.
There are no fixed or firm boundaries between self and others. The sense
of being one with the whole is never absent from their consciousness.
Here is a mermaid now. I have met with her a number of times before.
I know her human incarnation.
According to the rules of this realm, the etiquette of love, in meeting
and greeting another you join with each other so you are one. All my
memories without judgment or blame are now hers. And so that the
sharing is equal and unbroken my awareness naturally extends into who
she isshe is the awareness of the entire North Atlantic Sea: the waves,
the winds, the tides, the currents, the fish, the edge of the Arctic, and the
contour of the sea floor. I feel this vast body of water within me.
I am now her merman and she is my perfect lover during the space of
this meditation
And the sea shall grant each man new hope as sleep brings dreams of
home.
Let us also say today: the sea seeks to find a way to fulfill every
dream--as water changes shape, love meets every need.

Note: Here are a few of my previous comments on the Realm of the

Mermaids
This night I shall take a break
The mermaid realm
I am in it now
In an instant the outer world dissolves
Innocence beyond understanding
They give without ending
Love that is one
Without ego contending
Here breath, the very air
Are intoxicating
Sensuality united with divinity
Touch joins with infinity
Like the seas of the earth
Feeling reaches round the world
There is dancing and singing
Pain and sorrow dispelling
The mermaid queens?
No mortal can match such beauty
They are the sea taking on the form
Of human beings
Here when a mermaid approaches you
She relives your memories
She sees what is to be
She takes you within a dream
And shows you
Whatever it is your most crave
The thirst and the thirst now quenched
In the same taste

It could well be
That the gods and goddesses in human mythology
Never discovered this place
Because if they had
They would have spoken
Of love that saturates the planet
Finds fulfillment in every moment
And possesses an absolute contentment
That feels one with the universe.
You will notice of course three things
When a mermaid or mermaid woman
Sits beside you
On a beach
Your two auras flow together
As one stream
The waters are cool, soothing, releasing,
And unbearably sweet
And the masculine is here also
She draws your energy into herself
As if the Northern Lights have come down
Filling her body
With a quiet, electrical luminescence,
Though your energy inside of her is gentle,
It burns with a wild and furious purity
And there is this mystery
You, the woman, and the sea
Are within each other equally
There are no boundaries marking
Where one begins and the other ends
And the spell of oneness is so complete
The sea uses the two of you
To celebrate its innermost serenity and peace
In this trancelike beauty
Your mind becomes the sky

And your souls a love

Encircling the earth.
I place my awareness into the realm of mermaids. Its a vibration you
can feel. Mermaids can be seen. And you can listen to their songs and
words.
The sensations are 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 selfpurifying: 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 inthe bliss begins running through your nerves, saturating them.
Here there are no inhibitionswhat is deepest inside of you naturally
and without effort flows through what is deepest within another. The
exchange of energy is total and continuous.
To summarize, the watery energy in the realm of mermaids is
intoxicating. Love is ecstasytotally uninhibited, innocent, and yet wise
in erotic arts. The developed mermaids sense every nuance of attraction
and understand ways to amplify magnetism; there is singing and
dancing. And there is no holding back in the givingno reservation or
hesitation; to become one with you is the acceptable mermaid form of
greeting.
You sense a vast field of energy like a sea of water that surrounds you. It
is tangible and flowing like water itself.
And this energy field has the quality of love--it is nurturing, receptive,
renewing, healing, releasing tension, and making things whole. It
shelters, inspires, and gives life.
You sense that you are united to this energy field of love. It flows into
and through you to others or whatever is around you. If you focus on
another person near or far, you can flow this healing and loving energy
through that person also.

Put simply, mermaid love is a way of perceiving. A mermaid woman

senses she is part of a sea of love and that this love is endlessly flowing
through her to others around her.
This is not something added to her aura. This immersion in love and
offering it to others is her very essence. This sense of giving is so strong
that a mermaid cannot stop giving love. To stop loving would be like a
human being stopping breathing--if you stop breathing, you would in a
short time no longer be alive.
If you can somehow connect to this sea of love so that it is always
flowing through you to others, then you are attuned to mermaids. When
you are with one of them, there is an automatic, subliminal and real
emotional force joining the two of you together. What is within one
person is also within the other. If you can feel as mermaids feel, then
you are one of them.
I ask a Mermaid, How do I become what you are?
She replies, Gaze at the sea. Notice the sensationsthe flowing,
yielding, the giving and receiving, the surge, the pulse, the rhythm, the
continuous releasing, the letting go, and the infinite adaptability.
Then notice the feelingspurifying, cleansing, making new and
bringing to life, the nurturing love, the joy in becoming one, and the
infinite receptivity.
When you make these sensations and feelings a part of yourself, you
enter the realm of the mermaids and become as we areone with the
waters of the earth.
As one mermaid woman said:
When Im 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.

Four Steps toward the Realm of Mermaids

(from the book, Mermaids, Sylphs, Gnomes, and Salamanders)
There is a difference between a human being and a mermaid even when
they have the same degree of empathy. The difference is that the
mermaid has no ego. She has no attachment to a specific identity.
Instead, she is united from within to water in nature and this water
lakes, rivers, and oceanssustains and renews her. Consequently, she
never uses her empathy in a selfish way. She uses it only to serve the
purposes of love.
How might we develop such a connection to nature or learn how to
feel as mermaids feel? The process can be broken down into steps. Put
briefly, learn to perceive without thinking. Put aside your ego or identity
when you meditate on nature. Develop a sense of wonderan awareness
that there is something new and unknown occurring within every
moment. And finally be aware of when you are perceiving and feeling
the way an actual mermaid might perceive and feel.
Step One: Perception without Thoughts Interfering
The first step occurs when we experience a delight of pure sensuality so
enchanting that the ego is overcome and we completely let go into
feelings and sensations. This occurs, for example, when rafting down a
river such as the Little Colorado. There are no signs of civilization. Time
is measured in the rock formations of cliffs stretching back through
geological ages. The river has flowed for millions of years, and you are
part of that flow. Your social identity is still real, but it is on hold, like a
shirt or a coat you hang up in the closet when you come home.

Here, drifting, floating, flowing, you can just let go. It is a set of
sensationsand the entire environment is arranged to amplify your
feelings.
Or who has not as a kid jumped into a puddle or when older gone
for a walk knowing you would become soaking wet in the rain? Here
again the sensations take over. In a sense, the rain makes you part of the
cloud that reaches down to the earth. Thoughts are secondary to the
experience. The sensations and feelings vary, but hidden within them is
the awareness that the body and nature are not separate.
How about floating in a lake at night? Can water amplify feelings?
If you feel fear, you can imagine drowning. If you feel relaxed, the
entire lake spreads out around you relaxed and at peace. If you try for
serenity, your body, the lake, and the night sky of stars begin to blend,
flowing in and through each other like a dream that has no end.
You can reflect upon your own experiences with water. But this is
the first step toward the gate into the realm of mermaids. You will know
that you are at this point when you can relax, close your eyes, and
imagine some scene from nature. And then you feel that the energies of
nature are flowing through your body, extending and amplifying your
sensual delight and the feeling of being alive.
Step Two: Nature Becomes a Part of You
The second step in moving toward the gate of the mermaid realm is to
embody in some way the experiences of the first step. Sensual delight
and feelings of release may come and go. But these things can increase
until they become a permanent presence inside of us.
They are found in works of artin Beethovens Moonlight Sonata
or the Ninth Symphony with its Ode to Joy; in Van Goghs Starry Night;
and in refrains such as all is calm, all is bright from Silent Night.
They are in a negotiator who places him- or herself amid a dispute
because he or she loves resolving conflicts, and loves the act of creating
peace. It can be found in a relationship where there is a secret sharing
heart to heart or it is in sitting in an asana and feeling a peace like a
pool of still water in a cave beneath a mountain. The inner feeling within

oneself reaches a level of strength in which it is no longer dependent on

the events of the external world to nurture and to sustain it.
I sometimes meet individuals who have a sense of well-being that
has reached this level. Their inner feeling of peace shapes their lives.
Past, present, and future flow together and are joined. The events of the
outer world do not interfere with the feeling of being whole and
complete that already exists inside of them. Their identities are not
shaped by their relationships, by their careers, or by the social roles they
assume. They use their role in society as a way to express themselves,
always sensing that what they feel inside is forever independent and free
of these outer activities.
You will know when you have reached this second step toward the
mermaid gate in this way. If you sit still and relax, you will be able to
sense in a way that is effortless and spontaneous that you are joined to
nature from inside yourself. In some practices, the individual imagines
walking through woods or down a path until he or she comes to a
clearing, a grove of trees, or a stone circle. But in this step you are the
grove or the stone circle, a lake, a waterfall, a sea, the moon, the stars
above, the rain falling, and so on. The vibration of nature in some way is
in you and a part of you. It is there in a permanent way.
Step Three: Your Sense of Wonder Does Not Diminish
In the third step, you see the light from the realm of mermaids shining
through the gate leading to that realm. You are witness to the existence
of another spiritual world. When you see and experience this, you are
standing free of human history and civilization.
This is called transcendence. You are outside of time. The human
world is still present, but you view it from a completely different
perspective.
Great writers sometimes have a feel for this. They focus on the
most difficult situations in life in which individuals are at their wits end.
They study and concentrate on every little detail. They want to
understand why people hold on with such strength to their self-images.

The individuals self-understanding is like a reflection in a mirror.

It appears briefly shaped and illuminated by circumstances as arbitrary
and malleable as a dream. But people do not realize this. They cling to
these images as if without them nothing else would exist. They do not
realize that they can cast them off and become something completely
differentwith different feelings, thoughts, and actions.
So the writer takes his or her observations and make them into a
play, a drama, a movie, or a poem. He or she tells a story and says,
Look, see what I seehuman beings make choices based on these
influences. But they forget that they are the ones choosing which
influences to accept and which to reject.
In the third step, when you look out your window at bright snow lit
by the full moon, you may see radiant beams from Gods holy face. Or
you may see shining in the light an inner peace with the universe. When
the entire world is wrong, you can still feel an inner peace and joy
welling up from inside of you in spite of the destruction caused by
human beings. Something from the other side, the next world, is alive
inside of you.
You will know, then, when you reach this third step because there
are moments when you feel outside of time, looking at the human world
with the light of another realm. And you also feel a sense of wonder
touching you. It conveys to you this message: you are meant to take the
person you are and create something new from a dream or vision you
find in your heart.
The light from the realm of mermaids conveys this message: the
universe exists to fulfill the purposes of love. When you feel this energy,
you feel the part of yourself that was missing is now restored.
Step Four: The Gate to the Realm of Mermaids
How do you know when you have made it to the gate? Mermaids appear
right next to you. You share in common with them the way they feel and
perceive. They accept you because you have their vibration. You can
communicate mind to mind with thoughts. But this connection is more a
matter of embodying a watery vibration. Let us do a test.

Take a few minutes and slowly move with your awareness through
different images of water in nature. Become a mountain stream, a
waterfall, and a pool. Become a lake, a river, and the sea. Become an
iceberg frozen in an arctic bay or a small bay in an island in the tropics.
Drop your mind down into an ocean trench. Become the sea.
Notice the different vibrations produced in your body as you
identify with each of these ways in which water appears in nature. If you
meet or imagine a mermaid next to you, match her vibration. Let her
energy flow in and define what you feel inside of you. Learn from the
other. Extend your senses and feelings through the way the other
perceives and feels.
Long ago when I first met women with a profound sense of wellbeing inside of them, it took me decades to learn to produce those
feelings inside of myself. But now I go to the source of such feelings as
they derive from the energies underlying nature and as they exist within
the astral plane. We are meant to learn from each other. We are meant to
flow in and through and give birth to each other from the gifts we give
and from the love we share.
To share in common the way mermaids and mermen perceive is to
feel that a sea of love is flowing through your body. You can sense that
everyone is a part of this seathe same love is within each of us striving
to fulfill our dreams. To feel what they feel is to be able to give all of
yourself because the source that replenishes you is never exhausted.
But you can observe that a mermaid woman has a nearly infinite
variety of emotional expressions in her face and body language.
This is uncanny, but again it is very easy to miss. She blends with you in
a way that makes her seem completely familiar. It is incredibly easy to
take these women for grantedthey connect to you without effort,
which leads you to think that they are normal and ordinary.
On the other hand, that real mermaids might exist in the bodies of
women is an astonishing and fascinating idea. I go to great lengths to
explore the present- and past-life biographies of such women. My fairy
tales give the backstoriesthe explanations--of how or why mermaids
have entered the bodies of women.

These fairy tales I consider to be genuine mythologythe stories

address the questions, Why are we here? What are our options? What is
it to live life to the fullest? The stories present the spiritual landscape
that show where and how the human and the mermaid realms meet.
At the same time, I would like to emphasize that the idea of mermaids
dwelling among us is of absolutely no significance if we do not learn
how to embody their love and empathy in ourselves. Whether you
believe in them or not, the skills they possess can be taught and learned.
From the mermaid point of view, if we fail to learn these skills, the
human race will soon be extinct.
(for more on backstories of mermaids or how some of them have taken
on human form, see my manuscript Mermaid Women at
williamrmistele.com)

Astral Immortality with the Water Element

(from Undines: Lessons from the Realm of the Water Spirits)
For the element of water, the individuals astral body remains forever
new, young, innocent, vivacious, purifying, self-renewing, and life
giving. When this individual relaxes, the aura has the vibration of nature
such as a waterfall, a mountain pool, a stream, a lake, a wave breaking
on a beach, an arctic bay, or an entire sea.
According to the mermaid queen Istiphul, the Chaldean astrologers
got it wrong. Women in particular are not earth, air, fire, or water. They
are primarily water. Within a womans soul is the one ocean that gave
birth to life on earth; the stream that nurtures and brings life to whatever
is by its side and that can dream others dreams effortlessly without loss
to herself; the waterfall that knows how to let go and embrace the air
without fear; the lake that reflects from its face the beauty of the
universe; and the wave that always is in sync, always rhythmic, always a
part of so much more than this world that we see.

For one woman, it is like the stillness of the sun blazing in clear
icethe present moment shines brighter and is more full of beauty than
anything else the mind can think of or contemplate. For another, she is
totally in the moment and receptive. She is beyond the capacity to even
think a mean thought ever; and she radiates watery vitality more than
any master or guru on earth. In this sense, these individuals are more
alive than other human beings.
In this particular definition of astral immortalityof having
developed ones astral body so it is a direct embodiment of some aspect
of natureones energy is continuously being exchanged, recharged,
and united through the element of water in nature.
As one woman says, nature is embedded in my very core. To be
in their presence is to feel like you are out in nature. The very touch of
their aura on you tends to vitalize you and make you feel twice as alive
as you are without being around them.
The main trait of mermaid women, women who actually have or
embody the souls of mermaids in a womans body, is that they feel the
reason they exist is to love. This is not an intellectual idea or a belief. It
is something they actually perceive in each moment of timethat they
are within a sea of love and that this love flows through them to those
around them.
The simplest way to tell when you are with a mermaid woman is
that when you are with her she focuses on you as if nothing else exists
as if she is a stream and you are gravityevery move she makes is
shaped by your presence. They are literally that giving. But you may
have to look for this. They can easily disguise themselves. One way they
do this is to appear so familiar to you that you mistake them as someone
meant to be your lifelong friend. Or they just seem like a young woman
who is a little too vivacious and friendly. But in fact they are like water
flowing into different environments. They respond in a unique way to
each person they are with.

The Fifth ElementAkashaon the Astral Plane

The four realmslet us briefly review. Imagine sitting inside of a rock

or stone. Feel that silence inside of you and that physical being is all that
exists. Or, enter the realm of gnomes. Here inner silence is a quiet
ecstasy. Working to transform and to reshape matter is the essence of
your being. You feel perfectly at home. Whatever you have chosen to
work at captures your full attention and your whole heart and soul are in
it. The attitude of gnomes is not to believe in something. Rather, through
your work you bring heaven down to earth. This is the Great Work.
Pause now. Take a brief moment to reflect on being nothing at all. You
are in a timeless and spaceless state of awareness without energy, form,
or substance present. This does not mean that you do not feel life within
you. Rather the opposite. You can create any feeling you wishany
motivation, any inspiration, any pleasure or bliss--almost without effort.
Now for another realmthe realm of the sylphs. Imagine you are
floating weightless free of all gravity in the vast, blue sky. Or, enter the
realm of the sylphs. Here freedom and beauty are all that exist. You love
harmony because harmony is what you produce when you balance
whatever opposites confront you. You will know when you are here.
Your body feels so relaxed that this relaxation is almost beyond human
understanding. I enjoy being here so much it takes an effort of will to
pull myself away.
And again pause. In a void now without form, image, sound, color,
taste, smell, or sensation of any kind.
And now for the absolutely exuberant and passionate realm of the
salamanders. Fire is everywhere. It is consuming, raging, hungry, and
devouring. This realm is very simple to understand and to grasp. Fire
wants only these thingsto expand, to take command, to grow stronger,
and to produce light. In the beginning it lacks discrimination and ethics.

It needs fuel to burn and will take whatever things are at handyou,
others, or anything regardless of how valuable it is. In the end, it can
take a tin can, any kind of garbage or waste and produce the light of the
sunit shines that bright. Ultimately, fire becomes light without need of
external fuel. The void itself is for fire an infinite source of life. To get
to this point is a long journey indeed. But without the journey through
every kind of desire and need you fail to attain perfect enlightenment.
The enlightened mind is self-existent, luminous and filled with freedom.
Again pause. Spend a few moments within and one with the void. Be
nothing at all. Be silent. Be still. Be free of all realms of form.
And now imagine being surrounded by cool, blue green water. Or
enter the realm of mermaids. Here love is the only thing that exists. Love
saturates every cell in your body with healing, nurturing, soft, tender,
and renewing energy. By feeling one with a sea of love you feel one
with every other being within it. The oceans and waters of the earth flow
through you. You are filled with happiness, serenity, peace, and bliss. I
know a number of people who can recharge themselves when they are
tired or exhausted just by jumping into the ocean. But these people are
blessed. The ocean for them is part of the realm of mermaids.
And there we have itfour elemental realms on the astral plane.
Within and through them we attain astral immortalitythe ability to
renew ourselves from within without end--and we experience nearly
every feeling of what it is to be fully alive.
What part, then, does the fifth elementakashahave to play on the
astral plane? The fifth element of akasha on the astral plane has the sheer
power to create any feeling, quality, or aspect of soul that enhances,
blesses, and fulfills lifethe entire spectrum of what is it to feel fully
alive.
Usually the four elements grow and develop a balance between
themselves through a natural process. In the beginning, the elements are

weak within ones astral body. And they are neutral or have a mixture of
positive and negative qualities within them. As an individual acquires
experiences and observes life, he or she realizes the advantages of
making the elements both strong and positive.
For example, consider the fire element. An individual may at times
have negative or excessive amounts of feelings like anger, rage,
jealousy, irritability, suspicion, resentment, or a need to dominate and
control others. Or the individual is weak in the fire element so that he is
passive, passive-aggressive, paralyzed, withdrawn, and feels like a
victim.
But in time through exposure to many situations and people the
individual changes the fire element in his astral body so it becomes
positive and strong. Then he is courageous, daring, resolved,
enthusiastic, filled with electrifying conviction and faith, charismatic,
self-reliant, and self-confident. He has become a leader that others can
emulate. He energizes, inspires, and motivates those around him. But
this shift from weak and negative to its opposite may take many years to
accomplish and there may not be many situations or positive people
around that he can learn from in order to improve himself.
The fifth element enables you to learn to transform from negative and
weak to positive and strong without need of external experience. Or it
simply makes the process of learning much faster. The fifth element
creates a cause that produces the effect of what you want.
The presence of the fifth element also acts as conscience. It inspires
and gives intuitive insight into how to develop and balance the other
four elements. You are motivated to seek situations that enable you to
learn.
For example, after observing the four elemental realms first hand I
realize that the empathy and love of the mermaid realm are not known to
the human race. Its love is contrary to the entire direction of human

civilization. Our world is fiery, electrical, extroverted, and obsessed with

engaging in high risk ventures. The mermaid realm, by contrast, is
magnetic, empathic, nurturing, and healing. It conserves, fulfills, and is
in harmony with life rather than feeding on the beauty of the natural
world to heighten its powers.
How does the fifth element operate in this situation of imbalance? It
would normally take the human race another thousand or ten thousand
years to acquire the love of the mermaids through historical experience.
One of the great ironies of history is that the entire realm of mermaids
has been forbidden to the human race. No one has been authorized to
reveal its existence. The human race would have entered it with the same
vicious cruelty and devouring hatred that Cortez unleashed upon the
Aztecs.
However, with tantra or advanced contemplation, an individual can
observe something in front of him like a mermaid and reproduce that
vibration within himself. The fifth element embodies the powers of the
other four elements in itself.
With the fire element, when you gaze upon something you seize and
take hold of its essence. You put forth the concentration necessary to
fully contact and connect to what you are observing. As you gaze on
something with the air element, you perceive all aspects of its nature and
all of its applications and interactions and effects on others.
With the water element, you experience within yourself the full life
within the othereverything it feels, all of its sensitivity and receptivity
and emotional lifethey are alive within you as well. And with the earth
element, you repeat and persist in your practice until what you are
working at becomes an enduring reality within you.
To give an example, on the mental plane or within the vibration of
mind we can ready Shakespeares play Hamlet. With our mind we can
measure the conflict, track the highs and lows of the protagonists

fortune, watch the arc of the plot unfold, notice the contributing role of
the supporting cast, enjoy the suspense and drama, the presence or lack
of correspondence between the outer events and the inner life of the
protagonist.
But if we perceive with the astral plane, our depth of understanding is
far greater. We would have played the role of Hamlet. We would have
experienced the subtext of the dialogues, the emotional force in the
interactions, and the sheer conflict of having to act amid ambiguity or
with abilities we do not believe we possess. Acting as Hamlet is a totally
different experience than reading the play or watching the actors on a
stage while sitting among audience.
Without the astral elements strong and balanced within oneself, the
ideals and the plans of action of the mental level simply do not manifest.
This is because there is a lack of inspiration, motivation, charisma, and
elemental force of personality present.
The Captain of a nuclear submarine may pick up the mic and announce,
We are leaving at O800 tomorrow morning. But the crew will simply
look at each other and wonder what they are supposed to do. What are
needed are the XO, officers, and Chief of the Boat. They supervise and
insure everyone is ready. They check and double check everyones
preparation. Through observation they can tell that everyone is able to
do their assigned job.
They provide the motivation and energy so the mission can be
fulfilled. Otherwise those orders handed down by the Pacific Command
to the Captain are in jeopardy.
And this is our worldwe have XO and Chief of the Boat. We have a
prophet 2,700 years ago saying, They shall beat their swords into plow
shears and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword
against nation; neither shall they learn war anymore.

That is an ideal and an idea. Good. But does it get acted on? You think
Divine Providence is going to go out there and do it for you without any
effort on the part of human beings? Let the Captain of the submarine go
check electrical circuits and make sure all the safety measures are in
place. Let the Captain check the reactor and make sure that food is in the
galley for three months voyaging without surfacing. Let the Great White
Brotherhood do it. Let the Ascended Masters do it. Let the light workers
and the spirit guides on the inner planes clean up our mess down here in
the physical world. LOL. It is not going to happen.
We are the XO and the Chief of the Boat. You want the beauty, the
inspiration, motivation, and feeling of being fully alive of the astral
plane, then you need to incorporate these four elemental realms into
your own soul. Then you will have the force of personality necessary to
manifest dreams and ideals on earth.
One simply way of studying the fifth element on the astral plane is to
keep a little book of your own favorite sayings of inspiration. These are
words that when you read them they automatically create in you strong
feelings. The words echo and reverberate through you bringing to life
things deep within.
For example, from Pumpkin Seed Point by Frank Waters-- Adrift on a
sea of motionless time, I come to see there are worlds enough for
becoming myself. I can easily fall into a semi-trance whenever I read
those words. I relive what Frank Waters felt when he wrote those words;
and I sense a vision belonging to the sphere of the moon in which the
awareness of time encompasses in one moment all past and future
civilizations on earth.
And, for me nature is the foothills of eternity. In the same way, beauty
is a gate leading to divine being-Beauty is a most wonderful thing. To taste it is to fly with divine
wings. When its light fills your eyes, you see sights hidden from the

wise. When it touches your skin, you are freed of all sin. And if it ever
should anoint you, its cool, soothing tenderness flowing through you,
then all that you have ever lost is again found and impossible hopes and
dreams will soon come around.
Venus with its vibration of love has been placed in this solar system
with an aura filled with divine teachers in order that we might learn to
acquire omnipresent awareness. Beauty is a sacred path and a
steppingstone to that end.
Once more, the nature of the void or akasha on the astral plane? It is
nothingness and yet it is everywhere and within everything. It is that
receptive, that formless, and that penetrating.