A step above entity worship

A STEP ABOVE ENTITY WORSHIP

In close association with us humans on earth are creatures who are custodians of nature and are associated with the four elements of Air, Water, Earth and Fire. These have been known in the past and have been given names such as nixies, gnomes, sylphs, elves and so on. These creatures which are called the small elemental beings are responsible for the maintenance of the particular element with which they are associated. Thus, we have the Salamanders which are the elemental beings associated with the maintenance of fire; we have Gnomes which are beings associated mainly with element of the earth such as the soil, stones and so on. We also have the elemental beings concerned with the maintenance of air and these are called Sylphs; Nixies and Water sprites are mainly concerned with the maintenance of water and Elves are mainly associated with the maintenance of trees, flowers and so on. In centuries past these beings have been clearly recognised but through increasing over-cultivation of the intellect these became relegated to the realms of fables and myths and were forgotten.

In starting from below upwards, we find these small elemental beings and they have been worshipped by various tribes in the past and even today the worship of these beings are still common. For example, in several West African and American Indian ethnic groups, tree elves, water sprites are very commonly worshipped. The worship of fire is still very widespread among many tribes. There is, however, the worship of a variety of other entities side by side with these nature beings, for example, among American Indians we have what is called the 'bear dance' where they belief they will be able to access the powers of spirits through imitating the movements of a bear. They wear masks of bear heads while performing their rituals and from this it is clear that the natural veneration and worship of the elemental beings which characterised early man is rarely to be seen.

In certain indigenous tribes of North and South America, certain types of plants and animals are adopted as totems and worshipped. They are considered as holy or as dwelling places of spirits. For example in Peru, the Coca plant has been worshipped because of the intoxicating properties of its products. Certain crops which are believed to harbour spirits of fertility have been worshipped by many primitive tribes. Trees have particularly been worshipped in West Africa and an example was the widespread worship of the 'Iroko' tree among the Yoruba tribe of West Africa. The earth element too has been worshipped, including the ground itself, mountains and rocks. Other earthly physical objects which have been worshipped include various celestial bodies such as for example the worship of the moon by the Khoikhoi of Southern Africa. We also have accounts of the worship of the Sun by many Middle Eastern tribes.

Apart from all these which highlight the various ways people have developed, we have among the Japanese, in the religion of Shinto the almost pure worship of Nature. In this religion, which is only seen in Japan, a variety of 'gods' are worshipped who are considered to represent the elemental beings of Nature. They believe that all things in Nature whether streams, the sun, trees and so on have spirits which dwell within and which must be venerated. However, with time as usual other practices were introduced which marred the picture because today we have what is called ancestor worship, which is the practice of worshipping departed relatives.

Therefore on this stage we have the veneration and worship of the elemental beings and their dwelling places. Humanity should have gone further in their recognition; some did, others did not. On standing still some of these religious practices became lost as meaningless practices became introduced. The Greeks, the Romans, and some northern European tribes and to some extent India have had a normal development up to a point. The Greeks, while recognising the lower elemental beings for what they were went even ahead and in the end were able to recognise even the masters of these lower elemental beings. They were able to document many of the activities not only of the lower ones but of the higher ones as well.

With those tribes which did not make normal forward progress, fermentation set in and the result was a lateralisation with the introduction of practices which were not provided for in the natural course of development. They began to worship animals, dwelling places of elemental beings, dead ancestors and so on. We began to have so many branching outs that today the whole picture has become confused. In Greek, Roman and Scandinavian Mythologies however, we have the correct recognition and interpretation of the activities of the elemental beings. We have accounts of lesser 'divinities or spirits' who dwell in groves, forests, streams and meadows. They have been recognised as having both male and female forms.

Young maidens have been described whom the Greeks called 'nymphs', beautiful, fond of music and dancing. They are described in association with a particular element in Nature. Thus we have Dryads, who were nymphs associated with the forests; Oreads, associated with mountains and grottoes; Naiads, associated with springs and freshwater streams. We also have Potameides who are river nymphs. Apart from the Greeks, many other peoples as for example the Japanese had recognised and worshipped the entities of Nature and they still do even today. The elements of Shinto as it is still being practised today is worship and veneration of a wide range of deities such as those of mountains, rivers, streams and the sun. Other ancient peoples who had practised the worship of the lesser elemental beings were the Scandinavian and Babylonian peoples. The stories of the Scandinavians include those of dwarfs, elves and very importantly the Norns who were supposed to be elemental beings who distributed fates to humans. In ancient Babylon, there are stories of their beliefs in the natural entities of rivers and mountains. In West Africa in the past as well as in the present the fear and worship of nature beings is widespread and as such we know of the widespread fear and worship of river 'goddesses' in many of these societies.

Many tribes that worship celestial bodies such as the sun and the moon have not associated any particular 'god' or being to these but only worship them as a result of the awe they have for these structures. Some more advanced peoples, however, associate a particular deity especially with the sun thus we have the Egyptians who have the sun 'god' Ra and then Mithra who is the sun 'god' of the Persians. These peoples were able to see beyond the gross material sun and as a result recognise that there must be a 'being' associated with it that controls it. Some more primitive peoples do not see more than these gross material celestial bodies and it is these as such that they worship. Therefore, those who consider these celestial bodies as dwelling places of spirits and as such worship them for this reason had gone a step further in their recognition than those who merely worship gross material objects.

The same applies in West Africa; those who worship the 'spirits' that are supposed to dwell in trees have gone a step further than those who worship trees because of their awe-inspiring aspect or because of the properties of their products. Therefore, for thousands of years humanity has had knowledge of these beings and no people today can be said to be unfamiliar with their activities in their remote past though today most of us have relegated their knowledge far into the background, even mocking and denying that they ever existed.

The fact, however, that these beings have been described in their forms and activities by almost all groups of people proves the real existence of these beings, otherwise these descriptions would not have been so uniform. This proves that these stories did not arise from the imagination of the peoples but were accurate accounts of their experiences and interactions with these beings. Since these beings are to be found in all Nature, it is natural that all peoples would have seen and interacted with them because all peoples have a natural environment. We are the ones who are to blame for our inability to see these beings; it is nothing but a sign of our failures. Even in recent times there have been reports of peoples who are given to seeing these beings but have mostly been ridiculed and as such in the present time such people prefer to keep quiet about their knowledge lest they become objects of mockery with their ignorant fellow men.

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