| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from In the South Seas by Robert Louis Stevenson: was, I could not suppose him interested in my reading of the
CARNIVAL OF VENICE, or that he would deny himself his natural rest
to follow my variations on THE PLOUGHBOY. And whatever his design,
it was impossible I should suffer him to prowl by night among the
houses. A word to the king, and the man were not, his case being
far beyond pardon. But it is one thing to kill a man yourself;
quite another to bear tales behind his back and have him shot by a
third party; and I determined to deal with the fellow in some
method of my own. I told Ah Fu the story, and bade him fetch me
the cook whenever he should find him. I had supposed this would be
a matter of difficulty; and far from that, he came of his own
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: life is the problem which haunts the imagination of every woman--in
Gaston I have found it.
Ah! dear, I did not know what love could be, united to youth, talent,
and beauty. Gaston has no affectations, he moves with an instinctive
and unstudied grace. When we walk alone together in the woods, his arm
round my waist, mine resting on his shoulder, body fitting to body,
and head touching head, our step is so even, uniform, and gentle, that
those who see us pass by night take the vision for a single figure
gliding over the graveled walks, like one of Homer's immortals. A like
harmony exists in our desires, our thoughts, our words. More than once
on some evening when a passing shower has left the leaves glistening
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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 Koran: Make not God the butt of your oaths, that ye will keep clear and
fear and make peace amongst men, for God both hears and knows.
He will not catch you up for a casual word in your oaths, but He
will catch you up for what your hearts have earned; but God is
forgiving and clement.
Those who swear off from their women, they must wait four months;
but if they break their vow God is forgiving and merciful.
And if they intend to divorce them, verily, God hears and knows.
Divorced women must wait for themselves three courses; and it is not
lawful to them that they hide what God has created in their wombs,
if they believe in God and in the last day. Their husbands will do
The Koran |
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 A treatise on Good Works by Dr. Martin Luther: Paternoster, and think of nothing except that you may finish the
words and complete the number? So that if some one were to ask
you what it all was about, or what it was that you prayed for,
you yourself would not know; for you had not thought of laying
this or that matter before God or desiring it. Your only reason
for praying is that you are commanded to pray this and so much,
and this you intend to do in full. What wonder that thunder and
lightning frequently set churches on fire, because we thus make
of the House of Prayer a house of mockery, and call that prayer
in which we bring nothing before God and desire nothing from Him.
But we should do as they do who wish to ask a favor of great
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