![]() ![]() Later writers embellished Paracelsus’ undine classification by developing it into a water nymph in its own right. ĭavid Gallagher argues that, although they had Paracelsus as a source, 19th and 20th-century German authors found inspiration for their many versions of undine in classical literature, particularly Ovid’s Metamorphoses, especially given the transformation of many of their undines into springs: Hyrie (book VII) and Egeria (book XV) are two such characters. The subdivisions and elaborations … by Paracelsus, the Rosicrucians, and the modern theosophists are no doubt amplifications of that popular belief in the existence of a race, neither divine nor human, but very like to human beings, who existed on a “plane” different from that of humans, though occupying the same space which … resembles the theory of these mystics in its main outlines, and was probably what suggested it to them. The Celtic languages scholar Henry Jenner has argued that the elementals grew out of the folklore that preceded them: The philosophy of nature spirits was also familiar to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, and certainly to Paracelsus. 430 BC) was the first to propose that the four classical elements were sufficient to explain everything present in the world. The ancient Greek philosopher Empedocles (c. Moses Binswanger, the protagonist in Hansjörg Schneider’s Das Wasserzeichen (1997), has a cleft in his throat, for instance, which must be periodically submerged in water to prevent it from becoming painful. The offspring of a union between an undine and a man are human with a soul, but also with some kind of aquatic characteristic, called a watermark. Marriage with a human shortens their lives on Earth, but earns them an immortal human soul. What undines lack, compared to humans, is a soul. The group contains many species, including nereides, limnads, naiades, mermaids and potamides. They are usually found in forest pools and waterfalls, and their beautiful singing voices are sometimes heard over the sound of water. Undines are almost invariably depicted as being female, which is consistent with the ancient idea that water is a female element. Undine Rising from the Waters by Chauncey Bradley Ives at Yale’s Art Gallery He describes these elementals as the “invisible, spiritual counterparts of visible Nature … many resembling human beings in shape, and inhabiting worlds of their own, unknown to man because his undeveloped senses were incapable of functioning beyond the limitations of the grosser elements.” Description and common attributes Paracelsus believed that each of the four classical elements – earth, water, air and fire – is inhabited by different categories of elemental spirits, liminal creatures that share our world: gnomes, undines, sylphs and salamanders respectively. Ondine is an alternative spelling,, and has become a female given name. It is derived from the Latin word unda, meaning “wave”, and first appears in Paracelsus’ book Liber de Nymphis, sylphis, gnomes et salamandris et de caeteris spiritibus, published posthumously in 1658. Undine is a term that appears in the alchemical writings of Paracelsus, a Renaissance alchemist and physician. Such a union is not without risk for the man, because if he is unfaithful, then he is fated to die. Although resembling humans in form, they lack a human soul, so to achieve immortality they must acquire one by marrying a human. ![]() The group contains many species, including nereides, limnads, naiades and mermaids. Undines are almost invariably depicted as being female, and are usually found in forest pools and waterfalls. Later writers developed the undine into a water nymph in its own right, and it continues to live in modern literature and art through such adaptations as Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid”. Similar creatures are found in classical literature, particularly Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Undines (or ondines) are a category of imaginary elemental beings associated with water, first named in the alchemical writings of Paracelsus. ![]() (1849–1917), exhibited at the Society of British Artists in 1872. He is the best known of that group of artists who from the 1880s revived the literary themes favoured by the Pre-Raphaelites. Undine by John William Waterhouse English artist known primarily for his depictions of women set in scenes from myth, legend or poetry. ![]()
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