| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson: Estate them with large land and territory
In mine own realm beyond the narrow seas,
To keep them in all joyance: more than this
I could not; this she would not, and she died.'
He pausing, Arthur answered, 'O my knight,
It will be to thy worship, as my knight,
And mine, as head of all our Table Round,
To see that she be buried worshipfully.'
So toward that shrine which then in all the realm
Was richest, Arthur leading, slowly went
The marshalled Order of their Table Round,
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Macbeth by William Shakespeare: Knock.
Knock, Knock, Knock. Who's there
i'th' name of Belzebub? Here's a Farmer, that hang'd
himselfe on th' expectation of Plentie: Come in time, haue
Napkins enow about you, here you'le sweat for't.
Knock.
Knock, knock. Who's there in th' other Deuils Name?
Faith here's an Equiuocator, that could sweare in both
the Scales against eyther Scale, who committed Treason
enough for Gods sake, yet could not equiuocate to Heauen:
oh come in, Equiuocator.
Macbeth |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Golden Sayings of Epictetus by Epictetus: CXXII
If any be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by
reason of himself alone. For God hath made all men to enjoy
felicity and constancy of good.
CXXIII
Shall we never wean ourselves--shall we never heed the
teachings of Philosophy (unless perchance they have been sounding
in our ears like and enchanter's drone):--
This World is one great City, and one if the substance
whereof it is fashioned: a certain period indeed there needs must
be, while these give place to those; some must perish for others
The Golden Sayings of Epictetus |
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 Turn of the Screw by Henry James: an unmentionable relative kept in unsuspected confinement?
I can't say how long I turned it over, or how long, in a confusion
of curiosity and dread, I remained where I had had my collision;
I only recall that when I re-entered the house darkness had quite
closed in. Agitation, in the interval, certainly had held me
and driven me, for I must, in circling about the place, have walked
three miles; but I was to be, later on, so much more overwhelmed
that this mere dawn of alarm was a comparatively human chill.
The most singular part of it, in fact--singular as the rest had been--
was the part I became, in the hall, aware of in meeting Mrs. Grose.
This picture comes back to me in the general train--the impression,
|
