| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Brother of Daphne by Dornford Yates: gravel again, I got up and peered through the rhododendrons. I
watched him go indoors, and turned to see the girl once more on
her knees by the jig-saw. I kneeled opposite her and watched her
at work. After a moment she glanced up and met my eyes.
"You'll see the picture better from this side," she said.
"Which picture?"
"Round you come!"
I crawled to her side with a sigh. On she went at a wonderful
pace. Old elms rose up in the background, a splash of red and
brown resolved itself into a sunny farm, and four pieces which
Berry had recognized as water went to make up a sheltered
The Brother of Daphne |
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: of rooms, its saloon habits, and its bathing herds.
I considered the rides a part of the contract of what was
expected in my two months' performance. I did not dream that I was
enjoying them, any more than I supposed myself to be enjoying a
sea-bath while pulling Aunt Eliza to and fro in the surf. Nothing
in the life around me stirred me, nothing in nature attracted me.
I liked the fog; somehow it seemed to emanate from me instead of
rolling up from the ocean, and to represent me. Whether I went
alone or not, the coachman was ordered to drive a certain round;
after that I could extend the ride in whatever direction I pleased,
but I always said, "Anywhere, William." One afternoon, which
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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 The Tanach: Joshua 13: 31 and half Gilead, and Ashtaroth, and Edrei, the cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan, were for the children of Machir the son of Manasseh, even for the half of the children of Machir according to their families.
Joshua 13: 32 These are the inheritances which Moses distributed in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan at Jericho, eastward.
Joshua 13: 33 But unto the tribe of Levi Moses gave no inheritance; the LORD, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, as He spoke unto them.
Joshua 14: 1 And these are the inheritances which the children of Israel took in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of Israel, distributed unto them,
Joshua 14: 2 by the lot of their inheritance, as the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses, for the nine tribes, and for the half-tribe.--
Joshua 14: 3 For Moses had given the inheritance of the two tribes and the half-tribe beyond the Jordan; but unto the Levites he gave no inheritance among them.
Joshua 14: 4 For the children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim; and they gave no portion unto the Levites in the land, save cities to dwell in, with the open land about them for their cattle and for their substance.--
Joshua 14: 5 As the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did, and they divided the land.
The Tanach |
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 Timaeus by Plato: circle of the same moving smoothly declares it, then intelligence and
knowledge are necessarily perfected. And if any one affirms that in which
these two are found to be other than the soul, he will say the very
opposite of the truth.
When the father and creator saw the creature which he had made moving and
living, the created image of the eternal gods, he rejoiced, and in his joy
determined to make the copy still more like the original; and as this was
eternal, he sought to make the universe eternal, so far as might be. Now
the nature of the ideal being was everlasting, but to bestow this attribute
in its fulness upon a creature was impossible. Wherefore he resolved to
have a moving image of eternity, and when he set in order the heaven, he
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