Erdgeist is the Spirit of the Earth whom Johann Wolfgang von Goethe describes in Faust, Part 1, widely considered to be one of the greatest works in the history of German literature. Goethe depicts Erdgeist as a timeless being who endlessly weaves at the Time-Loom—both in life and in death. In this conception, Erdgeist is the means by which the immaterial becomes manifest. In the German language, erdgeist literally means Earth spirit. In the context of German folklore, erdgeist specifically refers to a gnome, the quintessential earth elemental invented by Paracelsus. Erdgeist is also a 1923 German film directed by Leopold Jessner. Characters in written fiction Films of Weimar Germany