mental Essence belonging to our own evolution._

Just as the name "elementary" has been given indiscriminately by
various writers to any or all of man's possible _post-mortem_
conditions, so this word "elemental" has been used at different times
to mean any or all non-human spirits, from the most godlike of the
Devas down through every variety of nature-spirit to the formless
essence which pervades the kingdoms lying behind the mineral, until
after reading several books the student becomes absolutely bewildered
by the contradictory statements made on the subject. For the purposes
of this treatise it will perhaps simplify matters to restrict its
meaning to the last-mentioned class only, and use it to denote the
three great kingdoms which precede the mineral in the order of our
evolution. It may be remembered that in one of the earlier letters
from an Adept teacher these elemental kingdoms are referred to, and
the statement is made that the first and second cannot readily be
comprehended except by an Initiate. Fortunately this, the most
incomprehensible part of the vast subject, does not come within the
province of this manual, as those first and second elemental kingdoms
exist and function respectively upon the arupa and rupa levels of the
devachanic plane. We have consequently to deal for the moment only
with kingdom No. 3--the one next before the mineral; though even that
will be found quite sufficiently complicated, as will be understood
when it is stated that it contains just over two thousand four hundred
perfectly distinct varieties of elemental essence, each of which the
pupil who wishes to attain perfect control of the astral forces must
learn not only to distinguish instantly at sight, but to deal with in
its own special method and no other. Of course phenomena of various
sorts may be, and constantly are, produced by those who are able to
wield only one or two of these forces, but the Adept prefers to take
the additional trouble requisite to understand all of them thoroughly,
and uses in every case precisely the most appropriate force or
combination of forces, so that his object may be attained with
scientific accuracy and with the least possible expenditure of energy.

To speak, as we so often do, of _an_ elemental in connection with the
group we are now considering is somewhat misleading, for strictly
speaking there is no such thing. What we find is a vast store of
elemental essence, wonderfully sensitive to