| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Myths and Myth-Makers by John Fiske: for the purpose of causing prophetic dreams respecting a
dilatory lover. The leaves of the yellow trefoil are supposed
to possess similar virtues."--Harland and Wilkinson,
Lancashire Folk-Lore, p. 20.
[62] In Peru, a mighty and far-worshipped deity was Catequil,
the thunder-god, .... he who in thunder-flash and clap hurls
from his sling the small, round, smooth thunder-stones,
treasured in the villages as fire-fetishes and charms to
kindle the flames of love."--Tylor, op. cit. Vol. II. p. 239
Thus we reach at last the completed conception of the
divining-rod, or as it is called in this sense the wish-rod,
Myths and Myth-Makers |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Protagoras by Plato: another, and have each of them a distinct function. I should like to know
whether this is still your opinion; or if not, I will ask you to define
your meaning, and I shall not take you to task if you now make a different
statement. For I dare say that you may have said what you did only in
order to make trial of me.
I answer, Socrates, he said, that all these qualities are parts of virtue,
and that four out of the five are to some extent similar, and that the
fifth of them, which is courage, is very different from the other four, as
I prove in this way: You may observe that many men are utterly
unrighteous, unholy, intemperate, ignorant, who are nevertheless remarkable
for their courage.
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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 Adventure by Jack London: of propinquity? And she wasn't really a woman. She was a
masquerader. Under all her seeming of woman, she was a boy,
playing a boy's pranks, diving for fish amongst sharks, sporting a
revolver, longing for adventure, and, what was more, going out in
search of it in her whale-boat, along with her savage islanders and
her bag of sovereigns. But he loved her--that was the point of it
all, and he did not try to evade it. He was not sorry that it was
so. He loved her--that was the overwhelming, astounding fact.
Once again he discovered a big enthusiasm for Berande. All the
bubble-illusions concerning the life of the tropical planter had
been pricked by the stern facts of the Solomons. Following the
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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 Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte by Karl Marx: notoriety for a time and have their day, mark the present period of the
Labor Movement in the nation a critical one. The best information
acquirable, the best mental training obtainable are requisite to steer
through the existing chaos that the death-tainted social system of today
creates all around us. To aid in this needed information and mental
training, this instructive work is now made accessible to English
readers, and is commended to the serious study of the serious.
The teachings contained in this work are hung on an episode in recent
French history. With some this fact may detract of its value. A
pedantic, supercilious notion is extensively abroad among us that we are
an "Anglo Saxon" nation; and an equally pedantic, supercilious habit
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