| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: thou mock at the preaching of salvation, whereby darkness hath
been made light, the wanderers have found the way, they that were
lost in dire captivity have been recalled. Tell me whether is
better? To worship God Almighty, with the only-begotten Son and
the Holy Ghost, God increate and immortal, the beginning and
well-spring of good, whose power is beyond compare, and his glory
incomprehensible, before whom stand thousand thousands, and ten
thousand times ten thousand of Angels and heavenly hosts, and
heaven and earth are full of his glow, by whom all things were
brought into being out of nothing, by whom everything is upheld
and sustained and ordered by his providence; or to serve deadly
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Twilight Land by Howard Pyle: brown crust. In the first pie he put the little bag of money; the
second he filled full of rusty nails and scraps of iron.
The next morning he called the beggar to him. "My friend," said
he, "I grieve sadly for the story you told me last night. But
maybe, after all, your luck is not all gone. And now, if you will
choose as you should choose, you shall not go away from here
comfortless. In the pantry yonder are two great pies--one is for
you and one for me. Go in and take whichever one you please."
"A pie!" thought the beggar to himself; "does the man think that
a big pie will comfort me for the loss of three hundred pieces of
money?" Nevertheless, as it was the best thing to be had, into
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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 Camille by Alexandre Dumas: open that door; bring me back the key and go. In the course of
the day you shall have a letter, and my orders, for you know you
are to obey blindly."
"Yes; but if I should already ask for something?"
"What?"
"Let me have that key."
"What you ask is a thing I have never done for any one."
"Well, do it for me, for I swear to you that I don't love you as
the others have loved you."
"Well, keep it; but it only depends on me to make it useless to
you, after all."
Camille |
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 Outlaw of Torn by Edgar Rice Burroughs: licked his thin lips as though to taste the last sweet
vestige of some dainty morsel.
And then Chance carried a little leather ball beneath
the window where the old man stood; and as the child
ran, laughing, to recover it, De Vac's eyes fell upon him,
and his former plan for revenge melted as the fog
before the noonday sun; and in its stead there opened
to him the whole hideous plot of fearsome vengeance
as clearly as it were writ upon the leaves of a great
book that had been thrown wide before him. And, in
so far as he could direct, he varied not one jot from
The Outlaw of Torn |
