| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from King James Bible: followed Abimelech, and put them to the hold, and set the hold on fire
upon them; so that all the men of the tower of Shechem died also, about
a thousand men and women.
JDG 9:50 Then went Abimelech to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez,
and took it.
JDG 9:51 But there was a strong tower within the city, and thither fled
all the men and women, and all they of the city, and shut it to them,
and gat them up to the top of the tower.
JDG 9:52 And Abimelech came unto the tower, and fought against it, and
went hard unto the door of the tower to burn it with fire.
JDG 9:53 And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon
King James Bible |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Droll Stories, V. 1 by Honore de Balzac: gentle than her rivals; at least, that was the melodious decree of her
imaginations. So, urged on by the chords and springs of conscience,
and physical causes which affect women, she returned to the charge, to
commence a fresh assault upon the heart of the chevalier, for the
ladies like that which is well fortified.
Then she played the pussy-cat, and nestled up close to him, became so
sweetly sociable, and wheedled so gently, that one evening when she
was in a desponding state, although merry enough in her inmost soul,
the guardian-brother asked her--
"What is the matter with you?"
To which she replied to him dreamily, being listened to by him as the
Droll Stories, V. 1 |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: or more at the very gates of the English Channel. And the worst of
it was that there was no ransom that we could pay to satisfy his
avidity; for whatever evil is wrought by the raiding East Wind, it
is done only to spite his kingly brother of the West. We gazed
helplessly at the systematic, cold, gray-eyed obstinacy of the
Easterly weather, while short rations became the order of the day,
and the pinch of hunger under the breast-bone grew familiar to
every sailor in that held-up fleet. Every day added to our
numbers. In knots and groups and straggling parties we flung to
and fro before the closed gate. And meantime the outward-bound
ships passed, running through our humiliated ranks under all the
The Mirror of the Sea |
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 Soul of a Bishop by H. G. Wells: significance.
The bishop glanced through this bale of papers--it had of
course no index and no synopsis, and some of the pages were not
numbered--handed it over to Whippham, and when he proved, as
usual, a broken reed, the bishop had the brilliant idea of
referring the young man to Canon Bliss (of Pringle), "who has a
special knowledge quite beyond my own in this field."
But he knew from the young man's eye even as he said this that
it was not going to put him off for more than a day or so.
The immediate result of glancing over these papers was,
however, to enhance in the bishop's mind a growing disposition to
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