| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Simple Soul by Gustave Flaubert: increased tenderness for the sake of the Lamb, and the doves because
of the Holy Ghost.
She found it hard, however, to think of the latter as a person, for
was it not a bird, a flame, and sometimes only a breath? Perhaps it is
its light that at night hovers over swamps, its breath that propels
the clouds, its voice that renders church-bells harmonious. And
Felicite worshipped devoutly, while enjoying the coolness and the
stillness of the church.
As for the dogma, she could not understand it and did not even try.
The priest discoursed, the children recited, and she went to sleep,
only to awaken with a start when they were leaving the church and
A Simple Soul |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lemorne Versus Huell by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard: forward, and after a while came upon some barren fields, cropping
with coarse rocks, along which ran a narrow road. I turned into it,
and soon saw beyond the rough coast the blue ring of the ocean--
vast, silent, and splendid in the sunshine. I found a seat on the
ruins of an old stone-wall, among some tangled bushes and briers.
There being no Aunt Eliza to pull through the surf, and no animated
bathers near, I discovered the beauty of the sea, and that I loved
it.
Presently I heard the steps of a horse, and, to my astonishment,
Mr. Uxbridge rode past. I was glad he did not know me. I watched
him as he rode slowly down the road, deep in thought. He let drop
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Merry Men by Robert Louis Stevenson: eyes, and hands that neither art nor nature could improve. She was
the sort of person over whom adversity passes like a summer cloud;
she might, in the worst of conjunctions, knit her brows into one
vertical furrow for a moment, but the next it would be gone. She
had much of the placidity of a contented nun; with little of her
piety, however; for Anastasie was of a very mundane nature, fond of
oysters and old wine, and somewhat bold pleasantries, and devoted
to her husband for her own sake rather than for his. She was
imperturbably good-natured, but had no idea of self-sacrifice. To
live in that pleasant old house, with a green garden behind and
bright flowers about the window, to eat and drink of the best, to
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Tanach: 1_Samuel 26: 2 Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.
1_Samuel 26: 3 And Saul pitched in the hill of Hachilah, which is before Jeshimon, by the way. But David abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness.
1_Samuel 26: 4 David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul was come of a certainty.
1_Samuel 26: 5 And David arose, and came to the place where Saul had pitched; and David beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his host; and Saul lay within the barricade, and the people pitched round about him.
1_Samuel 26: 6 Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying: 'Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp?' And Abishai said: 'I will go down with thee.'
1_Samuel 26: 7 So David and Abishai came to the people by night; and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the barricade, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Abner and the people lay round about him.
1_Samuel 26: 8 Then said Abishai to David: 'God hath delivered up thine enemy into thy hand this day; now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear to the earth at one stroke, and I will not smite him the second time.'
The Tanach |
