Elementals are spirits believed to inhabit and embody the four classical elements of earth, water, air and fire. The idea was given its classic form by the Swiss physician Paracelsus in the sixteenth century, who described gnomes, undines, sylphs and salamanders. Elementals later became part of Rosicrucian lore, ceremonial magic, Theosophy and modern pagan practice, as well as literature.
Elementals at a glance
| Also called | Elemental spirits; nature spirits |
|---|---|
| Classic source | Paracelsus, Liber de Nymphis, Sylphis, Pygmaeis et Salamandris (published 1566) |
| Earth | Gnomes (Paracelsus's pygmies) |
| Water | Undines (nymphs) |
| Air | Sylphs |
| Fire | Salamanders |
| Popularized by | Comte de Gabalis (1670), by Montfaucon de Villars |
Origins in Paracelsus
The theory of four classical elements goes back to the Greek philosopher Empedocles and was developed by Aristotle, and ancient and medieval writers often imagined spirits or beings connected with nature. The systematic doctrine of elementals, however, comes from Paracelsus (1493-1541). In a treatise usually known as the Liber de Nymphis, Sylphis, Pygmaeis et Salamandris et de caeteris spiritibus, first printed after his death in 1566, he described four kinds of beings, each living in its own element as humans live in air.
Paracelsus considered these creatures to be neither spirits nor humans but something in between. They had bodies and human-like forms, ate and reproduced, and could be wise and skilled, but they lacked an immortal soul and perished entirely at death. He suggested that they could gain a soul by marrying a human being, a notion that became central to later literature. He also used this framework to explain figures from folklore such as mermaids, dwarfs and giants.
The Four Kinds of Elementals
- Gnomes (earth): Paracelsus called them pygmies; the word gnome itself appears to be his coinage. They move through solid earth as fish move through water and guard mines and treasures.
- Undines (water): water spirits, often female, associated with rivers, lakes and springs, and linked with the older idea of nymphs and mermaids.
- Sylphs (air): beings of the air, described as the closest to humans; later writers made them delicate and graceful.
- Salamanders (fire): spirits living in flame, named after the real amphibian that ancient lore claimed could survive fire.
This fourfold scheme corresponded to the elemental theories of the time, which also shaped medicine, astrology and alchemy. Every natural region, in this view, was inhabited, so that the whole of creation was full of life.
The Comte de Gabalis and Literature
The idea reached a wide audience through Le Comte de Gabalis (1670), a work by the French abbe Nicolas-Pierre-Henri de Montfaucon de Villars. It presents a mysterious count who reveals the secrets of the Rosicrucian sages, including their marriages with sylphs, undines, gnomes and salamanders. Whether the book is a satire or a sincere exposition has long been debated; most scholars read it as at least partly satirical, but it was later taken seriously by many occultists.
The Comte de Gabalis inspired Alexander Pope, who used sylphs and gnomes as the supernatural machinery of his mock-epic The Rape of the Lock (1712, expanded 1714). The German writer Friedrich de la Motte Fouque drew on Paracelsus for his novella Undine (1811), about a water spirit who gains a soul through marriage with a knight, a story that inspired operas and ballets. Through such works elementals entered the wider world of fairy lore and fantasy.
Elementals in Ceremonial Magic
Nineteenth-century occultists incorporated elementals into systems of ritual magic. Eliphas Levi wrote of the need for the magician to master the elemental spirits and gave forms of address for each element. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn developed this further: its grades were linked to the elements, it used elemental weapons (the wand, cup, dagger and pentacle, which correspond to the four suits of the tarot) and it assigned rulers to each elemental realm.
In many modern pagan and Wiccan rituals, practitioners greet the four directions and their associated elements at the start of a ceremony, and some traditions associate these "quarters" with elemental beings. In these contexts elementals are variously understood as real spirits, as personifications of natural forces, or as psychological symbols, depending on the practitioner.
Theosophy, Spiritualism and Related Ideas
In the Theosophical writings of Helena Blavatsky and her successors, the term "elementals" was used for nature spirits and for lower, semi-conscious forces, sometimes connected with the devas of Hindu and Buddhist tradition. Theosophists also suggested that some phenomena of spiritualist seances were produced by elementals rather than by the spirits of the dead.
In folklore and popular paranormal writing, disturbances attributed to poltergeists have sometimes been blamed on elementals. There is no scientific evidence for the existence of such beings; historians treat them as part of the history of ideas about nature, spirit and magic, from Renaissance natural philosophy to modern fantasy fiction and games, where the four elemental types remain very popular.
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Frequently asked questions
What are the four elementals?
In the scheme of Paracelsus, the four elementals are gnomes, which live in earth; undines, which live in water; sylphs, which live in air; and salamanders, which live in fire. Each was thought to inhabit its element as naturally as humans live in air, and to share some human qualities.
Did Paracelsus believe elementals had souls?
He described them as beings between humans and spirits, with bodies, reason and skills, but no immortal soul, so that they perished completely at death. He suggested they could gain a soul by marrying a human, an idea later developed in the Comte de Gabalis and in stories such as Undine.
Are elementals the same as fairies?
Not exactly. Fairies come from European folk traditions with many local forms, while elementals are a learned classification based on the four elements, formulated by Paracelsus. The two ideas became closely linked, and Paracelsus himself used his theory to explain folklore beings such as nymphs, dwarfs and mermaids.
Sources and further reading
This entry replaces an article from the original Mystica encyclopedia (online since 2001). It was rewritten from the sources above by The Mystica Editorial Team under our editorial standards. Last reviewed: September 30, 2026.