Introduction
I found this passage in the book “The Secret Teachings of All Ages” by Manly P. Hall. I think that it is very descriptive and beautiful at
the same time.
It describes the ‘mer’ folk or the creatures of the water
element very well.
Excerpt
“As the gnomes were
limited in their function to the elements of the earth, so the undines (a name
given to the family of water elementals) function in the invisible, spiritual
essence called humid (or liquid) ether. In its vibratory rate this is close to
the element water, and so the undines are able to control, to a great degree,
the course and function of this fluid in Nature. Beauty seems to be the keynote
of the water spirits. Wherever we find them pictured in art or sculpture, they
abound in symmetry and grace. Controlling the water element--which has always
been a feminine symbol--it is natural that the water spirits should most often
be symbolized as female.
There are many groups
of undines. Some inhabit waterfalls, where they can be seen in the spray;
others are indigenous to swiftly moving rivers; some have their habitat in
dripping, oozing fens or marshes; while other groups dwell in clear mountain lakes.
According to the philosophers of antiquity, every fountain had its nymph; every
ocean wave its oceanid. The water spirits were known under such names as
oreades, nereides, limoniades, naiades, water sprites, sea maids, mermaids, and
potamides. Often the water nymphs derived their names from the streams, lakes,
or seas in which they dwelt.
In describing them,
the ancients agreed on certain salient features. In general, nearly all the
undines closely resembled human beings in appearance and size, though the ones
inhabiting small streams and fountains were of correspondingly lesser
proportions. It was believed that these water spirits were occasionally capable
of assuming the appearance of normal human beings and actually associating with
men and women. There are many legends about these spirits and their adoption by
the families of fishermen, but in nearly every case the undines heard the call
of the waters and returned to the realm of Neptune, the King of the Sea.
Practically nothing is
known concerning the male undines. The water spirits did not establish homes in
the same way that the gnomes did, but lived in coral caves under the ocean or
among the reeds growing on the banks of rivers or the shores of lakes. Among
the Celts there is a legend to the effect that Ireland was peopled, before the
coming of its present inhabitants, by a strange race of semi-divine creatures;
with the coming of the modem Celts they retired into the marshes and fens,
where they remain even to this day. Diminutive undines lived under lily pads
and in little houses of moss sprayed by waterfalls. The undines worked with the
vital essences and liquids in plants, animals, and human beings, and were
present in everything containing water. When seen, the undines generally
resembled the goddesses of Greek statuary. They rose from the water draped in
mist and could not exist very long apart from it.
There are many
families of undines, each with its peculiar limitations, it is impossible to
consider them here in detail. Their ruler, Necksa, they love and honor, and
serve untiringly. Their temperament is said to be vital, and to them has been
given as their throne the western corner of creation. They are rather emotional
beings, friendly to human life and fond of serving mankind. They are sometimes
pictured riding on dolphins or other great fish and seem to have a special love
of flowers and plants, which they serve almost as devotedly and intelligently
as the gnomes. Ancient poets have said that the songs of the undines were heard
in the West Wind and that their lives were consecrated to the beautifying of
the material earth.”
End (790).
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