| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tanach: Judges 14: 15 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said unto Samson's wife: 'Entice thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire; have ye called us hither to impoverish us?'
Judges 14: 16 And Samson's wife wept before him, and said: 'Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not; thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and wilt thou not tell it me?' And he said unto her: 'Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell thee?'
Judges 14: 17 And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted; and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she pressed him sore; and she told the riddle to the children of her people.
Judges 14: 18 And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down: What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said unto them: If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.
Judges 14: 19 And the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and smote thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave the changes of raiment unto them that declared the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house.
Judges 14: 20 But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had had for his friend.
The Tanach |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie: actual buying of the poison, and that, with a man of the peculiar
appearance of Mr. Inglethorp, was not difficult. Remember, this
young Mace had never actually spoken to Mr. Inglethorp. How
should he doubt that the man in his clothes, with his beard and
his glasses, was not Alfred Inglethorp?"
"It may be so," I said, fascinated by Poirot's eloquence. "But,
if that was the case, why does he not say where he was at six
o'clock on Monday evening?"
"Ah, why indeed?" said Poirot, calming down. "If he were
arrested, he probably would speak, but I do not want it to come
to that. I must make him see the gravity of his position. There
The Mysterious Affair at Styles |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: invitation, were not disposed at first to join the dinner party; but
the annoyance of the other so to be put off was so obvious that in the
end the party were persuaded to accompany their host.
After an interval devoted to gymnastic exercise (and subsequent
anointing of the limbs) by some, whilst others of them took a bath,
the guests were severally presented to the master of the house.
Autolycus was seated next his father, as was natural,[20] while the
rest reclined on couches. Noting the scene presented, the first idea
to strike the mind of any one must certainly have been that beauty has
by nature something regal in it; and the more so, if it chance to be
combined (as now in the person of Autolycus) with modesty and self-
The Symposium |
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 Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe: and knows it not, but goes abroad and about as a sound person, may
give the plague to a thousand people, and they to greater numbers in
proportion, and neither the person giving the infection or the persons
receiving it know anything of it, and perhaps not feel the effects of it
for several days after.
For example, many persons in the time of this visitation never
perceived that they were infected till they found to their unspeakable
surprise, the tokens come out upon them; after which they seldom
lived six hours; for those spots they called the tokens were really
gangrene spots, or mortified flesh in small knobs as broad as a little
silver penny, and hard as a piece of callus or horn; so that, when the
A Journal of the Plague Year |
