The magician, having drawn his circle, is here shown invoking the various elemental beings, who are emerging from their respective haunts. From the earth at his feet come the gnomes, from the water the undines, from the fire the salamanders, and from the air the winged slyphs. A strange wraithlike demon also answers the magician’s call. In The Coming of the Fairies, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle defends the existence of the Nature spirits, who for centuries have been regarded as mere figments of the imagination.

In the ancient Mysteries it was taught that in order to become ruler over the elemental creatures the necromancer must be without fear of the elements themselves. He who feared fire could never control the salamanders who dwelt therein; he who feared water could never hope to gain power over the undines, or water spirits. Hence many of the pagan Mystery rituals included ordeals in which the different elements were involved. Thus in the initiation of earth the candidates wandered through gloomy caverns; in the initiation of water he sailed across a mysterious sea in an open boat or swam a stream filled with eddies, and whirlpools; in the initiation of fire he passed through a ring of smoke and flame; and in the initiation of air he hung by rings over a chasm or climbed to the edge of some precipice along a marrow and tortuous pathway. It was further asserted that none in whose nature were found the characteristic vices of the elemental planes could control the elements. He who could not curb his passions became a plaything of the salamanders, and he who was actuated by acquisitiveness could not govern the gnomes, who obeyed only those in whom no selfishness existed. The gnomes must be controlled with cheerful generosity, the undines with firmness, the slamaders with placidity, and the sylphs with constancy.