| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Island Nights' Entertainments by Robert Louis Stevenson: permanent houses, and it was a rich island, where were eggs and
chickens and pigs, and ships came trading with rum and tobacco. It
was there the schooner had gone after Keola deserted; there, too,
the mate had died, like the fool of a white man as he was. It
seems, when the ship came, it was the beginning of the sickly
season in that isle, when the fish of the lagoon are poisonous, and
all who eat of them swell up and die. The mate was told of it; he
saw the boats preparing, because in that season the people leave
that island and sail to the Isle of Voices; but he was a fool of a
white man, who would believe no stories but his own, and he caught
one of these fish, cooked it and ate it, and swelled up and died,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne: "What, sir?"
"When you are about 1,000 feet deep, the walls of the Nautilus
bear a pressure of 100 atmospheres. If, then, just now you were
to empty the supplementary reservoirs, to lighten the vessel,
and to go up to the surface, the pumps must overcome the pressure
of 100 atmospheres, which is 1,500 lbs. per square inch.
From that a power----"
"That electricity alone can give," said the Captain, hastily.
"I repeat, sir, that the dynamic power of my engines is almost infinite.
The pumps of the Nautilus have an enormous power, as you must have observed
when their jets of water burst like a torrent upon the Abraham Lincoln.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Dust by Mr. And Mrs. Haldeman-Julius: When they come in to eat, they want to find their food on the
table."
"This doesn't often happen any more and they know, good and well,
I make it up to them in other ways," returned Rose truthfully.
For answer, he crossed over to her quickly, reached down and took
the baby from her.
"What are you going to do with him?" she demanded, a-tremble with
rage and a sense of impotent helplessness, as, avoiding her quick
movement, Martin went into the bedroom.
"Let him go to sleep as other children do, while you finish
getting supper. Do you want to make a sissy of him?"
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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 Poems of William Blake by William Blake: Ah weep not little voice, thou can'st not speak, but thou can'st weep:
Is this a Worm? I see they lay helpless & naked: weeping
And none to answer, none to cherish thee with mothers smiles.
The Clod of Clay heard the Worms voice & rais'd her pitying head:
She bowd over the weeping infant, and her life exhald
In milky fondness, then on Thel she fix'd her humble eyes
O beauty of the vales of Har, we live not for ourselves,
Thou seest me the meanest thing, and so I am indeed:
My bosom of itself is cold, and of itself is dark,
But he that loves the lowly, pours his oil upon my head
And kisses me, and binds his nuptial bands around my breast.
Poems of William Blake |
