This article is about alchemic elementals. For other uses of the term, see elemental .
]]An elemental is a mythological being first appearing in the alchemical works of Paracelsus. Traditionally, there are four types: gnomes, earth elementals; undine, water elementals; sylphs, air elementals; and salamander, fire elementals.Carole B. Silver, Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness, p 38 ISBN 0-19-512199-6 The exact term for each type varies somewhat from source to source, though these four are now the most usual. Most of these beings are found in folklore as well as alchemy; their names are often used interchangeably with similar beings from folklore.C.S. Lewis, The Discarded Image, p135 ISBN 0-521-47735-2 The sylph, however, is rarely encountered outside of alchemical contexts.The basic concept of an elemental refers to the ancient idea of elements as fundamental building blocks of nature. In the system prevailing in the Classical world, there were four ele
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elemental