| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Timaeus by Plato: allowed that the elder should be ruled by the younger; but this is a random
manner of speaking which we have, because somehow we ourselves too are very
much under the dominion of chance. Whereas he made the soul in origin and
excellence prior to and older than the body, to be the ruler and mistress,
of whom the body was to be the subject. And he made her out of the
following elements and on this wise: Out of the indivisible and
unchangeable, and also out of that which is divisible and has to do with
material bodies, he compounded a third and intermediate kind of essence,
partaking of the nature of the same and of the other, and this compound he
placed accordingly in a mean between the indivisible, and the divisible and
material. He took the three elements of the same, the other, and the
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: they were powerful, and it appears that when death comes they force
practically instantaneous disintegration. Remarkable! Most remarkable! Well,
the only thing is not to die. They do not harm so long as one lives. But I do
wonder who smashed in that dog's head."
Light, however, was thrown upon this when a frightened housemaid brought the
news that Gaffer Bedshaw had that very morning, not more than an hour back,
gone violently insane, and was strapped down at home, in the huntsman's lodge,
where he raved of a battle with a ferocious and gigantic beast that he had
encountered in the Tichlorne pasture. He claimed that the thing, whatever it
was, was invisible, that with his own eyes he had seen that it was invisible;
wherefore his tearful wife and daughters shook their heads, and wherefore he
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Professor by Charlotte Bronte: si je consens--si--enfin, si je veux me marier avec lui?"
"Justement."
"Monsieur sera-t-il aussi bon mari qu'il a ete bon maitre?"
"I will try, Frances."
A pause; then with a new, yet still subdued inflexion of the
voice--an inflexion which provoked while it pleased me
--accompanied, too, by a "sourire a la fois fin et timide" in
perfect harmony with the tone:--
"C'est a dire, monsieur sera toujours un peu entete exigeant,
volontaire--?"
"Have I been so, Frances?"
The Professor |
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 King James Bible: ZEC 1:10 And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and
said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through
the earth.
ZEC 1:11 And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the
myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth,
and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.
ZEC 1:12 Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts,
how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of
Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten
years?
ZEC 1:13 And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me with good
King James Bible |
