Nature spirits are all around the Earth. There are two kinds – spirits of land and spirits of life. These can all be called 'nature devas', though the term Deva is usually reserved for the greater or larger intelligence-presences of nature, while the more localized and particularized spirits are simply called nature-spirits or the spirits of a place. Of course, a name is not so important as what it refers to.
Mother Earth is a planetary Being with consciousness, creative intelligence, love, and vitality; which are themselves powers of the Universal Spirit. The whole creative intelligence of Earth divides into various kinds of intelligence, and these various intelligences also exist in geographical areas all over the planet. These are the Devas. They are creative intelligences, of various kinds, and in various locations. Each Deva is a Spirit-being with consciousness and intelligence.
We can learn to communicate with the Devas and with all nature spirits. When humanity learns how to communicate with nature-beings, then we will live much more harmoniously in nature, in our natural world. And as we learn to literally communicate with nature, we will learn more about nature, including its etheric healing energies, its intelligences, and the spirit-presences of nature. We can literally learn from the Spirits of Nature, if we first learn to be sensitive in nature and communicate with these Spirits from our hearts and minds.
Areas have a certain intelligence and beingness to them. This is the kingdom of Deva spirits. A Deva is the natural-spirit being of an area which embodies the consciousness and intelligence, the love and compassionate caring, the living vitality, and the creative pattern and design. A Deva is the beingness of the area, as well as its guardian and creative inspiration. Each Deva has a distinct existence, or beingness, but each is not really separated from the others, for all are interrelated and together form the Holistic Intelligence of the land and nature on Earth.
The whole planetary matrix is not just a system of energies, but also a creative web of interrelated intelligences, which are known as Devas in esoteric teachings. Devas are the intelligences of nature, the intelligences of Mother Earth, which guide and pattern the natural creative evolution of all life. They are not absolutely dictating or designing how every life will be on Earth, for there is still creative chance at work; but they are generally guiding the evolutionary process.
Devas are nature spirits of the highest order. Together they form the 'mind of nature', the 'guiding intelligences and organizers' of form. They are the patterning forces in nature, creating the unique patterns and forms on the earth. They are the morphogenetic fields of intelligence and pattern. Devas are the intelligences and designers of nature; while the little elemental spirits are the workers, builders, and maintainers.
Devas also have consciousness, presence, beingness, and vital powers. The whole world of nature is guided by these Deva Intelligences. Even in our own physical bodies, the Devas of Intelligence are at work, governing the natural intelligence of our physical body, guiding our health, and giving their healing powers when circumstances happen to set our health astray. The Devic intelligences of nature created these physical bodies, so they can just as well heal them with the same natural intelligence.
Devas are the powers of intelligence of Mother Earth, and the different kinds of intelligences. Each particular kind of life has its own Deva-intelligence, For example, each particular tree has its individual intelligence, yet, the source of each particularized intelligence is its Deva intelligence.
Nature's intelligence works in a functional hierarchy, which can be visualized as a hierarchical pyramid, ranging from general to specific. The general and more essential Intelligences guide and oversee the specific intelligences and applications. The higher level Devas are the most general yet essential Intelligences. Then out from these greater Devas come the next level of Devas which are more specific minded intelligences with more specific functions or roles in nature. Then from this level emerges the next level of specificity and function. This is the Intelligence Hierarchy of Higher to lower, from General to more specific.
To understand this, consider Devas of trees, which are the Intelligences of trees. At the top of this Deva hierarchy is the Grand Intelligence (or Grand Deva) of all trees. This Deva embodies the most general and essential intelligence of all trees. Higher than this would be the Grand Deva Intelligence of all Growing Things. So the Grand Deva of the trees is the Great Intelligence essential in all trees. Next are the Deva Genius' of particular tree species, which embody the particular intelligence creating each distinct kind of tree. Then, there is each particular tree, which we do not really refer to as a Deva, but simply as a particular-individual tree-spirit.
Even in our physical body is an intricate hierarchy of natural intelligence. Each cell has an intelligence, different tissues have their intelligence, and so do our various organs, and finally each body system has its intelligence. So our physical body is itself an example of how natural intelligence works hierarchically and spatially.
Each individual life is given its intelligence by the greater Intelligence of which it is within. This greater Intelligence is the guiding general pattern of its particular life examples. The greater Intelligence existed prior to its particular lives and, in a sense, gave birth to that life. Thus, each life has its own particular intelligence, but this is given from the greater Intelligence of which it is part. Moreover, that particular life-form cannot become what is outside of its given general intelligence.
Each life-form is a unique creative variation of the general Intelligence-pattern of which it is. And the creative diversity possible for each kind of natural life is within the limits of its given intelligence and pattern. In other words, each thing could not possibly become something too different from its given general intelligence and pattern, though each life does have degrees of variable freedom.
DNA intelligence is the physical correspondence of its Deva-Spirit intelligence. Each life has its own DNA, its seed intelligence, which was given by its and ancestry, and this its guidance for development. Scientifically, each life intelligence could be explained by its DNA codes and by natural selective evolution. But in esoteric earth-life science, the Deva-Spirit Intelligences guide the general formulation of DNA and the general patterns of a species development, though this is a generalized guidance and not specifically determinist. This general influencing guidance works through 'morphogenetic' energy fields.
Devas of the land are the energies and qualities of the land. All Devas and spirit of place have four aspects, or four kinds of energies. These are their etheric-vital energy, consciousness, intelligence, and emotional quality of presence. The land (minerals, rocks, water) hold this spirit-presence of consciousness, intelligence, emotional-feeling, and etheric energy. These energies, which maintain and evolve the planet, are accumulated and distributed across the land. We can experience or study each energy separately or as a whole.
The land has consciousness. In any area we stand we are in a natural 'field of consciousness', which is in the land we are on. Each place has consciousness, and even larger areas of land have consciousness. So we are always in a natural field of consciousness. The same can be said of presence. In any natural area we are in a field of spirit-presence, which is the presence and consciousness of the Deva-spirit.
The quality of a place correlates to the kind of Deva present. The Devic presence influences the quality present on this land or at this place. Or in other words, the quality of a locality/place depends on the presence quality of the Deva present there. However, it is also possible to attract finer Deva qualities by what we do on the land or by what we build, and we can attract certain qualities by requesting a certain kind of Devic presence.
Devas of the land guide the natural energies of all which lives on that land. Each particular locality, place or area will be guided by its land Deva, which will have its own unique intelligence and quality of feeling, and its own 'field of consciousness.' This is the guardian spirit of the land, who is guiding that area, its maintenance, growth, and evolution. The natural presence, the nature-consciousness, the love, and the natural power of a place are all aspects of the Deva presence.
In geomancy we can sometimes physically locate the 'Devic throne' or 'Guardian's Throne' in a large area of land, which is where a larger concentration of this spirit-presence 'sits', and this is also known as the center vortex of an area. Yet the whole area is enfolded in this spirit-presence and its nature energies.
In addition, the land records the feelings and consciousness patterns of what is around it. Therefore, memory patterns (from the past) are held in the land and in water. In every place on the land there is a memory present, because the land holds memory. The rocks hold memory and water holds memory. This memory is in the crystalline structure of rocks and water. Feelings and emotions are recorded in this memory. Then, this memory becomes part of the 'personality' (as it were) of the place. The soul of a place is its natural quality and spirit-presence, but the personality of the place will hold past memories from those who were around and from what has occurred there, which might be very positive or contrarily troublesome.
When there has been troublesome or negative energies recorded in the land, from past emotions and activities occurring there, then the land is in need of healing. The need for healing will be especially important if there were past traumatic emotions involving violence, which produces a memory shock in the land.
We use the term, 'nature-spirit', when discussing singular spirit-beings, and we use 'spirit-of-place' in reference to the spirit of particular places. But we use the term Deva(s) when discussing the larger, more encompassing Spirit-beings of nature.
For example, imagine a small pond and meadow area. It will have its own particular spirit. This is the spirit of the land, or it's called the spirit of place. Even more specifically, there is a spirit of the pond and a spirit of the meadow, even though the pond is within the meadow; one spirit being within the other. Then imagine the larger area in which this is. This too has its spirit of place, yet this is a larger spirit of place which encompasses all of the smaller areas within it. So, there are particular spirit-places, particular areas of spirit, but the boundaries of these particular areas are not at all fixed or definable, because each area merges with adjacent and surrounding areas. Yet all areas are within even larger areas, which means that any one spirit of place will be within a larger spirit of place (or spirit of the land).
The spirit-devas of land are interrelated in a spacial-geographic way, such that a particular area of land is interrelated, in spirit, with the larger area of land encompassing it. Thus, devas of the land are geographical spirit-beings and are structured in a geographical-spacial hierarchy.
The encompassing size of a geographical Deva depends on the size of land in question. We might speak of the 'larger' or 'overall' Deva, or perhaps the 'Spirit of the land', when referring to larger areas of land. Yet when studying or sensitive to smaller areas of land, or more localized areas, a better term would be the 'spirit of place'. The boundary or size of a spirit of place cannot be exactly defined, but one can often feel the presence or quality of a particular place, as distinct from a different 'place' not so far away. In other words, the spirit of place can be quite localized and even somewhat small in its actual area. Thus, the 'spirit of the land' is a more general, overall, encompassing area; while a 'spirit of place' is much more localized and specifically defined. But in essence, all spirits of place and spirits of land, no matter how small or how large, are Deva spirits.
We might think of the larger-encompassing Deva/Spirit as the parent to all of the many particular spirits of place within that overall area of land, while each spirit of place would be like a child within a greater Deva of land. Therefore, the smaller places-of-spirit (or spirits of place) exist within larger Spirit/Areas which then exist within even Larger Ones, until finally there is the Whole of Mother Earth Spirit.
So this all comprises an intricate hierarchical Web of interrelating and interpenetrating 'spirits of the land', each enfolding a geographical area, small or large. Each spirit-of-land exists within a larger Spirit-of-land, while also enfolding smaller spirit-areas (or spirit-places) within it. However, the boundaries between these spirits are not distinctly definite, but rather more fluid and inter-blending.
To understand this, we need to think outside of our usual limited way of understanding things, persons, and souls. We need to think much more inter-relationally and without distinctly separate boundaries, in order to understand the spiritual world of nature.
Devas of the land include mountain and hill spirits, lake and other water spirits, and any other kind of nature spirit that abides on the land. This also includes trees, other kinds of vegetation, and crops as well; and also included would be its natural animal habitats. So all of the actual living things in an area are included in its overall 'spirit of land' or 'spirit of place'. Yet tree spirits and animal spirits, for instance, are also part of a greater 'Deva-of-life' – which is its genus intelligence.
Devas of life are the archetypes of life within Nature, the genus intelligences. Nature abounds with various spirits and energies, but Devas are the greater spirits, the archetypal, or genus souls of nature. They are the essential intelligences of nature. For example, a Deva exists for each species of plant and tree, each mineral kind, and each animal species. Each Deva is the 'group-soul', or collective intelligence, which holds the archetypal blueprint for the growth and characteristics of each kind of plant or animal or mineral or molecular entity. The Devas are, thus, the governing intelligences and essential consciousnesses at work behind the forms of all natural life.
Each particular pine tree, for example, may have its own particular spirit with a memory of its own individual growth and its distinct surroundings and relations. But there is only one Deva Intelligence within all pine trees. In other words, all pine trees have the sane Deva - which is like the ancestral guide or pattern. Same for different animal species, etc.
Particularized spirits, as found in a particular place, are the singular individuated spirits of nature; as for example, the specific spirit of a particular tree. Each tree, for example, has its own individual spirit. A particular physical tree will be enfolded by its particular spirit (its consciousness and emotional being), similar to a human body having its own soul-spirit. The spirit of the tree and its physical manifestation are two sides of the same thing. So we can relate to the physical part of the tree and/or to the spirit of the tree, though we need to use our feeling and spiritual senses to experience the tree-spirit.
So in a small forest of many trees are the many individual tree spirits. Though a particular tree spirit is not so uniquely individualized as particular human souls, because there is much more interrelatedness and blending in the kingdoms of nature; yet each individual tree-spirit might be slightly unique from the other ones, which would be its unique 'tree-personality'. But if we sense and relate to other tree-spirits in same area, we will discover much more similarity than difference. This is because each of the individual tree-spirits are enfolded by a larger spirit of nature. They all share a common spirit-essence.
So essentially, all of these trees will have the same essence of spirit intelligence, consciousness and presence; The essential similarity between all of the tree spirits of this forest would then be the 'larger' spirit of the forest, and the essential similar tree intelligence of all the pine trees (for example) would be the Grand Spirit of pine trees, or called the pine tree Deva. In other words, each individual tree-spirit is part of a greater Tree-Spirit, its tree 'Oversoul'. For example, each pine tree is part of the Pine Tree Spirit, or that kind of tree Oversoul. Each oak tree is part of the Oak Tree Spirit, which is its Oversoul. And finally, all trees are part of the Great Tree Spirit Itself, the enfolding consciousness and intelligence of all trees, which is the Oversoul of all trees.
Thus, we can picture in our creative intuitional imagination a hierarchy of tree spirits, from the particular-individual to its shared Oversoul and finally to the One Great Spirit of Tree... encompassing all trees. Even further, we might see that all parts of nature are within and part of the One Great Spirit we can call Mother Nature or Earth Nature or Soul of the Earth. In this way, all lives of nature are interrelated spiritually and energetically, as well as in a physical ecological way. This example with trees can analogously be applied to other lives of nature, even including the animal kingdom. So, we can relate or communicate with an individual-particular nature spirit, or else with its larger Oversoul Spirit, or else with the One Great Spirit of Mother Nature.
There is an added complexity in all this, which is that there are hierarchies of Devas, or Devas encompassed within Greater Devas. To understand hierarchies, imagine a pyramid of levels, or imagine circles within circles such that there are inner circles within outer circles. One can also imagine a large geographical area with a number of smaller areas in it, like parcels of land, and then there are further smaller areas within each of these parcels, such that the larger parcels encompass smaller parcels, and many smaller parcels might exist within a larger parcel-area which itself might be within an even greater area.
So, some Devas are greater and more encompassing than others, and these could be the called the Grand Devas or Grand Archetypes. For example, certain species of trees have common basic characteristics; like many species of trees have the same basic evergreen characteristics. Certain kinds of animals have cat-like characteristics, and therefore we can empirically classify them in a cat family, which would have at its essence of intelligence the Grand Deva of all cat creatures. Thus, there is a natural hierarchy of Devas, some inclusive of others and some inter-webbed with each other, which comprise the intelligent essences of nature. These are the essential intelligences of Mother Earth, which pattern the physical forms and behavioral characteristics found on earth.
Also, Devas are in their own process of evolution, as gradually over time they better integrate and harmonize together, and they become more intelligently adaptable and cooperative with each other’s expressive purposes. Thus, the kingdoms and species of nature are, from their own intelligence, developing a greater ecological harmony and co-operation. As human intelligences having the possibility of a wider scientific view of natural life, we can help and cooperate in this natural ecological evolution.
All of the Deva-spirits compose the Devic kingdom of Nature, which includes even the smaller elemental brings in nature. Additionally, the term 'Devic kingdom' refers to the overall, interrelated, Natural Intelligence Web of Nature, or could also be understood as the Greater Souls of the natural world. The mineral, vegetable (including trees and flowers), and animal kingdoms are all within the greater Devic kingdom.
The Devic kingdom is the overall, encompassing, enfolding Spirit-intelligence of all that is of nature. It is an interrelational and hierarchical Web of nature spirit-beings, each with its unique consciousness and intelligence, yet without any distinctly fixed boundaries separating these.
Again, to understand this, we need to think beyond our usual boxes and transcend our usual way of understanding nature as separate things. For in the Devic kingdom, the individuality of these spirit-beings is fluid, such that individualized spirit-consciousness arises (like individual particles), but can also merge together into a larger field of spirit-consciousness. Thus, there is both individuality and collectivity of spirit. By analogy, there is both particle (particularization) and energy-field (or collectivity) properties, all functioning simultaneously. And remember, there are fields within greater fields.
The Devic Kingdom is organizer of the elements that make up this manifesting world. Devas are the intelligences behind this world of life and form, the regulators and maintainers of our physical existence. The Devic Kingdom can be understood to be the 'mind of nature', which organizes and patterns the various lives and forms on the planet. This great mind of nature is actually a vast, complex system of interpenetrating mind fields, each having a semi-distinct, semi-autonomous reality and place in the overall design. These mind-fields direct and pattern the energies of nature, and they hold things together, maintaining the growth patterns of each unique form of life. Each 'field' (within a larger Field) has its own [semi-independent] consciousness and presence of being. Thus, we experience nature as alive with spirit and presence, and the overall presence of nature is made up of many presences, many beings within it.
It is important to understand that these beings are not really separate, just as the energy-fields are not absolutely separate or divided by a distinct boundary. Yet, each has its own individuality, in a partial way. Ultimately, there is just one Great Spirit, or we could say just one Mother Earth. If we forget this Wholism and inter-connectiveness of all life and mind, then we might fall into the trap of worshiping certain beings or powers separately from the whole, or falsely believe that nature is merely a conglomerate of pantheistic beings. Yet it is also important to recognize that the natural world divides itself into unique features, properties and qualities, so we need to respect the different, unique manifestations of the One Life, One Spirit, One Earth.
The idea of nature as both parts and Whole is hard to grasp, let alone explain. One helpful image is to see that the earth is like a prism with light emerging out in all the different colors, and as the prism rotates around, the colors mix and break up the one light in many ways. The distinction of mind-being-energy at any one place or through any one life-form, depends on how the One Light reveals itself to us.
The Devic world is an interpenetrating hierarchy of being-consciousness, divided into field-patterns having both an individual and group presence. That is, they are both individual and collective consciousnesses, so we can see them as either distinct beings or as a complex collective system. At the highest levels are the great spirits, the great morphogenetic mind-fields, which interpenetrate time and space as we normally know it. The inter penetration of space is easier to understand, if we can visualize mind and presence existing in many places at once, simultaneously. In the great musical symphony of nature, Devas are nature's chords and the various harmonics resounding through and patterning all life. The Devas are like EM (electromagnetic) fields, intense in some areas while fading in other areas, interpenetrating other vibrational patterns, blending and resonating with these.
Visualize, for instance, different musical instruments spread out about 100 yards from each other over a 100 square mile area of land, and being played at the same time. Each instrument player at each spot would try to harmonize with whatever he could hear to cooperatively make some good music. What would happen and what would you hear as you traveled across the whole area? Obviously, each player could only hear those sounds within a limited radius of where he stands, and would play accordingly, thus also influencing those around him. Yet, eventually he would be influenced indirectly by even the farthest player from him, since there would be a kind of chain-reaction of all the players in between who keep altering their tune to be in greater harmony.
Now visualize the sound waves and how the music would differ as you walk about the area. Wherever you stand, there would be certain instruments and tunes that are loudest, and your attention would be mostly on these, especially the one you are closest to. There will always be far off sounds unheard, but as you move in a direction, certain instruments will all of a sudden be heard faintly in the distance, becoming louder as you approach and adding to the music heard, while in the opposite direction sounds once momentous will fade away. You may hear some far away instrument to your left that a player far to your right (heard by you) cannot hear. The sounds intermix at each spot differently, creating a unique music and feeling at that place, and as you move your perceptions and feelings change.