| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tanach: Psalms 28: 6 Blessed be the LORD, because He hath heard the voice of my supplications.
Psalms 28: 7 The LORD is my strength and my shield, in Him hath my heart trusted, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth, and with my song will I praise Him.
Psalms 28: 8 The LORD is a strength unto them; and He is a stronghold of salvation to His anointed.
Psalms 28: 9 Save Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance; and tend them, and carry them for ever.
Psalms 29: 1 A Psalm of David. Ascribe unto the LORD, O ye sons of might, ascribe unto the LORD glory and strength.
Psalms 29: 2 Ascribe unto the LORD the glory due unto His name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
Psalms 29: 3 The voice of the LORD is upon the waters; the God of glory thundereth, even the LORD upon many waters.
Psalms 29: 4 The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
Psalms 29: 5 The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
Psalms 29: 6 He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild-ox.
Psalms 29: 7 The voice of the LORD heweth out flames of fire.
The Tanach |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield: breathes into a flute; and a tall thin fellow, with bursting over-ripe
button boots, draws ribbons--long, twisted, streaming ribbons--of tune out
of a fiddle. They stand, unsmiling, but not serious, in the broad sunlight
opposite the fruit-shop; the pink spider of a hand beats the guitar, the
little squat hand, with a brass-and-turquoise ring, forces the reluctant
flute, and the fiddler's arm tries to saw the fiddle in two.
A crowd collects, eating oranges and bananas, tearing off the skins,
dividing, sharing. One young girl has even a basket of strawberries, but
she does not eat them. "Aren't they dear!" She stares at the tiny pointed
fruits as if she were afraid of them. The Australian soldier laughs.
"Here, go on, there's not more than a mouthful." But he doesn't want her
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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 Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe: learned that the glimpse I had obtained of her person would thus
probably be the last I should obtain--that the lady, at least
while living, would be seen by me no more.
For several days ensuing, her name was unmentioned by either
Usher or myself: and during this period I was busied in earnest
endeavours to alleviate the melancholy of my friend. We
painted and read together; or I listened, as if in a dream, to
the wild improvisations of his speaking guitar. And thus, as a
closer and still closer intimacy admitted me more unreservedly
into the recesses of his spirit, the more bitterly did I perceive
the futility of all attempt at cheering a mind from which
The Fall of the House of Usher |
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 Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum: And this is the Hungry Tiger, the terror of the jungle, who longs to
devour fat babies but is prevented by his conscience from doing so.
These royal beasts are both warm friends of little Dorothy and have come
to the Emerald City this morning to welcome her to our fairyland."
Hearing these words Jim resolved to conquer his alarm. He bowed his
head with as much dignity as he could muster toward the savage looking
beasts, who in return nodded in a friendly way.
"Is not the Real Horse a beautiful animal?" asked the Sawhorse admiringly.
"That is doubtless a matter of taste," returned the Lion. "In the
forest he would be thought ungainly, because his face is stretched out
and his neck is uselessly long. His joints, I notice, are swollen and
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz |
