| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Koran: nor feel the noonday heat!'
But the devil whispered to him. Said he, 'O Adam! shall I guide thee
to the tree of immortality, and a kingdom that shall not wane?'
And they eat therefrom, and their shame became apparent to them; and
they began to stitch upon themselves some leaves of the garden; and
Adam rebelled against his Lord, and went astray.
Then his Lord chose him, and relented towards him, and guided him.
Said he, 'Go down, ye twain, therefrom altogether, some of you foes to
the other. And if there should come to you from me a guidance; then
whoso follows my guidance shall neither err nor be wretched. But he
who turns away from my reminder, verily, for him shall be a straitened
The Koran |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: peace; and he stood there brushing his hats and prattling on about
fishing, and walking, and the pleasures of convalescence, in a bright
shallow stream that kept me pleased and interested, I could scarcely
say how. As he went on, he warmed to his subject, and laid his hats
aside to go along the water-side and show me where the large trout
commonly lay, underneath an overhanging bank; and he was much
disappointed, for my sake, that there were none visible just then.
Then he wandered off on to another tack, and stood a great while out
in the middle of a meadow in the hot sunshine, trying to make out
that he had known me before, or, if not me, some friend of mine,
merely, I believe, out of a desire that we should feel more friendly
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum: wheat; and then Uncle Henry wouldn't have any crops; and that would
make him poor; and--"
"Never mind," said the shaggy man. "It won't snow, I guess. Is this
the lane?"
"Yes," replied Dorothy, climbing another fence; "I'll go as far as
the highway with you."
"Thankee, miss; you're very kind for your size, I'm sure,"
said he gratefully.
"It isn't everyone who knows the road to Butterfield," Dorothy
remarked as she tripped along the lane; "but I've driven there many a
time with Uncle Henry, and so I b'lieve I could find it blindfolded."
The Road to Oz |
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 Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: own home."
Brown was the prevailing color in the study, relieved here and there
with green, for a thread of harmony led through all the rooms and
allied them with one another. Thus the color which was the leading
tone of one room became the relieving tint of another. The engraving
of Hero and Leander shone on one of the panels of Cesar's study.
"Ah! /thou/ wilt pay for all this," said Birotteau, looking gaily at
it.
"That beautiful engraving is given to you by Monsieur Anselme," said
Cesarine.
(Anselme, too, had allowed himself a "surprise.")
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
