The Hierarchies Q 141
Steiner, they should be called "very useful elemental beings."And very
useful they appear to have been, and to be, as the immediate helpers of
their hierarchical creators. But having no ego of their own, these be-
ings need to be controlled by intermediary, subangelic creatures of the
astral plane, the devas.The function of these supervising spirits is to en-
sure the accurate implementation by the egoless elementals of the blue-
prints passed down from the superior creating hierarchies.The etheric
bodies of these astral devas (or "group souls") are also fashioned, says
Steiner, like the bodies of the "very useful elemental beings," directly
from the world-ether.
Yet another essential step was required for the creation of the
etheric bodies of all these living organisms: a very special self-sacrifice
on the part of each and every "very useful elemental being." For any
earthly form to materialize and then maintain itself-in accordance
with the blueprint produced by its hierarchical ideator, transmitted via
the requisite deva-"very useful" elementals must allow themselves in-
dividually (or rather their consciousness) to be hypnotized or "en-
chanted" into the material object being created.
As Steiner explains the process, whereas these elemental beings re-
tain their astral bodies on the astral plane, only their consciousness is
enchanted down into their physical creations. For the word enchanted
Steiner often substitutes charmed, bewitched, condemned, imprisoned, or
chained, meaning a sacrifice willingly undertaken by the four groups of
elemental beings in order to assume and maintain earthly physical
forms.
So long as the elemental remains enchanted, the physical form is re-
quired to persist. Beings remain enchanted until they have fulfilled their
task in that particular organism. They then pass their work on to an-
other elemental being. These enchantments and disenchantments can
occur in regular daily rhythms. But generally, says Steiner, elemental be-
ings, released from enchantment, try to get back down into matter.
Elemental beings are described as constantly being enchanted into
air; and when air is transformed into a liquid state they are bewitched
into lower forms of existence. An enchantment of spiritual beings is al-
ways connected with the condensation and formation of gases and